DI-Why Not! #1 - Tea Cup Flower Arrangement

DIY? Sure, Why Not! #1 - Teacup Flower Arrangement

I came across this tea cup flower arrangement DIY on Frolic (directions at Project Wedding).

Pretty, right?

First, a disclaimer: I am a bit of a procrastinator, and a little lazy. So, with that information, read on.

I wait until Sunday afternoon, post-Japanese class, to get all the components (provided on Project Wedding) for this DIY.

-Old tea cups
-2 small roses, 1 large rose, 1 dahlia bud, 1 stem of sedum per arrangement
-Cardstock
-Calligraphy pen
-Long toothpicks

Hmmm. I drive to the Montgomery Farm Women's Cooperative Market and hunt around, finding teacups but none sold without the rest of the china set. The only single I saw was too expensive, so I gave up, remembering that I had a teacup my friend Lana had given me from St. Petersburg, Russia.

On to the paper supplies:

I for sure don't own cardstock or a calligraphy pen, so that's next on my list. Not wanting to go out of my way (see above disclaimer), I forego Michael's and head over to Bruce Variety in Bethesda, a mom and pop general craft store with all sorts of things. At first, all I can find is cardstock by the package for $12.99 for 100 sheets. No way am I doing that; how often am I going to use cardstock? Then I discover hidden on the bottom shelf under some party supplies a smaller package of white cardstock paper for $5.99. I then score a blue calligraphy pen ($2.19) and am on my way.

Foraging for flowers:

That morning, I had been at Eastern Market, a farmer/flea market in DC, where no one had roses or sedum. Dahlias are now out of season, so no luck there, either. There were no flowers being sold at the Montgomery Farm Women's CoOp. Those options ruled out, I drove over to Giant grocery store, where the flower selection was abysmal, but they did have roses for $20 a dozen. They all looked pretty much the same size. Not thrilled with spending over $20 for all the components of the arrangement, I headed to Whole Foods.

At Whole Foods:

I am confronted by a much better and somewhat bewildering selection of flowers. By now, I have decided I am going to select a pre-packaged bouquet, channel Tim Gunn, and "make it work." Faced with making this decision, I was paralyzed.

Help at last!

Luckily, I was approached by a Whole Foods employee. After explaining my mission, he called over the person in charge of flowers at the Whole Foods, Jo. My hero. Jo was so helpful, knowledgeable, and cool! She informed me that sedum was a flower not usually available and is generally special ordered. Also, roses (for Whole Foods at least) pretty much come in one size. Ah.

To replace the unavailable flowers, she suggested some mums and dianthus. As for roses, Jo kindly sold me three. While she helped me, I learned Jo had a blog called Where Make Go (but I couldn't find it to link it here). She makes jewelry, too, and offered to help out if I attempted jewelry DIY. We all know I am going to need it.

Flowers in hand, I head home to begin:

The directions are pretty basic:

1. Cut stems of roses about 1 inch short and place them in the teacup.
This one gave me pause. 1" seemed pretty short! So, to be safe, I cut them longer, only to find the directions accurate. I wound up with stems about 1.5" long.

2. Fill in the space between the roses with sedum and then add a dahlia bud poking up out of the side.
Ok, no problem. Except the teacup is way too small. Bitter. I grab one of our fancified teacups we registered for.

3. Cut a piece of cardstock about 1.5 inches wide and 8 inches long.
I don't own a ruler. Hmm. Lucky for me, the paper itself is 8.5" wide. Close enough.

4. Fold the cardstock in half and cut a V in the end so it looks like a ribbon.
Easier said than done - for me, at least.

5. Tape a long toothpick to the inside of the flag and then write in a calligraphy pen on each flag.
Wait. Toothpick? Forgot about that! I used one of Mr. Foxy's plastic olive picks instead. Calligraphy? Forget about that, too. I can barely print. My handwriting is nigh illegible.

Voila!

My own teacup arrangement via Frolic and Project Wedding. Yes, it is not as cute as the one on Frolic, the mum looks kind of random, and my dianthus is a little unruly, but I did it!

Recap:

If this project really was for more than one arrangement, it wouldn't cost much. While I paid $24.80 for one little arrangement, if I was making, say, five, it would be worth it at around $5 each (not including the tea cup, which I already had). Once I had all the materials, it didn't take me long at all. I did get irritated with how hard it was to find the flowers I needed. Sedum is apparently not plentiful in Washington, DC, roses are generally sold by the bunch and mostly in the same size, and dahlia is out of season. I am sure If I had not waited until halfway though a Sunday afternoon to get what I needed I could have found it online or through an event florist, but for me that would definitely qualify as too much effort. I am all about substituting, which is probably what Frolic intended. Calligraphy is completely out of my reach, but who needs a flag? I am a little cranky that I now have all this cardstock lying around, but I am hoping I will be able to use it for some future DIY Why Not attempt.

I am contemplating my next crafty attempt for next week, and will post about it later today!

PS - After my first project, Mr. Foxy made me a michelada and nachos. Yum!