Bouquets not Made of Flowers
Creating a unique bouquet will require you to think outside of the flower box. For years, people have already been doing that, coming up with such ideas as acookie bouquet, acandy bouquetand even abouquet made of fruit. Here is another fun and easy non-floral bouquet you can make for any occasion: A gift card bouquet.
Keeping with the essence of a traditional bouquet, this guide teaches how to produce a set of gift card “flowers” which can be wrapped in decorative paper or cellophane and tied with a ribbon, yarn or raffia.
Stems
The stems can be made from the three-pronged plastic note card holders you get in a bouquet or vase of flowers from the flower shop. You can also make your own stems out of green floral sticks or by using some wooden dowels (3/16” diameter x 12” long) and wrapping them with green painter’s tape or floral tape. You’ll want to cut them different lengths between 9” & 12”. Next, glue a mini (1 ¾”) spring clothespin to each of your stems, with the closed end flush to the end of the stem. Once the glue dries, you can start adding the gift card blossoms.
Gift card flowers
The gift cards you add will depend on the occasion and the recipient of your bouquet. Since the nature of a bouquet is more than just a few of something, getting a bunch of cards will be best. Many stores and restaurants allow you to purchase their gift cards in any dollar amount you wish, making it easier to get a variety of cards to use. There are also now many designs from which to choose so your bouquet can be as colorful as your imagination will allow. You just need to decide on how much you are willing to spend. If, for example, you want to spend $50, you could get ten $5 cards to the same place or buy gift cards from several shops in various amounts.
Other flowers
As an added aroma, your bouquet can include things like movie tickets, bus tickets and note cards.
Once you have your gift card flowers made, you’ll want to arrange them in a bouquet fashion. Lay a 15” x 15” sheet of wrapping paper (decorative side down) or cellophane on your workspace with a piece of tissue paper on top. Lay your longest gift card flower on the imaginary line that spans two opposite corners. The tip of the flower should be right at the upper corner if your paper or cellophane is laid like a diamond in front of you.
Next arrange the other flowers by overlapping them near the bottom of their stems, no more than 4” from the bottom for the tallest flower. Your buds should spray no more than 8” wide. Once you have a design you like, carefully lift the bunch of stems where they intersect and secure the bundle using a piece of tape about 5” long. Be careful not to wrap it too tightly, you just need enough to hold them in place.
Now fold the bottom corner of your paper up about 3 ½” and tape it to the stems.
Fold the right side of your paper to cover the flower stems and tape it down.
Fold the left side of your paper over the right side making the left edge meet the outside right edge.
Secure your bouquet with some ribbon or string and voila!
