Patriotic Centerpiece

This was inspired by an idea from the Cricut messageboard. The original creator's name is "Freddie" and this is a link to the post on her project: http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=1448357&mpage=1&key=&#1448357

I put my own spin on it to make it appropriate for the occassion. I used this as our table centerpiece for homecoming family gathering for my brother-in-law; then I gave it to his wife as a gift at the end.

This was made using Accent Essentials. Starting at 3 inches on each flower, I dialed down 1/4 inch for each cut. If you have the Expression, push your quantity button and set it to "1". This will hold the design so you don't have to push "repeat last" each time. I used the shift lock to avoid any details or holes being cut into the flowers. In the case of the double sided flowers, I simply made them twice and stuck them together back to back.

All the flowers are put together with 1/4 double sided adhesive foam squares. DO NOT USE SCOTCH BRAND. I found that they did not work very well as they are soft instead of firm like most foam squares. For the stems, I used red, white and blue straws because they worked with the colors but you could use popsicle sticks, sucker sticks, skewers, etc. I attached the flowers to the straws with big thick glue dots.

I filled the bucket halfway with white decorative sand and stuck the straws in that. I cut some stem-like accents and stuck in as filler. Again, all of this was pulled from Freddie's post on the Cricut messageboard -- this is NOT my original idea, it is simply my take on it.

Thanks for looking!