Have you ever made a bouquet of paper flowers? I enjoyed doing that so much when I was a little girl. However, I completely forgot about that activity until my 13-year-old granddaughter made her mom a paper flower bouquet for Mother’s Day in May of 2024.
As soon as I saw it, it triggered memories of me making tissue paper carnations when I was little. I especially remember one time when my creative endeavor did not end happily.

I remember learning to make tissue paper carnations in my kindergarten class at P.S. 186 in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, NY, where we lived on 78th Street. I wanted to make more at home. We only had white tissue paper, but I wanted all different colors. Back then, you could buy boxes of pink or yellow Kleenex tissues, or boxes of assorted colors. My mother must have been very distracted taking care of my new baby brother, because, for the first time, she sent me to the grocery market around the corner on 20th Avenue all by myself. I only purchased two boxes of tissues in assorted colors; however, they were so heavy it seemed like I was carrying home a mountain. Even though the boxes seemed bigger than me, I must have been very proud to be sent on this task by myself.

Where was my grandmother, Minnie? She and my mother were very over-protective, and I cannot imagine being allowed to go to the store by myself at five years old.
We lived in my Grandma Minnie’s two-bedroom apartment at 2054 78th Street. There were four apartments in the building, and we lived in the upstairs back apartment. Downstairs in the front, lived my Aunt Rose, grandma’s sister. As a matter of fact, at one point in time, the building was known as the House of Four Sisters, but two of the sisters had already moved out by the time I was born.
So where was Grandma Minnie that day? According to the 1950 Federal Census, she and her sister, Rose, worked in the artificial flower industry. While she was at work making flowers, I was at home doing the same thing! I wonder if they worked piecework in Aunt Rose’s apartment or if they actually went to a factory. I will probably never know.


Now, back to my flower-making. I finally made it home and got to work. I learned to pile up a few tissues, fold them back and forth like an accordion, and tie the center with a piece of string or a pipe cleaner. Then very carefully, you would pull away one layer at a time, starting on one side and then the other side until you had a fluffy flower. (Click here for complete detailed directions.)

You could then spritz on some perfume to make the flowers smell pretty, but on that particular day, I decided to dab them with my mother’s lipstick. While she was busy with my brother, I took her brand-new lipstick (the one she bought while discovering she was standing in line at Macy’s next to Kate Smith, the singer who made Glod Bless America popular).

I removed the top and opened the lipstick to its fullest height. I then dabbed it on my flowers to add a little extra color and fragrance. When I was done with my dabbing, and being a good girl, I put the top back on – only I forgot to roll down the lipstick first.
My mother walked into the room just as I pushed the top back on. I saw the horrified look on her face and I saw her hand reach out to grab the lipstick from me, but she was too late to stop me. Smoosh! The entire tube of lipstick was squashed. Her beautiful new lipstick tube was oozing with lipstick all over its cover. When we opened it back up, there was nothing left inside.
That was the end of the “Kate Smith” lipstick and the end of me for that day! I can still remember crying hysterically and begging for forgiveness.
At some point in time, I am sure I made more Kleenex carnations, but I never again tried to use my mother’s lipstick to add color or fragrance.

Learn more about the people mentioned in this blog:
- My mother, May Wosnitzer Blieden
- My grandmother, Minnie Laber Wosnitzer
- My great-aunt, Rose Laber Streicher
Sources:
- https://katesmith.org/katebio.html
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/404875686003
- https://www.kleenex.com/en-us/tips-advice/art-craft/tissue-paper-flowers-diy
- 1950 Federal Census on Ancestry.com