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Craft: Lasting Lilies

Craft: Lasting Lilies

Total Time Needed: 1-2 Hours

Brighten your home with a touch of spring: a bouquet of easy-to-care-for paper lilies.

Materials

  • White card stock
  • Green card stock
  • Tacky glue
  • Acrylic paint
  • Plastic tri-beads
  • 20-gauge florists' stem wire
  • Round wooden bead
  • Floral tape
  • Large marker

Instructions

Lasting Lilies  - Step 1

1. Cut six 7-inch petals (as shown) from white card stock and two 8-inch leaves from green card stock. Fold all 8 pieces in half lengthwise.

2. Use tacky glue to glue together the bases of 3 petals, creating a ring with a hole (about 1/2 inch across) in the center. Repeat with the remaining petals to create a slightly tighter ring.

3. Give your lily some distinctive speckles by splattering the leaves with an old toothbrush dipped in diluted acrylic paint (a great job for kids). Allow the glue and the paint to dry.

4. To make a trio of stamens, slip 3 plastic tri-beads onto the ends of three 18-inch lengths of 20-gauge florists' stem wire and bend the tips to secure the beads in place. Feed the opposite wire ends through a round wooden bead, then glue the bead in place about 2 inches below the tri-beads.

Lasting Lilies  - Step 5

5. Feed the wires through the narrower ring of petals followed by the wider ring, offsetting the petals slightly. Glue the petals together and to the bead and let the glue dry.

Lasting Lilies  - Step 6

6. Wrap a 2-foot section of floral tape around the base of the lily several times to secure it to the wires, stretching the tape while you wrap to help it stick. Continue wrapping the tape along the length of the wires, adding the leaves partway down. Finally, gently roll the petals over a large marker to curl the tips.

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