How to DIY your own floral fascinators and buttonhole flowers

Theresa, a PhD student, vegan and rad Australian, posted this short and sweet tutorial about how she made super-kitschy "parental flowers," little giveaways her parent's could take with on their trip back to the states after the wedding. They're just too easy AND adorable not to share. Take it away Theresa! – Offbeat Shrie

We wanted to have something special to give our parents at the wedding, but we didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for flowers from a florist — especially since my parents wouldn't be able to take real flowers home with them to the US.  So we decided to make them ourselves, and all for less than $10.

So, behold our parental flowers, awesome and flippin' cheap!

Materials:

• Fake-flower lei ($2)
• A small pack of seed beads ($2)
• A small pack of larger beads ($1)
• Fake greenery ($1.50)
• Brooch pins ($1)
• Hair clips ($2)
• A butt load of craft glue
• Fishing line

Step 1:
Cut up the flower lei.  Glue flowers to each other in stacks of 4 to 8, depending on how fluffy you want them. We got six flowers out of one standard lei.

Step 2:
Make stamens. We did this only for our mums' flowers. Take short lengths (about 2 cm) of fishing line and dip one end in craft glue, then slip a seed-bead onto the end.  We had eight stamens per flower. Then take a larger bead and fill its hole up with glue; place the non-bead end of the stamens into the hole and arrange them so they are spread out.

Step 3:
Attach some greenery. We used a plastic fern, which was kind of hard to attach because it was quite stiff; fabric leaves would be easier to work with.  For the fascinators we used a whole fern-ring, while for the dads' buttonholes we cut them in half.  Glue to the back of the flowers.

Step 4:
Jazz up the middle of the flowers. Put a big blob of glue in the middle and place one large bead on the pre-made stamens.  Sprinkle smaller beads over the rest of the glue and let this set for several hours.

Step 5:
Attach the finished flowers to hair clips or brooch pins.

About Theresa Petray:

Theresa is a vegan academic who talks to her cat, Nacho. She will be spending the next four months finishing her PhD, teaching anthropology, and planning a (hopefully) tiny, stress-free rainforest wedding with her partner, Andy.

To get to know Theresa Petray better, click here.