DIY Gift Bouquet

Need a quirky, fun gift that will impress everyone around you?

Try making a gift bouquet!

I just made one featuring two of my favorite things: vodka and nail polish! 

I only wish it was a gift to myself!

I tried to re-purpose as much as possible to keep cost down and to use up stuff around the house. 
Here's a list of what I found around the house:
plastic flower pot, pot and base
bamboo skewers
colored scrapbook paper
some ribbon
spray paint
tape
hot glue

Here's a list of what I purchased:
the gifts (nail polish, mini liquor bottles, and lollipops)
DRY floral foam
more ribbon


Newspaper laid out to spray paint my old flower pot.

I started with a plastic flower pot and kabob skewers.  I spray painted them gold with some paint I had from a former crafting project.


I also had some navy ribbon left over, so I know I wanted to incorporate navy with the gold.  In my mind, I thought lime and/or yellow would create a nice color palette. 


Next I went shopping.  I got 5 bottles each of nail polish, mini vodka bottles.  Then I headed over to the craft store.  My local craft store has decorative ribbon sold by the yard.  I got 4 yards of ribbon.  A thick lime colored ribbon that has flowers sewn on to go around the pot and then thinner yellow and blue ribbon to tie on bottles.

Bottles with skewers taped to the back.

Once I got back home, I wanted to drink the vodka and paint my nails!  Instead, I went to work.  I snapped off the the skewers to different lengths, keeping them at least 8 inches, and taped the sticks to the back of the bottles.  I tied and hot glued ribbon to the bottles.  I hot glued ribbon around the top of my flower pot and around the base as well.  Then I cut the floral foam (you could use styorfoam as well, but the floral foam is so much cheaper) to fit my pot and stuck the skewers into the foam.  I put the taller ones towards the back and put them in at different angles.  They staying the foam well, although the weight of some of the bottles made them turn sideways.

Once I had all the skewers arranged, I put dots of hot glue where the skewer met the foam, just for added stability.  I would recommend using a few stones on the bottom of the pot if you plan to add a lot of items.  The end project is quite top heavy.  Lastly I used some colored shredded paper to cover the foam.


Gift Bouquet Ideas!

Expectant mother: sample lotions, shampoos, washcloths, shoes, onesies, gift cards etc. (Use the theme of the new baby's room and Modgepodge a vase or container with cute scrapbook paper)

The man in your life: mini liquor bottles, cigars, packages of peanuts, packs of gum, lottery tickets, gift cards, etc. (Baseball game, game tickets, snacks, small car decal of his favorite team)

Crafter:  ink pads, stickers, ribbon (spools would look like lollipops! Cute), fancy pens, stamps, gift cards, etc (Decide on a theme, color or shape and find crafting accesories to match)

Child: little toys, basically almost any thing you'd put into a Christmas stocking! 

Your BFF: nail polish (of course) travel size products. mini liquor bottles, craft supplies, snacks, lip stick/gloss, eye shadow, gift cards,  etc.

As I mentioned above, just about anything you'd use as stocking stuffer will work.  There are so many variations on this idea, I used a flower pot because I just happened to have one around the house, but I think a vase, basket, or metal container would work great.  You can use glass beads or stones to cover the foam, or even Easter grass.  Just keep in mind the items will be supported by a skinny stick and tape!  Larger, tall items in back, shorter ones in the front.

I'd love to see what you come up with, leave a comment of your ideas, or better a picture of the gift bouquet  you made!!



And check out pintrest for some awesome ideas! http://pinterest.com/search/?q=gift+bouquet

What is Pintrest?

Pintrest has been popping up everywhere!
I got an invitation to join so I did. And I didn't get it. I didn't get Facebook either, but it didn't take long understand. Same with Pintrest. Once you start following a few friends/companies/awesome people it all starts to make sense.

So here's how it works... You create boards of things that interest you. Some boards I have are: crafty goodness, food stuff, and garden stuff. You find items to pin on your board in 3 ways.
1. Your friends will post pictures and you can repin them.
2. You can search photos on Pintrest and repin them.
3. You can find your own pictures anywhere on the Internet and Pin them with the PIN IT button provided by Pintrest. You add the button into your favorites so anytime you see a picture you click it and it creates a pop up to create a new pin.

Once you log on, you will see all the pins from the people you are following. Across the top of the page you can search for people or topics.
Then the red Pintrest link to bring you back to your Pintrest home page. Then towards the right an Add+ link. Click on it to add a pin, upload a pin or create a new board.
Click ABOUT, get more info about Pintrest, find the Pin it button.
The last link will be your name/small photo to view your profile. This is where you can invite friends and follow people you know already on Pintrest.

Under that bar there is another bar still at the top of the page. You can view Pinner that follow you, view everything (categories and topics, great for special interests), videos, popular, and gifts (search for gifts, a drop down menu with $ ranges).

On the left bar you can see your activity. It will show if you followers repinned one of your pins, new people that are following you.

Finally, the Pins! You can repin from any of boards you see. You can write captions under the pinned pictures. You can 'heart' others pins.

Hope I made you less confused and not more confused. You may want to toggle between reading this and Pintrest.com. I love finding new craft ideas, recipes, pretty things, and helpful hints to make life easier.