Duct tape roses

Welcome to Valentines week! Yes, I know it was a couple weeks ago, but I have our splendiferous meal to post this week so I thought I would start with a crafty post.  Valentines day has never been much of a big deal to me, I feel like it's a made up holiday and although it sure feels nice to get flowers or something, I would much rather have them on some day when Justin was just thinking of me than on a day when they are twice the price, and pretty much forced.

Anyway, last year we went on our cruise to the Bahamas the week before V-day, so we decided to just make each other presents...homemade cards and all. He made me a paper rose (crunched up paper from his office secured to a wire stem with a zip tie) from things he found in the shop....and I just LOVED it (it's still perched in my printers drawer on the wall and I smile when I glace at it) so this year I decided to make him roses out of duct tape!  I found a tutorial online and away we went....

How to make a duct tape rose courtesy of Duck® brand tape and Todd Scott, the Canadian Duct Tape Sculptor.

Cut several strips of duct tape – about 2 inches each.

Sticky side up, fold one edge over itself, leaving some stickiness on the side and bottom.

Take the parallel edge and fold it over, leaving only stickiness on the bottom of the strip.
Roll this across tightly; this is your center.

Repeating steps 2-3 with strips of duct tape, loosely bind the strips around the center (these are your petals). Continue until you’ve reached the desired size.

For the stem, take a thin piece of floral stem wire, and a large strip of duct tape (the duct tape should be about a 1/2” shorter than the wire). Place the wire on the strip (parallel) and roll the wire across, wrapping the tape tightly around.

Insert the end with the 1/2” of wire (the end that doesn’t have tape on it) into the rose. Make a petal (steps 2-3) and secure the stem to the rose.

I think they're just as beautiful as real flowers....and they'll last forever too! If there ever was a manly flower, one made of the almighty duct tape would be it!  :)