DIY Pink Paper Peony Tutorial

For these paper flowers I dyed coffee filters with tropical punch and black cherry Kool-aid (the difference in shade is not noticeable). I added the Kool-aid and 1/4 cup vinegar to 1 quart water in a flat pan mixing until the Kool-aid dissolved. Depending on the shade of pink you want you can dip the filters in only part way and the tips of the petals will be darker pink and fade to white in the center or dip the all the way in and soak for a much darker pink. Also how many you dye stacked together will cause the filters in the middle to be a lighter pink. First, I tried dying each one separately, it took too long, but the colors of the filters were more uniform. (If that's what you want you should time how long you leave them in and use the same time for each filter.) I found I liked the less uniform colors and the flowers looked more natural. After the filters reached the color I wanted. I wrung the excess dye back into the container and placed the filters on a cooling rack set on   top of a cookie sheet. To speed up the drying process I heated my oven to 250 and put the filters in the oven Checking them every 5-10 min. until the filters were Dry. ( It's easier to separate the filters after they are dry.)  

                                                          

SUPPLIES

 

     When I cut the petal shapes I stacked 4 filters together and folded into fourths. Then started my petals about an inch and a-half up from the point. You can leave the petals rounded at the tips like I did or make them jagged by unfolding the filters once and clipping small notches in them.

I unfolded the fillers and left them stacked together. Then took a pencil and rolled the ends of the petals around it and slightly push the edges of the petal together. Then I separated the filters and  re-stacked them so the petals overlapped the gaps.

                                                            

 For the center I folded two of the darkest filters together like the petals. I cut about and inch and a-half from the point jaggedly. Then I stacked these on top of the petals. From there I took a 4 inch piece of wire and put it through all ten layers about an 1/8 inch from the center then I put the other end through about a 1/4 inch from where I put the first end. Then pulled up and gently twisted each layer. After I had the flower the way I wanted it to look I twisted the wire together tightly and fluffed the petals.

 Finished Peony

Let us know if you made your own peonies and leave a picture of how it turned out!

Rustic Snowball Flower Arch

This is the time of year we usually would be getting decorations ready for Venture High Prom but Colton my youngest graduated  last year!!!  For the past couple of years we have been putting the over abundance of snowballs from my Mom's garden to good use at Venture's senior Prom. Well with With no Prom to decorate for and a ton of beautiful white flowers in her garden. My Mom asked me if I would like to try an idea I had last year and of course I couldn't say no to my Mother and Sierra couldn't say no to hers. It took us about 2 hours to put the arch together. We borrowed a couple of old garden pots from my Mom's patio and filled them with dirt. We cut 8 limbs off othe bushes we tried to keep them fairly log about 12 to 14 feet. We pushed the branches into the pot all the way to the bottom and wired them together Then we overlapped the branches and wired them together about a foot above the pot and again another foot up. In the center of the arch we wired touching branches together in several different places until it was strong enough to stand. Then we placed snowballs on the arch to fill in holes and hide wire.

It turned out lovely! 

Sierra working hardon the arch.

My Mom checking out our work.

Pink Paper Peonies on Vintage Garden Arch

Here is what we did with our beautiful Pink Paper Peonies we worked so hard on. We paired them with my favorite lights old fashioned Edison string lights. To give a more vintage garden feel we used cream burlap, dark green moss and grapevines. All on our easy to set up metal garden arch and fence. Later this week we will post a DIY tutorial on the Peonies! Please tell us what you think in the comments below!