Frugal Friday - Paper Floral Arrangement



It's Frugal Friday once again. This is when I take a one or two dollar item along with supplies in my scraproom and show you how to create something pretty enough to give as a gift.

Today's frugal creation will serve as a hostess gift to my friend and fellow consultant Tamra Pope who is having a Valentine cocktail party this evening. (I sure hope she doesn't have time to visit my blog before the party!)

I decided to create a paper flower arrangement in a little basket. Recently Tamra was showing me a talented consultant's blog (Diane Tuggle) that inspired her. (Be sure to check out Diane's post where she made beautiful paper flowers for a scrapbook layout.) I knew that Tamra doesn't like wine and would love something handmade with those paper flowers so I got busy.

It all started with this dollar item from JoAnn's...



...and some Basic Grey paper I got for FREE in my box of stuff I ordered from an online store. What a nice surprise!


If you know Basic Grey paper, you know that it's wonderful. Two-sided designs. Perfect for making paper flowers. You might also know that this particular paper is Christmas paper called "Eskimo Kisses". The only thing that really makes it seem like Christmas paper are the little flower prints that resemble poinsettias. I simply liked the colors!




I got busy cutting out these flower shapes on my Cricut from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. The largest flower is 2 1/4 inches and they all get smaller by 1/4 inch after that.





I cut out this flower shape just like Diane did for my leaves.





I inked the edges with Vineyard Berry and then curled the petals under a little with a finishing file.




I did this technique to all of the flowers. (I poked holes in them, but didn't need to after all.) 




I inked the "leaves" and then folded each leaf slightly so I could ink across the middle like a vein. See the inset photo.




The smallest flower is the center of the whole flower and I wanted it to stand up a bit, so I snipped off one petal....



added some super sticky tape to one petal...




and stuck that petal to the petal next to it, making a nice little cupped flower.




I used thick foam tape to add some dimension when assembling the flower layers.





For the center of the flower I snipped off a pom-pom from this ribbon. Eventually I added some Prisma Glitter to the pom-pom. I glued the flower to the "leaf" base which you will see in the full photo.




I took my fun Martha Stewart fringe scissors and cut along the blue and green paper.




I crumpled it all up. This makes the perfect grass for my basket!




I covered the box and handle with some remaining paper, then more of that pom-pom ribbon around the top of the basket. I forgot to mention that I created the hearts with my Martha Stewart punch. These served nicely as fillers in the basket. I used bamboo skewers covered in green floral tape for all the stems.




I finished it off with this cute tag and a stamped butterfly tied to the handle with some white twine. 


This project took me a few hours, but wasn't difficult at all. A few TV shows and a phone call to Mom and it was done!


I think Tamra will like it. It certainly passed the test of my 13-year-old daughter who thinks scrapbooking and cardmaking are suddenly so uncool. She came home from school today and took one look at it and was raving about how awesome it was. 

YAY!


Comments

  1. Annette, Thank you so, so much for the lovely gift.....It is absolutely amazing. Totally LOVE it. I will cherish it forever. Tonight was wonderful and I'm so glad you and Paul could join us for our Valentine celebration.....Now, I definitely need to run out and buy this great cartridge...

    ReplyDelete
  2. beautiful project!!

    I have been considering that scissors and you've pushed me to go get it- LOVE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful project thanks for the inspiration.
    Judy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! If you have a question you would like answered, please e-mail me at AnnetteMGreen@gmail.com