Full Flower Moon and Altar Box Craft

Aaaaahhhh, Spring is FINALLY in the air. And by Spring, I mean pollen.

The bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and the pollen are zipping happily through the air. Why? Flowers! The flowers have returned to us. They are becoming more and more abundant and they are making the gray of winter just a memory. We have green fields dotted with pinks, reds, yellows, blues, whites and purples. The soft petals are drifting through the wind and lying about on the pavement. The flowers are showing how much life they have in the velvety decor on the ends of their green stems.

May's full moon is the Full Flower Moon. The reason, of course, is the arrival of the flowers. Our flower beds are filled with them and more are arriving every day. I just love it. I have Fall as my favorite season, but Spring is definitely my second.

Flowers are life. They have a use by the plant they adorn. In turn, they also give life to the bees and the butterflies and the hummingbirds, and of course to us. We wouldn't have fruit and veggies without those little flowers.

They are also written about by poets and authors. They are used to mark celebrations. Birthdays, parades, anniversaries, graduations, births, deaths — they all are decorated with flowers. You tell people that you love them, that you are sorry, congratulations, happy birthday, I miss you, I hate you, I like you, welcome back, and toodles with flowers.

I thought we would take a look at a few quotes about flowers, the meaning of some, and then make a floral altar box.

These quotes are all very telling. They speak volumes on how people feel about flowers. This is why flowers are used in so many life stepping points — they mean things to people. They comfort, they celebrate, they make people happy. "Fairies use flowers for their charactery." ~William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor "Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature." ~Gerard De Nerval "A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love." ~Max Muller "Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul." ~Luther Burbank "Earth laughs in flowers." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson "Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts." ~Sigmund Freud "I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen." ~Anne Lamott "You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way." ~Walter Hagen "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." ~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Flowers can also be used for symbolism and spellwork. They each have their own meaning: Bachelor's Buttons: Love Daffodil: Love, Fertility, Fidelity Daisy: Luck, Innocence, Purity, Loyal Love Jasmine: Love, Money, Prophetic Dreams Lavender: Love, Protection, Sleep, Chastity, Longevity, Purification Lilac: Exorcism, Protection Lily: Protection, Breaking Love Spells, Purity of the Heart Lily of the Valley: Mental Powers, Happiness, Sweetness Marigold: Protection, Prophetic Dreams, Legal Matters, Psychism Primrose: Protection, Love Rose: Love, Psychic Powers, Healing, Divination, Protection, Thankfulness, Desire SpiderWort: Love Sunflower: Fertility, Wishes, Health, Wisdom, Power, Warmth Violet: Protection, Luck, Love, Wishes, Peace, Healing, Faithfulness Yarrow: Courage, Love, Psychic Powers, Exorcism

Now for the craft! Items needed: - Coffee filters - Acrylic paint in your choice of colors - A wooden box of your choice - Hot glue This craft costs around $10.00–$12.00 depending on the size box you get. Here's my box:

First thing that I want to do is basecoat the box. I decided that I wanted to make it look like a color stain, so I watered down my blue paint and just lightly coated it.

I also did the same thing to the inside. Next I painted a moon on the lid. I just painted a white circle, let that dry. Dabbled some gray on top to make moon craters. Then I floated some watered down white around the moon to give it that moon glow.

Now, while that's drying I will dye my white coffee filters. All you need to do to dye your coffee filters is get a bowl of water and put a bit of acrylic paint in it and mix it up. Alternately, you can use food coloring. For my flower colors I chose pink and yellow. I'm making small roses. For the stem, I chose a green color. Here are my colored waters mixed:

Take your coffee filters and place them in the water one at a time and let them float for a few minutes. When you think they look good, take them out and put them on paper towels and also cover with paper towels and press them. Lay them out separately to dry. It will only take about 15 minutes.

When they are dry, you will begin making your roses and stems. You want to rip strips of the filter. It doesn't have to be long, just the width of the filter is fine. It doesn't matter about rough edges — I'm using the edges to make the rose look bloomed.

Take the strip and begin rolling it. As you roll it, make the outer edge of the roll turn out.

After you have rolled the rose, take a tiny bit of hot glue and glue the end to the rose. When you have it rolled, turn the rose and look at the bottom. You want to trim that bit of the rose off, so that it will glue flat to the box.

Now, to make your stem, you will take your green filter and just twist it tightly.

Now place your roses and main stem where you want them on the box and glue them down. After you have placed those, you can twist shorter ones for the individual stems.

I didn't like the color of my stems — I didn't think that they dyed a dark enough green, so I went over them with a darker green with a small paintbrush. That's why the stem looks two different colors.

Still placing the roses and stems.

For leaves, just cut out small rectangles and then trim them to diamond leaf shapes. Just dot the bottom of one with a small amount of glue and place where you think they look best.

Now add some stars to your sky and around your moon for a magical sprinkle look.

Now you'll want to pick a quote to paint on the front of the box. I chose one by Jean Ingelow: "The moon looks upon many night flowers, the night flowers see but one moon."

Then I decided to add just a few more stars and a couple of dragonflies and my box is now finished! I'm really happy with the way it turned out — it's just how I envisioned it.

I hope that you enjoyed this full moon's craft. Brightest blessings, Saga