Cheap, Quick, Handmade Mothers Day Bouquets

I'm still on my "handmade, homemade, vintage or repurposed" gift challenge, but I'm going in with my sisters to buy my mum a Mothers Day pressie that doesn't quite fit into the HHVR categories. So I've been perusing the interwebs for something sweet, handmade and cheap (because the pennies be tight here at the moment) and have come up with a few options, that you may or may not be interested in yourself.

I'm keen on bouquets of things other than real flowers AND super-keen on pompoms. Behold, the joining of the two!

I made these two pompom flowers in the time it took my coffee to brew (and, if I'm being honest, to go slightly cold) so they are classified as a quick-fix craft for me. They really are very easy, and I followed the directions found here on domestic fluff, which includes a much much much easier pompom making method than the cardboard doughnut one I posted a while back. Praise!!

I have plans on making bunches of these for the mums that I know, and my fingers are itching to get into it.

Before I do though, I thought I'd share another non-flower bouquet that I put together a few weeks ago, using Japanese washi tape and skewers.

I just wrapped some tape around the blunt end of the skewers and snipped them into various flag shapes. A cute little handmade gift idea, or something to brighten up your bedside table or bathroom vanity.

(You can also make miniature versions using toothpicks, which are super-sweet as gift tags, place markets or cupcake toppers.)

Do you have anything special in the works for your mum/mum-in-law/sisters/grandma?

Crafty: Pom Poms!

Part of the Lavender Experiment, for me, is to decorate our home with handmade things, things that have a little piece of us in them, things that mean something.

I'm certain I could go and buy loads of pretty knick knacks all at once and have the decorating finished in a matter of days, but A) there's no fun in that, B) there's too much money in that and C) that doesn't express a great deal about us as a family.

I'm a big fan of quirky garlands at the moment and have been working on a woolen pom pom garland for the past couple of days. I forgot how long it takes to make pom poms the old-fashioned way, but I do find the repetitiveness therapeutic so I don't mind.

The progress on my own garland will be slow, I'm sure, but these gorgeous examples keep me inspired:

From Honestly...WTF

From Small Bird

From Millalove

From Honestly...WTF