Spring [Paper] Flowers

So, here are long overdue pics of the spring window additions for Rodney Mitchell Salon in Hillsboro Village. There are other products featured in the window, so I needed to come up with something a little smaller in scale, bright and eye catching without cluttering the window.

I found inspiration in Martha Stewart's craft blog; she features artisans who do some really cool projects! After watching a couple flower making tutorials, I broke out the supplies. Lots of tissue paper, craft paper, florist tape, hot glue and dowel rods were used among other things. My favorite part was adding subtle color variations to the tissue paper by dipping it in a bleach and water mixture.

This was an all day project. Actually, it was a couple evenings and a long day project, but it was the perfect indoor project for the dreary spring weather we've been having. My assembly time was really  slow at first but I got faster as I established a technique. Unfortunately though, the faster I went the more frequently I burned myself with hot glue. Scalding hot glue + direct finger contact = blisters. Ouch. After "potting" them in 2 sky blue vases and delivering to their place in the window, I returned home to deal with the post flower creating carnage.

Yes, I am SUPER messy. This is my living room floor/ flower assembling station with Seamus watching from his spot on the couch. The tissue and craft paper cutting were the messiest part. Although, for some reason (whose name is Bella) I ended up with moss strewn about wildly, as well.

 

First a howling blizzard woke us,  
Then the rain came down to soak us,  
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus.  ~Lilja Rogers