Mini Tulips: Second Post - Complete

Well I succeeded in finishing my sister's birthday present, yay!

I was a little worried last night.  When I got home I didn't know where I'd put the basket.  After a short panic I found it.  This morning I filled it with some floral foam and covered it with mossy... stuff.

After that I added two leaves to each flower, the leaves I had left over I combined into groups of two, all the stems were then wrapped in green floral tape.

Then I arranged them into the basket.

I decided to separate the different colored tulips, putting the white ones in the middle, surrounding them with the light blue, then putting the dark blue around the edge.

However, it didn't look full enough, so I made 10 more sets of leaves and added those in:

So I promised a picture to show size and it took me a while to figure out what to use, I was going to use my iPhone until I realized I needed it to take the picture.  Then I realized this is a blog, most people should have an idea of how large a standard size mouse is.  So below is that photo and two other angles.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Mini Tulips
Flower Design: Dalene Kelly
Arrangement Design: Me
Started: April 24, 2013
Finished: April 26, 2013
Beads: 11/0 Czech Seed Beads
Wire: 26 ga. floral wire and Artistic Wire

Mini Tulips: First Post

I was helping my sister was clean out her garage the other day and she found a cute little basket that she was going to throw away.  I have two problems, one, I can think of ways to use just about anything someone tosses away, and two, I'm a pack rat.  So of course I knew how to use the basket and I took it off of her hands.  However, I'm going to give it right back to her... with a few improvements.

I've only posted two pictures of French Beaded Flowers, and those were finished.  Now you'll get to see one from start to finish.

First off, my materials:

This is pretty much everything I need to make beaded flowers.  Upper left corner is a tape measure for when I need a certain wire length or length of beads.  Upper right is a simple pair of wire cutters.  Lower left is a hank of beads, this is how I get most of my seed beads.  They are pre-threaded on string in about 18" long strands, obviously I use more than one color for each project.  I transfer the beads from the thread onto wire, the next two items going right.  The white circle is a spool of blue Artistic Wire, the next is a paddle of green floral wire.  Finally, a pair of hemostats.  I usually like to have at least two, but currently I only have one set on me.  The only "major" material I'm missing in the picture is the floral tape.

Now, let's get started.  I usually make all the parts first then assemble.

I don't really remember how big the little basket is, so I just made 5 of each color tulip.  These are made by twisting the wire into "continuous loops".  For more information go here.

Of course the tulips need their stamens, that's above.

The pattern I was using said to have two leaves per flower.  I just decided to make 40 leaves... they were easy to make...  I think I might have made too much.  They're in piles of 5 to help me keep count.

Here I added the stamens to the tulips, above, with a close-up of the three different colors, below.

Just to give you an idea of the size of these, I cannot fit my pinky into the cup of the tulips.  I'll try to make sure I have something in the final picture to give you a sense of size when it's done.  I'm making this for my sister's birthday this Sunday, so I should be finishing this up Friday.  I'm going to be with her all day tomorrow, so I won't have a chance to work on it, instead I'm going to work on some mini roses for Mother's day.  Actually it's almost 1am, I guess it is "tomorrow".

Project Stats:
Pattern: Mini Tulips
Flower Design: Dalene Kelly
Arrangement Design: Me
Started: April 24, 2013
Beads: 11/0 Czech Seed Beads
Wire: 26 ga. floral wire and Artistic Wire