TULALIP – Shelly Rivera has always liked crafts, but now she’s getting serious about them.
Last week, she attended her first craft show and sold seven of her paper flower pots in just a few hours.
Rivera got interested in paper flowers after a niece used them in her wedding more than a year ago. Rivera liked the idea so much she made paper-flower bouquets for her own daughter’s wedding last year.
Then she “started playing around making different kinds,” she said.
Rivera started taking them to work, putting them on the cage counter at a local casino. Co-workers started buying them.
Rivera learned how to do it watching Youtube videos, then let her imagination go from there. She starts with a cup, or some kind of container. She puts sand in it for stability. She cuts construction paper into squares, using different sizes depending on how big the flower pedals need to be. She folds them origami style. She uses a glue gun to attach them to a stick a little bigger than a toothpick. She uses about 25 flowers for a big arrangement that sells for $30, less for smaller ones that sell for $20.
Each bouquet comes with a handle. She sticks the arrangement into a jar, and decorates it from there with stickers or other items. Some of her arrangements are made into candy dishes. She uses Skittles, chocolates, whatever people want.
Many of her bouquets are made with Seahawks or Silvertips regalia.
Her creations know no bounds.
She made a diaper cake for a hunter who was having a baby so she put camouflage and a deer on it. She can put them in bird cages.
Rivera made another one that was a memorial for a dog. For a Jewish friend she made one for Hannakah. For a Coke fan, she made one using an individualized name bottle. She’s done them for graduations.
“They make nice hospital gifts” because some patients may be allergic to real flowers.
She’s done a bunch recently in fall colors. For Thanksgiving, she plans to donate a number of them to a local senior center.
“That makes my heart happy,” she said. “I can’t wait to take them to the nursing home.”
Interested?
Call her at 425-760-9394 or email shellyrivera4715@gmail.com
