A number of my friends have been getting married lately. It is pretty cool but also a bit scary. I have been to 6 weddings of close friends, and in 3 of those weddings. The weddings are very special days full of friends, family and fun.
The first wedding that I was in was in August of 2008 … my best friend’s wedding! :) It was a beautiful outdoor beach ceremony with a reception at the close by yacht club. Her color was blue. We all wore blue dresses and had bouquets of blue and white flowers and stargazer lilies. After an exceptionally fun night I took home my bouquet as well as one of the table arrangements. The flowers sat on my table for a few days while I tried to figure out what to do with them. I decided that I should dry some of the petals. So I picked a bunch of them off before they all began to wilt and I placed them between pieces of paper towel. I then placed the paper towels in between the pages of my law school books and piled the books on top of each other (NOTE: this is a great use for law school books that just sit on the bookshelf!)
A few months later I check on the petals. They had dried beautifully, retaining their blue hue. It was then that I knew I had to do something with the petals … turn them into a gift for the new couple. I decided that I would create an image with the petals and press them between pieces of glass with a surrounding frame so it could be hung on the wall. I also decided that I would give it to the couple as a 1 year anniversary present.
About a week before the 1 year anniversary of the wedding I pulled out the petals. I started playing with them, making different arrangements. I settled on a heart with the initials MH in the middle (the initials of both the bride and the groom). I purchased a frame from Michaels that was glass with a black frame. Then I used fabric glue to glue the petals to the glass. Once the glue dried I cleaned up around the edges a bit with a wet q-tip. Then I placed the second piece of glass on top and secured the black frame around the edge. The couple loved the gift and now has it displayed in their bedroom.
I repeated the process for the other weddings that I have gone to and/or been in. The next wedding was Disney themes wedding so I dried the pink flowers and used them to create a Mickey head on the glass. I used larger flowers for the head and smaller ones for the ears.
Next was the Hollywood themed wedding. I was in this wedding so I dried the flowers from my bouquet. I made a star shape with the red petals from this wedding.
Then I went to a wedding for one of my best friends from law school. Both his name and his wife’s name start with “R” and they collect things monogrammed with the letter. I was not in this wedding, but asked to take a flower from one of the centerpieces and was granted permission. I arranged the coral petals from this flower into the shape of an “R”.
I have flowers from 2 more weddings currently drying in my law school books. One is for an anniversary July 2012, and the other is for an anniversary in September 2012. I already have ideas for both of these designs, but because those individuals may actually read this blog, I am not going to share just yet! You will have to come back in July and September to find out!
Making creative and sentimental anniversary presents takes gumption!
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