Stalled

I had been wondering how to decorate our ceremony site. We have a wonderful backdrop of the lake and nature, so more specifically, I had wondered how to decorate the Gazebo that we'd be holding the ceremony in.

I thought of using tulle, but it just wasn't doing it for me. Then I cam across these giant tissue pomanders. It was love at first sight. They would be perfect to hang from the Gazebo. I bought a bunch of tissue paper and began the daunting task of making the tissue paper flowers. I also placed an order for 2 18" Paper lanterns and 2 24" paper lanterns online. I wasn't really sure how big they would be and let me tell you, the 18" was PLENTY big.

I quickly learned making paper tissue flowers was really annoying and it took a really LONG time. Some of my flowers didn't even look like flowers, just like puffs of tissue paper. I also didn't like how they were turning out different sizes. The perfectionist in me said "uh-oh" and quite frankly, I didn't like the results I was getting. Luckily, I hadn't attached them to the paper lanterns yet. I gave up on the tissue paper flower pomanders although if you can handle making these, it would be quite the cheap project!

I still wanted pomanders to hang from the Gazebo, so I came up with a new plan while I was at the local craft store, AC Moore (where I spend a lot of time these days).

My New Project: Giant Flower Pomanders.

But how is that different from before, you ask? Well, instead of tissue paper flowers, I am using Silk Flowers. No making flowers for this chica. I bought some silk flowers while out on a trip to AC Moore (our local craft store).

Once home, I borrowed the Man's wire cutters and cut all the flowers off the stems, got out my trusty glue gun and my paper lanterns. I began gluing the lilies onto the paper lantern around the circumference of the lantern. I'm not going to lie, getting the first row onto the paper lantern was really annoying. You had to hold the flower in place until the glue dried completely or it would move or start to dip or slide down the lantern. It took a lot of patience, but after the first row, the new flowers I glued on had something to lean on, so it was a lot easier, faster and stress free.

I had purchased what I thought was an abundance of Pink Lilies. On my first trip to AC Moore (can you see where this is going), I purchased 6 stems of Lilies. The 6 stems were made up of 12 flowers on each stem, for a total of 72 flowers. Certainly enough to make 1 pomander, right?

Wrong! Those 72 flowers didn't even come close to completing the project and I quickly found myself heading to AC Moore once again for another flower fix. I purchased 6 more stems (all of their current stock in the store and they were still on sale-score) and went home to complete the project.

My completed Pomander, sitting on the table:

I tied some pink ribbon to the top and it hangs quite nicely. I Love it. It's so pretty in person, the picture really doesn't do it justice.

I wanted to make two Pomanders. I wasn't sure I wanted them to match and thought the 2nd one would look cool with Gerbera Daisys. So I began making the 2nd one with a different flower. I decided I didn't like it at all, and took the flowers off of the lantern. I ripped the lantern and had to buy a new one because, duh, they are really thin and hot glue doesn't detach easily.

I stopped at AC Moore and bought out their flower stock yet again (all 6 of them) knowing they would probably be getting more in soon and I'd just go back and buy them. I knew the flowers I purchased were not going to be enough to finish.

AND This is where the story ends tragically.

AC Moore has not gotten new flower stock in of my beloved lilies. I've been stalking them every week for a month. I should rephrase, AC Moore has not gotten new PINK lily flower stock. They got new colors in like white, orange, stargazer......but that doesn't help me.

My project is officially stalled, half completed. This is why I can't buy the other colors to mix in:

What's a bride to do when she can't find the supplies to finish her projects?

UPDATE:
I sent my mom on a mission to find me some pink lilies. It didn't end happily. She did talk to the store manager at the AC Moore in Latham who was helpful and said she'd send a mass e-mail to ALL the AC Moore stores (131 of them) to see if they had any left in stock. She was supposed to call if they did. We haven't heard a word from them. Why o why did they have to switch their flower vendor in the middle of my project? don't they know I have a wedding coming up here? *sigh* I would be happy if they would even let me in on who their vendor was... finding pink lilies is like looking for a needle in a haystack....