Sunday, March 6, 2016

Handcrafted Forever Spring Crocuses



A sure sign of the arrival of spring is seeing the crocuses - poking their way up through dead fallen leaves, faded mulch or even late fallen snow. It's always a welcome sight in garden beds and landscapes.  And I love seeing the low growing, purplish cup shaped flowers suddenly appear after what seems like a long winters night, but unfortunately their blooms don't last long.

So, I'm joining a wonderful group of creative Hometalk bloggers to #DIY MY Spring . . .

and as my project, make handcrafted forever crocuses out of foam sheet paper in a natural setting. #DIYMySpring


Materials Used:
Foam sheet paper
Crocus pattern - cardstock/cardboard
Skewer stick/pencil
Chalk pastels
Scissors
Acrylic paint
Smooth surface electric griddle/iron
Faux stamen
Hot glue gun
Floral wire stems
Cookie or lollipop sticks (hollow center)
Floral foam
Dried Moss/mulch


Here's how:

 Cut out a crocus petal pattern from cardstock or cardboard and trace the pattern on a foam sheet using a skewer stick. You will need six petals per flower. Cut out the petals.

I love crocuses that are shaded with different hues of purple and white, so I used purple and white foam sheets and highlighted the petals with purple chalk pastels.



Next, I placed the petals on a hot smooth griddle (or iron) for a about 6 or 7 seconds to curve the petals.


To make the flowers, I hot glued faux stamens to the tip of floral stems (cut in thirds)

And then started gluing on the six petals, one at a time, around the stem and stamen.




After all the petals were glued on, I cut a cookie stick in half, painted it green and then inserted the wire stem into the stick to mimic the wider stems of crocuses.
I cut "leaves" from green foam and used green acrylic paint to shade. Then I hot glued the leaves to the stems.


To display the crocuses, I glued on pieces of floral foam to cardboard and . . .


 covered it with dried moss and mulch.

And then had fun inserting crocuses in the moss and mulch for an awesome spring display!


First signs of Spring!





I think these are awesome!   

 Be sure to check-out the link up below:
Happy Crafting & #DIYMySpring!!!

 




35 comments:

  1. WOW! I thought these were real! You are very talented! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your crocuses look amazing Gail. Absolutely gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HI Gail - Oh my goodness... I thought they were real until I scrolled down to see the DIY. Visiting as a fellow contributor to #DIYMySpring. Hope your week is full of sunshine! Hugs, Holly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Holly for visiting! Heating the foam sheets helps to make them look somewhat realistic! Have a great week, too!

      Delete
  4. So very pretty and real life. of course I adore the color Gail. You make everything seem so easy. Lovely project.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those crocus look so real! I know I have said it several times, you are such a creative and talented lady, Gail.
    Have a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness, they look so real!! I love crocus and how awesome that these can last as long as you want. Simply beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Shawnna! That's why I called them my forever crocuses. Have a wonderful week!

      Delete
  7. What lovely detail and so realistic looking! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  8. So beautiful! I never would have guessed these came from foam sheets! And you can never ever go wrong with purple.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kelli! It's amazing what you can do with foam sheets!

      Delete
  9. You are amazing Gail. Those look so real and you have such a talent for getting the details right!

    ReplyDelete
  10. No way... foam sheets! Amazing! I really need to rethink foam sheets. You make it look so easy to make! ANd you have the wheels in my head spinning.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a lovely tutorial. I have just bought some crocuses from my local garden centre this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So pretty. Nothing screams spring like a beautiful terrarium!

    ReplyDelete
  13. As soon as I saw those purple petals, I knew they had your name all over them Gail! Love love love and pinning to share.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Absolutely gorgeous, my friend, and so real looking :)

    Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with Roses of Inspiration. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow these are totally amazing, so life like looking, like your arrangement you made with them!

    ReplyDelete

  16. What a wonderful post. I truly enjoyed reading this. And thank you for commenting on my blog and leading me to yours.
    house sitting jobs

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fabulous job! I just saw the cabbage dish and thought it was real and now your beautiful flowers...that I thought were real. Great talent.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What?! This is unbelievable! Gail, this is a masterpiece. I can't believe they aren't real!

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a gorgeous project! You are amazing! xxx Maria

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your crocuses are absolutely beautiful. When I first saw the picture, I thought they were real.

    thanks for sharing at SYC.

    ReplyDelete
  21. You truly captured the crocus! Is there anything you can't do with that craft foam? Good job Gail!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Unbelievable, Gail! The very best crafted crocus ever! The added touch of moss really pulled it together. Love this and pinned to share!

    ReplyDelete
  23. What an amazing project - I thought this was a gardening post at first as they looked so lifelike!
    Pinning away!
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  24. So pretty! This is going to be featured at Diana Rambles on Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Wow Gail these flowers looks so pretty and real that you made.
    Thanks for joining and sharing this with us at Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
    We hope to see you again and have a wonderful week.
    Julie xo

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wow. I had no clue they were made with craft foam. Super impressed and ready to make some too :) Pinned!

    ReplyDelete
  27. These definitely are beautiful! :)

    I would LOVE for you join and share this at my DIY and Recipes FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

    ReplyDelete
  28. These are awesome! You make it look very easy.

    ReplyDelete
  29. SO very beautiful! I love them.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Unas bellisimas flores te han quedado y con una base estupenda que aún las hace mas reales :D
    Besote!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...