Flower Arranging Class- Week 1

Amy is involved with a group called Keepers of the Faith. It's a club for girls and kind of a cross between Girl Scouts and AWANA. They memorize scripture and do projects to earn pins.

I'll be teaching a project on Flower Arranging this spring. It's a 5 week class and I thought I'd post what we're doing each week.

I had to keep the cost of the class down to $15 per girl for the session. That works out to $3 per class! So I tried to come up with projects that a) would be simple enough for 8-12 year old girls to do, b) not cost too much money, and c) be projects that they would be able to do again at home.

For the first week we are going to make lavender wreaths. I have enough lavender dried from our garden that I didn't have to buy it. And I found these vine wreath bases at the dollar store.

Here's how to make the wreath.

Supplies:
Wreath base
flower materiel (dried flowers, or silk)
floral tape
paddle wire
hot glue gun and glue









Method:

If you are using dried flowers like lavender, it is helpful to bundle a small handful of stems. Floral tape is a special "tape" that sticks to itself when stretched. I've made a sample bundle that is next to the paddle wire in the picture.


For this wreath I used 15 little bundles of lavender. Start with the first bundle (or silk flower) and wrap the wire around a few times to secure it to the wreath. Be careful with dried flowers not to pull to tight or you will break the stems.



Place another bundle over the bottom of the first bundle so that you cover the stems, keeping the flowers going in the same direction. Wire that bundle in place. Continue around the entire base until you come back to the first bundle. Tuck the last bundle under the first one to conceal the stems. After you wire it in place, run the wire a few times through the wreath frame to secure and make a loop for hanging. Clip and tuck under to hide the wire end.


With a hot glue gun, glue a few individual flowers over any other exposed pieces of floral tape or bare spots that need filling in.


If cost were not an issue, I would hot glue a freeze dried rose and leaves at the bottom of the wreath or little baby pink or white ones all around the inside of the wreath. You could also add a ribbon at the top or bottom.