Coloring Flowers with Spray Paint

A friend of mine was showing me pictures of a wedding for which she had done the flowers.  I asked her where in the world had she found the beautiful yellow hydrangea that she had used to carry out the bride's color scheme.  She said that she uses ColorTool Floral Spray.  Now I had seen this at Michael's in the paint aisle but had put the label "super tacky" on it in my mind. 

 When the need arose for me to have pink hydrangea (which were not in season) for a friend's wedding, I decided to try to "kopy kat" her. I was happy with the results and the flowers kept their softness.  Here is a re-creation of how the process went down. 

I started with a white hydrangea 
(you can use other type and colors of flowers too).

 

I put a "collar" of paper towels over the leaves so they 
would not get the pink color on them.

The Design Master Floral Spray is available at Michael's.  It is about $8 per can but it is usually not on sale so you can use your handy dandy coupon to purchase it.  Of course, I have lost the top (just like I do for my toothpaste too).

I read later that the label on the can says "Keep the can 15" - 18" away from the object".  oooops! I think these pictures will show that I didn't read the directions before starting. 

 I learned that if you spray closer than that, the propellant in the spray can can "freeze" the flowers and turn them brown.  Happily, mine did not turn brown. 

Spray lightly moving your hand in small circles, turning the flower as you spray.

Stop every now and then to allow the flower to dry a few seconds and decide how much color you want . 

You could stop at this point if you like some of the white showing.

With one coat of spray paint, you get translucency.  As you add more paint, the color becomes more opaque.

For realism, I think that's about as much color as I 

would personally add.

And here is your (now) pink hydrandgea.  There are lots of other paint colors to choose from.

This might be TMI but here is a short clip of a person who actually knows what she is doing and the different techniques you can use to spray flowers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCQgr2PYH28  

I always hate to see non-professional pictures (like I take) of my flowers because I like to think they looked better "in person".

These hydrangea had more spray paint on them...

...and these had less spray paint on them...it's just up to you! 

Springtime in L.A. (Lower Alabama)

It's mid-March here in L.A. (Lower Alabama).  The daffodils and Bradford pear trees have already done their blooming but other plants are at their peak right now.  

Confederate Jasmine

Can you see the butterfly that stopped by to have her picture taken?

Here she is being still so you can see her beautiful wings.

Cherry Blossom Trees (I think)

Red Bud Tree

Spirea Bush

Forsythia Bush

I just have to show you these fantastic arrangements of forsythia that are NOT in Lower Alabama. They were at the
 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in February 
when I visited there.
  
The first one is at the main desk in the lobby.  

Then there were four more arrangements along

 the walls in large niches.

These next four pictures are of what we consider weeds but
I think they are beautiful in their own way.

And Coming Soon!  Azalea Season!
I have my first little bloom but in a couple of weeks,
the bushes will be covered in white.  So many pretty colors
and varieties of azaleas will be on show in Alabama.

Springtime Nesting

While linking through other blog posts last week, I got the urge
 to "kopy kat" Springtime Bird vignettes I was seeing. 

I remembered that I had purchased several bird nests at 
90% off at a decorators After Christmas Sale.  
I got those out of the attic along with some candlesticks
 and containers in the beige color range.  I also found 
some birds that I had gotten at Dollar Tree and 
Hobby Lobby at some time in the past. 

Originally meant as Christmas decorations...

You cannot be serious! Who would pay $10 for a bird's nest? I guess the decorator did. 

I just pulled anything that looked Christmas-y out of the nests

To add to the things I already had in the attic, I got 

unpainted pine birdhouses at JoAnn's ($1 each), 

 a birdcage at Michael's ($5 on sale), 

a metal bird basket at Ross ($7), a bird plate ($5) 

and a three bird sculpture  ($5 on sale) at Hobby Lobby.

I played around with the elements that I had to see what

looked best for the bird-themed vignette on top of the 

flea market console my husband and I painted. 

I painted the little bird houses and even the birds so my 

elements would be in the same color family.

Here is another bird pair that is in my living room

 that stays up most of the year.