So Super excited about this cute little bouquet. It is the most visited post on any of my blogs, ever. It says "treat-tis-se-rie Chick because that is the name of my blog I originally posted this to. But I'm trying to consolidate my stuff to one place.This came to mind, simply because I was pushed for time and resources to purchase a gift for a young lady's birthday party. It's amazing what your mind will create in a lack of resources :) Gotta say that God really pulled this together... because I seriously prayed that it would work. I had never tried this before and I didn't have room for error.
The Birthday Gal loved it and my son was proud to be the donor of this gift :) You can get the kidos involved by allowing them to cut out the flowers, picking the fingernail polishes, or gluing the flowers to the stems. So let's get started on the "How-To"!
Project approximate cost:
$17-$20 depending on the resources you may already have.
What Ya Need:
*10 Bottles of fingernail polish (dollar store works perfect)
*1 Bucket or pail
*1 Package of fringe stuffing (blue is what I used here)
*1 Sheet of foam (flower bouquet white foam)
*1 Package of Kabob Skewers
*1-1.5 Cups of sand (I used decorators sand)
*Green Floral Tape
*Colorful sheets of poster board (I used three different colors: it's up to you and your color scheme)
*Hot Glue Gun
*Flower pattern (I used a cookie cutter and traced it bigger that original. You can find templates
via a search engine)
Purchase and organize all of your materials. It's important to color coordinate with the young lady's interests and the colors you choose in polishes, pail, fringe stuffing and poster board for flowers. Delegate your color scheme and then shop for the items.
Once you have downloaded a flower template or made your own, trace and cut out 10 flowers from your poster board. With your hot glue gun, fill in the bottom of one polish and use the glue to fill any gap on the bottom of the bottle, so that it is as flat as possible. Now push the glue filled polish bottom to a flower. Do this for all flowers and polishes.
Now work on stabilizing and preparing the pail. Measure the foam board by turning the pail upside down and tracing. Cut out the circle on the inside of your trace line, because it has to be placed farther down in the pail than measured. Continue to trim the circle foam until it can be pushed about half way down into the pail. When it is a good fit, remove it and pour your sand in the pail. For a small pail, fill the bottom with a cup of sand and level the sand. For a large container, you will need more. The purpose of the sand is to stabilize and prevent the weight from the polishes from tipping the container. Now push your foam to it's snuggest position and reinforce with hot glue.
Now you are ready to create the flowers and position them. To make the stems, you need your floral tape and kabob skewers. Each stem needs three skewers. Place the kabob ends in a triangle position so that all three are touching. Make cuts to each set of skewers, between 4.5 and 6 inches long. Each stem should fit between these measurements. Some tall, some short stems will create the flower bouquet look. Now hold a set of three skewers and wrap the floral tape around the set of three skewers, tightly until you reach about an inch prior to the tip (pointy tip). Now you have one stem created. Create 9 more to have one for each polish flower.
The next step is gluing the stems to the flowers. Place a large dot of glue with the glue gun, on the bottom of a flower and hold the stem end (not sharp end) to the glue. You will have to hold the stem to the flower for at least 30 seconds. It has to totally harden before you let go of the stem. To keep the polish and flowers standing, so they do not lay and crumple, use the remainder of the sponge board and stick them into the remainder of the foam board, standing. Make sure the board is stable and weighted and will not tip over with the flowers. Placing them in the board will also help as you choose sizes to arrange in the bouquet.
When all 10 flowers are complete, you are ready to assemble them into a bouquet. Keep in mind the color coordination and the length of each flower as you place them. The longest should be placed in the middle and they should graduate from longest to shortest being in the front. Place them firmly into the foam inside your pail/bucket.
OK... you're on the home stretch! This is a great place to let the kidos get involved! Once they are all places in the bucket/pail, it's time to stuff the filling so that the stems and foam are not noticeable. Take small hand fulls of the fringe stuffing and push into place all around the flowers. I did my bouquet with a front view and kinda wish I would have done all sides. So stuff your fringe wherever it needs to be placed, depending on whether you have a front bouquet or all around bouquet. Stuff... stuff... stuff :)
Check out your placement of flowers and adjust as needed. I had to take out and replace a couple of times until I had the color coordination and length just right. When you are finished you should have an awesome, fun Flower Polish Bouquet!
You could add a cute bow or tag to the front of the bouquet. I added a small, round container of fingernail polish remover to the back with a tap of the glue gun. I hope you get to make this for a special young lady! ...and share how it goes! Best of luck with your project!
