cheap wedding inspiration

{DIY or DIE} Delicate Paper Cherry Blossoms

So, there you are, DemiGoddess of DIY! You are sitting there, glossy-eyed with excitement at the pile of crafting stuff you just acquired from Michael’s Arts & Crafts. You… you are a magnificent creature. And I have a project for you.

Today, we’re making Delicate Paper Flowers and celebrating how amazingly crafty we are!

But first, I have a couple DIY or DIE {tips!} First and foremost — don’t ever buy anything at Michael’s for full price, unless it’s a true CraftMergency. {And it rarely is.} If you go online, you can print out their “Make Your Own Sale” coupons {click on the flyer, then click on the coupons} and always get at least one item at 40% off. {The catch is that you can only use one coupon per person, per day… so if you have a lot of stuff to grab, and more than one big-ticket item, drag your hubby along.}

And Tip #2: Start Small. I know, looking out at your new collection of sparkles, and paper, and glue {OMG, THE GLUE!}… All you want to do is reconstruct the Eiffel Tower the way they should have made it in the first place — With glitter! If, however, this is your first foray into the land of CraftDom, take my advice… Start small. First of all, don’t let the Kindergarten name fool you: crafts are hard. Moreover, they tend to activate what I like to call my Toddler Energy, where I get really into them for oh, an hour or so. Then my eyes glass over and I get distracted by popcorn and one of the cats and the next thing I know, there are 27 half-made, sparkly Eiffel Tower support beams, but there’s not more creative energy to be found, no matter where I look. {Not even under the couch, or in my bed, where I often find a nap instead.}

Miss French Fries over on WeddingBee really summed it up nicely in her phenomenal post: How to Create Your Own Wedding Decor, in 27 Easy Steps! It’s so easy to get started, it’s harder to coast once you’ve ruined half the flowers you intended to make, and you have ribbon somehow glued to your forehead {where the hell did that even come from? You don’t even remember cutting any ribbon…}

Set yourself up for success. Let your first craft project be a simple one. You’ll get through it, hopefully with all your fingers, and you’ll feel like the true DIY DemiGoddess you really are! And — and this is the important part– you’ll be under budget.

Before we jump right in {put those scissors down; I can see you there, with fire in your eyes, just looking for something to cut into tiny pieces and decoupage back together}… Before we get started, there’s another DIY Article that I think you should take a look at. It’s by Design Guru Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo, who is not only a creative genius, she’s also a truly exceptional human being, full of warmth and talent and charm. What she speaks to, and the really important take-away for us DIY Brides, is the fact DIY doesn’t mean Duplicate-It-Yourself. There is a huge difference between playing Monkey-See-Monkey-Do and creating personal decor for your wedding day. Get inspired. Read the instructions. But be sure to make it your very own.

And, on that note, without further ado, I present to you: Dogwood/Cherry/Little Pink Flowery Blossoms.

The original idea for these flowers came from the book Playing With Books by Jason Thompson. The idea is to repurpose old storybook paper into fabulous crafts that you can then use to decorate your home. I was desperately searching for a pretty flower that would be small enough to work in the groomsmen’s boutonnieres.

Playing with Books had a craft project that looked easy enough, and like it might work for the project. So I bought it. It looks like this:

{Image via Rag & Bone Blog}

Now, yes, the idea is to make the craft out of storybook paper. But I’m a nerd, so the idea of chopping up books makes me nervous. I fully intended to use the 16-week subscription I ordered of the Wall Street Journal, back when I was vowing to become a more globally-conscious person. They’re all sitting, still in their plastic wrappers, waiting for me to “do” something with them.

Alas– newspaper was too flimsy for this project. And drawing paper {from a standard drawing pad} was too heavy. It didn’t bend the way I needed it to without doing this horrible creasing thing. This morning, determined to get it right, I rounded up every supply that I thought I would ever possibly need for the project {yes, yes I did completely disregard the directions, but hey… I was making it my own}.

All you really need for this project: Tissue Paper, Floral Wire, a very small bit of Craft Glue, and some clear tape. If you’re going to color your flowers, either watercolor paint or chalk. And, of course, chocolate and wine. Oh, right… and scissors.

From there on out, it was pretty simple:

For this project, I think I just used the white tissue paper that came in an Aerie purchase I made at the mall last week. I started by folding the sheet in half {long-way} and cutting it into strips. Then, I cut those longer strips in half, on the crease from the first fold. I did that for about 2/3 of the sheet.

For the last bottom bit of the sheet, I cut bigger strips {about double the size} and then cut those into four pieces {shown above, the little squares}. I snipped the floral wire until it was 3′-4′ long. Don’t let the ruler fool you. I didn’t measure a single thing for this project. But hey! Doesn’t it look fancy?

Right! Now. Take one of those fat little squares, and crinkle it into a small ball. Find a little spot where it looks like the floral wire might feel at home, and dab just a touch of glue in there

OK. The little squares of paper: You now have your glue-filled-crinkly-paper ball. Find one of the pieces of floral wire {it’s probably on the floor. Your cat is probably chewing it. No, not that cat. Your other cat. Theeere you go}. This photo is deceptive: I actually stuck the little balled up piece of paper to the wire before I tented the flat square of paper over it. Then I twisted the flat paper around, until it made a little Stamen for my paper flower, like so. I secured it with a full piece of tape, but found out later that if you cut the tape in half, so you have a longer, skinnier piece, you’re a lot less likely to tape yourself to your own project. ** Please Note: If you push too hard on the floral wire and poke a hole in the top of the stamen, your flower isn’t ruined. You can’t see the middle at the end of the project. This is more to give the petals something to grab onto.

You’re a total rockstar! Give yourself a small pat on the back, take a swig of wine and a bite of cookie. Mint Chocolate Cookies are ideal for this project.

Feel refreshed? Great. Now grab one of your long, skinny strips of tissue paper and snip arbitrarily, every 3/4″ or so. Tall, skinny petals are better than short, fat petals, though. They’re easier when we get to the “fluffing” phase.

Next, round the tips of the little fringes, so they look like petals. Vary height and taper to your fancy.

If you’re going to color your petals, it’s now or never. I wasn’t sure what I was going to use to color mine, but I knew they needed to be light pink. I tried chalk {per the book’s recommendation, but was nervous that it would transfer onto my girls’ navy dresses}, watercolor paint and acrylic paint.

Chalk, Watercolor, Acrylic: Acrylic was disqualified immediately because, well… it looked like I spilled old Pepto onto my project. I ended up really liking the chalk, and it didn’t smudge off, but I ended up going with the watercolor because I really liked that I could control the intensity of the hue much more acutely, and more easily. I used, literally, a very small dab, and diluted it in a tea-saucer of water. And don’t tell my mother in law, because she’d die if she knew I used a tea saucer for a paint project.

Now, it mentions stating here, separately, that if you’re going to use watercolors, you should understand two things. 1. It’s going to show through. 2. It’s better if you watercolor over paper that will absorb the excess. Because the tissue paper I used was so thin, and the watercolors were so diluted, the paper got really delicate when I painted it. I managed that, along with the runny mess of excess diluted paint, by painting over a blank sheet of drawing paper {the rest of the sheet from the strip that I used to determine that drawing paper was absolute crap for this project}.

Once I painted each petal {gently, with a No. 9 round, pointy brush} I would lift it off the drawing paper {so that it wouldn’t stick as it dried} and laid it back down. sometimes, if it stuck to the paper again, I’d flip it over. I’m not sure if it helped or not, but in my mind it did, and anyway… no petals stuck to the paper. So there you go, I am a genius.

Once you’ve lightly colored all your petals, put another small dab of Craft Glue on the stamen. Gently place the petal-strip on the glue. Then don’t touch it. This is going to be the toughest part, because you’re going to want to see if it’s dry. It’s not. It’s not dry, and if you touch it, you’re going to ruin it. So don’t touch it. Go eat another cookie or something. Let. It. Dry.

Once it’s dry — you touched it, didn’t you? You totally did. It’s OK… I did, too– you simply roll it up, around the stem. Now. Here’s the catch. All my petals kept lining up with one another. I was going to have a whole handful of lopsided flowers. So every now and then, I’d cheat. I’d either fold petals backwards, to cover gaps aruond the stem, or I’d put little “darts” in the bottom of them, like when you’re trying to pin a shirt to fit around your chest. Use your discretion, but don’t hesitate to pinch the petals and fold the petals and re-fold the petals until you think that you’ll get a good, full flower when you “fluff” them out. {You’ll see what I mean in a second.} Once you’re satisfied with your petal distribution, secure the bottom with clear tape. I found it best to put a corner on the loose edge of the petals I just wrapped, and to pull the tape around the stem in the same direction I was just wrapping. It gave a secure, seamless fastening.

Top view of your wrapped-but-un-fluffed flower.

Now it’s time to “fluff”. Starting with the outermost petal, gently pull the petal back away from the stem, flipping it against the natural curve of the paper. It’s like flipping it inside out. Work your way through all the petals until you find yourself at the middle again. {Try to do them in order. If you go out of order, sometimes they flip themselves back; sometimes they just rip.} Once you’re done flipping, take another swig of wine and admire your work!

Top View of Fluffed Flower. They’re just really pretty, and really delicate.

I wasn’t ready to make the rest of the boutonnieres, because The Groom said he wanted a vote in the color of the pinwheels, so the completed project will be here for you next week. In the meantime, these little beauties are going to keep me company at my desk, as I revel in how awesomely crafty I am. I heartily suggest you do the same!

So there you have it, a great little starter project for the DIY Bride who’s a little intimidated by this crazy, sparkly, glittery Wedding World.

Feel free to ask any questions, and PLEASE if you try this project at home, let me know how it worked for you! I’d love to see your variations, your input, your finished products! Until next week, go add a little sparkle to the world around you, you saucy minxes. And don’t forget– we’re all in this together!

-MM.