Happy Earth Day!

"The earth is what we all have in common." -Wendell Berry

Earth day is tomorrow, and I wanted to do something to celebrate.  I decided to make a craft using only supplies I already had in my house.  At first I thought about just making a vase for flowers, however it has been so cold and rainy that flowers are not blooming around here yet.  Also, buying flowers from a store did not seem the most eco-friendly.  I decided to make flowers from comic books.  Another option would be to make the roses from my Valentine's Day post. 

Vase Materials:
-Glass Jar (recycled from a pickle jar)
-Blue and Green Glass Paint
-Gold Paint Pen
-Paint Brush
-Embroidery Floss
-Elmer's Glue

Vase Directions:
1. Paint the inside of the vase with the blue and green glass paint.  
2. Choose a word to write on the jar with the gold paint pen.  
3. Wrap embroidery floss around the jar neck for decoration. Use Elmer's glue to glue the end onto the rest of the wrap to hold the floss into place.

Flower Materials:

-Floral Wire

-Needle Nose Pliers

-Comic Book Pages

-Scrap Paper

-Scissors

-Pencil or Wooden Dowel

Flower Directions:

1. Create a template using scrap paper for the flower.  

Template

2. Cut out ten to twelve squares out of comic book pages.

3. Fold the squares into eighths and use template (folded into eighths as well to cut out ten to twelve flowers).

Folded Paper Square 

4. Cut out pieces of floral wire.  Close of the ends and poke through the center of each flower.
5. Attach five to six flowers to each full piece of floral wire.
6. Curl three full pieces of floral wire around a pencil or wooden dowel.
7. Arrange in the vase you made.  If needed use some clay or floral foam to keep the flowers where you want them.  

Up close of a flower

For more information about Earth Day visit: http://www.earthday.org/

Now that the glass paint is dry the vase looks even better!