Dearie Designs: Flowers That Don't Fade

I showed this project back on Mother's Day.

I made it for my mom and promised a tutorial.

I used this Sizzix Big Shot and Flower Folds die to create the white flowers, various circle and scallop circle punches for the pictures, along with the items pictured to make it.

When I do this again, I will purchase a stronger variety of wire. This wire was $1 but they also had a stiffer green wire for the same price which I would recommend. You could paint it or deal with it being green. Michael's or other crafty stores probably have an even better choice. I got all of these at Walmart because I was short on time. The bag of shell bits looked like mother of pearl, which my mom loves. It was $5. The vase says "Family" on it but I couldn't quite capture it. It was only $2 in the section where they sell the reeds & oils for those type of DIY air fresheners, near the craft department. The small opening lends itself perfectly for this project and they had a nice variety of shapes and sayings on the front, all in the suprising $2-$3 range.

I cut numerous white flowers using the die, probably about 20. I used mainly the 3 smaller flowers, not the largest contained on the die. I would also do about 10 instead for the next project so all can be seen easier. I had printed so many, I got carried away!

I printed the various photos in regular 4 X 6 and wallet sizes, so I could have a variety of sizes for the photo "flower centers".

I adhered the photos that were punched out to the centers of the white. I used Elmers Glue-All. Double Stick tape would have been fine, too. Then for the back, so it had a finished look, I punched out yellow centers. My mom loves daisies, so this mimics them. I glued the sticks to the yellow using hot glue. It's stiffer and dries instantly.

You could have used additional pictures instead, especially if you had a lot of people to include.

I filled the vase using a funnel with the shell bits. They were near the craft department, too. Our Walmart is all messed up right now for a {another} remodel but all of this type product [sands, stones, etc] was near the flowers for arrangements. Sand was cheaper but this was super shimmery. Sorry the picture doesn't capture it well.

Like I said, I really did too many flowers but my mom loved it just the same. I included not only shots of each of the kids, together and separate, pics of her with them and of our little family of four but even my grandma and aunts, too.

{weird overview}

I think this would be a great gift for a whole family to give to a grandmother with all her grandchildren [or great grandchildren], one on each flower.

Another idea I thought was the class mom gathering shots of each child in a class to give to the teacher, especially the younger grades.

I used Whisper White cardstock for the flowers and various yellows like Daffodil Delight & Yo Yo Yellow [because I didn't have a lot of either].

This would be cool to do with Designer Series Paper to match your house, especially the newer Black & Vanilla papers I am currently obsessed with [see here].

I made a paper flower arrangement 16 months ago for Abigale's Sip & See party using the heart punch [if you didn't yet have the Sizzix, this would be a good alternative]. I used them over for her 1st birthday, because paper flowers never fade!