8th Annual Hostess Appreciation Tea -- Favors

Wow!  It's been almost two week since I last posted . . . not quite sure where that time went, other than I have been pretty busy planning some great surprises for my 8th Annual Hostess Appreciation Tea.  The biggest surprise perhaps were the favors!  Inspired by this pin (from my tea party board), I'd decided to upcycle some pretty jars I'd been saving, and use them as vases for some pretty paper flowers I would make.  Then, when the latest issue of Stampin' Success, which is Stampin' Up!'s special magazine filled with ideas for demonstrators, arrived with gorgeous paper flowers on the front, that inspired me to create some more colorful blooms as well for my arrangements.

Here's how the favors turned out:

My silver upcycled jars were spray painted with Krylon Looking Glass spray, and the blue jars were done with blue Modge Podge for glass.  To create the flowers, I used Stampin' Up!'s Creped Filter Paper.  I die cut the paper using the Secret Garden and Floral Frames Collection framelits.  The blue flowers were created using the tissue paper that comes in My Paper Pumpkin kits, which by the way, if you haven't subscribed to, you really should!  (And, to make an already sweet deal even better, Stampin' Up! is giving new subscribers a free set of In Color markers when you sign up before the end of March 2014!  So, what are you waiting for . . . oh, might be to see the rest of the post . . .but after that, head over here and sign up!)

Anyway, each of the flowers is made of at least 7 layers of die cut filter paper or tissue paper.  I fastened the layers together with a brad, then scrunched each layer to give it the shape I wanted.  The only exceptions to this are the little buds on the branches, which are made of only 2-3 layers at most, and the purple (or more correctly, Rich Razzleberry) flowers, which were made out of strips of the Creped Filter Paper, then cut with the Fringe Scissors, and rolled to form the flowers.

After shaping the flowers, I dyed them.  I used Stampin' Spritzers filled with about 7 drops of ink refill and some water to spray the flowers (aside from the blue tissue paper ones).  I used Primrose Petals for the large pink flowers, Rich Razzleberry ink for the purple flowers, Daffodil Delight for the medium yellow ones, and Crisp Cantaloupe for the small bud-like flowers on the branches. 

Here's how a batch of flowers looked before dyeing:

I put them on aluminum foil so the spray wouldn't get onto my countertops, and so that the flowers could soak up any excess spray under them as they dried.  Here's the after shot of these (you can also see some of the Organza Ribbon, which I used up leftover of my dye solution on, if you look closely in the background. Can't wait to use my pretty Primrose Petals Organza ribbon on a project!):

To finish these flowers, I took a strip of Daffodil Delight card stock, which I'd cut along one side with the Fringe Scissors, rolled it up, and hot glued in the center.

Here's a view of the Rich Razzleberry flowers soaking up dye:

These are the Daffodil Delight flowers -- I added a straight drop of Daffodil Delight ink to the centers to give a more intense color there:

Here are the Crisp Cantaloupe flowers for the buds . . . I love how the ink dried with more reddish tones in some places and more yellowish tones in others:

I'd used so much of my water and ink solution on the Daffodil and Razzleberry flowers and it was bit humid from our recent rains that they were taking longer than I wanted to dry.  To speed up the process, I warmed my oven up just barely, turned it off, then put the flowers in for a while to dry, with the oven off but warm.

I can't believe I forgot to take close up photos of this part, but the flowers are attached to a piece of strong, green floral wire.  To hold the flowers onto the wire, I used a Garden Green card stock base, punched with either the Petite Petal Punch or the Five Petal Punch (retired, but you could substitute the Pansy or Blossom Punch just as easily), depending on the size of the flower.  I punched a small hole in the center of the green base, threaded the wire through it, put on a dollop of hot glue, and then smushed the flower on to it.

The leaves in my arrangements were cut either free-hand or with the Blossom Builder Punch (also retired, but might be available in the Clearance Rack here).  I also added some tiny blooms made with Whisper White Card Stock, punched with the four-petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, onto my branches.

Can you believe, even though I've already made so many, I actually can't wait to make some more of these?!  So much fun to create and put together!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle