DIY Cemetery Flowers
My easy tutorial for DIY Cemetery Flowers will help you to save lots of money! These grave decorations are made with silk flowers you can buy almost anywhere.
You can easily make your own flowers for a grave with no special skills. Have you seen the price of cemetery flowers? Of course, the florist has special skills and we respect that but it isn’t always in the budget.
Follow my simple and easy tutorial to make grave flowers within a reasonable budget. You only need a few simple tools which you probably already own.
It’s a joy to make cemetery flowers for my parent’s grave. They both knew of my love for flowers and they both benefited from that while they were living. Momma would sometimes purchase silk flowers and have me make an arrangement to take them to the cemetery and put on my brother’s or nieces’ graves.
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- More DIY Floral Decor
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I took a flower arranging class quite a few years ago that taught the basics. It is a fun hobby of mine to make floral arrangements and especially wreaths for my front door. Scroll my DIY Wreath tutorials.
You don’t need a cat to supervise flower arranging but you might have one who insists.
How To Make A Cemetery Flower Arrangement
Symmetry
Don’t let the idea of making a cemetery flower arrangement frighten you. It’s really easy. It’s all about symmetry. Just keep things fairly symmetric.
You can make your arrangement as elaborate or as simple as you like. I made this spring arrangement rather simple.
Supplies
Don’t forget to use coupons from the craft stores and watch for sales. Most craft stores like Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn’s will mark their artificial flowers half price every few weeks. I like to buy them on sale and have them for the next season.
- 3 bouquets of silk flowers
- 2 bouquets of greenery for filler
- 1 Styrofoam cone, like this pack of 2 on Amazon
Once you begin adding the pieces, the inside of your Styrofoam will begin to get crowded and you will implement some creativity.
Tools
- Wire cutters or good craft scissors
- A large empty, clean food can as a stand
Step 1
The best way I have found to create the arrangement is to use a large can to hold the Styrofoam up while crafting the arrangement. Just save a vegetable can. They wash well in the dishwasher and I recommend you keep one on hand for this purpose.
Place your styrofoam floral foam cone into the can with the wide side up.
See how I decorated a soup can for a Fall Vignette I created.
Step 2
The goal is to maintain symmetry.
Begin by inserting one tall flower stem into the center of the foam. I do not use hot glue and these arrangements hold up well.
Leaving the stems longer will create a taller arrangement. It takes lots of floral bouquets for a taller arrangement and a larger foam cone.
Once I got started creating these grave flowers I suddenly realized my lamp and lots of electric cords were hanging right there. So I threw up a piece of white fabric and kept going. Because I was short on time, I snapped pics in my work spot.
Step 3
Place the next four stems on each side keeping them in height alignment with the original one and each other, for symmetry.
Then work down from there, adding silk flowers, keeping everything in a good alignment.
Use a pair of wire cutters to trim the stems so they don’t poke out the sides of the foam base.
Then come in between those four with more. You will keep doing this until you are happy with the number of flowers. It will feel like a hot mess as you are working but I promise, it does all come together.
Step 4
After adding all of the floral stems, begin to fill in with your greenery.
Use everything you have, including the leaves from the floral stems to fill in and make your Cemetery Flowers very full and pretty.
Take With You to the Cemetery
- A Knife just in case you need to trim the Styrofoam to fit
- Broom to sweep off the marker
- Trash bag for the old flowers you will be removing
Take a knife with you to the cemetery because you may need to trim a bit off the foam base for fitting purposes.ย
I forgot to take a broom with me on this visit and the nearby tree is casting shadows. A great time for visiting my parents but not ideal for pictures.
FAQ
How do you make a cemetery flower arrangement?
Use my easy step-by-step tutorial to make your own cemetery flower arrangements.
How do you make flowers stay in a cemetery vase?
The styrofoam cone fits snugly into the vase on the grave headstone to keep the flowers from falling out. Most graves have a standard size flower vase.
What flowers do you put on a grave?
Silk flowers are perfect for grave decorations. They will hold up fairly well to the wind, rain, and sun for a couple of months. It is best to change them when they begin to fade from the sun.
You can also place fresh flowers on a grave and you can buy beautiful fresh flower arrangements from your local florist.
Popular Times of The Year To Change Grave Decorations
- Mother’s Day
- Memorial Day
- Father’s Day
- Christmas
- Springย
- Fall
- anytime the old flowers have become faded
My Dad was in construction. He was always happiest running a big piece of machinery moving dirt. In fact, he cleared our property for our home. That is why there are toy tractors on his side of their grave.
I should probably place an apron on Momma’s side but somehow that just doesn’t seem appropriate.
More DIY Floral Decor
DIY Pink Flowers Centerpiece In A Clear Vase
DIY Hydrangea Indoor Door Decoration for Assisted Living
DIY Fall Tabletop Vignette Crafts
Make Your Own Mason Jar Ring Pumpkin
DIY Fall Wreath with Pumpkins and Mums
Updated March 22, 2022
Thanks for sharing! We use foam fill like you use to fill gaps and cracks around the doors and windows! Just a dab in the bottom will do. We do this to keep the wind from blowing the flowers away! Then you can just pull the flowers out to change them. We’ve been doing this for years as we have around 50 graves we have to care for. Also, to keep some of the pots we have flowers in, we just put a dab on the bottom to keep it from tipping over!
Very nice presentation, I, too am the one that makes 4 floral arrangements for my loved ones at the cemetery. A suggestion for your Motherโs side of the headstone…how about a kidโs rolling pin (Iโd use an exterior spray to waterproof it) and some other play type cooking utensils in a painted Tera cotta flower pot ( the hole at the bottom will allow for drainage)
Simplicity with love. Thanks.
Thank you so much for your post. My husband’s mother passed away a couple of weeks ago. I am not very creative so I was so happy to find your step-by-step directions on flower arranging.
Those are lovely and such a wonderfully simple tutorial. Thank you. Pinned.
This is a beautiful arrangement. It’s also a good reminder that I need to get out to my grandmother’s grave. Thank you for that. It has been too long since I made the trip.
Thank you so much for this post! I’m shocked at how much cemetery flower arrangements are!
So sweet! thank you
Shirley, Thank you so much for the tips on how to do this yourself. Your arrangement is beautiful. Thank you for sharing with us!
~Laurie
Your arrangement is very pretty, Shirley. Thanks for sharing the tips. It’s a lovely gesture for your parents. The tractors on your father’s side is such a sweet tribute. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle Sunday.
Such a neat idea you have here.
I would LOVE for you to share this with my Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!