Flowers for you...a tutorial!

I made these darling Button Flower Bouquets for my fellow Dream Girl attendees...and wanted to share them with you, too!

Supplies you will need:

Buttons!

Wire (22 or 24 gauge)

(or whatever you have that can bend easy)

Skewer or small dowel

Scissors

Wire cutters

Floral tape

Ribbon

 

Wrap wire around skewer and then clip to desired length for stamens...about 1 inch.

Cut piece of wire for stem about 6-8 inches long. Bend in half and insert into buttons starting with button you want on top. Before you cinch down and twist add curved stamen wire. Twist tight.

Gather your button flowers and wrap with floral tape. Trim bottom wires flush.

Wrap with ribbon starting at the top of the stem leaving a tail. Wrap to the bottom and come back up and tie the ribbon to the top tail. Trim ribbon.

Now you have a beautiful Button Flower Bouquet to give as a gift, pin on your lapel or tuck in a special place to bring a smile to your face every time you see it!

May Day Charm Swap On-line...care to join me?

 

After reading Rochelle's comment ("LOVE THIS IDEA!! Too bad nothing like that near me....boo hoo!") on my most recent Charm Swap experience, I decided to host one on-line! Sound fun? I know!

Announcing a May Day Charm Swap!

Create 12 charms to swap.

• No larger than 1-1/2 inches
• Not too heavy
• Waterproof
• Can be metal, wood, fabric, glass, you name it.
• A May Day theme is encouraged but optional for your charm...because everything goes with flowers!

Mail to me so I receive by April 22. Please include $2 for shipping and handling.

I will divy them up and get back to you by May Day (May 1) along with some of my personal treasures as a thank you for participating!

To keep my sanity intact (whatever!) I am going to limit this first swap to 12 'charming' people. Leave me a comment and your contact information on this post if you are interested and I will get back to you with all the details.

It doesn't matter if you are new to charm making or a seasoned professional, just give it a try! And don't stress...it is supposed to be fun. Fun to make and super-fun to receive!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Charming Friends!

I participate in a delightful charm swap two times a year. I missed attending the spring swap in person this year but Caroline proxied for me and so I wouldn't miss any charm goodness!

I created charms from vintage bingo balls. I made a jig to hold the balls so I could drill through them with my drill press. Gotta save those fingers! Then I patinaed some copper wire with a small blow torch and wired up the charms. Vintage sequins, a few beads and some homemade pounded wire eye pins completed the bauble.

And good presentation is part of the 'charm' so they were displayed on an old copper floral arrangement dish. A flower frog held my charm description.

Here are the treasures I received in return:

I am a lucky girl! Thanks for all the beautiful charms!

Dream Girls Bracelet

Got my Dream Girls bracelet done! Love Love Love!



Doug and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in April so "Silver" Love seemed more than appropriate!



Plus, a few extra charms for necklace components.

Thanks Kelli for the butterfly charm!

And, here are a few links to other Dream Girls posts with tons of fabulous photos! Nothing like having professional photographers attend. They captured the weekend's magic beautifully! Thank you!

The Fancy Farmgirl - Tiffany, our hostess with the mostest
Terri Brush Designs - Soldering Queen
Mimi Charmante
Jeanne Oliver
Maison Douce
Plus, watch my Blog Buddies sidebar for any new posts that might come up!

What a magical weekend...thank you one and all!

Dreamy!

Dream Girls weekend...

was as lovely as it sounds. I was fortunate enough to attend last year and couldn't wait for this year's event! Tiffany and Company rented an elegant barn (I know!) for DG2. It was decorated with chandeliers, twinkly lights, tissue paper flowers and Tiffany's personal (and impressive!) collection of vintage prom dresses. Cupcakes, glitter and laughter filled that barn all weekend. The talented Terri Brush and her delightful friends helped us create one-of-a-kind Soldered Bird Cages on Saturday and then Friendship Bracelets on Sunday.

Day One!

Our kit came in this bag along with a few goodies on top!

Joy of Auntie Joy made the party favors for us. Love them...Love her! I was seated with her and my other new BFF's!

And, I won a door prize!!!

Terri made a remembrance, thank you necklace for each of us.


And Ta Da...my finished project...

My bird cage...a little askew...just like I like it!



Here are a few photos of some of the pretties from Day One.

Mary aka overachiever! Loved her take on everything.

Natalie's darling birdy

Kelli's creation

Rochelle's beautiful Red!

I am still working on my Friendship Bracelet and will post photos and Day Two highlights when I finish (hopefully Tuesday!). And as I see more blogs posting about the weekend I will let you know. The caliber of photographers there was amazing and I know they captured the essence of it all.

Another awesome weekend with truly inspiring women...it really doesn't get much better than that. Thanks to Tiffany, Terri and everyone who WORKED SO HARD to make it so special for us.