It's not Valentine's Day without flowers.
Bouquets and wreaths are always sweet, but this year you might want to give your Valentine (or Galentine) something a little extra special.
With a simple cake pan, you can update the everyday wreath and give it a modern twist by making it into a chic flower box that your giftee can keep refilling with their favorite floral arrangements all year long.
And even if your beloved isn't the flowery type, they can always make you a cake later with your gift. Win-win.
Materials:
Flowers*
Floral foam*
Cutting board
Knife
Cake pan
Scissors
Leather strap
Pen
Hot glue
*You can also use fresh flowers for this tutorial. If you choose this option, be sure to soak your foam in water before cutting and forming to your cake pan. Another option you can use is other greenery like herbs and succulents if your giftee isn't into floral arrangements.
Step One:
Trace the underside of your cake pan on your foam. This will give you the most accurate measurement of the inside of your pan -- so you don't have to keep going back and reshaping it.
Step Two:
Cut your foam. If you're using fresh flowers or just be wary of how much mess the floral foam makes while cutting, you can soak it in some water before cutting.
Once you've cut out your shape (we used a heart shape in honor of Valentine's Day, but feel free to use any shape), fit it into your pan. You may need to shave off some edged to make it fit. Make sure it sticks snugly into the pan. If you feel like it's a little loose, you can also use a little hot glue on the bottom.
Step Three:
Cut the heads of your flowers, slightly shorter than the depth of your pan.
Step Four:
Starting from the middle, start arranging your flowers. You can make your arrangement as tight or as loose as you need to while still covering your foam area. We started with an arrangement of red flowers in the middle, in a heart-shape.
Step Five:
Keep arranging your flowers as you wish. You can keep it wild or uniform.
Step Six:
Cut a length of leather. Your strap should reach around the edge of your pan while also leaving a large gap at the top that allows it to hang on a wall.
Begin gluing your leather, directly on the center of the pan, starting near the base. Apply your glue about an inch at a time so it doesn't dry too quickly before pressing down your leather strap. Continue around your pan until you are almost to the top.
Step Seven:
If you are using a heart-shape (or even a circular) pan, stop gluing when you reach the widest point.
Step Eight:
Leave some slack in your leather to give your flower box a "handle" to hang from.
Step Nine:
Start gluing on the other side, approximately at the same, opposite point where you stopped on the other side of the heart. Continue gluing, inch-by-inch until you complete the loop. Your ends should match up.
Now it's ready to hang!