Silk flowers are not cheap, and they are so much fun to buy when they are attractively laid out in your local craft shop.
 So skip that window shopping trip and look at the ones you have laying around the house, stored, or just looking wilted and boring after years in the same old vase.
  Reusing and recycling is the name of the game these days; not just because of the ecology, but also due to the rather uncertain economy.
So pull the flowers out of that old arrangement, or that bridal bouquet that is gathering dust, and try something different with them for an inexpensive change.
  If you have a hot glue gun, you can pull the flower heads off and decorate any number of things with them, such as:   · Your little girl's headboard, toy box, or picture frames · Around the frame of a plain mirror in the bathroom · Change the seasons in a room by gluing flowers around the top or bottom of a lampshade, using jonquils for spring, roses for summer, and baby mums for fall · Decorate storage boxes, birthday gifts...
for that matter, any gifts with flowers instead of bows.
· Glue them onto hair pins, barrettes, and even pens for the kids.
· If your daughter has outgrown that little jewelry box with the twirling ballerina on it, glue on some material in a more "grown up" pattern, and add a silk flower to it.
  · Instead of wrapping that gift, put it in a basket covered with glued-on silk flowers.
  If you just don't feel crafty right now, how about giving them to a day care center, convalescent home, or some other organization that can use them for craft materials for their projects? That way you are not only thinking "green" but also have a tax deduction!