Pretty petals: fanciful flowers for mothers and others.

Flowers have always played a delightful part in my life. As a child, I remember approaching my grandmother's house with the entire front hill covered with beautiful golden daffodils. My sister and I would gather armfuls and fill the entire house with vases of the lively dancing ladies. I remember spending warm summer days with my friend Carol in playhouses framed by a fence invaded with sweet pea vines of the softest colors and the most delicate petals fluttering like butterflies through our make-believe rooms.

As I grew older, there were always flowers on the table for my birthday and special occasions, and I even had my own flower garden with a very prolific running rose on the fence creating a pink and green boundary for a bed of brightly colored zinnias. Later came flowers from boys and then 50 roses from the one I'm still glad I married. My new mother-in-law shared African violets with me, and then a dear friend, Mary, opened a whole new world by teaching me the art of arranging flowers. Next came some of my very favorites, the bruised and tattered trumpet vines with no leaves or stems that came home in a lunchbox from preschool, followed by wild onions and a host of other blooms. And just the other day, I came home to an artful bouquet of spring flowers at my door with a special card from miles and miles away.

Flowers have a special effect of love and thoughtfulness that creates the most wonderful memories. Silk flowers become more beautiful and realistic every day, so pick a few and give some precious memories to special mothers and others in your life.

ROUND POSEY BAG YOU WILL NEED:

Large plastic Easter egg (one that opens vertically and has a flat bottom)

Drill with small bit or small scissors 

3.7-meter stretch bead cord

Beads

Button

Gold marking pen

Clear sealer 

Fabric for lining

Hot glue gun

8 large silk flowers

Drill two tiny holes on each side of the top half of the egg to attach bead handles. Then drill one hole in the center front of the top part of the egg and one in the bottom part, mirroring each other, to place a button and a bead loop fastener. Holes can be drilled with a small drill or made with the points of small scissors.

Make two bead handles by stringing beads on a stretch bead cord to the desired length. Loop the cord through the tiny holes on the sides of the egg, forming two handles, and knot several times inside the egg. Sew a button to the bottom half of the egg with the bead cord. Make a loop by stringing 8-10 small beads on the stretch bead cord and knotting inside the egg.

Paint the edge of both egg pieces with a gold marking pen and then with a coat of clear sealer. Cut a small fabric hinge, about one inch wide and four inches long, from the lining fabric. Hot glue the fabric hinge into the inside top and inside bottom of the egg exactly opposite the bead fastener holding the egg together. Cut two small circles from the lining fabric, and hot glue one circle into the top and one circle into the bottom of each egg half, turning under the edges around the edge of the egg to form a lining for the top and bottom of the egg. Fasten the egg closed using the button and loop.

Use hot glue to attach four large flowers to the top part of the egg and four flowers to the bottom part. Place one flower on each side, one on the front, and one on the back of each part. Make sure to glue the flowers to only one part of the egg so that it can be opened.

For the mother who loves the garden, add colorful silk flowers to a wide-brimmed sun hat, rubber gardening shoes, and gloves with a hot glue gun. Add some new pruning shears and maybe some kneepads.

For the fashionable mom, create a flower handbag. Using a hot glue gun, Pat Stockett of Jackson covered this simple straw bag with overlapping silk leaves until the entire bag was covered. Then she glued a large white silk flower to each side.

Cover a clipboard by turning the edges of a piece of fabric to the back of the clipboard and adhering with fabric glue. Next, cut a piece of fabric 1/2 inch larger than the clipboard on all sides. With fabric glue, turn under 1/2 inch all the way around the edge of this fabric piece. Glue the turned-under fabric to the back of the clipboard, hiding the raw edges that were turned under from the front side. Tie a ribbon holding a coordinating flower pen (see pg. 43 for instructions) to the clip.

For the mother who enjoys being in the kitchen, glue some small silk flowers to an oven mitt with a hot glue gun, and fill it with some new cooking gadgets, dishtowels, and favorite recipes.

For the mother who spends time at a desk, place a small amount of fabric on the top edge and each bottom corner of a desk pad with fabric glue, and add bows and silk flowers with a hot glue gun. Make a bouquet of flower pens to place in a small vase. They are easily made by removing the top cap of a ballpoint pen and hot gluing a small flower in place with a short stem glued into the opening. Then wind about 20 inches of green ribbon around the pen, gluing at the beginning and at the end of the stem.