Channeling Martha: May flowers

Everyone knows what April showers bring. It's time for the May flowers! Well overdue! This week has been absolutely beautiful. Today, I did the unthinkable... I showed my legs! It felt unbelievable. This is the time of year where it's not too hot, mid-70s, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and all of a sudden you have a spring in your step.

To commemorate this joyous occasion, I decided to make a bouquet of flowers that wouldn't wilt.

I decided on Martha's Crepe Paper Amaryllis. Amaryllis is a really beautiful lily-like flower that sprouts from a bulb. I really love the stamens that these flowers have... they're so beautiful!

Of course, I didn't use the correct coloring because I didn't have paint on hand. Martha instructed that I take white crepe paper and paint half of it a purplish pink color. This gives the flower a multi-colored look. Instead, I used a purplish pink-colored crepe paper for the petals themselves.

I also used regular wire and covered it myself with floral tape. Martha used floral wire itself... which definitely would have been easier in retrospect because my fingers are now super raw from all the taping.

The instructions for the project are as follows: (obviously not my creation, but that of Martha Stewart):

Materials:

Thick crepe paper in white, yellow, and green (we used White (CR16), Light Yellow (CR07), and Verdant Green (CR7), from Roze,, and similar, from D. Blumchen & Co., 866-653-9627)
Acrylic paint in pink or red
Small paintbrush
Cloth-covered floral wire in light green
Floral tape in light green

Instructions:

Step 1 Cut a piece of white crepe paper to 2 1/2-by-5 1/2 inches.

Step 2 Water down paint slightly until it's a bit runny. Using paintbrush, paint 1 long side of crepe paper pink, as shown. Let dry.

Step 3 Cut 6 petal shapes from painted portion of crepe paper, leaving a long tail end on each petal, as shown. Gently stretch petals to curve them.

Step 4

A fantastic amaryllis flower! How pretty!

Cut two 1/2-by-2-inch pieces of yellow crepe paper. Twist each piece into a long strand. Bend both pieces in half so that they form a narrow V shape.

Step 5 Cut a 7-inch length of floral wire. Fold top few inches of wire over both the V shapes, as shown, and twist to secure.

Step 6 Add petals: Using floral tape, attach long tail end of 1 petal to stem. Repeat process, taping 1 petal in place at a time, until bloom is formed. Cover flower stem completely with floral tape.

Step 7 Cut 2 to 3 small leaf shapes from green crepe paper, as shown. Using floral tape, attach leaves to stem at base of flower.

Step 8 Repeat to make another flower. Wrap flower stems together with floral tape.

Step 9 Cut a 1 1/4-by-4 1/4-inch rectangle from green crepe paper. Cut a large leaf shape from green crepe paper that's slightly larger than rectangle.

Step 10 Lay stem on rectangle. Run a glue stick along edge of rectangle, and wrap it lengthwise around stem, as shown. Attach large leaf at base of stem using glue stick. Write name of guest or gift recipient on leaf shape with a fine-tipped marker.