3 D PAPER FLOWERS

Operation "The Homecoming Mum" was a BIG project and one that the whole family contributed to while we were in Texas.
We hadn't heard about this craze until we saw how everyone gets into buying or making these Mums for the boys to give to their girlfriend on the day of Homecoming. The girls do the same for their guys and is known as "The Homecoming Garter."
The school colors are purple & gold.
A glue gun became our favorite tool in making this.... I was in charge of inserting the purple and gold feathers into the white boa while their names were glued, bells, whistle, streamers, and school sayings were added. A very soft gold bear is at the top and hubby sewed the purple football in his paws. Gaudy and overdone is certainly okay when creating these, but I think the one we did was pretty :)
His girl friend loved it as well :)

H * P * P * S ~

When it’s homecoming season across the nation, only in parts of Texas and Oklahoma is it also homecoming mum season. Some students take homecoming mums just as seriously as the homecoming football game itself.

For the uninitiated, a homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsage decorated with at least three-foot long streamers in the school colors, bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows, sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights.

It is usually worn in the middle of the chest like a breastplate with the streamers flowing down the front of the body almost touching the ankles. It is, in short, a fashion statement.

Anybody who's anybody wears one, or two. These days, a homecoming mum can cost more than $100 and weigh as much as 12 pounds!

Homecoming mums have become a status symbol for many junior high and high school students. Designs change every year. The more original, the better.

If you’re a crafter and live in Texas or Oklahoma, you should be in seventh heaven.

Even the boys are getting into this fad. They’ve started wearing homecoming garters containing a smaller version of the mums on their sleeves.

Chrysanthemums have long been the quintessential Fall flower, so it’s not surprising that they quickly became associated with the quintessential Fall sport – football. In the earliest pictures of college football games, you can pick out the mum corsages worn by the young women in the stands.

Since everything grows big in Texas, it’s also not surprising that the Lone Star State is credited with developing the more elaborate corsages known as homecoming mums. In the 1960’s, these wonderful concoctions could be had there for $10. Ahh, the good ‘ol days.

Over the years, mums were cultivated to grow bigger and bigger and the corsages grew and grew.

Today, the silk flower has replaced the live chrysanthemum as the centerpiece for homecoming mums. With silk flowers, the only size limit to homecoming mum corsages is the size of the wearer!

Now a homecoming mum can be saved as a keepsake or recycled into next year’s new unique corsage.

I made mud pies for Natalie's 3rd birthday party.

This is a fun treat for a kids party.

Here is how you make them.

Use a small clean plant pot as the bowl for serving (preferably one without a hole in the bottom, if it has a hole you will need to line the pot with plastic)

Into the bottom of the pot put a little chocolate pudding (The mud), on top of that a layer of crushed cookies(The dirt), put in one gummy worm(The dirt has to have a worm in it), then a little more crushed cookies (more dirt to cover the worm). Stick in a silk flower.

This can be used as an edible centerpiece on the table.

The kids love the idea that they are eating mud, dirt and worms.