Tuesday, November 29, 2016

My DIY Wedding - part 3 - bride's bouquet



Inspired by the bridesmaids bouquets I also made my bouquet! I used the same "rolled flowers" technique but also a few other folding paper techniques to get different types of flowers -
Differently to the girls's bouquet, mine was not based on a styroball but had actual wire "stems"  - so one of the difficult part was to arrange the flowers in a proper bouquet shape at the end

What you need:
-card stock paper (in various colors)
-glue gun
-florist wire like this  (around gauge 22) - for tsmall flowers
- floral stem wire like this   - for larger flowers
- florist tape like this
- Ribbon
- cissors
- Paints or crayons id you want to add designs on your flowers



There's a lot of paper roses designs online and I'd like to thanks every DIY-ers for theirs ideas!

For these flowers I used this pattern : roses
It's basically a rose out of 6 flat flower, you cut flolowing the line and use each one of your cuts. You will then roll them and glue them together, for the xterior petal to the heart of the flowers. A rigid paper will work better for these.



For the "rolled rose, you can have a look to my bridesmaid bouquet's post
 https://cafe-croquis.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-diy-wedding-part-1-bridemaids.html

The only difference here is that I glued each flower on a florist green wire stem  (using a glue gun and some patience for the glue to dry! )



For the lily-alike  flowers, you can use as well a 5-petals pattern like this one  or just draw it by hand yourself using a circle as your base. (or use a cricut if you have one)
You will need 4 sizes of that same design, from the bigger petal size you want (4.5 in diameter in my case) to the smallest (1 inch in my case). Each flower will have 6 flower "layers" : 1 large petal - 2 mid-large petals, 2 mid-smal petals - 1 small petal.



Once you cut your flower layers,you want to slightly fold them up with your fingers to give them some volume (picture on the right), like they're blooming from the center. Once it's done, glue the centers of each layer on top of each other, in staggered positions, from the bigger layer to the smaller one (Try to not flatten the flower, glue only the center to let the petal bloom.)
Glue securely a wire stem under the flower with the glue gun.



I used the same idea for the tiny blue flowers but only with 2 flower layers, and a bit of blue crayon to mark the center.
I glued them on thinner wire to look like some kind of blue lilac.
Same for the heart-leaves.
And as I said in another post, fern were punch cut with this
then glue to thin green wire. This takes a lot of time and patience as you can't put a lot of glue . Just a touch, and let it dry!





To Attach the flower together and form the bouquet first place the big flowers the way you would like them in your hand, then add the medium ones and the small ones. Each time you add enough flower, solidify the bouquet by taping the stem together using the florist tape.
 At the end add the leaves. You want the bouquet to be very tight so you don't see the wire under. Them cover the stems with a glued on ribbon. Tulle will hide the seam.

Final result:

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

My DIY wedding - part 2 - The Boutonieres

In the same idea as the bouquets for the girls, I created boutonnieres for the groomsmen using cardstock colored papers to make them more solid


What you will need :
-assorted cardstock papers or any paper heavy enough
- double prong hair clip or any flat clip similar  to this 
- scissors
- glue gun & sticks
- Optional: a paper punch  like this if you want to add leaves to your boutonierer and some light paper (like printer paper, green or other color ) 

To create the boutonniere use the same principle for the flower as for the girls bouquet projext, here : https://cafe-croquis.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-diy-wedding-part-1-bridemaids.html
But you should use a heavier paper, so it stays in place. I made 9 boutonnieres. I think I used 2 or 3 sheet of each colors . While you do the flowers, keep the paper leftovers for the 2nd step.

Once you have your flowers, take your leftovers cardstock and cut stripes of 2inch x 3.4 inch. (1 per flower)
You can round up the corner (like I did in the picture or not)
Take 3 of your flowers, glue the first one at the top of the stripe. Then place and glue the 2 others depending on your tastes. If your flowers are bigger than mine, just make a bigger stripe)





Once this is done, turn over the flower and glue the flat side of your hair clip to the stripe. Want to make it more secure? glue a stripe of paper over the flat side of the clip and to the paper . In my case I also used a extra safety pin (just glue the paper stripe around it ) for security

Want to add some "fern" around? Use your paper punch in a printer like paper (cardboard will break the paper punch)  and glue them around the flowers (don't put too much glue this time and try to hide it the flowers "petals"

And here you go! Need more info? Please pm me or comment !:)





My DIY Wedding - part 1 - Bridemaids bouquets

It's been so long, yes, but I have a good reason, I got married and did a lot of DIY for the wedding!
I wanted to share some if it  if maybe some other bride-to-be are looking for ideas for their own big day!
So first here are the bouquets I made for the bridesmaids
It was  a destination wedding so I needed something solid enough to be shipped and I liked the idea that the girls could keep them as a souvenir as well
"rolled" paper roses

I bought some polystyrene/Styrofoam balls 
and a Natural white blank  sketchbook  at the craft store 
You will also need:
 -  ribbon,  tulle
- some branches or sticks to make the "stems", 
- watercolor crayons if you want some colors  on the flowers
- cissors 
- a loaded glue gun! 

First, you need to determine the size of your flowers - Mine were out of a approx 4" circle.
Once you have decided the size, use a pattern or hand-draw like I did a spiral (ps: the more "spirals" means the more "petals) You can see the size of my spiral and the reasulted flowers . - It doesn't have to be perfect but pretty consistent - then, cut along your lines. (Except if you have a cricut machine, hand-drawn and cut is the fastest way I think .

After that, take your precut spiral and start to roll it from the outside toward the inside of the flower . Once you arrive at the center of the flower you should have enoug of a "base" to put so glue there and fix all the "petals" there. A lot of glue is always better. 

Glue the flowers to the ball once you add the stem 

I've made 8 bouquets, it was a lot of flowers and lot of time! I don't remember how many per bouquet but I guess it depends on the size of your Styrofoam ball and flowers.
Now, take you ball and make a hole in which you can glue on branches or sticks to make a "stem-handle" - again, the more glue the better ! Then cover the sticks with a ribbon of your choice (glue each and of the ribbon to the stick (you will add a bow on it later)


And once you have a good amout of flowers start glue them on the ball. You want them really close to eachother, so you don't see the ball under.


Add a bow on top and that's it!
I added some color to some of the flowers in mine with watercolor pen but it's not mandatory in this project. If you want more info, please pm me!