So we just finished up the Bar Mills Papa Lou’s Cigar Shop and converted it into a flower shop. Naturally, we can’t have a flower shop in our city without adding some realistic fresh cut flowers to the shopfront.
Now you can probably buy some plastic or pre-made flowers for your layout, but where’s the fun in that?
How we made our own home-made flowers
I ventured out to Michael’s Craft Store and snooped around for some non-bleached baby’s breath, but they were out of that… Just my luck. So the hunt was on for an alternative that could serve as some flowers for the shop.
I happened to find a package of dried flowers from Ashland called Ashland Naturals which actually look a lot more like what I envisioned. Here’s a pic of the package and the flowers up-close.
I also picked up some bright red, yellow, and deep purple colored latex craft paints to make them look more like the daisies, roses, and (insert other flower name here, I’m not a botanist).
All together I picked everything up for less than $10. You have to love the nice 50% off one item coupons that stores like this offer almost every week! Here’s a link to some Michael’s coupons
Once I got the materials home I crafted two little tables to add to the front of the flower shop and glued them to the front of the building. Simple, but it adds a little more depth to the structure.
To make the flowers, I just cut the heads off the dried flowers and lightly brushed them with the bright paint colors. Then I dipped a them in a little wood glue and used some needle point pliers to apply them to the tables.
Simple. Done. And it adds a lot to the kit.
Here are some finished pics!
