Tissue paper blossoms glued to real branches look like the real thing, only you can enjoy them for years! I've had these for over a year and a half, and they've been transported several times to various functions and they're still looking fine. I found these branches on the side of the road, a by-product of winter pruning that suited my crafting needs exactly!
As you may or may not have noticed I have made it a practice to only post original work here so as to avoid linking to other sites, in this case however I really wanted to share this lovely project with you, so I'll give credit where credit is due, this project was published a few years (or more) ago by the amazing Martha, as in Stewart. I used to say that I'd like to be the Jewish Martha Stewart, but after everything she's been through I think I'll just be happy being myself! Funny enough though, a few friends of mine started called me Martha when I started this blog, with no prompting from me. I met a friend in an elevator at a wedding and she screamed out "it's Martha!". Fortunately nobody had any idea what she was talking about, because I was pretty darn embarrassed, as funny as it was! Okay enough about me, on to Martha!
Instructions:
So I just did a search and it turns out I saw the project in a magazine from 2005. Here's the written instructions (with a few changes) courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings:
You'll Need:
- Tissue paper, the colors of your choice, either traditional pink or yellow, red, white etc.
- Flower crafting stamens
- Floral tape, preferably brown, but green will be okay, that's all I had available to me
- Real branches
- A hot glue gun
- For each blossom, precut a 1-inch-long piece of brown floral tape and a strip of tissue paper 1 1/2 inches tall and 4 1/2 inches long .
- Accordion-fold paper (you can make up to five folded panels; for some blossoms, fold just two or three). With a pencil, draw the petal shape on the folded paper. They should have wide, flat bottoms the width of the panel, and rounded tops. (Picture a peanut with a flat bottom.)
- Unfold.
- Fold two to five stamens in half, and twist to secure.
- Wrap paper around stamens, pinching at base as you go.
- Wrap base with floral tape.
- Trim stem, and gently spread and shape petals.
- Hot-glue blossom to branch in clusters, with smaller blooms at top. For buds, cover a tiny ball of cotton with crepe paper, and tape to stamens.
In case that was a bit too hard to understand, here's a more recent and easier (though not as realistic looking) version: http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/paper-cherry-blossom-display
Needless to say these are great for DIY wedding arrangements. Just make sure they won't poke anybody in the eye! Probably best used on a dessert table rather than as arrangements on dining tables. This would also be a great project to do as a crafting get together— everyone goes home with a nice bunch of blooms to add cheer to their homes and remember a nice time spent creating together. Enjoy!
