MISS CHARMING GUEST POST CARNATION TUTORIAL

Gina from Miss Charming has a lovely tutorial for us today that is perfect for upcoming Mother's Day events or just for some fun spring decor. Gina's blog is full of beautiful photography and many inspiring furniture makeovers. Thank you Gina for sharing this tutorial with us!

Okay...take it away Miss Charming!

I would like to thank Kelli for giving me the wonderful opportunity to guest blog on Restore Interiors. I'm a relatively new blogger (less than 2 months) at my decorating blog, Charming. This is my first guest blog and it goes without saying that I am absolutely thrilled!

I absolutely love fresh flowers but sometimes they aren't practical. (with the slimey water and falling off leaves...) I came across a blog called Nuestra Vida Dulce where the blogger, Joi, made some incredible looking carnations out of tissue paper. In using hers for inspiration, I came up with my own version of homemade carnations.

These are the supplies needed.

You'll also need a floral ball in a size that fits on the top of the container you will be using.

I found these two plastic containers at St. Vincent DePaul for 50 cents each. I spray painted them glossy white.

Trace around a glass to make a circle on tissue paper. The paper usually comes in a stack of 8-9 sheets. Make sure you cut through all the layers since you will need that many for each flower.

Cut a circle out (of all 9 layers) and poke two holes in the center with a safety pin.

Cut about 3 inches of floral wire, bend it in half and poke it through the two holes so it looks like a stem. I used a very thin wire at first and it was quite frustrating because it kept ripping through. I switched to 22 gauge floral wire and it worked well. (Also making sure the holes weren't too close together helped.)

Begin lightly crumpling up each layer starting in the center.

When you are finished you may need to "fluff" the tissue paper back open a bit until it looks how you want. As you become more practiced you may notice that your blooms are becoming smaller/tighter in size. In my first attempt I didn't like how the flowers looked. I thought they were too loose and looked like crumpled tissue paper. By the fourth one I wasn't really paying attention and then realized that the flowers looked really tight and small. It's all about control. If you pay attention you can have the size you want.

Trim wire if needed and push into the floral ball around the edge of the container.

Here are the two finished containers that I painted. Can you tell the difference in size of the flowers?

I tried a little two toned here.

These are the five bouquets I made. You can create different looks just by varying the colors you use, the size of the blooms and the design of the container. (Each of the containers here were found at various thrift stores.)

These bouquets are relatively easy to make and fairly inexpensive. They would be great for Mother's Day or to extend Spring a little longer.

Thanks again, Kelli!

Thank you Miss Charming! Y'all go visit Gina's blog before you make a break for the craft store for some tissue paper!