5 D.I.Y. Valentine’s Day Flowers Your Sweetheart Will Actually Love
Get crafty in and out of the kitchen with these Valentine’s Day projects.
Crisis this morning. You strolled out the door, watering can in hand, to check on the bush of long-stemmed beauties that you’ve been painstakingly tending for months to give to your boo on Valentine’s Day (that’s what an amazing S.O. you are). What do you find? Some sadistic crop of bugs has terrorized the entire plant, leaving it in pieces! And … that’s why you don’t have a lovely, homemade gift.
Nice try, but making up excuses won’t keep you out of the doghouse this year. Yesterday, we offered up our picks for giving your gal a not-your-typical “bouquet,” but nothing says “I love you” like something totally unique that you made yourself. Here are five flowery ways to craftily say you care—and they won’t take months of gardening to do it.
We like that arrangement.
1. Tissue paper roses
These are perfect for making dramatic hanging décor around the dinner table (throw in a home-cooked meal if you’re really going the distance), and you can even finish off the end of the garlands with photos of the two of you throughout your relationship. It will be like a little gallery of your love. *Cue romantic music.* Stack five rectangular pieces of pink or red tissue paper on top of each other. Starting at one end, fold the stack into a small strip, then flip over and fold it again and so on until you have an accordion effect. Tie a piece of fishing line around the middle of the “stack” of now-folded-up paper, then round out the edges of the paper with a scissors to make it more petal-like. Finally, fluff the paper into the final rose by pulling apart the individual sheets. String a bunch onto a long piece of fishing line and hang from the ceiling.
2. Strawberry roses
For the people who love bouquets made of fruit (yes, it’s a trend), this is a real winner. It goes the extra mile from just popping melon balls on a skewer, plus they’re totally impressive, delicious and a lot healthier than eating 12 pieces of bacon. With each berry, make a small cut-out of a wedge from the bottom, almost all the way through, leaving it still attached to the rest of the fruit. These are the “petals.” Pull out the petals and arrange them to look more like a rose. Go around the entire base, then start on the next row of petals, staggering them from the first row you made. Go on until you have all the petal bits cut out, then chop off the remaining top of the berry to give it a rose silhouette. Pop onto green-tape-wrapped barbecue sticks, toss them in a vase and voilà!
3. Pizza roses
A twist on those rose-shaped, puff pastry, apple tarts that have been making the rounds on Pinterest, these pizza roses are much more of-our-generation. Roll out long, thin strips of premade pizza dough. Add marinara sauce on half of the strip (mentally divide the strip lengthwise, with the sauce on the upper half), then use it to adhere slices of pepperoni, with the edge sticking up (like petals, kind of—get it?). Sprinkle some cheese over the pepperoni, fold up the lower half of the dough, then roll up the strip into a little rosette, with the pepperoni being like the layers of rose petals. Pop into a cupcake pan and bake in the oven until done, according to premade dough directions. Add little basil leaves for added effect.
4. Bacon roses
We know, we know: We totally blabbed on about bacon roses last year, but it really is such a winner for V-Day gifting, whether you’re bestowing it upon a girl or a boy. Plus, they’re surprisingly easy to make and you’ll probably be offered a rose or two to munch on when all is said and done—score!
5. A dozen roses
This one isn’t so much a craft as it is arranging three bottles of Four Roses bourbon in a bouquetlike way (maybe throw some baby’s breath in there). You probably don’t want to try to pull this with a classic romantic girl, but the more irreverent boos will be sure to get a good laugh—and who can’t use three bottles of bourbon??
