Take a plain cube vase and make it special for Mother's Day

Simple cube vases are quite inexpensive and a great staple to have around for floral arrangements. But what if you want to dress one up for a special occasion or holiday?

I dug into my stash of scrapbooking paper and paper punches and constructed this fun solution following these simple steps:

1. I cut out four frames from a pretty colored card stock that would coordinate with the flowers that would be in the vase. For mine, I used a Sizzix Bigz die cutting frame (654446), but it isn't essential to use that equipment to achieve the same effect. You can even cut out the frames with scissors.
2. I taped each of the frames end-to-end on the back with scotch tape.
3. I taped together the ends of the end-to-end chain of frames to form a "box" of frames that slides nicely over the top of the cube vase.
4. To embellish one of the frames for the front of the arrangement, I took one of the centers that had been cut out of one of the frames and used my other paper cutting equipment to make fancy corners. You can do those by hand with scissors too. I just happen to have some fun hand-punches.
5. I cut out a smaller square out of white paper and embellished it with fancy paper punches then tape it on the front of the purple square using double-sided adhesive tape.
6. I found a decorative font on my computer (I used "Romantiques" that's a free download at www.dafont.com) 
7. In a simple MSWord document (any word processing software works), I typed out the word "Mother" in the font type I chose and made it a pretty shade of purple.
8. I printed out the type onto purple paper using my inkjet printer.
9. Using scissors, I freehand cut around the shapes of the letters without getting too close to the printing.
10. I stuck adhesive pearl embellishments I had in my stash (I got mine at the craft store) on each letter (the wider letters got more than one pearl).
11. I stuck a couple evenly spaced foam adhesive squares (also from the craft store) on the back of the "mother" cut-out and stuck it to the front of the glued squares at an angle.
12. I stuck foam adhesive squares to the back of each corner of the whole front decoration and stuck it on the vase sleeve frame at an angle.
13. For an added touch, I hot-glued simple pearl beading trim in little swags around the top edge of the vase sleeve.
14. At the apex of each swag of pearl trim, I hot-glued a single tiny silk flower pulled from its stem (I got a whole sprig at the dollar store).
15. As an added touch, after I placed the flowers in the center of the vase (using a floral frog is great for getting the look I got) I filled the vase with white liquid marbles and added submersible LED lights to make it glow from the inside.

Voila! I created a removable sleeve vase to doll up the plain glass cube vase for a special occasion. What's great is, I can do the same thing for other holidays and seasons and use the same vase over and over.

Happy creating and remember...

Floral decoration idea: Easy Red and Blue Lighted Floral Centerpiece

This is a great floral decoration for any event, but especially for an outdoor event that starts during the day and ends after the sun has gone down. It's also perfect for an indoor event in a location where fire codes don't allow open flames but you still want the look of lighted centerpieces. 

Happy creating and remember...