Mother’s Day is nearly here! If you haven’t got your Mum anything special yet, don’t worry we have you covered! It’s time to transform old jars and bottles into beautiful paint-dipped vases.

What you need

• Glass jar or bottle

• Water based paints (your choice of colour)

• Small pot of white water based paint

• Old, large yoghurt pot and lid ( it should be wide enough to fit your jar or bottle into)

• Water

• Flowers or others gifts to fill the vase

• Ribbon or string

• Paper or card

• Paintbrush and pen

• Hole punch

How to prepare…

1. Set up your art space! This craft can be very messy so make sure you have paper or cloth down on the table and your art clothes on.

2. To prepare the vase, remove any labels on the jar by soaking it in hot water. Wash the jar or vase thoroughly and dry.

3.  Optional: You can paint the vase one solid base colour. We painted one of our vases white to show you how it looks.
   Make sure it’s dry before paint dipping.

How to Paint Dip…

1. Fill the bottom of your yoghurt pot with white paint (about a cup measurement).

2. Mix your colour of choice into the white paint.
   We made up a purple colour by mixing in blue and red.

3. You’re aiming for paint that is as thick and runny as liquid honey. 
   If you tilt the yoghurt pot on its side the paint should very slowly move towards you. 
   Add water if needed to get the right consistency.

4. Put the vase into the yoghurt pot so it is standing in the paint.
   Tilt the pot on its side and rotate the vase to make sure the paint spreads quarter of the way up.

5. Now to get a creative ‘dripping’ effect by standing the vase bottom side up on top of the yoghurt pot lid. Watch the paint trickle down and dry.
   Drying should take 1-2 hours.

How to make a gift tag…

1. Cut shapes out of card or paper to make tags for your vase.
   We cut out circles and turned some into heart shapes later.

2. Use the left over paint to decorate the tags you’ve made.
   For a drip effect, just paint the top section of the tag and tip the card so that the paint trickles to the bottom.

3. Wait until your card is dry and use a hole punch to make a hole in the top, Then, thread your ribbon or string through the hole.

4. Write a message for your mum on the back and tie the tag to the vase.

5. Fill the vase with flowers the day before Mother’s day so they are fresh. You could also fill the vase with chocolates, kind notes or other treats!

Tips for Pros: You can experiment with the paint effect in lots of ways. Try using a paint brush to let paint drip down the vase or use more than one colour.