"The Corsage"

A Jack-of- all-trades is also a huge part of being a mom. Getting sucked into the idea that we have to do it all can be a slippery slope, because usually we're doing it all. Baking cookies with sprinkles, decorating ornate cupcakes, throwing a themed party, mending a tear in their favorite shirt is only scratching the surface of the job description for being a mom. Lucky for me I've always been crafty, which has saved our family tons of money. Having five children makes me always searching for a good deal and a cheaper way. However this time I didn't end up saving much money, but am able to personalize my daughter's prom corsage and boutonniere. (Next time around I'll have everything and will actually be saving money.)

Pausing for a moment from the writing as I demonstrate the step by step process of making corsages.

Step 1:

Get all the Stuff!

Floral wire, Floral tape, ribbon, wrislet, floral spays, tin snips, wire cutters, and flowers. (Corsage box & crinkled paper.)

Step 2:

Start making all the fillers.

I spray painted the beads black.

Wrapped a few flowers and ribbons with wire and floral tape.

Wrapping the flowers or ribbons with wire gives them the ability to be flexible and stand upright. The floral tape hides the wire and also will stick to it's self as it stretches.

Step 3:

Tape some together.

 I test out different accents together until I get the exact look I'm wanting. When I have them picked out I start wrapping the floral tape around the the two stems until they're completely covered. Cutting the end. Make sure there's an extra long stem. Cutting it shorter later if needed.

Another option for the filler. Considering that black roses cost around a hundred a dozen. I opted to use black silk flowers to be mixed in with the fresh mini white roses and mini carnations.

Step 4:

Make the bows.

I still struggle with these. My best advice, go to YouTube. Type in How to make a corsage bow. There are professionals that can explain it much better than I can even attempt to do. I constantly remind myself that the bows don't need to be perfect. I make 3-4 and pick the best one to go on top. the others get hidden behind flowers.

Step 5:

Start wrapping the fresh flowers.

I'm use mini white carnations, white roses, and daises. The carnations and daises where placed in blue water for a few days, giving it a striped effect.

First, I wrapped each flower with wire.

Then, I wrapped the wire with floral tape, covering the wire. This step gets repeated so much that by the end you feel like a pro.

Step 6:

Start clustering.
Taking the leaves, flowers, baby's breath, and accents. There's a little bit of playing with the design.  I used floral spray on the baby's breath for a light mist of color.

                       Play...

                      Play...

                    Play, until...

                        it's Perfect!

         Wrapping all of them together                     with floral tape.

          Step 7:

          Add a Bow or two.

Step 8:

Attaching it to the wrist band.

This was tricky for me, but it was fairly simple. Unwind the ribbon and  wrap it tightly around the base of the flowers. (Tie it with a knot.) The metal arms can be folded over around the flowers for extra strength.

  

Finished Product: 

They both turned out beautiful.

This project was lots of fun for me. It was a way for me to feel connected to my daughter at the same time feeling the gratitude I have for my mother teaching me.

Prepping For Prom

This week in our house is Prom. (It's kinda of late for the season.) We've been running around getting all the finishing touches done. Finding a tie to match her dress and of course a ribbon to match the tie.

So instead of the usually chaotic mom activities, my role will be a little different. I'll be playing the part of a florist this week. After several trips to Michael's, one to Safeway, to reserve some white roses, and a quick trip to Walmart (cause Michael's was closed) I think I'm ready to begin production. (crossing my fingers)

For some reason I thought it would be cheaper to make our own. I was wrong, but too late now. I have to keep reminding myself it will be personalized and won't look like she's growing an entire garden on her arm, like some of the ones I've seen. But I think it's all in my blood, which has been the only reason I feel like I can do this.

Growing up my mother was a wedding designer/coordinator. I can remember spending many long days at one church or another decorating everything from chairs, to tables, to hanging a humongous chandelier she was known for using.

Another talent she had was arranging flowers and making corsages. During all this hectic work she would take the time to show me how to make them along with her. I don't know if she was doing it to teach me or if she needed me to be helping, but I learned just by watching and sometimes making my own corsage from rejected ribbons and flowers pile.

So this week I wanted to have an extra blog post about the process of making my daughter's wrist corsage and her date's boutonniere. Hopefully they turn out well. (This time I can't cross my fingers, cause I have bows to make.) I'll have step by step photos of the progress as they're being made.