Saturday, January 7, 2012

Catching Up & First Project

To get everybody caught up, I'm going to do a quick back story on the engagement so far and share the first wedding project...New Years Eve, just a few days + one year ago, my husband-to-be, Scott, asked me to marry him - where I am pretty sure I said yes about 3 times before he ever got to the "will you marry me" part of his speech. It was a quiet evening, we stayed in because he had been feeling a bit under the weather and I was knitting a pair of mittens - for those of you who know us best, this kind of evening is pretty typical - I was doing something crafty and Scott was coming up with something impromptu.
We immediately began thinking and planning the wedding which changed about 18246876129712 million times as far as location, colors and theme goes; all until we came to the decision that the wedding was for us - we are getting married because we can't imagine growing old without our best friend by our side, we needed a wedding that suited who we are. With that being said we chose to do a thrifty, crafty, outdoor ceremony followed by a family style picnic-based reception to follow. I've decided to make most everything that will be at the wedding and that is where this blog comes into play - I want to be able to share ideas and progress, as well as tell our story as we grow closer to the big day.

My first project began about a week out from the engagement when I found out how much flowers cost (it seriously knocked my socks off when I began to add up costs of bouquets)
I found a DIY flower template and began to cut, wrap, tape and paint. I ended up with beautiful paper roses in an assortment of colors that fit the theme as well as my personality wonderfully.

Here is the original site that I took the template from, I made a few alterations but this is a good base for anybody looking to try it out:   Paper Roses
Going from coffee filters to flowers is easier than you think if you put a little patience and time together. I painted my paper flowers with water color paints, I mixed up my colors myself since I didn't find exactly what I wanted at the store, but you could simply buy a tube of watercolor from a craft store to put a little life into your flowers.
I found that the best part is being able to revive the flowers after they sit around for awhile. It is super simple - you just turn them over (stem straight up in the air) and lightly apply water with finger tips on the petals. They perk right up, it is like ironing out the wrinkles, which allows for flower making far in advance of the event.
So far I have made about 5-6 dozen roses in dusty pink, variations of yellow, and hues of orange. Being 7 months out from the wedding I already have 5 of 7 bouquets finished - What a relief!


These are all the pieces for a rose and
one completed flower before paint and turning
I found that cutting the pieces for a dozen roses is more time efficient - I put all the pieces in sandwich bags, put them together systematically (all stems get piece 1, followed by all stems being taped with piece 2, etc...), then paint a dozen or two. This works well with my ten minutes here and there that I have for making them.


One completed, turned out, and painted flower

On the left is my unwrapped bouquet.
To the right are left over flowers from the first 5 bouquets
I cannot express how relieved I am to have 5 done already!




2 comments:

  1. Elizabeth those are absolutely beautiful! How creative and thrifty! Once people see these you could probably make a ton of money selling them!!

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  2. Wow those look amazing! Great job :)

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