DIY Flower Trial

I'm sure you all remember my decision to use silk carnations as my flowers for the wedding and reception. Well my inspiration picture (see below) has been taunting me for weeks now.

I am so in love with the idea of using these as some of my centerpeices, so I finally decided it was time for a "trial run". I went to Michaels's Craft store and bought all my supplies and headed home to figure out this glue gun thingy.

I am not a crafty person (I leave all of that up to my sister) so I wasn't sure how this project was going to end, but I was praying nothing too bad would happen. If I managed to stay away from the emergency room I knew I would be on the right track. I seriously kept imagining burning myself (or Don) with this glue gun. They put so many warnings on the package and I was nearly scared half to death.

After 30 minutes of cutting stems (1/2 of that time Don had to take over because I broke the wire cutting scissors). I told you I wasn't "crafty". It took about 30 minutes for me to meticulously put all the carnations on.......someone with OCD should NEVER attempt these types of projects......I could have been there all day working on this thing. It was finally Don who said "Enough is Enough"........Here is the finished project

It didn't take long for me to realize that the 6" ball that I used was way too big for most of the stands I had purchased. I ran back to Michaels and bought some 5" and 4" spheres and those seem to be the perfect size. I also was able to purchase the white milk glass vases that I've been searching for this weekend. I hit the jackpot at Salvation Army and Goodwill. I still need more, but I will keep searching.

Here is a picture of the 5" ball next to the 6" ball. In addition to the size difference you may also notice that the 5" isn't as "tight" looking. We decided to space the flowers out a bit more so we didn't have to use as many (cost savings).

After making a few trials we finally started to get the hang of this. I think we did about 6 of these and by the last one, we had it down to a science. I knew it would only be a mattered of time before we perfected it. Our only problem now is that I hope we can remember all of our "tricks of the trade" by the time it comes around to making the rest.

We also messed around with some mock set-ups of our reception tables. My pictures are all horrible because I think I was too exhausted by this time, but you get the jist of what we are doing. Black tablecloths, damask table runners, white china with red napkins, and red, black, white accents as centerpieces.

And please don't anyone point out the fact that one of the votives is not in the right spot. Little Miss OCD almost died when I pulled up this photo this morning.... And also please note that the only reason there are so many red carnations on the table is because we ran out of white ones. We were simply trying to get and "idea" of what we were doing. And lastly, don't mind the couch in the background....it was the only open floor space at the time.

You will notice in the pic above that all of the red carnation balls will be in the white milk glass vases and all the white centerpeices will be in clear china.....it looks so awesome in real life!! I'm getting more and more excited every day!

Now, I'm on a mission to find more white milk glass........keep your eyes peeled for me :)