Wreathed in Flowers

What I made this week from paper flowers and a vine wreath.

 Very few things are as satisfying as finishing a handmade project. Because I am fast in thinking but slow in completing, so often on the go, or simply prefer to spend my time reading, I like to pepper my creative life with projects I can finish easily in one sitting. I bought a paper flower-making kit a couple years ago from the wedding section at Wal-Mart. I sat in front of the tv night after night folding flowers (Did I really want to make flowers, or did I just like having an excuse to watch hour and hours of The Ghost Whisperer and Criminal Minds? You decide.). The flowers turned out lovely, and the process was more forgiving than you might expect (no such luck with origami, as my friend Kate and I discovered the other night). I dropped the finished flowers in a vase, and there they’ve been since completion. 

I love these flowers in soft pastels, but brights would look fab, too.

A few days ago I decided I was tired of my vase full of flowers,  and I couldn’t bear to have them on my coffee table for one more minute. However, I had put so much effort into making the flowers, I didn’t want to trash them completely. Instead, I wrapped their stems around a vine wreath I already had. I had just enough flowers to cover the face of the wreath, while sweetly overlapping one another. 

Paper flowers have so much depth. They're great for layering.

It took minutes to transform my vase full of flowers into a pretty wreath. If you want to make your own, you can buy paper or silk flowers pre-made, craft your own paper flowers as I did (although that will extend the length of the project), and wrap the stems around a Dollar Store wreathe. Super easy. Super sweet. Pretty cheap. You could make enough flowers to completely cover your wreathe from front to back if you’d prefer. I don’t mind the “raw” edges on mine. I think wreaths such as this would make beautiful wedding or party decorations, and you can be sure I’m filing the idea away for later.

Have you made any quick and easy projects lately? I’d love some new ideas, if you’d like to share! What tricks do you use to keep yourself motivated to finish longer/larger projects?

Alison :)