Wear your frilly Flower Pin and be the belle of the Easter Parade! These are so easy to make with glass marbles and silk flowers.

(click here for a larger Flower Pin craft image)

This Victorian Flower Pin (or "Floral Brooch" to be classy) is an Easter craft you'll love. Dust off those silk flowers in the closet - and get yourself some glass marbles. Oh, and a safety pin for the back. That's about all you need!

We were going to make just one of these - but they are so easy we ended up with five. The silk flowers you want are the chrysanthemum or daisy variety, with layers of petals cinched with a plastic center and stem. We chose some spring-like colors, and even did a little mixing and matching of petal layers.

The glass marbles are the flat kind, about 1 1/4" in diameter. You can find them at craft or floral-supply stores.

Materials for this Spring Flower Pin

• Vintage Images (FREE PDF download).
• Matte photo paper or presentation paper.
• Flat clear glass marbles, about 1 1/4" diameter.
• Silk flowers, chrysanthemum or daisy with multiple layers of petals, about 3" diameter.
• Heavyweight felt for the back.
• Safety pin, about 1" - 1 1/2".
• Tacky craft glue, like Aleen's, or other clear-drying glue (see Tips).
• Small paint brush for spreading glue.
• Scissors.

Instructions

1. Print the vintage images on matte photo paper or premium presentation paper. Let the images dry for a half hour.
   
   
2. Pull the silk flower head off of the stem, remove the central stamen, and separate the layers of petals. We used three layers of petals for each flower pin, but you may choose to use more or less depending on the nature of your flower.
   
   
3. Place the glass marble over the  face on the printed vintage image sheet. Trace around it with pencil. Cut it out with scissors, cutting within the traced line.
   
   
4. Cover the flat back of the glass marble with glue. Place the cut-out image, face down, onto the glue. Press gently to squeeze out any air bubbles or pockets, and wipe off any excess glue with a damp tissue. Let it dry for about an hour. You may still see some cloudiness on the image, but that should disappear when the glue is fully cured.
   
   
5. Glue the stacked layers of flower petals together in the center. Glue the paper side of the glass marble in the center of the top layer. Press your flower pin under a book for about an hour. (You may want to do this on a piece of waxed paper so you don't glue it to the table).
   
   
6. Cut out a 1 1/4" circle of felt for the back. Lay the safety pin across the center and mark the end points of the back length of the pin. Cut two small slits from the edge of the felt in to each mark. Slip the felt circle into the pin so that the pin emerges from the slits, the back of the pin is covered and the pin is functional (See Tips). Now, glue the felt circle and pin to the back of the flower. Press it under a book until it dries.
7. All done! This is great as a brooch, but equally nice pinned on your Easter bonnet, purse or scarf (see Tips). 

Tips

• We actually used two types of glue for these flower pins. To glue the image to the back of the marble, we used Jewel Glue by Delta. It is a clear-drying white glue for attaching jewels and beads to fabric. It worked well, but regular craft glue would serve the purpose. Our one warning - if the glue is too wet it may make the ink in the inkjet printout run, so don't dilute it. To glue everything else together, we use Aleen's Tacky Glue.
• Despite all your careful efforts, some glue WILL get on the face of your marble. If you can wipe it off with a wet tissue before it dries, all the better. If you find it after it dries, scrub it off with a kitchen scouring sponge.
• We like the safety pin on the back, but you may prefer to glue a real pin-back on your flower brooch. We tried the self-adhesive ones, but they didn't hold to the silk flower very well. You may think of a better way.
• Now that you have the knack, why stop with spring? Silk poinsettias can surround childrens' faces or Santa. Green petals around an Irish colleen. Autumn chrysanthemums with witches or black cat faces. Red, white and blue around Uncle Sam!