Flower girl baskets.

I always knew this would be an easy peasy craft project. and I knew I didn't want it to cost a lot of money.

First i thought i would just get some $1 baskets from thrift stores, i love thrift store shopping because it can be better for the environment, (i talked about that in this post) but i decided i wanted the baskets to all match, and having 4 flower girls, i thought it would be difficult to find 4 matching baskets, used. After Eater, I bought 4 plain blue baskets.

I had just enough orange ribbon to wrap around each one and twist around the handle. then after not having enough ribbon to make bows, and not really knowing how to make bows easily, I decided to take some silk flowers I had and hot glue them on. I glued the first one on, but it wasn't centered, so i added 2 more. The flowers all started the same size, to make 2 of them smaller, i pulled the little plastic thing off the back, removed 1 and 2 layers of petals and put the plastic thing back on. The smallest flower was attached carefully to the handle so that the handle would still pivot, making storage easier.

The baskets were filled with cut up silk flowers. I would have needed 2 $10 boxes of petals, but i did the math and i got more than enough flower petals with 4 bouquets of cheap silk roses in 2 colors. Plus, my sister, who is helpful but not super crafty, needed an easy job on craft night, so she sat and cut the petals off the roses.

COST OF PROJECT = $21.75 for 4 baskets and petals.

• Baskets 4 x $2 = $8
• Ribbon: 1 spool for $1
• Orange silk flowers: $0.75
• Petals: 4 bouquets x $3 each = $12

About the flower girl dresses, they were on Clearance for $9 each at Wal-Mart. Then I decided to make a collar for our dog, so I went back to buy another, and it was only $5,
Knowing her temperament, Annie was not part of the ceremony, I just made the collar for her for fun. All I did was cut the dress just above the ruffle, and folded a wide seam, hot glued the seam shut into a sleeve, (like for a curtain rod) and slid her regular collar inside the sleeve. We got the jewel beaded leash at a pet store for her.


I told the parents the flower girls can wear whatever shoes they had already or that they wanted to get them so they wouldn't have to spend much, although $9 is pretty cheap for the dresses.

(Some) Bouquets are done!

I got supplies from http://www.efavormart.com/ I was very happy with price and quality. used in this bouquet, are Blue Calla Lilys, Orange Rosebuds , and Silver Headpieces . I bought the orange ribbon from Michaels on sale for like 0.20 a roll, the dangly bead things were left over from other weddings in my crafty family. We used floral tape from Michaels to bind the stems together.

My favorite part of the bouquet is the initial charms on each one. (this pic has an L) When I saw other bouquets with initial charms, or beads, or whatever, I thought if I could get each letter for like $1, it would be worth it. On our Preweddingmoon in Las Vegas, we went downtown to a super cheap souvenier shop and found these slide on charms for $0.50 each + stupid tax. I hadnt decided exactly who my bridesmaids would be at that time, but got some extra letter options for the undecided girls.
After deciding on my girls though, I found that I needed another L so my darling aunt, who works in retail, looked online and found me Dog Colllar Slide Charms that look the same as the ones I had already got. They offer your choice of 6 for 5.99 + 1.41 shipping. Because I had extra letters, I opted to add a letter charm to each of my sister in law's coursages (they were possible bridesmaids candidates) and I also wanted a heart charm for the throw bouquet, so I am ordering 5 letters and a heart charm. The extra letters will be for my Traincarrier corsages, and my brother's girlfriend, since she is like a sister-in-law also.
In the end I was very happy with the little charm letters better than taking apart a keychain (original idea), the slide charms were easy to add to the ribbon wrapped around the bouquets and the size fits the bouquet very well, anything larger would have looked out of place.

We have yet to make mine or the MOH bouquet's, they will be a little fancier than the one above. Mine will have both a star charm and a C.

Funny story, when my Craft Fairies were helping me with the bouquets, bouts and coursages, my darling fiance balked at the idea that all the girls got bouquets, we all insisted that theyre supposed to have them. He insisted that every wedding hes been in(8) and to(countless), the bridesmaids didnt have bouquets, only the bride. how crazy is that? after a quick FB poll, everyone replied that theyve never seen weddings without bridesmaid bouquets.

PRICE BREAKDOWN
it is difficult to decide exactly how to breakdown the cost, because the bouquets, bouteneers, corsages and other items are all being made with the same supplies. After all silk floral was purchased however I spent maybe $60. I will get Bouquets for 3 bridesmaids, 1 bride, 1 MOH, and 1 to throw. PLUS bouteneers for: 3 dads, 3 brothers, 1 bridesman, 4 groomsmen, 2 ringbearers, 2 jr ushers and 1 officiant. Corsages for 2 moms, 2 grandmas, 3 sister in laws, 2 train carriers, and it looks like I will have bunches of leftovers. So you do the math.