Flower fix

Have a bunch of empty vases?  Most of my pottery is in the form of a vase... which I don't mind a bit since I absolutely love flowers.  I really do.  I always keep fresh flowers (usually sunflowers) on my kitchen table.  I'd love to have them all over my house, but unfortunately, the budget does not allow for such things (or at least until I start my dream flower garden).

I'm not too fond of silk flowers, so I've run into problem of empty vases all over my house.  I have not been able to find the perfect filler until this past wedding season.  Being a bridesmaid is a fun perk of being in your mid-twenties... and I must say, one of my absolute favorite parts of weddings is the flowers (yes, I care about the flowers). Anyway, I have found myself leaving my best friends' weddings with the most beautiful bouquets that most of them paid a pretty penny for.... So why let them go to waste?  Dry them. 

I'm really into dried flowers these days.  They are a great alternative to buying fresh flowers to keep in your house, and you can still tell yourself that they aren't "fake flowers." Here is a dried bouquet from Tyler's wedding this past July- It's basically November and they are still in my living room!

Here are some of my newly dried yellow flowers:

Now, you can buy them at your local craft/interior store (Hobby Lobby, etc.) for about $10+, but let me recommend going to the floral section at Kroger and buying all the older blooms marked down to "manager's special" for $2.49.  Just as pretty.

So keep those bouquets... just make sure you take them out of water while they are still pretty in bloom!