Bootiful Halloween Bouquet - DIY

Everyone who hosts a Halloween party this year could certainly make use of this bootiful DIY Halloween bouquet. It is Halloween decorating that is kinda funky AND fun. And we can all use a touch of whimsy in our lives, don't you think? I can think of no better time to make DIY Halloween decorations than right now?

Grab your glue gun, some googly eyes and whatever else you can find at home or at the local dollar store. Let's get creative. Make a bootiful Halloween bouquet that will make Frankenstein's monster a little green with envy.

I used the materials listed below, but truly this bootiful bouquet can be made of whatever you wish. You could use toothpicks or q-tips cut in half and dipped in red "blood" to poke into some of the styrofoam balls for contrast.......You could make some flowers out of orange and black pom poms and add to this bootiful bouquet. The vase could be wrapped in a black crochet spiderweb....This will be your bootiful bouquet so it's all up to you!

• styrofoam balls
• googly eyes (assorted sizes)
• latex craft paint
• stencil brush or piece of old sponge to paint with
• disposable chopsticks OR wooden stick OR dowel (your choice for flower stem)
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
• bit of orange or black netting
• 2 wine corks (plus 2 bamboo skewers for cork stems)
• 3 mm black sequins
• white glue that dries clear
• recycled silk leaves
• bendable wire
• needle nose pliers/wire cutters
• green floral tape
• vase or pitcher to hold the bouquet

This first step is really quick. I sponge paint the surface of the eyeball flowers with latex paint which dries really quickly. Each styrofoam ball is stuck onto a stem of your choice (see step 2 below for details). Use a heavy duty cup or vessel to place the stemmed balls.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

Create a stem for the eyeball flower using a disposable wooden chopstick, a piece of wooden doweling or even a real stick from the yard would be great too. Hot glue the stem into place after inserting it at least 1/2" into the surface of the foam.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

Wrap floral stem tape along 3/4 of the surface of the stem, making sure to wrap tightly.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

Find a suitably sized cup to place the inverted styrofoam ball. Begin hot gluing the googly eyes into place around the bottom near where the stem is located. Once you have this area full enough, proceed to next step to finish the leaves and the stem.

(I glue some googly eyes first so they won't be in the way when I apply the rest of the floral tape and leaves in the next step.)

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

at the photo above. Notice the googly eye fringe on that tablecloth? Yep, I made that too. :)

Cut a short length of 20 gauge or lighter wire. (I could have easily used green floral wire too, but didn't think about it at the time I was making this bootiful bouquet. So if you have florist wire, use that.) Insert thru the stem holes of the recycled silk leaves and bend slightly.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

This closeup shot of the eyeball flower was taken after I wrapped the wired silk leaves around the base of the stem just underneath the flowers bottom. I then covered up the wire with more floral tape as shown.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

Wine cork sticks for your bootiful bouquet just add that special touch. Get a couple of bamboo skewers for barbecue and stick into the bottom of a wine cork.

Wrap the bamboo skewers with green floral tape. Coat both corks with plain white glue that dries clear and continue with next step.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

I used 3 mm black sequins to decorate the wine cork sticks. Just hold the glue-covered cork over a small bowl and sprinkle the sequins on top. Shake slightly and allow to dry.

(Photo credit Pam Irie)

(Photo credit Pam Irie)