Our Homemade Centerpieces

Because pinning a tutorial of my own making to Pinterest will make me feel worthier as a pinner and a crafter...how to make a centerpiece quickly and cheaply.

Materials:

• Flowers (we hired a florist for this part)
• Vases (we bought 12 from a wholesale warehouse)
• Used books (shades of green, $0.50 to $1.00 from the Fort Worth Public Library sale)
• Cardstock (any color)
• Glue gun
• Packages of moss from Joann's or Michael's
• Compass
• Other basic implements such as scissors

*We both love jigsaw puzzles, so we spread puzzle pieces from a puzzle we had done together on the tables.

Book Selection:

Don't get too matchy-matchy. Do consider the size of the books you buy/borrow/use. We had some stacks of two books and some of three. You want to make sure that your vase and moss rings will fit on the smallest books. We sorted and stacked our 12 sets of books prior to making the moss rings.

Step 1:

Place your vase on a sheet of cardstock (or a filing folder) and trace the footprint of the vase onto the paper. Then, use a compass (or a dinner plate, etc) to draw a second circle -- our rings were roughly 2" wide. Cut out the center and around the outer ring. Place your vase in the ring to check the fit.

Step 2: 

Heat up the old glue gun and start attaching moss to the ring. Intermittently place the vase back into the center of the ring to make sure it still fits. (I dislike the smell of this packaged moss.) Slap the moss on until the paper ring is covered. Use small-to-medium sized chunks to imitate a natural look, and remind yourself that you are not making a wreath. Your moss ring doesn't need to be symmetrical, or very large. Save the small, smelly chunks of moss in the bag. You'll put those on the centerpiece the day of the event.

Step 3: 

Test your moss ring + vase + book pile. Look okay? Throw everything in boxes and bags, and do something else with the rest of your day. On the day of the wedding, we did the following:

1. Set out books and arrange

2. Place a moss ring on each stack of books

3. Place a vase in the center of each ring (We took the vases to the florist prior to the wedding and picked them up filled with water and flowers.)

4. Place leftover moss clumps on books and scatter moss leaves

5. Got married and wondered what the hell we were going to do with 12 matching vases