Crayon Bouquet, Girl's Tea Center Piece

Naptime Gnome Idea #4

Make a fun and easy center piece for your next kid-tastic party!

Inspired by the prissy pens at the bank, all gussied up in an attempt to make them harder to pocket, the Gnome fired this out for our annual Mad Hatter Tea Party a couple years ago, but it comes back out all the time because the kids LOVE it. It's required quite a few replacement flowers as they tend to get given away to very attached and enamored little ladies. The kiddles had it out the other day while some friends were visiting.  After some spirited demands for one of their own, it occurred to me that some house gnomes may appreciate some direction on planting crayon flowers.  I'm thinking of "growing" one that matches our kitchen decor to just leave on the table.

Faux Flower Crayon Flower Pot

Crafty Gnomes: 1

 (See the Crafty Gnome Key)

Approximate Cost: <$5

Time to Complete: 1 naptime

Supplies and Tools

• Crayons
• Wire cutter (needle nose pliers or old scissors are fine)
• Green floral tape
• Scotch tape (optional)
• Container to hold your bouquet (flower pot, small pail, plastic vase, you get the idea! <;)
• Ribbon to decorate your container (optional)

Gather Your Materials
Special note on this one, particularly if you're making more than one...

• Try to use things you already have, like lightly used crayons, bits of ribbons from past gifts, containers in which you've received arrangements in the past, faux flowers you've come across that are maybe a bit too fake to use for anything fancy, etc. 
• The dollar store often has bouquets for cheap, and they tend to carry floral tape as well. I've purchased it at both the Dollar Tree and the 99¢ Only Store. Oh, and you don't need much, a roll will make OODLES AND OODLES of flower crayons.

Prepping Flowers
1. Just like when you prep real flowers for arrangement, you'll want to thin out the greenery. Maybe leave the leaves <:-) closest to the bloom and removed the rest. You will also want to pull off any small parts, particularly if you have any bitty guests that may be inspired to color. 



2. Using wire cutters (or some other cutting implement you really don't care about much), trim the stems so they are long enough to wrap around the crayon once or twice loosely.







Affixing Flowers to Crayons

3. Wrap the stem around the crayon, bending the wire to conform. Take care to not break the crayon. If you are in a rush, this step isn't imperative, but it will improve the longevity of your work, particularly if you plan on using them often.

4. Wrap a bit of Scotch tape around the crayon and the base of the stem, and another length around the end of the crayon closest to the flower, this will also add some durability so the stems are not simply ripped from the floral tape added in the next step. Again, if you are in a rush, and they don't have to hold up, you can skip this step.

 Wrapping

 5. Starting at the flower end of the crayon (top?), begin snugly wrapping the floral tape around both the crayon and flower stem, working your way down the crayon (imagine the spiral stripes of a candy cane and "follow" them).

NOTE: You do not necessarily have to start wrapping near the flower, but you should definitely finish the wrap near the flower so the end of the tap is not where you would hold the crayon.

6. Once you've reached the end of the crayon wrapper, begin wrapping back up towards the flower.

7. Once you've reached the place you started wrapping, you can repeat the wrapping process a few more times to make sure the flower isn't going anywhere.

8. Because ours get A LOT of love and I usually have several rolls of cheapy paper floral tape on hand, they are wrapped down-and-back, 3 times. But I've tried both once and twice, and they are perfectly serviceable.  With the plasticized floral tape, you only need to make one "lap."





9. When you are satisfied with your wrap job, simply tear (or cut if using sturdier plastic tape) and wrap the end around snugly.






10. Press the tape end snugly with a wiping motion over the end to secure it.


11. Repeat for all the crayons. With this arrangement I used the same color crayons as flowers. The leave are attached to various green crayons.

12. Decorate your container as you desire and insert your "flowers."

ENJOY!

 The Naptime Gnome <;')