DIY Flowers & Vase

Spring is around the corner but it is still cold here in New York.I can't wait to see the spring blossoms, so I decided to make my own bunch of flowers to bring the freshness of Spring into our house.I had been collecting white cup cake liners from a big box of butter cookies and also had a tropicana juice bottle.I thought the shape of the bottle would be perfect for a vase and made a bunch of flowers with the cupcake liners.Let us see how to make it.

Materials Used :
Cup cake liners
Glue (I used glue gun)
Floral wire/Pipe cleaners
Floral tape(Optional)
Any vase of your choice(I used Tropicana bottle as vase)
Acrylic paint(colors of your choice)
Acrylic sealer
Sandpaper(Optional)
Masking tape (Optional)

This Photo is taken from Google images.With this bunch of white roses as an inspiration I started to make my own bunch of  flowers

Step 1:Take a cup liner and a floral wire folded into half.Make a slit in the center of the liner to insert the floral wire.(If you can find floral wires you can also use green pipe cleaners,I got mine in Dollar stores)Make a bend in the wire(Picture 1) and glue a zigzag folded liner on it(Picture 3).Start gluing zig zag folded liner all around the base liner till you are satisfied.I glued 12 liner one above the other making two tiers for a single flower.(Picture 4)

Step 2:Randomly glue the outer edges of two liner to cover the center part and look like a complete flower(Picture 6).If you are going to make a bouquet of flowers wind the floral wire with floral tape to look like real flowers(Picture 7).There is no exact procedure to do this , you can try making flowers in whichever way it is easy for you.I found this way is easier.I tried two or three ways to do it but there is no big difference in it , you can see it in Picture 9.All the flowers look alike.To add a pop of colour , you can use colourful cup cake liners.

Step 3: To make a bunch of flowers ,I used two flowers in the center and arranged the remaining 5 flowers around that to create a round bunch of white flowers.I connected the gaps by gluing the outer layer of each flowers and twisted all the wire together to keep the flowers intact.

A bouquet of white roses

Do you know that white roses were used as a "symbol of love" in early traditions? To know more about, click here History and Meaning of White roses

Step 4:Now to the vase, remove the label from the bottle (Use any bottle or vase of your choice) and clean it with rubbing alcohol. As I used a plastic bottle, I sanded the surface(and cleaned it with rubbing alcohol) and then used 4 coats of acrylic paint leaving it to dry for 15 to 20 minutes between each application.Then used gold paint to add two stripes and to cover the top cap area To create stripes, I used masking tape .You can paint any design you want.After it is dried ,I sealed with acrylic sealer to avoid the paint from peeling off.(You can also use hair spray to seal it ).Voila!You now have a beautiful bouquet of flowers and vase to welcome Spring.:)

What would you use as flower vase?Do you buy one or reuse the bottles at home??Feel free to share yor views in the comments below.

Have fun crafting !!