Our Mums have put in lots of blood, tears and sweat to raise and provide for us. So instead of buying her a present off the shelf, why not take a little time and effort to make her a present? Our mums surely deserve it.

Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to showing you how to make chocolate flowers for mum, with love:

Things you need:
- satay sticks
- chocolate Ferrero Rocher
- ribbons (both cloth and plastic ones)
- scotch tape
- cling wrap
- tissue wrapping paper

Step 1: Pierce the satay stick till midway through the Ferrero Rocher. You want to make sure the satay stick makes a clean stab yet doesn’t entirely go through the chocolate. We wouldn’t want to spoil a pretty flower would we?

Step 2: To keep the chocolate fresh, wrap a large square piece of clingwrap around the chocolate and secure the ends around the satay stick with scotch tape.

Step 3: Now we move on to making the petals of the flower. Fold a 20cm length of plastic ribbon in half.

Step 4: Leaving a margin of about 2.5cm (1 inch) from where the two ribbon ends meet, use a sharp scissors and cut lengthwise. Each cut should be approximately 5mm away from the other.

When you fan the strips out, they should look something like this.

Step 5: We will need two of these ribbon petals. Wrap them one on top of the other around the satay stick and again secure with scotch tape. This makes for a fuller flower with many lovely petals.

Your chocolate is now complete! YAY! Decide how big you want your bouquet to be and make as many stalks as it takes to fill up your bouquet.

Step 6: We’re going to individually wrap each chocolate flower before we put them all together in a larger bouquet. Fold your tissue in half so the ends don’t match.

Step 7: Carefully place your chocolate flower in the middle of your tissue wrap.

Step 8: Fold the right corner of the tissue towards the middle.

Step 9: Now fold the left one over the right.

Step 10: Finish off the wrapping by tying a secure ribbon at the base of the flower.

When you’re done with one flower, keep going until you’ve got the desired number of flowers. Bunch them together, wrap with pretty paper and you’re good to go!

When next Sunday comes around, present them to mum with a big hug and kiss, and watch her gush over them. I promise she won’t bear to eat these beautiful chocolate flowers, but you gotta make her really. These flowers don’t last forever, but the thought of you working hard to make these chocolate Rocher flowers specially for her, will.

Things you need
1. Feathers (any colour you like)
2. Small piece of cardboard
3. Red cloth approximately 4.5″ x 19.5″ or 12cm x 50cm
4. Red thread
5. Red hairband
6. Scissors
7. Needles

First, we will make the rose. Turn the cloth over and fold the width into half, making it about 2.5″ wide. This is the side that wont be exposed. Sew the edges down with small stitches. You dont have to be neat as we will be hiding this on the inside. Once you are done, turn the cloth inside out. The side that you want to show as the rose petals should be on the outside now.

Now we have to make the rose. You start by rolling the first edge of the cloth in for about an inch or so before folding the cloth outwards to make the “petals”.

Fold the long end of the cloth outwards to form a triangle. The triangle should be nearest to where the new “petal” will be (see visual). Wrap it around the rest of the “petals” you’ve made and hold securely at the base with the other hand.

Fold. Roll. Hold. Repeat.

When you’ve reached the end, sew the loose ends securely at the base/stalk of the rose with the needle and thread and admire your beautiful work. It might be a good idea to sew across the petals too. This helps to keep the shape of the rose. Make sure the sewing’s tight because we dont want the rose to come undone!

Now comes the easy part.

Glue stick the rose and feathers to the hairband at desired position with a glue stick.

To provide extra support for the rose on the hairband, we’ll use cardboard. Cut a circle from cardboard big enough to cover the base of the rose, but small enough to be hidden.

Cover it with the same red cloth you use for your rose so it camouflages.

Finally, attach the cardboard underneath the flower and feathers for stability.

VIOLA! Your new Valentine’s Day fascinator.

In case, you’re too lazy to try it out yourself, here’s a GIVEAWAY!

I honestly wasnt sure if I should give out this DIY item I personally made. I mean, I wanted to, but I really dont think it’s good enough. It’s definitely not store material of course. There’s a reason they call it DIY.

But since it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m in the spirit of giving (isnt that Christmas though?), leave your name and working email address in the comments section if you dont mind my brilliant (HAHA!) handiwork. One LUCKY commenter will receive this DIY fascinator in your mailbox!

Draw ends 11th of February 2010, 1200hr! So start commenting now.

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