DIY Silk Flower Boutonnieres Tutorial
For my younger sister's wedding last September (2011) we decided to use silk flowers for the Groomsmen, immediate family members, and the four "meej koob" boutonnieres. If you haven't guessed yet her colors were teal and gold. The boutonnieres were easy to make and helped kept the flower cost down. I made 70 blue ones and 7 white ones. I estimate my cost to be about $0.75/blue boutonniere and $0.50/white boutonniere. I was able to keep the cost down by shopping at Hobby Lobby when they had their 50% off floral stems and floral accessories special. When I made the wedding boutonnieres I wasn't planning to blog about them so for this tutorial I used what I still had, as well as, what I was able to come up with. No worries, the tutorials for each boutonniere is similar enough that you will be able to replicate it. As much as I wish I still had enough old materials to make the originals, I am glad I had to use new ones because it shows that you can create a totally different look by using the same steps.
Gold Leaf Boutonniere
Materials: hot glue gun (my bff for DIY projects), silk flowers, pearls, floral tape, gold leaves, scissors and pins that have a flat back.
I bought the gold leaves at Hobby Lobby and they were originally green, so I spray painted the leaves gold. All the materials shown were purchased at Hobby Lobby except the hot glue gun that was from Wal-Mart.
All the flowers came on stems, so I plucked the flowers off. After plucking the flowers I took off the back buds and center pieces on the front of the flowers; you should see holes in the center of the flowers as shown in the picture.
I circled some glue in the center of the bigger flowers. (preferably around the small center opening) Then I put the smaller flowers on top of where I put the glue and pressed down.
It was cheaper to buy floral stems of gold balls then to buy a bag of gold pearls, plus the stems had the gold color I wanted. After cutting the gold ball there was a sharp spot where the stem was attached to it; that was where I put the glue. I put the ball in the center of the assembled flower and pressed down. For the white pearl I put the glue on a side that did not have a hole, that way when I pressed the pearl down unto the flower the holes face sideways.
For my sister's wedding I used 3 gold leaves, but for the tutorial I only used 2 leaves because that was all I had left. Wrapping the leaves was quite easy, I positioned the leaves in the angle I wanted and wrapped the top leaf stem over and behind the bottom leaf stem. I continued wrapping the stems this way all the way down. To add additional leaves, you will follow the same steps as shown above.
After twisting the leaf stems I wrapped floral tape around the stems to create a one stem look and because it just looks better this way.
I thought the straight wrapped stem was boring so I bent it to create a hook like shape. You can bent yours, leave it straight or do something else. The possibilities are endless, it's all up to you. That's the fun part about DIY projects!
To glue the flowers unto the leaves, I put the glue on the leaves near the stems. Then I pressed the flowers down unto the leaves. After I glued the leaves and flower piece together, I flipped the boutonniere over and glued the pin; I put the glue on the stem part closest to the leaves. That was the last step! Yay!
Typical Silk Flower Boutonniere
I call this type of boutonniere "typical"because it has the 3 basic fundamentals of a boutonniere; leaf, filler, and 1 main flower.
Materials: hot glue gun, scissors, leaves, floral tape, flat back pins, bloom flowers, and filler flowers.
When you buy floral stems/bunches there are usually leaves on the stems; cut them, keep them and reuse them. It will save you a lot of money! I bought the flowers and fillers from Dollar Tree.
The flowers and fillers came in a bunch so I cut what I needed; one flower stem and one filler stem. I bent the back of the flower because I wanted the flower to face forward a little. After I decided how I wanted to arrange the filler and flower, I wrapped the stems together with floral tape.
There was a gap at the bottom of the flower and I didn't like it, so I glued the bottom of the filler to the bottom of the flower to fill the gap. I also did this to one of the sides. In the last photo above, I cut off a piece of the filler that was hanging by itself in the back. I cut it off instead of gluing it because it would've been in the way when I added the leaf.
I picked a geranium leaf because it was different. To help keep the leaf in place, I put a little glue on the back. After the glue dried (10-15 secs) I wrapped the the stems again to hide the small geranium stem and because it made it easier to glue the pin down. 
The boutonniere stem was longer then I wanted so I cut the length I preferred and bent it.
(you could leave it straight)
End Result: One Happy Customer (^-^)
* I didn't add bows to my boutonnieres, but if you want bows you could certainly add them.
