Simply Beautiful!

I can tell 2011 will be full of crafting with the new found time I have. I am now a normal person who just works a job and doesn't try to fit in full time school on top of that. I can go out on the weekend and I don't have to feel guilty that I have homework to do, I don't have to worry about the discussion board and my thoughtful response to someone else. Instead, I check my Google Reader waiting to see which of my "friends" will have posted next. I've found so many blogs I love to follow. Two weeks off of school gave me a plethora of time to find bloggers and see who they follow.. and who they follow...and you get the idea. LOTS OF FREE TIME! These women are amazing and are making me antsy for warmer weather to redo my dresser and end tables and now anything I can find on Craigslist. Check out Sarah, the Thrifty Decor Chick and Katie over at Bower Power. Simply amazing, these women and their ideas! So this afternoon, Lacey and I hit up Hobby Lobby. She was determined to create these earrings, which turned out quite cute and she chose black bias tape. I wasn't too sure what my Saturday craft would be until I found 99 cent patterns! I fell in love with flowers I found at Leola's this fall made from patterns. I knew I could make something similar but wasn't exactly sure how. Tonight the idea came to me. After standing in Hobby Lobby with a blank look while I was deep in thought I managed to create a step-by-step process to create this.

The first flower

I still want to Google this idea, I know there have to be some really cool variations. If only my couponing skills at the grocery store were as good as the price of my crafting. All of these supplies- minus the scissors- were $7 and change. That means each flower was roughly 41 cents a piece. Not to shabby for a $4.92 bouquet! I was cheap with the buttons, 2 packages of 12 buttons for $2.95, $2.97 for 36 pieces of florist wire, 99 cent patterns and I already had the scissors.

The supplies

*Tip- I used half of one pattern to complete all 12 flowers. I suppose I'll save the second pattern for a rainy day and more flowers.


I simply cut the square sections of the pattern apart when it was unfolded from it's original state.

The first few flowers I only used about six layers per flower, but towards the end, I was using about 12 or 14 layers. I didn't use a pattern, just cut the stack in a wavy circular design. No flower looks the same as another, so no stress!

After I cut enough layers for one flower, I crinkled the layers into tiny pieces.

Next, I opened them up and started stringing the wire through the layers, two at a time. Once the wire was through all of the layers, I added the button.

Flower with many layers and my extremely comfortable Nike Free in the background

After I had it through all layers, I folded the wire through the other side of the button and back through all of the layers, where I twisted the short end of the wire around the longer side.

And tah-dah! A bouquet of cutesy little flowers; which fit ever-so-perfectly in my gorgeous red vase from Leola's.