When it comes to tokens of affection, some people prefer flowers, while others prefer cash. One gift is sentimental, and the other is practical. But when you give a bouquet of roses made from dollar bills, you can cover both bases beautifully. Money rose bouquets are perfect for birthdays, graduations and even Valentine's Day, and a single money rose makes an impressive topper for a wrapped gift instead of a bow.
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Things You'll Need
Dollar bills
Pencil
Step 1: Wire the Dollar Bills
Each money rose is made of six dollar bills. Try to get crisp new bills from the bank, as they are uniform in color, and most importantly, they hold their shape better.
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With your fingers, pinch a dollar bill in the center right where George Washington's face is located. It will look like a bow tie.
Wrap about 2 inches of a piece of floral wire around the center of the bill where it's pinched. Then, twist the wire to secure the bill. Floral wire is typically 14 to 18 inches long. Keep the length for now. You can trim it at the end when you're finished with the bouquet.
Repeat until you have six wired dollar bills.
Step 2: Stack the Six Bills
Holding the bills by the wires, stack them on top of each other so the bills fan out evenly like a pinwheel.
Here's a look at the back. I chose to keep all my bills facing the same way for uniformity, but you can mix it up if you wish.
Step 3: Tape the Wires Together
Using floral tape, adhere the six wires of the bills together to create one stem. Floral tape works perfectly for this task because it is thin yet holds the wires securely. If you don't have floral tape, you can use green masking tape, but it will be thicker and won't look as professional.
Keep going until you've wrapped the tape around the entire length of wires.
Step 4: Push the "Petals" Forward
Until now, the dollar bill petals have been flat. To start giving the rose some shape, scrunch the petals forward so they are facing up.
Step 5: Curl the Petals
Let's make the dollar bills look more like petals. Curl the corners by wrapping the corners around a pencil. This step softens the otherwise square corners of each bill, creating a natural petal shape. Go around the rose until all the corners are curled.
Step 6: Scrunch the Inner Petals
The center petals of a rose are usually tighter. To lend this look to your roses, scrunch the two center petals together. Really squeeze the petals tightly here and show them who's boss. It's OK to be a little messy. In fact, it makes the roses look more realistic ... well, as realistic as roses made from money can be.
Because these money roses are so large, you only need five or six to create an impressive bouquet. When placing them in a vase, cut the stems to vary the heights and bend the wires to allow the buds to face different directions. This is definitely a bouquet that is on the money!
