…boutonniere. This ingenious detail comes from Courtney of Flush Designs, and I first saw it on Weddingbee PRO. I’m pretty sure even the DIY challenged could handle this project, and how perfect would it be for a links-loving fiance?

As a precursor to this post, I have to admit that it might be the world’s worst DIY. I made these wreaths for a friend’s wedding about three years ago, and I certainly wasn’t blogging (or recording my projects) at that point. I have plenty of photos of the finished product in action, but none of the steps that got me there.

With that being said, here’s what you’ll need for this project:

— Two floral wreath forms (Mine were either twelve or fifteen inches across. A quick internet search found 15-inch Oasis forms at Save-on-Crafts for $12.99 each, but I believe I purchased mine at Michael’s with two 40% off coupons.)
— A bucket large enough to fit the forms, filled with cool water
— Thin gauge wire and wire cutters
— Daisies or another flower of your choice. (For beginners, I would stick with a monofloral or at least monochromatic look.) I can’t remember how many I bought, but I think it was approximately three bunches of 25 heads or so each. You should be able to eyeball it, as the amount you need depends on the size of your flower of choice.
— Sharp scissors
— About 36 inches of wide satin ribbon (1.5″ or 2″)
— Two nails and a hammer

1. Soak the forms in cool water for at least two hours. Cut the flower stems under running water and place in a bucket or large vase.

2. Remove the forms from the water and let dry until they are no longer dripping (the foam will still be saturated with water).

3. Clip wire to your desired hanging length, loop it around the form, and twist to close.

4. Working on a protected or outdoor surface, begin covering the form with flower heads. Taking one flower at a time, clip the stem to 1 1/2″ or 2″ long, then push into the floral form. You can either work in a orderly pattern of rows or stick them in willy-nilly, depending on the look you’re going for. Fill the form until you’re happy with it’s appearance or you’re out of blooms.

5. To attach the ribbon, find the middle of its length. Loop it around the form directly across from the wire hanger, then pull the tails through the loop created. You can dovetail the ends of the ribbon if you’d like.

6. Once at the ceremony site, we simply hammered a nail into each tree (oops) and hung the wreaths from their wire loops.

Here I am with J and the finished product:

{That’s right, our outfits matched the wedding colors!}

And here’s one wreath in action:

On a side note, this wedding was by far the most lovely I have ever had the pleasure of attending. The ceremony was under two huge old trees in the middle of field, with the ocean just beyond.

The forty of so guests sat in simple white chairs, and the only other decoration was the wreaths hung from the tree trunks (which, by the way, were a surprise for the bride on the day of). I know that it’s a cliche, but when A and T recited the vows they wrote themselves, there was literally not a dry eye in the place. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of planning a wedding (and I know we celebrate said details at Peach & Pearl), but when you get right down to it — as sappy as it sounds — the love is really what matters.

P.S. Here’s another great DIY daisy wreath from Martha.

As promised, a petite Valentine’s Day DIY. My original plan was to make the “Sweet Sensations” from the Winter 2009 Martha Stewart Weddings:

{Directions here and template here}

I wasn’t too impressed with how my version came out, however, mainly because I was using Ghiradelli squares instead of Martha’s fancy tasting squares.

{In retrospect, the heart cut-out should have been bigger. Much bigger.}

After I added my own twist to the project, here’s what I ended up with:

And here are the instructions:

{Click to enlarge!}

1) Assemble your supplies: ruler, pencil, clear tape, glue {I swear by the Tombow permanent runner}, scissors, decorative paper, ribbon, and chocolate {I chose two Ghiradelli flavors: dark chocolate with raspberry filling and milk chocolate with vanilla caramel.}

2) Begin by folding back the edges of the wrapper so the package is as neatly square as possible.

3 & 4) Using clear tape rounds in between layers, stack the squares on top of each other in {again} as neat a formation as possible. This may take several tries.

5 & 6) Cut your paper in a long, thin strip, making sure it’s long enough to go around the chocolate with some overlap. Glue in place. Choose a coordinating ribbon {or ribbons} and tie in a bow or knot.

Repeat for as many valentines as you’re lucky to have!

What are you doing for your valentines this year? I’d love to hear some more ideas!

I’m a longtime fan of both Twigs & Honey and Muscari, so to help fulfill goal no. 23, I decided to try my hand at making hair flowers inspired by their beautiful creations. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and inexpensive this project turned out to be, and would encourage anyone who’s interested to make an attempt. I would suggest, however, that if you plan to order special, more expensive supplies, that you also plan to make more than one flower, which will help spread the cost around.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Assemble supplies. I bought two stalks of ranunculus from Michael’s, one orange variegated and one red. With a coupon, the total for both was approximately $5. I also bought small-eye guinea hen feathers from Matoska Trading Company for approximately $10 with shipping (and had so. many. feathers. left over). I added fabric glue, newspaper, faux pearls from a broken necklace, and bobby pins to the pile of supplies you see below.

2. Disassemble flowerheads. There’s no particular trick to this, just pull off the back (it might take some tugging) then peel the flower apart layer by layer. The hard, green plastic parts can be discarded.

3. Create new flowers. Again, there’s no rhyme or reason to this step, just play with the petals until you’ve got a design that’s pleasing to you. For my flowers, I used three layers of orange petals and then two layers of red, making sure to offset the layers to add fullness and dimension. When you’re set on a style, glue the petals together one layer at a time, starting from the back. A dab of glue on each petal in the layer worked for me. Make sure to set the glue in each layer before moving on to the next (about 30 seconds of squeezing), and to work on newspaper or a similar surface.

4. Add embellishments. Here’s where you can really get creative! I used guinea hen feathers and some faux pearls as accents, but fabric leaves, dried herbs and flowers, lace, beads, or anything else pretty would work just as well, depending on what look you’re going for. Glue these to the new flowerhead with your fabric glue, as well.

5. Add an attachment. Once your flower is finished and has dried completely, glue an alligator clip, a bobby pin, or a flat safety pin (brooch pin) to the back. I chose to let my friends select their backing, and most picked a bobby pin.

That’s it! Once you’re finished, you will have transformed your ugly, plasticky Michael’s flower…

into this!

Let me know if you have any more questions, and I’ll try to help!