Dedicated to Families

DEDICATED TO FAMILIES...WHAT HARD WORK IT SOMETIMES IS!!!

Family dynamics are not always as they appear in loving television commercials, sappy holiday movies or paperback novels.  There are the arguments, miscommunications, and miles between.  Miles between the age of one and adulthood.  Miles between as kids move or parents move.  Miles between with the changes of attitude and interests.

It takes energy, determination and lots of love to keep your family strong in this fast paced age.  I am proud of my family.  We are spread across the country from coast to coast yet we are still strong and solid.  It sometimes takes hard work and sometimes mixed with tears but we do survive.  We survive and we flourish.  :D

So as Mother's Day approaches I am posting a photo of my family taken several Mother's Days ago in the Berkeley Rose Garden, California.  We won't all be together this year but our love is still the same.

So to remember Mother's Day, whether you are together or far apart , try making this KITCHEN ART project, the perfect card for Mom!  Inspired by springtime flowers and the roses in the Berkeley Rose Garden.

STRAW AND SPONGE SPRING FLOWERS

The end result of this project resembles delicate Japanese cherry blossoms or bushy roses.  Fun and easy to do the completed picture can hang on the wall or be folded into stationary.

INGREDIENTS:  straws, two clean sponges, paper, food coloring, paper.

TOOLS:  scissors, muffin tins, clothes pins

INSTRUCTION:  Set up:  1.  Cut sponges into small rectangles and put food coloring into muffin tins.  2.  Begin:  Create flower stems. Dip straw into green ink, cover end with thumb and lift out.  Position straw so it is parallel to the bottom of the paper.  Bend down, place your lips over the end your thumb was covering and blow (exhale).  Follow the flow of color across the paper and continue to blow.  Blowing across the page instead of downward helps elongate the 'stem'.  Create a stem and branches.  Dry.  REMEMBER Do Not inhale or you will have a colorful mouth!  3.  Create flowers.  Grasp sponges with clothes pin, dip into food dye and stamp along branches making them bushy or delicate.  Dry.  4.  Fold into card.  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

ADDITIONAL IDEAS:  Use natural dyes to create your flowers.  Have fun.