April Showers bring Paper Flowers!

What a great Easter Hostess, Mother's Day or Teacher's Gift!  And it's CHEAP!!

I LOVE papercrafting...in fact, I adore it.  It's my therapy!  I retreat down to my own personal scrapbooking/craft room and spend time with just me, myself and tons of paper. When my crafty sidekick, Kendra, introduced this latest idea to me, I fell in LOVE!  And if you have as much cardstock/scrapbook paper as I do, you can get away with spending about $3 to make this nifty little gift!

Here's a quick rundown of what you'll need to make these flowers and the container.  Most scrappers/crafters will have a lot of this on hand in the first place:

*Cuttlebug/Cricut/Big Shot die cutting machine, and a flower die of your choice.  I used a Stampin' Up die that makes daisies.

*Assorted colored or patterned cardstock, your choice on colors

*Thumb tacks...one for each pencil

*10-12 pencils...I purchased mine at the Dollar Tree in a cute Easter motif

*Easter Grass to fill the bucket/vase.... I bought mine at Wal-Mart for just 24 cents!

*Ribbon for the trim on the bucket or the vase

*Rubber Stamps for the tag...optional, but oh, so cute!

*Glue or adhesive to put the flowers together

*Glass Vase or Tin Bucket...each were $1 at either The Dollar Tree or Wal-Mart.

If I were super organized and had all the time in the world, I'd have a step by step photo how-to for this.  But most of you are crafty enough, if I share the steps and some ideas, maybe you'll take off and fly with it.  If you have a Cuttlebug, Cricut, Big Shot, or any other die cutter, you're in good shape.  Use your favorite flower die and cut out as many flowers as you need for each pencil.  My flowers were a 3 part flower, so I cut out enough to make 24 flowers.  Glue the flower layers together, then use a thumb tack to secure the flower to the pencil eraser, arrange in vase or tin, using Easter Grass to secure the flowers in the vase.  You could also use Easter candy as a filler :)

I love using and making tags for the gifts that I make.  This one is hands down my all time fave!  The saying is great, and so fun!  This was made using Stampin' Up stamps and punches. 

Be sure to make a few of these for your special friends...I know I can't wait to make some more, just to have on hand for those last minute gift giving occasions :)

Here's the glass vase option...I love this...so elegant and so FUN!!