DIY giant paper flowers

I was asked to make a display table that represented faith at our stakes New Beginnings this week. 

I knew I wanted to do giant white flowers. Not only did they fit my theme perfectly, they also added a lot of drama.

I wasn't able to find any tutorials online that fit the shape and size I wanted so I thought I would share what I figured out in the process. 

They are super easy to make and only take a few minutes. You can make them Giant or small and with supplies you already have at home. I used plain old printer paper as well as some butcher paper from my husbands school. Even with just 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper you can still get a 24" flower. 

For this flower I used:

 6 sheets of 8-1/2x11 paper

scissors

hot glue

I cut four sheets of paper in half, one into 4th's and one into 8th's. 

 Then I cut the tops into a petal shape. Various shapes on top will add dimension. Next I cut a slit up the middle of the bottom. It was about 3" or so. 

Next I placed a blob of glue on one side of the slit.  

 Then I folded the one side of the slit onto the top of the other side. You want to create a cone shape with the glue holding it in place. 

 You can fold it over a little for a shallow bump or a lot for a deeper bump. You'll want to vary how deep of a cone you get with each layer. The outside petals will need a shallow bump and the inside need a deeper bump. 

 Once you've made all your petals for each layer, start glueing them together. I like to start with the largest petals and move in. For this flower I started with two petals and then added petals around it. 

I placed the glue on the top side of the bottom end of the petal and then stuck it under the existing petals.  

Once I had my outside petals done I glued the four middle ones together and placed them on the inside.  

 Then I did three of the smallest. I cut down two of the smaller petals and added them to the very center. 

Hope that makes sense cause they really are super easy and so fun. You could do any color and any size depending on what paper you have available. I think they'd be great for a wedding or big party. 

If you are interested the chalk boards, I got a giant board (2'x4') at Home Depot for $10 and had it cut down (for free) to fit my frame. Thanks to Cheri for the tip on chalk boards. I was then able to use the left over pieces for the other projects. 

The chalk board worked perfectly with my Chalk Markers. I see a lot more Chalk Art in my future.

i am not a professional baker

Somehow my sister recruited me to make another wedding cake for a friend. 

This was the inspiration. She wanted it to look just like this. 

It looked easy enough, so I agreed. 

But as the date got closer and gave it some thought, I realized this cake would be a lot more difficult than anticipated. 

I had several anxiety attacks over this cake. It may look simple, but to keep that tall middle from tipping or leaning over was practically impossible. The whole time I just kept saying, "why am I doing this, I am not a professional baker."

I was more precise with this cake than ever before. I measured everything and even used a leveler, but I still couldn't keep it from leaning. 

In the end it was a good learning experience.

The bride loved it and it tasted amazing, so I'll count it as a success anyways. 

Since I have a few pictures, I thought I'd show you some things I loved from the reception. 

I loved the old warehouse building. 

Loved that she used a dresser for the sign in table. The birdcage was so cute too. 

Loved the pom-pom wall, it was stunning. 

My sister also talked my mom into doing the flowers. I loved the use of the yellow billy ball flower (aka craspedia). 

I especially liked them used with the boutonnieres. Pretty but still very manly.  

Wedding Cake - What I did

I am happy to share with you how I put this together. I'll warn you now that I am no baker and don't really know what I am doing. I read other blogs and then just kinda make stuff up as I go.

I wanted to make the cake look like this cake from Real Simple Weddings. It was very helpful to have a clear vision before starting.
I baked my cakes the day before using THIS recipe. I was able to fill a 12", 9" and 6" pan with each batch of cake batter. I made three batches. Each tier had three layers. I wanted the middle layer to be a little taller, so I filled that pan a little fuller each time.

After they cooled I trimmed the tops, stacked them (with parchment paper in-between the layers), wrapped them in plastic and put them in the freezer.

While my cakes were baking I made 3 batches of fondant using THIS recipe. I really only needed two batches, but I wanted extra incase there was a problem.

Once I was done baking and making fondant I started constructing the decorations. The flowers and outer edges of everything else was made of fondant mixed with TYLOSE. I found this tip from Janel at MacKenzie's Crafty Mom, mixing Tylose powder with the fondant makes it harden. I mixed 1/4-tsp with 1/4 a batch of fondant.

Janel also used a pasta machine in her post. Can you imagine how thrilled I was to find a pasta machine in my basement a few weeks ago. My moth-in-law gave it to me years ago and I forgot all about it. This machine made all the difference in making my decorations.

I rolled out my tylose fondant, ran it though the flat part of the machine a couple of times to make it thinner. Then I ran it through the noodle cutters to get these long strips.
I used the long strips to form all my shapes. A paint brush and water worked great for glueing my pieces together. When I was done I let them dry over night.
The next morning they were hard and I started piping the lattice work. I would recommend doing this the day before too, but I was too tied. I piped the lattice work with royal icing and it took a couple hours to dry. Since it was on parchment paper once the icing dried the pieces could be picked up and used as I needed. HERE is a good post about royal icing lattice work. I made mistakes, if I couldn't live with them I would break off the lattice work clean up the shaped fondant and pipe it again.
For the flowers I ran another piece of tylose fondant through the pasta machine machine until it was quite thin. Then I used Wilton circle cutters to cut three sizes of circles out. I glued one on top of the other (off centered) with water. Then I laid them in various spoons and things to dry over night.

While my lattice work was drying I frosted the cakes and covered them in fondant. To stack them, I used straws dowels. They were a lot easier to cut than wood.
My fondant was my biggest problem. When I did my practice cake it was the easiest part, so I wasn't worried. I think I may have tried to rush myself and rolled it a little to thin. I was really embarrassed at how bad it looked. I was grateful to have big decorations to cover it up.

Take your time and don't skimp on the fondant.
Once everything was dry I could put it all together.
I hope that made sense. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try and answer them. I couldn't have done this without the great tutorials in blogland.

I Did It!

My first Wedding Cake.

Okay, can I have a moment to pat myself on the back. I have been so scared for the last month. I really didn't know if I could pull this off, but I did. Do you remember my practice cake HERE?

I am so proud of this cake, even if it is far from perfect.

I love the flowers.

The top tier is my favorite.

I think they liked it too.

Click HERE for the recipes I used and how I did it.

cake rehersal

One of my sisters friends asked me to make her wedding cake. I was so flattered that she would think I could do it, that I said yes. I've only made birthday cakes, so I thought I should do some practice before the real thing.

Here is two looks I've come up with. They aren't perfect and may look weird. I got tired of baking cake and wanted to try a few different things.

I like this one. It was super easy. All I had to do was cover with fondant and wrap with a lace ribbon.

For the second look, I thought I would try to replicate this cake from Real Simple Weddings.

As you can see I need a smaller tip and a lot of practice. The bride liked it though and I will try and do it for real in a few weeks. Wish me luck.

Wedding Reception

Okay I promise this is the last post on my brother wedding. I just wanted to highlight some of my favorite things from the reception. The brides family did a fabulous job putting on the vintage inspired party.

Guests were able to sign vintage postcard for the bride and groom.

They had such beautiful pictures from there engagements and bridals. I was happy to see them displayed on clotheslines for people to look at while waiting to congratulate the couple.

I loved the layered casual style of the table tops.

I loved her bouquet

The bottom was wrapped with a sentimental doily.

My favorite thing was the Patisserie tent.

Notice the lights and chandeliers. It was so pretty.

They bought this bakery display at an antique store and filled it with beautiful cake stands and the most amazing pastries.

It was a huge hit.