Hi friends! I have a special guest joining me today. My friend Kristen from Down Home Inspiration was so kind to offer to share a project with you today while I’m recovering from my surgery. I met Kristen at last year’s Haven Conference. She is one crafty and creative gal, and I know you’ll love her! Kristen and her daughter came up with this awesome kid’s craft—DIY Egg Carton Flower Art—using leftover cardboard egg cartons from Easter!

Well hi there, I’m Kristen from Down Home Inspiration and I am so excited to be sharing a fun craft with all you wonderful Two Purple Couch readers!

I’ve got three awesome kiddos who have grown up watching me craft and create and it has rubbed off on them. My oldest daughter, Grace, loves to find projects in the strangest places that even I would never think to look. One of her favorite spots for inspiration is the recycle bin. She amazes me with the random things that she can come up with! She once created a doll while waiting for our food at a restaurant by using a straw, bits of her paper napkin and a gum wrapper from my purse. And let me tell you…it was adorable and kept her little brother and sister giggling while our food was being prepared.

In short, my girl is mind blowingly innovative.

So when we were done dying our Easter eggs and she begged me not to throw out the egg carton, I set it aside for her, anxious to see what she would come up with. And here is Grace’s spring craft for kids:

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag316/downhomeinspiration/kid-craft-1_zps30fvbroy.jpg

It is a simple but charming way to add some pizazz to your spring decor and let your children help decorate your home. We ended up having all of the supplies on hand, but it would be an inexpensive craft if you need to purchase the items. You will need a cardboard egg carton, plain canvas (we used a 12×16″), green pipe cleaners and paint colors of your choice.

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag316/downhomeinspiration/kid-craft-3_zpsisj9g5rv.jpg

Start by cutting the egg carton apart so that you end up with each egg indentation separated. Grace used seven for ours as she layered a couple of the flowers. After the carton is cut, paint each “flower” with craft paint and allow to dry. This was by far the most time consuming task, so make sure to start here.

While the flowers were drying, Grace painted the canvas a bright and happy yellow. She also took this chance to paint some cotton balls with the same color to serve as the center of each flower. She was so excited about all of the dimension!

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag316/downhomeinspiration/kid-craft-4_zpsujqvyquu.jpg

Once the canvas and flowers were dry, Grace used a low temp hot glue gun and glued her layered flowers together and placed the cotton balls into each flower as well. She then used her green pipe cleaners and glued them on to the canvas to serve as stems. She wrapped a couple of them around her finger to give them a different look and used some small scraps that she folded in half as leaves. After the stems were attached she simply glued the flowers on to each one and stepped away with a big ol’ smile on her face.

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag316/downhomeinspiration/kid-craft-5_zpsox9pqycb.jpg

I love letting my kids get creative and it always makes me so proud to see what they can come up with. If you’ve got a crafty kid in your house, this is such a fun way to invite spring into your home and use up those egg cartons left over from Easter!