This post is sponsored by Montana Gold. All opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Crafted Life Making!
Up until this point in my life, I never really thought too much about baby’s breath. It was always just a basic white filler flower. But that all changed once I discovered that you can give baby’s breath a colorful makeover with spray paint! This DIY Colorful Baby’s Breath Garland is a great way to have high impact, budget friendly florals at your wedding or next event. And it really is as simple as it sounds.
Here’s how:
What You’ll Need
– Baby’s Breath
– Montana GOLD Spray Paint
– Gloves
– Buckets
– Chicken Wire
– Zip Ties
– Command hooks
– Scissors or shears
I used Montana GOLD spray paint in the colors: shock pink, shock pink light, shrimp pastel, shock orange light, yellow cab, malachite light, baby blue, blue magic, and light lilac. I can’t recommend this spray paint enough, especially if you really want your colors to pop.
When it comes to ordering baby’s breath, you’ll want to buy in bulk for the best deal. I ordered 300 stems and my mantle is 68″ across. I didn’t use all 300 stems so I had a few left over at the end. You could easily use the leftovers to make smaller arrangements to display in other places.
You can watch the full process for the baby’s breath garland DIY over on my Youtube channel!
You’ll want to keep your baby’s breath in water up until you’re ready to make your garland. You can grab buckets at the hardware store to keep them hydrated and together. This will also make it easier to paint them.
Don’t forget to give those ends a trim, especially if you ordered your flowers online! This will help them soak up a bit of extra water before painting.
How to Paint Baby’s Breath
To add a pop of color to your garland, you’ll want to spray paint your baby’s breath 1 day before assembly. Painting the flowers before constructing your garland will give you the ability to work with more colors. Here’s how:
1. Store your baby’s breath in a bucket, making it easier to spray paint the flowers while still giving them access to water. You won’t need to worry too much about painting the stems. Just be sure to not overcrowd the bucket so you can still access all the flower tops.
2. Working outside in a well ventilated area, spray paint your baby’s breath. You don’t want to soak the flowers with paint, but go over them with short, sweeping bursts of color. It helps to wear gloves so you can run your hand through the blooms. Apply color until you’ve achieved your desired shade.
3. As you’re painting, be sure to move the baby’s breath around so you can access the blooms lower on the stems. Again, gloves really come in handy for this project!
4. Let dry fully for around 24 hours. This will help the smell of the spray paint dissipate.
How to Make a Baby’s Breath Garland
Now that you have colorful baby’s breath, it’s time to assemble the garland!
1. To give your garland structure, roll your chicken wire into tubes. If you have more than one piece of chicken wire, be sure to zip tie them together.
2. To secure your garland to the mantle, use a command strip with a hook. You should be able to slide the chicken garland right into the hook. This will stop your chicken wire from moving out of place.
3. Trim your flowers from the stems. This will vary based on the size of your chicken wire, but a good rule of thumb is to not have stems longer than the inside of your tube.You really will only see the tops of the flower in the garland, but having some stem will help with placement.
4. Keep adding your flowers to the chicken wire until full! Using different heights and colors side by side will really help you build dimension. You want to be sure that no chicken wire or holes are viable when you’re done.
5. Once the chicken wire is completely full, you’re done!
This colorful baby’s breath garland can go a day without water. The flowers will then start to dry. They won’t lose their color, but they will get smaller in size, which might reveal some spots in your garland. If you’re making this for an event, I suggest setting up the same day.
But, if you have to set up the day before you have two options:
1. Insert floral foam inside your chicken wire to give the flowers constant access to water.
2. Set up the full garland the night before (without water), and then on the day of the event, go back in with fresh baby’s breath to fill any holes.
If I had to do our wedding all over again, I would absolutely fill our venue with these garlands. But I also love the idea of making smaller, colorful bouquets with this method as well.
So what do you think?! Would you ever spray paint baby’s breath?