Egg Carton Flowers

Sorry for such a late post! Between the kids getting strep throat, the constant cleaning to keep everyone else from getting sick, and then getting back into the routine of school, homework, and activities, I did not finish the post until today.

These flowers are easy to make. You will need a cardboard type egg carton (or two), paint/paint brush, scissors for cutting out the flowers, hot glue, pipe cleaners for stems, small bells/buttons/pom poms for decorations (optional). These flowers are super versatile and can be made and used for Valentine's Day (individual flowers with a note, a bouquet of flowers), Easter, or even Mother's Day! These are just the styles I came up with, but there are so many ways to make the flowers, just use your imagination! If you want to leave your flower stemless, you can glue to a card, make a wreath, etc.!

I tried three different types of paint: acrylic craft paint, Crayola Washable Paint, and watercolors. The acrylic craft paint had a more vibrant color (the blue and red flowers, and the orange petals) and definitely dried the fastest. The Crayola paints did pretty well (yellow flower and the yellow petals), but took longer to dry. The watercolors took longer to paint (had to keep getting the paint pad wet, were a lighter color, and took the longest to dry (purple flower). The watercolor and Crayola washable paints were the easiest to wash off my hands. If you are in a time crunch, I would use the acrylic paint and wash hands before the paint dries on your skin. If you have more time and want less intense hand washing, the other paints might be better.

To start, cut (or rip) the lid of the egg carton off, you just want the bottom bumpy part that holds the eggs.

To make the flowers, you will cut out the shape of the flower from the egg carton. Paint and let dry completely. If you are using a stem, poke a hole through the center for the stem to slide through. Insert the stem. Bend the end of the pipe cleaner that is still inside of the flower. Place a dot of hot glue and attach the stem to the flower. You can leave this as a simple flower, add a button, pom pom, etc. in the center.

For the rose type of flowers (blue and yellow), you want the cup part of the carton. Cut petal shapes around the rim of the cup. Next, cut out a second cup. This will be the center of the rose. Cut out a triangle from the base (see Rose image below), to help fold the shape. Cut petal shapes around the rim of the cup. Paint the flower pieces. For the rose, I bent the edges of the petals over to give some curve to them. Let dry completely. Poke a hole through the center for the stem.

You will now form the stem and center petals. Take the rose piece that has the cut out on the bottom. Hot glue the end of the pipe cleaner to the edge of a petal. Wrap the flower piece around the pipe cleaner, making sure to glue as needed to keep the petals from unfolding. (See bottom of image below.) Next, place hot glue in the bottom of the rose base cup. Leave some space around the hole for the stem, or you may get hot glue on the pipe cleaner as it slides through. Poke the end of the pipe cleaner (the end without the flower attached) through the hole and pull through. I thought my rose looked a little skimpy, so I added another filler row of petals (between center and the rose base).

For the lily, you want the piece of the carton bottom that sticks up (see image below). I cut through the center of the cup part so I could get as many much petals as I could. Trim as needed. Paint, let dry. Decorate. For the purple lily, I made a ball at the end of the pipe cleaner and attached small pieces of yellow pipe cleaner to create a stamen. I placed hot glue on the bottom of the pipe cleaner ball, and slid it though the hole. I added a little more glue to the outside bottom of the lily. For the red lily, I used some craft berry/stamens that I had left over from making a Christmas wreath. I made a small knot with the pipe cleaner and threaded the stamen wires through. I placed a dot of hot glue to make sure they would stay. I then placed hot glue on the bottom of the pipe cleaner knot and threaded through the hole of the lily to form the stem.