Thursday, June 10, 2010

Coke Crates and Carnations

Ever since I glimpsed a look at the beautiful Pottery Barn Carnation Flag, I knew I wanted to make it. Nico De Swert accounts a fine way to create a centerpiece using fresh flowers, and even has a video. In the video, Nico demonstrates using four vintage soda crates, but it looks to me, and I may be wrong, but what is photographed on the stunning Summer Barbecue table scape is a single soda crate, so that is what I focused on. I was on the hunt for vintage crates and I knew right where to go. My local antique shop! I found the perfect one, worn but not abused, vintage but not flimsy, coke but not Pepsi, I'm a coca-cola girl! :) Somewhat local too, I love visiting Arkansas!Love the patina!


Based on the papers that lined the bottom, that I took out to do this project, dates back to 1963. I did splurge a little, this set me back $10.00.
I filled it with dry foam. I did not glue or even wire, I just used some small pieces of foam to wedge on the ends.
I cut the carnations pretty short and started the stripes first, this went really fast! When doing a low arrangement like this, don't waste your moss, you won't even see it.


I had found some navy colored carnations, but could not find any more. Guess what I did? That's right, I spray painted additional cream colored carnations navy. Now this is a common practice for designers, but I didn't have Design Master spray paint (paint made for silk flowers) on hand, but I used some Krylon Global Blue and they seem to turn out ok. However. it wasn't quite blue enough and certainly didn't jive with the existing blue carnations, so I whipped out the acrylic paint, true navy, and went to town hand painting my carnations! I think it turned out great! A little time consuming, but it had to be done!

Shhhh.....don't tell anyone I painted them! :)



Now for the stars, I just punched them out of card stock, used a teeny tiny drop of glue and randomly placed them.




You might remember my carnation ball that I made back in February

I picked up some fun placemats at Dollar Tree, you'll be seeing them featured before long!


Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you're inspired! Thanks to Pottery Barn for the inspiration!

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37 comments:

  1. AWESOME! That is absolutely the most fantastic idea! I LOVE IT! What a smart lady you are. Thank you so much for sharing this fab idea. laurie

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  2. Wonderful use of pop bottle crates...they are so fun to use in displays and yours is really beautiful with the carnation flag. I have two old crates I have not used for years that I drug out of storage to use this summer...come stop by and what I did with mine.

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  3. WOW! This is amazing! I love it! I want one!

    I love that you decided to do it and you just went for it...good for you!

    Enjoy!
    Cathy

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  4. Oh How I love that crate! I see them popping up on blogs everywhere and I am so in love. And the carnations are a great idea! And no I won't tell on you for painting them....:-)
    Thank you btw for your lovely encouraging comment on my blog about my new venture. It made my heart sing to read them all.

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  5. This is amazing and the crate was SO worth the $10 you spent. Since my husband works for a "large soft drink maker" I am not allowed to bring any soft drink related items into the house as it reminds him too much of work. lol I love it though.

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  6. Absolutely amazing. I did not know you could paint carnations.

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  7. i absolutely love this idea! i think it would be great to use for all sorts of events- just looks so full. i have coke crate but it is bright yellow- how fun would it be filled with hot pink carnations in mid summer! thanks for a great idea!

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  8. Gorgeous! That's about the going rate for old coca cola soda crates so don't feel bad about the price.

    Di

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  9. Lovely! I'll have to remember this for our Labor Day party!

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  10. This is fantastic! It is such a fun and perfect table centerpiece. Just awesome.
    Have a great weekend.
    Sherry

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  11. Wow! I bet this is going to start popping up everywhere. What a great project and you make it look fantastic (and easy - except for the painting of the flowers) LOL

    What a star spangled idea!

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  12. Now this is off the charts creative! You sure picked the right crate for the job!

    I was trying to 'steal' a pic so I could feature it on my sidebar. I think you have them protected. Just so you know, I was that impressed. :)

    Thanks for linking up to SNS!
    Donna

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  13. BEAUTIFUL! The painted flowers are wonderful! Great idea!

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  14. What a clever idea, painting the carnations. The end result is really nice. Wonder if I could make a Canada flag? That might be a little tricky. It would have a to be a Pepsi crate too, hee hee. Love it!

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  15. OMGosh, what a gorgeous center piece this will make for the upcoming holidays. Heck, I would leave it out all the time.

    Hope you can visit me sometimes over at Pittypat Paperie.

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  16. Beautiful idea Michelle, looks great!

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  17. What a fab idea! It looks great, although it would have to be a union jack for me!

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  18. What a fabulous centerpiece!! That old Coca-Cola crate is awesome...what a great find!
    Enjoy your weekend!
    Jo

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  19. OK, I might have to try that. My son is coming home from Iraq in August and that would make an ideal centerpiece for the party I'm throwing for him! I'm so glad I found your blog, I especially love that quality of your photos. You must have a really nice camera! Marcia

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  20. Gret job - beautiful and patriotic! I am kicking myself....I got rid of a coca-cola crate that I had in my basement for years. In fact, I also got rid of 2 ball jars with zinc tops....but these two faux pas occured before blogging! Linda

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  21. That is really, really cute! I love that you used the coke crate!

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  22. This is gorgeous, such a clever idea and it looks great.
    Thanks too for leaving me such a sweet comment.
    Wishing you a great weekend.
    Donnaxx

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  23. i love this! i'm going to feature it on my blog soon :) thanks for sharing at my saturday soiree. i love having you!!

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  24. It would've been cute in anything, but a Coke crate? Just too stinkin' darling!

    Would love it if you'd link it up to Fab Finds for the Fourth - Thursdays until July 4th.

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  25. Michelle, thanks so much for linking up today! Hope you stop by next Thursday too!

    Have a great weekend.

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  26. This is utterly fabulous! I just have to try it. I'll try to get enough blue carnations though. ;)

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  27. This is absolutely gorgeous and so patriotic with the coke crate! I love this! I'm featuring this tomorrow on crazydomestic.com!

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  28. I love this, and bought two crates last year with know idea what to do with them. Can you tell me how many carnations per crate?

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  29. JenS, you didn't leave a link...I used the carnation bushes at Walmart, approx. 2 red bushes, 2 cream, and 1 additional cream that I painted blue...thanks

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  30. Love this, I'll be looking for some crates while I'm out sale-ing tomorrow for sure. :)

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  31. Hey Michelle,
    Another drool worthy project!! Love it! love a good vintage piece like your coke box. Thanks for joining the Patriotic Parade!
    have a safe and happy 4th!
    Linda

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  32. Michelle, I just got my hands on an old coke crate..keeping your cute idea in mind for next 4th!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!! Hugs!!

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  33. Fabulous project! I love vintage crates, and coca cola, so this is just awesome!

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  34. want to do the carnation flag for a military wedding. Special table with carnation flag and couples scrapbook for guests to browse. You did yours with silk carnations not real ones?

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Thank You for taking the time to comment! Because of the insane amount of spam comments, I had to stop anonymous comments-sorry for the inconvenience.
Michelle