DIY Flower Tutorial using silk flowers and faux succulents

I created this flower letter for my daughters bridal shower last summer and forgot to post about it. 

Then I started placing the largest flowers in first and the succulents then filled in the empty spots with smaller flowers.

I just filled it to the brim with lots of flowers and it turned out perfect!

BYU Graduation Party Blue and White

One of my cute friends asked me to help plan and carry out her daughters BYU graduation party last year and I have to tell you it was so much fun! Her daughter wanted the party to kind of have a boardwalk feel using BYU's blue and white colors.

Originally we had planned to have the entire party outside but as fate would have it...it rained..not a little...it just poured! So we moved most of the party inside and got canopies for the outside patio area.

For the dessert table I covered her round table with a white tablecloth and used IKEA's blue and white striped fabric and draped it over the top. It was long so I cinched it up using a hair elastic to make a puff on each side. Then to bring in the casual Boardwalk feel I used lots of my galvanized tin serveware.

I served brownies, lemon bars, raspberry bars, chocolate chip brownie cups, caramel chocolate dipped pretzels and mini orange cupcakes with mini chocolate graduation cap candies on top!

These yummy chocolate chip brownies are so good I made them from a mix. Nestles chocolate chip brownie mix from Walmart..you got try it. I baked them in these little paper cups from Ikea...they are tall and skinny and worked perfectly. A great tip: make ahead and freeze! I made these fun "Y" toothpicks using the free printable from MyeyeQ

I made these fun mini cupcakes also using a mix but added 1 cup of sour cream and 4 eggs and used orange juice in place of the water. I made the little graduation caps using mini peanut butter cups, a small square of chocolate a mini M&M candies and a little strip of air head candy. I had to cut out the blue stripe from the multi colored roll of air head candy and cut it into 3 pieces. I used melted chocolate chips to attach everything together.

Diploma cookies! I used Pepperidge farms Pirouette cookies and tied skinny blue ribbons on each cookie.

My cute mom made these AMAZING caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels! Oh my gosh they taste so good! Www.eatlotsachocolate.com

I found this fun letter "S" for Shelby...it was on clearance at Hobby Lobby but is was pink..so I spray painted it white and made it available to her guests to sign it as a keepsake. I also got a glass jar and used sticky letters to spell out advice. Many friends wrote her a little note and popped it in the jar for her.

Next I will show you the outdoor patio all lit up, the photo booth I created using more of the IKEA striped fabric and a fun ring toss game plus the blue and white banners!

I LOVE polka dots!

These melamine black and white polka dot plates just say FUN!

I purchased a simple flower bouquet from "Wally's World" and placed it in one of my white pitchers and put it on this metal cake plate to raise it up.

I love my chandy..glowing above the table.

I've been craving spring and this tablescape really made me feel happy.

I am so excited to share this tutorial with you!! These cake plates are awesome they hold 1 dozen cupcakes or any size cake or other desserts...(because they are painted use a doiley if raw food will be touching the painted surface). They are perfect for weddings, parties and receptions of any kind and best of all you can personalize them to match your look!

Here is the white cake stand with a dozen cupcakes on it. 

For the spindles we also drilled holes top and bottom so the screws would more easily get through the wood. Make sure you get fairly long screws to go into spindle to hold top in place. We also added wood glue to the tops and bottoms for more strength.

Then we attached the top to the spindle...you need a fairly powerful drill or at least one charged longer than five seconds! Hahah

Attach small pedestal base to the spindle. Glue the big base onto the small base making sure you line up everything perfectly....or at least eyeball perfect ;) let dry.

Next comes the cool metal trim...I found this at Hobby Lobby...on a little rack by the flowers. It is very pliable but some of it has sharp edges. You will need two people to do this part. One to hold the trim in place and the other to staple it on there. You can't even tell there are staples in it. Just make sure to staple over a little piece of the metal to hold it in place. Once you get to the end just overlap the two raw edges and staple in place. Fold in the raw edges just a little bit using pliers just so you won't cut yourself when you brush your hand over it.

Putty the hole in the middle, let dry and sand.

I love this Valspar spray paint..it is not runny, it covers really well and they have lots of color choices! I am not getting paid to say this either...although I would like to be lol but seriously I tried krylon from Walmart and it was a lot runnier and did not cover as well. The name of the paint colors I used were Morning Mist (white) in satin finish, Peacock blue in gloss finish and Hubbell House Golden Maize in satin finish. No reason why I grabbed one in a gloss finish.... it doesn't seem all that glossy...but I really like it!

I painted these two first before adding the metal trim...I like them plain but the edges are kind of rough looking. I thought about all kinds of different trim to add to these cake plates...what about ribbon or pompoms?

 The possibilities are endless.

If you want instant gratification check out my instant cake plate tutorial that uses no glue and two things from Ikea!