Bring the outdoors in-Easy Project!

By beccajo

created on: 03/23/08

Hey folks, hope the Easter Bunny found you this morning!
I had promised to bring the centerpiece to my family's dinner today, but I forgot to get the flowers last night. All the grocery stores were closed this AM, so I came up with another solution.

My dad cut a few branches off an apple tree my folks have growing in their yard, and I gathered scissors, a wire cutter, a pin, some different pink construction paper, and some thin wire (I think about 22-24 gauge? It's like silver floral wire). I also had a small wood box, you could set these in a vase or jar as well.

1. Layer the construction paper, and cut out a bunch of skinny football shaped petals. I was using three different colors of paper, but you could make these all one color if you'd rather. I also did them freehand, as flowers come in different shapes and sizes I didn't worry about *perfection*

created on: 03/23/08

2. Lay the petals on top of each other in a plus-sign fashion, and then fold in half, so each petal kind of sticks up on either side. Fold in half again to form a diamond shape, then pierce with a pin about a 1/4th of an inch into the 'point' of the diamond. Wiggle the pin back and forth to make it a little larger.

created on: 03/23/08

3. Snip a 2 inch piece of wire, secure in hole, and wrap ends around the branch. Be sure to get a blossom on the very end of each branch, one or two in the middle, and at any 'V' where one branch splits off. Use your hands to 'open' the flowers by pulling the petals out from the center.

created on: 03/23/08

4. Stick the branches into your vase or box, or secure in floral foam and cover with sheet moss if you want to get really fancy!

From the time I thought of it, until I was done, it took about 15 minutes to complete.

created on: 03/23/08

A few more tips and ideas:

*If you don't have a yard, check out a craft store or look for branches that have naturally fallen, don't cut them off trees you don't own! My dad was going to prune it soon anyway-so it's not a big deal for that tree, but I'd feel awful if some poor unsuspecting trees got chopped up for this project!

*I didn't have time (or green construction paper) so I didn't make any leaves-but that would be super cute to wire some little ones on there as well.

*Try using other types of paper- recycle old tissue paper, greeting cards, newsprint, whatever! And be sure to throw any scraps in the recycle bin when you're done.

*The tenants of floral design state that an uneven number is more pleasing to the eye, although I only did two branches.

*If you are making a table arrangement, keep it low (or airy enough) so that folks sitting on opposite sides of the table are still able to see each other, pass food around, and not get lost in a forest!

Happy spring everyone!

Tagged:
centerpiece diy fake flowers branches leaves trees floral arrangement flower-arrangement