SHE's Crafty: Paper Flowers

This week's DIY project is pretty easy, and looks so great! We're doing another paper flower, but this time we're going for more of a rose look. Check it out- it's so easy you'll be proud of yourself when you're finished. I used these for my best friend's engagement party and I got so many compliments!

Materials:

• Cardstock/Scrapbook Paper (1 piece of paper per flower) - you can use 8-1/2" x 11" or 12"x 12" paper depending on what size flower you're going for. I prefer the 12"x 12" paper.
• Hot Glue/Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Twigs
• Mason Jar or other container/vase

Directions:

1. Cut a circle out of the paper as large as will fit. Rather than cuting a perfect circle, cut the    circle with curvy edges. See photo for example.

2. Cut a spiral inside the circle, all the way to the middle.

3. Begin rolling along the spiral, all the way intil you find the end. For the best results, place your right index finger along the inside part of the roll. Put your right thumb inside the rolled part of the flower to guide you while rolling. While rolling with your right hand, use your left hand to guide the remaining spiral paper.

4. When you get to the end, fold the center of the spiral underneath the rolled part of the flower. Gently let out some of the roll to give it a less tight look. Apply glue from the glue gun on the center and press all of the rolled flower to the glued spot.

5. Find a part of the twig where the flower fits. You can use your scissors to create a hole for the twig to fit into. Put some glue on the twig and attach the flower.

6. When all of the flowers are attached, create an arrangement and use as centerpieces!

 

 

~ Erin

Why Not Do It Yourself? Paper Flowers

We are back again to give you some more Do It Yourself decoration ideas. This week is going to be paper flowers! Here's a pic of the final product.

I think these flowers are such a cute touch and can be incorporated into your wedding with all types of themes. Think vintage bookstore or antique style wedding. Both classic designs and if you use the right book pages, you can make your flowers fit so well into your decor! If you choose to use a patterned paper or a colored paper, you can use them with any wedding theme.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Book pages (Choose a book you no longer read or stop by a garage sale and pick one up)

Brad (To hold the flower together)

Scissors/Flower Shaped hole punch (Two different sizes)

Exacto Knife

DIRECTIONS:

1) You can either use a flower shaped hole punch, or you can create your own flower shape. I had a 2-5/16" flower shaped hole punch at home, but I didn't have another size to go along with it. To make up for that I simply drew out a flower on a piece of paper, cut it out, and used it as a stencil. If you're looking for a hole punch, stop by your local Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or Jo Ann Fabrics and you can find one. Otherwise, create your own stencil!

2) Punch out/cut 10-15 flowers in a combination of the different size flowers you have.

3) Use an exacto knife, or something else that can punch a small hole, to put a hole in the center of all of flowers.

4) Stack all the cut out flowers on top of each other (small ones on top) with their center holes lined up. Push the brad through and fold out both "tails" of the brads to keep all the paper together.

5) Starting with the top layer, squish each paper layer up and together. See photos for example.

After first layer is squished.

After 6 Squishes.

All layers squished.

6) After all layers are squished, pull them back down to flatten them out a little bit. You can keep them as squished as you'd like, or as open as you'd like. You can also make it so the brad shows in the middle (as below), or you can make it so it doesn't (see first photo of this post).

Now you have a super cute paper flower! These are great for decorations/tags on your wedding favors, used as centerpiece accents, as a creative and inexpensive boutonniere for the guys, or even for place cards (just add a cute leaf with the name and table number)! To make yours unique, choose other types of paper and/or brads.

Check back next Monday for another style blog!