Tuesday's Tip #29 Flower Bows

Most of the time I make my own bows.

Sometimes I buy some at Hershey, if I really like them.

Most of the bows that I make are made from ribbon, but sometimes I like to make them out of flowers.

That can be a little time consuming because of having to remove the plastic stems from the artificial flowers.

Some were easy to remove, some not so easy.

I had to make sure that I bought flowers that did not have the stems glued in.

The other day while shopping for some of my supplies for Hershey, I ran across these...

A canister full of artificial flower pieces.

With no stems and all ready to make flower bows.

The canister holds 64 pieces.

I can make 32 sets for ears, or 64 flower bows  for topknots, or collars.

There were a few different types of flowers.

I picked the two bright colored ones.

Each canister was $7.99 at Micheal's Craft Store.

I think that that is around .12 cents a flower bow.

 Here is what you need to make  flower bows.

The flowers.

If you can't find the kind pictured here, you can take the stem off of regular artificial flowers (as long as the stem is not glued to the flower) and use those flowers.

 You will also need party beads.

Not loose beads.

You need the kind that are stuck to the string.

These ran me about $3.

I can get a lot of flower bows out of these six strings.

You will also need the small rubber bands for bows. 

 

 First, pick out your flower pieces.

I am going to use one flower piece for this flower bow, but you could also put two different colors together.

I will be putting the rubber band through the pre-cut hole in the flower piece.

Now, cut a two bead piece off of the necklace.

Cut the string as close to the bead as possible.

This is what you should have.

You want to put the rubber band on the string between the two beads.

You can lay the rubber band between the beads.

Or, you can loop the rubber band between the beads like you would do with a ribbon bow.

This way does secure the beads better.

Next, you stick the rubber band through the hole in the flower.

If you have trouble getting the rubber band through using your fingers, you can use hemostats or tweezers.

Carefully push the tweezers and the rubber band through the hole.

This is what the flower bow will look like from the back of the flower.

This is what the front will look like.

The beads hold the flower piece and rubber band together.

You can use an old magic marker or pencil to store the bows by pushing the rubber band down the marker, pencil or some kind of small tube.

You could probably get about 6-10 bows on a marker depending on the size of the flowers.

Then, when you are ready to use a flower bow, it is already made and you just slide it off of the pencil or tube.

Here are two of the flower bows ready to put in a dogs ears, or on a collar.

 Okay, I had to put one on my 'Hanna's' ear to show you what it looks like.

I had to push her hair out of the way.

She has so much hair on her right now.

I can't wait to shave her face at Hershey.

I love a clean face on a Poodle, letting her grow out is driving me crazy.

Anyway, isn't that flower bow pretty?

I hope that I didn't make it too complicated looking.

It is so easy to make these bows.

Oh, by the way, the craft store did not have the bead necklaces, I had to go to a party store for them.  :)

You could even do this with Christmas flowers or Holly at Christmas time.

That is it.

There is Tuesday's Tip.

Oh, one other thing...

I experienced my very first Earthquake today.

I was grooming a Bichon, and the floor started shaking under my feet, then the building started to raddle.

My first thought was 'Earthquake.'

My next thought was 'No, we don't have Earthquakes in Maryland.'

I stopped what I was doing and looked over to my son, because I had to make sure he was feeling the same thing that I was.

We both kind of looked at each other, as if to say, 'am I crazy or is the floor shaking?'

My daughter was talking to a customer...she felt it...the customer didn't.  ???

My youngest son didn't feel it either...he was too busy playing a video game.  lol

My husband was sitting at a red light on the way over to his parents house.

He said that the car started to shake.

He thought the car was breaking down till he looked over to see the car next to him shaking too.

I am sure that the people in California are having a good chuckle about our reaction to this little Earthquake, but I have to say, there is a reason why I don't live in California.

One small Earthquake in a lifetime is enough for this girl.

My grooming table better not be shaking tomorrow.  :)

Happy Grooming, MFF