Last weekend, my cousin asked me if I would make boutonnieres & corsages for her prom group. I had so much fun because nothing makes me happier than a big ol’ bucket of flowers that go from this:

to this:

and my very favorite: (you can tell because they got special backgrounds. ha ha.)

I added little fabric flowers made from left over scraps from when my aunt hemmed my cousins dress…can you tell?

learn how to make a boutonniere here!

Okay, so the moment you have all been waiting for! Here is the secret on how to pin on a Boutonniere. Very valuable information if you ask me…

1. Make sure that you have 2 bout pins. Take the first pin and push it in and back out of the mans left lapel:

2. Then push the pin upward into the stem, but not back out. The point of the pin should be safe inside the stem so no one will get hurt

3. Repeat on the other side of the flower, with your 2nd pin:

And it should end up looking like this:

And I  promise it wont fall off, or tip to the side, or look stupid! YAY!

Also, make sure to check out my tutorial on how to make a boutonniere.

My sister went to Prom last Friday, and called and asked me if I would make her a boutonniere. Can I just tell you right now how much I love flowers, especially the real ones!!! Anyhow, I thought it would be kind of fun to show you how to make one as well. They really aren’t hard to make, and they just take a little bit of practice to get good at them. And then you can make about 3 for the price of 1 that you would buy at the florist. (YIKES, being a former florist—I probably shouldn’t tell you that. ha ha, well there you go—the secret is out of the bag! oops.)

Supplies Needed:

Wire Cutters
Pliers
Flower clippers/knife
Floral Tape
Floral Wire Gauge 20
Boutonniere pins
1 Rose, greens and/or filler flowers (like baby’s breath)

TIP #1: The most important things you need to remember when making a boutonniere is that your rose needs to be fresh! When you go out to buy your rose, gently squeeze the base of the flower and make sure it is firm and not soft. If it is soft, the flower is getting old and will not last as long. Before you start making your bout  you also need to make sure your rose is well hydrated (that way it will last longer after it is cut off from its water source). Cut at least 1-2 inches off the bottom of your stem at an angle and put it in a vase of warm water for about 1/2 hr. DO NOT cut your flower with scissors! This smashes the vessels that your flower uses to drink up the water. Use flower clippers or a sharp floral knife.

Step 1: Cut your rose off the stem, leaving about 1 inch, and remove the outer guard petals: those are the ugly ones that are on the outside of the rose…yes it is ok to pull petals off!!!

Step 2: Thread a piece of floral wire through the upper stem of your rose, then bend your wire in half: (Basically you are just recreating your roses stem, but this one is made out of wire so you can bend it.)

Your “new” stem should only be about 4-5″ long. If it is longer, just cut the extra wire off with your wire cutters.

Step 3: Wrap the wires with floral tape. Start at the very top (as high up as you can go) and try not to wrap your calyx leaves (the green leaf like things) with your tape…this can be kind of tricky but it looks so much better if you don’t!

TIP #2: If you find you are having a hard time using floral tape, take some time to practice taping around a ball point pen. Remember that floral tape only sticks when you stretch it…and it does take a bit of practice to get good at it. Tape on a slight diagonal and stretch the tape slightly as you go…

Step 4: Cut a piece of greenery and a piece of filler flower (such as baby’s breath). I didn’t have any filler so I decided to  use these gems I picked up a few years ago at a floral wholesaler. If you want similar jewels you can go to your local florist and usually they will sell you some for around 1-2 dollars apiece.

Another fun thing to add to your bout is ribbon, simply loop your ribbon and twist the end of it together with some floral wire and then tape it like so (you may want to use a thinner gauged wire for this 20 was a bit thick, but it still worked):

Step 5: Now arrange your leaves and filler flower (or jewels/ribbon) until they look pleasing to you and tape them into place. My floral instructor taught me to always tape everything individually. He would have said “first tape on the leaves, then tape in your ribbon, then tape on your filler flower” etc. But I have to disagree…I think it gets way too bulky—but you can try both ways and see which you like best:

TIP #3: If you want your bout to look professional, DON’T let your new stem become too bulky! As you add more and more to your bout, make sure to cut off any extra wires, or stems…you only need to leave enough so you can tape them onto your bout, everything else can be cut off!!!

Step 6: Take a pen and twist your new stem into a pretty spiral:

And now you are done!!!  YAY!!!

Tip #4: Try not to make your boutonniere more than 24 hours in advance. After you make it spray with a thin mist of water. (Florists spray it with a product such as Crowning Glory which helps slow down the deterioration of the flower. A spritz of water will help your flower to remain hydrated—since flowers can absorb water through their petals as well as their stems. And a hydrated flower will also not deteriorate as quickly.)

Then place your bout into a cellophane sack, or a ziplock bag.

And finally, place your creation into the door of your refrigerator. Flowers like to be at a perfect 40 degrees. Just in case you were wondering

In my next post I will show you the proper way to pin on a boutonniere. Another florist secret. ha ha. okay, not really but I’ll tell you what—I would have liked to know back in high school when I was going to the prom. he he.

ta ta for now!

This post is linked at:

Made by you Monday @ Skip to My Lou
Look What I Made @ Creations by Kara

I know you have all seen diaper wreaths (well if you haven’t you will have to google them sometime) they are cute, and I like ‘em. But I like these better =) ha ha. I am definitely biased though because these are my very own unique creations! I posted about one of my baby wreaths back in May and I have finally been able to make another one so I could do an actual tutorial for all of you:

Step 1: Collect some cute stuff!

• First and foremost you are going to need a wreath base. I got lucky and found this 13″ wreath base at a local dollar store. If you can’t find one at a dollar store you will have to fork out a few more bucks and pick one up at a craft store like Roberts or JoAnn’s.
• Next you will  need to get some baby onesies & socks. I just bought a package of 5 onesies with a coordinating package of socks. Worked great!
• You will also need: silk flowers, greens, hot glue, and ribbon.

Step 2: Lay out your onesies and socks so you can visualize how they will fit and look on your wreath.

then make a mark on your wreath base so you can see the area on your wreath where your onesies and socks will go. This is the area that you DO NOT want to fill with flowers/greens.

I drew a line between my markings so I wouldn’t get confused…

Step 3: Start by adding your greens. You will want to glue them onto your wreath in a circular pattern. Don’t have one leaf pointing to the left and another pointing to the right, PICK ONE direction and stick with it! You can see that mine are all glued on in a clockwise direction…

Step 4: Now you get to add your pretty flowers.

Step 5: Place your baby items back on your wreath (one at a time) and find any holes. I then added a few yellow flowers and different greens to fill in the gaps shown below.

Step 6: Thread some ribbon through your wreath and tie a shoe string bow around your baby items.

Now just hang it up on the front door while you are hosting a baby shower and present it to the mom-to-be before she goes home! She can then remove all of these adorable baby items and use them.

Here are a few of the other wreaths I have made:

Hope you got some great ideas! Have fun making baby wreaths…and as always, if you do make one, I would love to see a picture!!!

***Also: I’m a little protective of my wreath pics-so make sure you give credit where credit is due if you use them – if you make a wreath just make sure to let people know where you got the idea and send a little love back my way because you are nice! That’s it. Thank you!***

(Don’t want to make one? Please contact me at Anne [at] floralshowers [dot] com)

This post is linked at:

Get your Craft on
Made by you Mondays
Making the World Cuter Monday
Just Something I Whipped Up
Made it for Monday

Have you made a wreath using my tutorial??? I’d love to link to a picture/post! Leave me a comment and I will add you to this list:

Becky’s Craft Closet

As many of you know: I absolutely LOVE flowers! I actually own my own floral design business and I have a degree in Horticulture with an emphasis in Floral Design. Cool HUH!?! (at least I think so=) Only problem is I don’t get to do much with it, ’cause man do those kiddos sure keep me happily busy!

I have however, been able to do a few weddings and I was even able to do some arrangements for the Hotel Monaco which is located in downtown Salt Lake City. I made this arrangement for them a few years ago, and to this day it is still one of my very favorite:

It is the most perfect of all imaginable perfect arrangements for Fall! And to make it even more fitting for Halloween all you have to do is add those plastic spiders and stretch some cobwebs between some of the flowers or twigs!

If you are floral savvy it is pretty easy. Just hollow out a pumpkin, put in a liner (I used a waterproof paper mache pot that you can pick up at your local florist-or you can use a big sheet of cellophane), fill it with wet floral foam, tape it in so it wont slide around, and then do your arrangement using fall flowers. Pretty fun to do and gorgeous to look at.

If your aren’t floral savy just purchase a pumpkin and head on over to your favorite florist and let them do all the hard work for you. Some florists even sell pumpkins and have similar arrangements in their coolers.

Oh, I need some flowers. sniff sniff =)