Valentine’s Day is often about getting lovey-dovey with that special someone in your life. But remember when we were kids and we gave those little Valentine’s Day cards to all our friends? I miss that gesture, and I thought it would be fun to come up with something to make to show your friends how much you love them, too! So I collaborated with the girls over at Bash, Please, and they came up with the idea of floral friendship bracelets that you can make with just a few materials, in 20 minutes or less, to give to your best of buds…
Here’s what you’ll need:
Flowers {we used red and pink ranunculas, chamomile daisies, white button mums, and flowering houseplants in pink and red.}
Clippers or scissors
Cotton ribbon {in varying widths}
Fabric dye {optional}
Safety pins {for fastening the cuff versions}
Here’s how:
1. Pre-cut cotton ribbon in one-foot-long strips. You can use a range of widths, depending on how you want your bracelets to look. Pour fabric dye into a jar (per the package directions) and dip the ribbon in, leaving it to soak anywhere from a couple minutes to an hour, depending on your desired color saturation. Let dry.
2. Snip the heads off the flowers using clippers or scissors.
3. Arrange your snipped flowers in the middle of a piece of ribbon until you’re happy with the composition. It can be a cluster of various buds, a single ranunculas or two, or a row of mums.
4. One by one, squeeze super glue under each bud and secure it in the position you planned out. (You can also add another layer of glue to the undersides of the flowers.) Lightly press down on each bud and hold for a minute, then let sit for an hour, until glue is completely dry.
5. To tie the bracelets on, simply tie with a simple bow, or you can use safety pins for a shorter cuff bracelet.
6. Finally, give them to your friends! If you make them the night before, you can keep the bracelets in the fridge to keep the flowers fresh until the next day. They look super cute worn in multiples, too!
Enjoy!
Special thanks to the girls at Bash, Please for helping me create these beautiful bracelets! (Their new book, The New-Fashioned Wedding, just came out, and if you’re in Houston, you can catch their book signing on February 10th at BHLDN.)
{Photos by Bonnie Tsang, floral project by Bash, Please.}
Lovely, love the idea of giving out something to all my friends on valentines day. I too gave my friends cards when i was in school 🙂 Just curious to know why did you guys not do this on colored ribbons? It saves the hassel of dying the fabric!
But great idea, thanks for sharing!
wow! these bracelets are so cool – have to make them for next week – thanks for sharing 🙂
sweet idea!
Ahh, I love these. I just want to make them for myself and wear them in multiples every day.
Dear Joy:
Your blog is so aptly named, because each day, most especially when I am feeling a bit down, anxious, or stressed, I come on to see what unadulterated bit of the good life you have shared with everyone, and remember how wonderful the world is because it is so full of color, glitter, laughter and treats of all kinds. Thank you for sharing your flawless taste, beautiful smile, fabulous family, and adorable photos of your daughter with strangers that appreciate it more than you know.
With love from Canada
Oh wow. These are so freaking cute. I’m doing a valentines post tomorrow, can I please link to this? I actually want to wear these all spring. Excellent idea.
kristaandmichele.com
So cute! I normally send paper valentines to my girlfriends, but this is so much more fun!
These are so cute!!!I’m a huge fan of flowers on anything.
These are gorgeous. And such a nice gesture to let your girlfriends know you adore them! What would we do without them in our lives?
Cute!!!!
Love your dress as well 🙂
Cute!!!
Love your dress as well 🙂
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheModernLovely
Hello Joy! I just wanted to tell you how inspired I was by your “Paying for parents” post on a Cup of Jo. I am 24 and still have debt of my own but I immediately paid off one of my dad’s credit card bills and sent my mom a check. They have done so much for me and sometimes that’s easy to forget. I plan on adopting this tradtion as one of my own. Thank you so much for sharing!
These are so lovely, such a sweet idea.
These are so adorable! Gotta do this!
This is so fabulous! I was just talking with Kathryn of Snippet & Ink about how much we’d like to see wrist corsages (done right) for bridesmaids more often, and this is exactly what we meant! love love love!
Dear Christina,
Thanks so much for your kind note! It really made my day. Thanks so much for reading!
Joy
Thanks so much Vilma!
Joy
such a sweet post, all you girls look adorable. love how the bracelets turned out 🙂
I have the dress Kelley is wearing!!! These are super cute Joy!
These are so darling, Joy! Where is that dress from? Is it Madewell, by chance? I love it! So flattering on you.
Annndd I know how I am spending my weekend. Thanks for the awesome project!
this is such a fun idea! thanks for sharing this!
Hi Morgan,
Yes! My dress is from Madewell!
Joy
So fun and cute! I’d just be say to see them die 🙁
I’ve said it before and will say it again; BRILLIANT, absolutely BRILLIANT. I love the idea of including friends.
love, x
http://xfallenmoon.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/xfallenmoon
so cute joy! i want to make a pin like this but with fake flowers so i can wear them all year long:)
These are so cute! I love this idea, even for a baby/bridal shower…
As for the Valetine’s, I still send Valetine’s to my friends. As an adult, it’s so fun to get non-bills in the mail. I especially make sure to send one to the single gals in my life. Just so they, too, get a little something special from someone who loves them (even if it’s not romantic).
This is super cute! I want one! 🙂
http://www.happypaperplace.com/
Umm…! What a great idea. I would love to surprise some girlfriends with it. Love your dress too. xo
Thank you for featuring Valentine’s ideas for grown up kids (like me) who miss elementary school style celebrations of the holiday. Clever idea-thank you so much. This post, and of course your entire blog, is so beautifully styled and the epitome of what a blog should be. Congratulations on all your success!
~Sarah
Thanks so much Sarah!
Joy
cute photos!!! hope you have a great valentines Joy!
http://www.twosipsafter.wordpress.com
Beautiful gift!!! and so easy. thanks
This is so cute! Ima have to give this is try 🙂
-Deana, from Birds&Oxfords
these are so awesome!!! definitely going to be using this idea
These are incredibly pretty. What a fantastic idea, and I think in a way it’s nice that they won’t last; sometimes it’s nice to have something temporary.
love these! they are so pretty and if you had some nice fake flowers you could wear them all year long. 🙂
I love flower very much, I saw first time flower bracelet. All are very amazing and wonderful.
Amazing thought of flowers gift.
These are beautiful, no idea how i missed these posts.
Shruthi
http://nyambura.co