Inexpensive Faux Flowers

Silk Flowers

• Silk flowers are often expensive, but wise shoppers can find them for bargain prices after each holiday season. Craft and hobby stores offer frequent coupons to their customers, particularly if you sign up for their mailing list. Watch for sales, and then use coupons to get bargain prices. After Christmas is a wonderful time to stock up on red, white, silver and gold-toned silk flowers. You can find an array of poinsettias and other Christmas arrangements on sale that you can take apart to use in crafts or other floral arrangements. Spring silk flowers, such as daffodils, irises, Easter lilies and hydrangeas, are often on sale after Easter. It is not uncommon to see the individual stems, arrangements and bunches of flowers on sale for 75 percent off. Discount, dollar and craft and hobby stores often have inexpensive silk flowers all year round.

  A simple Christmas project you can make for your own home, friends, relatives or to sell at craft fairs is to make a Christmas wreath or mantel garland. Separate silk poinsettia bushes by cutting them with wire cutters. Use a hot glue gun to attach poinsettia blooms, pinecones, Christmas ornaments and other holiday decorations onto the plain garland or wreath.

Homemade Faux Flowers

• You can create homemade faux flowers out of tissue paper, fabrics, pipe cleaners, craft foam, construction paper and many other inexpensive materials. To make simple fabric flowers, cut out four strips of flannel or cotton material. The strips can be 3 by 4 inches or even larger. Stack the strips evenly on top of each other and then fold the strip lengthwise in accordion fashion, with about 1/2 inch folds. Wrap the end of a green pipe cleaner around the middle section of the fabric, twisting it tightly to secure the flower. Fluff out the fabric to create a fabric carnation.

  Craft foam is available in many colors, and it is easy to draw a flower shape onto the foam and cut it out. Add a coordinating button in the center or a circle cut out of another shade of craft foam.

Plastic Flowers

• Plastic faux flowers are useful if you are making a wreath for your front or back door, and you need flowers that do not bleed or disintegrate during rainy weather. Plastic flowers look beautiful in gardening pots, wheelbarrow planters and other yard art. Many people use them as memorials in cemeteries or as a funeral spray. This type of flower is available year round at dollar, discount and craft and hobby stores.