Custom Project Tip!

When purchasing materials for a custom project, you can do it one of two ways. First, you can draw out your project on grid paper with all the measurements and calculate the exact number of materials you require. Math not being my strongest subject in class, I usually opt for the second option. I go to the store and buy them out of the material that I need. Sadly, I usually lose the receipt and can’t return the many leftover materials I have.

For one of my custom projects I required a “ton” (I didn’t know exact number at the beginning) of silk red roses. I went to the store with just a concept in mind and ended up buying over 300 stems. I received a lot of weird looks at the store. One woman even came up to me and asked “why are you buying so many roses?” I wanted to tell her that I needed all these stems to recreate my own American Beauty poster, but I didn’t. I just politely said it is for a project.

After completing my project, (I am going to blog about the actual project after my client’s wedding) I had a “lot” (I didn’t count how many I had left) of leftover stems of silk red roses. Also, with a concept in mind, I decided to use these leftover stems for another project for my (same) client’s wedding. With the leftover stems, I created two 10” silk red rose pomanders.

Making the pomanders was easy. The real lesson learned is the importance of making sure you have enough materials before you start ANY project. As I was making the pomanders, I kept saying to myself “Oh gosh, I hope I have enough red roses, oh gosh…” Luckily, I did and have 12 stems leftover. I think I am going to spare myself the stress of making another project with my leftover, leftover stems. There comes a time when you know enough is enough. Here are the pomanders I created.