Today I’m so excited to share a special DIY I designed for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. If you’ve ever visited a child in the hospital, you know that bringing in gifts or decorations can be tricky. Many hospitals have restrictions on what is allowed  into the pediatric floor  – no plants, no flowers, no latex, no food or candy, no stuffed animals, no used toys. So, this DIY is a great solution! It’s perfectly safe and will brighten up a hospitalized child’s room. It breaks my heart that this year one million children will spend Christmas in the hospital. So I love that CMN Hospitals is encouraging everyone to donate $5 in honor of these kids. To give, just click here and follow the steps. All donations to CMN Hospitals stay local and each hospital can choose to spend the funds however they need them most. CMN Hospitals raise funds for 170 children’s hospitals in North America. Together, they provide $3.4 billion in charitable care every year.

Materials: Crepe Paper, Floral Wire, Floral Tape, Scissors, Ribbon

For Flowers with Round Stamen:
Step 1: Cut out 2 small pieces of crepe paper and a long piece of floral wire.
Step 2: Crumble one of the crepe paper pieces into a ball. Fold the other piece of crepe paper over the ball and squeeze around the bottom of the ball. Secure by wrapping one end of the floral wire around the base.

For Flowers with a Fringe Stamen:
Step 1: Cut out varying colors and sizes of fringe and a long piece of floral wire.
Step 2: Fold the fringe on top of itself to create the base of the flower and secure by wrapping one end of the floral wire around the base.

Step 3: Cut petals and fringe out of crepe paper. Begin placing the petals or fringe around the ball base of the flower and continue wrapping with floral wire to secure into place. Finish when you are are satisfied with the look of the petals and/or fringe. If you want, you can also cut out crepe paper leaves and attach them when your flower is finished.
Step 4: To create a stem, cut out another long piece of floral wire and wrap the middle around the base of the flower.
Step 5: Wrap the base of the flower with floral tape so that no wires poke out.

Once you have about 15 flowers, arrange them into a bouquet (alternating colors and sizes) and then secure into place by wrapping floral tape around the wires. At this point, you can attach crepe paper leaves with floral wire around the bottom of the arrangement to fill it out. Bend the wires to the size you want, then wrap with ribbon (so nothing pokes out.) We added multiple layers of ribbon so that the base was thicker.

This post is brought to you by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Donate $5 and give a miracle to a child in the hospital this Christmas.

Photography by Gaby Esensten for Oh Happy Day
Art Direction by Jordan Ferney
Produced by Alison Piepmeyer
Crafting and styling by Caitlin Barker