Designer: Lisa Truesdell

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but here in the Midwest, it’s still cold. Our yard is still covered with snow. We’ve been fighting cabin fever BIG time. I try to stay armed with activities to fight the "but, Mom, I’m BOOOOOOOOOOORED!" attacks and these flowers are a perfect way to do just that. They’ll keep your kids occupied for a bit, and bring a little spring to your house.

Instructions:

1. Gather a bunch of scraps of patterned paper, cardstock, construction paper, magazine or catalog pages – whatever you have on hand. You can choose to limit your color scheme to a few colors, or just use a bit of everything.

2. Hand your kids a bunch of Squeeze Punches and have them punch like crazy.

3. Depending on the age of your kids, you might need to cut the larger USX shapes for them. We used circles and stars.

4. Once you have all of your shapes, itís time to start making the flowers. Start by having your child select one large USX shape, one large circle or scalloped circle, and then one of the other punched shapes.

5. Layer them together and punch 2 holes in the middle using the 1/16in hand punch.

6. Have your child select a button or bead for the middle of the flower.

7. Hold all of your layers together with the button or bead on top. Thread your floral wire or pipe cleaner through the bottom, up one hole, across the button and then down the other hole. Twist the wire behind the flower to make sure it doesnít pull loose.

8. Repeat for each flower, and then arrange in a vase.