d.i.y. silk flower crown.

So, I work in a flower shop.  And I love it, I get to be surrounded by pretty bouquets all day.  But my most favourite things are the flower crowns that the very lovely miss Heather makes every so often and that I ocassionally get to test out.  They are gorgeous.  I would wear one every single day if that was possible.

However, since no one has time to make a new, fresh flower crown everyday, the best alternate option is a flower crown made of silks.  It lasts forever, hooray!  This project took a little bit longer than some of the other ones, but it is totally worth it, I love how it turned out and I purposely picked soft colours so that I could wear it into the fall!

Things you need:
_silk flowers.  i chose to go with one type of smaller flowers, but choose whatever your heart desires!
_floral wire.  this is 26 gauge, it'll be in the same aisle as the other floral tools.
_floral tape. (stem wrap tape.)
ribbon.  i chose mint.
_pearls, large enough to slide over your wire.
_pliers,

1_cut a piece of wire a few inches longer than the circumference of your head.  wrap it around your head and loosely twist the ends together, you can fine tune the size later, after everything has been added.
2_wrap the wire in floral tape.  tip: floral tape gets sticker and holds better the more you pull it, so pull tight and wrap in kind of on an angle as you go. do not cover the ends.
3_prep your flowers.  cut off the blooms from the stems and using three inch pieces of wire place the wire under the base of the bloom, cross the ends to opposite sides and continue twisting so that the bloom is secure.
4_wrap your blooms in floral tape.
5_prep your pearls.  using needle nose pliers curve the end of a three inch piece of wire into a swirl to keep the bead from sliding off.  slide the bead on and then fold the end up and wrap around the base of the bead to keep it from moving.  pinch the wire loop that is created together to create the stem.
6_wrap your beads in floral tape.
7_start adding flowers!  while wearing the wire crown decide where you would like your blooms to go.  attach them by placing the stem of the flower parallel to the crown and wrapping both wires together securely using floral tape, doing one bloom at a time.  since the flowers and pearls are wired their angle can be adjusted after taping.
8_add pearls.
9_attach as many flowers and pearls as you like.  i wanted a bit more of a sparse look and used seven pearls and nine blooms taped in clusters.
10_you can either leave your flower crown as it with the floral tape as the finished surface, or, to add a bit of colour you can wrap your crown with ribbon.  before doing this try your crown on one last time and adjust the sizing before secnurely twisting and taping the ends.  i found it easiest to cut a long piece of ribbon, secure it with a bit of floral tape and then wrap the ribbon carefully and tightly around the wire before using hot glue to secure the final end.

and there you go, your very own sweet little flower crown!  Have the loveliest week! xo, T.