Paper Flower TUTORIAL: Carnation

For those who would like to know how I create my paper flowers, here's a little treat:

A TUTORIAL on how to make a paper carnation.

For this flower, I used a pretty double-sided card stock paper from Michael's. It's shimmer yellow on one side and really bright yellow on the other, which is great since it adds an extra layer of depth to the flower when seen from different angles.

Same colored papers look lovely, but it would be fun to use a double sided paper, or layer the petals in different colors. See what works best for you.

I call the flower a "carnation", but it looks like a "daisy", too, doesn't it :)

Here is how to make it.

You will need:

• Paper
• Scissors
• Chopstick
• Glue
• Pearl (for the center, optional)

DIRECTIONS:
The steps to making this flower are pretty self-explanatory if you look at the image above, but just in case, here they are again:

1. Cut out a paper heart (or use a heart-shaped paper punch if you have one).
2. Cut the heart in half.
3. Cut the half in another half to make the narrow petals. From one paper heart you will get 4 petals.
4. Round the tip of the petals. make the narrow petals. 
5. Shape the petals using a chop stick or a thin pencil.
6. Glue the petals on a circle in two layers.
7. Fold the petals upward to shape the flower.
8. Add a pearl or some other embellishment for the center. Or keep it simple with a few more petals that have been fringed and glued to the center.

That's it!

If you have any questions about the making of this flower, please leave me a comment.

Also, see my other tutorials for additional flower shapes and such.

Love the Lilac

There is something very serene about a lilac paper flower resting on a green background.

I made one of these flowers the other day, while I was experimenting with petal-by-petal techniques. I liked the results and made a few more flowers, and then a few more, in different colors.

These are bigger than my usual paper flowers, which adds a bit more drama when bunched together in a bouquet.

They require a few steps to make, like creating the fringed centers, or carefully folding and flexing the hand cut petals before gluing them into place. But, as you can see, resulting flower looks very natural.

I decided to make a bridal bouquet with just these flowers and maybe just add pale green paper leaves to the mix.

Very spring evoking, don't you think?

My own patterned paper: Boutonnieres, Corsages and Cake Flowers

... Here is the second part of my post about my own patterned paper.

I turned the flowers I made from the stamped paper into pin paper boutonnieres, corsages and cake flowers.

And here is the Bridal Bouquet that will be central piece of this nature and book themed Alaska wedding.

My own patterned paper!

Stamps are a wonderful tool for creating your own patterned paper. Depending on your stamps you could create nature-themed paper, simple geometrical patterns, antique writings, or something abstract and wonderful.

I have these great wood mounted rubber stamps of butterflies, flowers and trees, so for I created my own paper and constructed flowers for one of my Etsy clients, an Alaska bride.

Check out the flowers which later turned into boutonnieres, corsages and cake flowers!!!

Note: The boutonnieres, corsages and cake flowers I mentioned will complement this BOOK Flowers Bridal Bouquet.

Blue Gold Wall Flower

I have always liked the colors Blue and Gold together, and this paper wall flower is the result of experimenting with light blue paper and this vintage gold ink that I had in my collection.

When used on plain white paper the gold yields a pretty saturated effect, but layered on the blue it looses some of its kick and mutes to something that looks a little antiqued.

Quite interesting... Depending on the light, the petals shine from shimmer gold to pewter to brown bronze.

See for yourself :)

Yellow and Cobalt Blue Paper Boutonnieres and Corsages

These are the Yellow and Cobalt Blue paper corsages and boutonnieres for Chelsea's wedding.

Constructed petal by petal thanks to a lovely light yellow paper and the heavy use of my brand new sharp precision scissors.

Simple adornments:

• blue pearls (and a white pearl for the groom's boutonniere)
• vintage gold ribbon, and a
• yellow satin ribbon.

These flowers complement Chelsea's bridal bouquet in Yellow, Cobalt Blue and Book Paper.

Also, see her flower girl's pomander in the same colors.

Shimmer Purple Bridesmaid Flowers

You might remember seeing a shimmer purple flower on my blog a few weeks earlier. Well, I made five more of these as simple and elegant Bridesmaid Bouquets for an upcoming Cambridge wedding.

The bride wanted a purple book flowers bouquet, as well as something simple for her bridesmaids. She wasn't afraid of a little color, so I used saturated purples to build the layers of petals for these flowers: shimmer purple, eggplant, reddish purple and even brownlike purple.

The wired stalks are wrapped in brown floral tape.

Simple... single flower bouquets...

These flowers complement the bride's purple book rose bouquet.

Sam's Wedding Bouquet - Paper Flowers - PURPLE - BOOK ROSES

This is Sam's bridal bouquet in hues of purple, that is, book paper roses tinted in purple and accented with little shimmer purple flowers and pearls.

I used at least four different inks to get these purple tones. No matter how dark the ink was in its packaging, I learned that once it touches the paper it becomes pink. So, I also used deep dark inks, as well as jet black ink for some of the roses.

Sam also wanted roses made from music sheet paper, so you can see those in the pics below.

For what it's worth, I also found that the music sheet paper is easier to tint than the book paper.

Also see Sam's Bridesmaid Flowers here.

Purple Poppy Fields

A beautiful Purple Poppy Fields paper flowers bouquet in a vibrant fall palette.

{DESIGNER PAPERS * PEARLS * POPPIES * SATIN RIBBONS}

I made it with papers in shades of:

• orange
• beige
• eggplant
• red
• dusky pink, and
• purple

Fringe flowers intertwined with roses and four-petal flowers - the shape of which I came up on the spot. All wired and wrapped in lovely satin ribbons in burgundy red and pink.

RED and WHITE - Wall Flowers

I created these Red and White paper flowers as wall decorations for a client's show room installation in Australia.

Materials:

• Paper,
• Pearls,
• Wire, and 
• Glue.

Pretty simple as far as materials go, and yet the results are quite charming.

Paper wall flowers also in RED, WHITE and TAUPE.

RED, BOOKS and WHITE - - - Pomanders

I really like this palette. What could be more simple, RED, WHITE and BEIGE a.k.a. Book Pages.

In this case, I used this palette to create paper flower pomanders for a little January girl's Alice-themed birthday.

More photos below...

I have also created a paper flowers bridal bouquet in these colors, and also wall flowers.

Purple Magic - Shimmer Paper Flower with Pearl

I have this great shimmer paper that I recently found in a local crafts store, and combined with two other shades of purple I already had, I cut out some paper petals and created this flower.

It's about 6"-7" wide and it can be great as:

• a simple centerpiece,
• single-flower bridesmaid bouquet,
• gift topper,
• wall flower.

Colors of the Day - GRAY and YELLOW

Today is colored in gray and yellow - golden sunshine and silver clouds.

Two paper flowers to match the mood and the light.

Enjoy!!

Deep Wine and Pink Champagne Paper Flowers for Joslyn's Wedding

This bouquet was constructed from handmade paper flowers and butterflies to match Joslyn's vision of a vintage style, old Hollywood wedding.

Her palette: deep red, pink champagne, mauve, etc, was the starting point for the flowers, to which I added embellishments, such as, lace butterflies with crystals, tiny glittered butterflies, metal flower charms, pearls, vintage buttons and lovely red satin ribbon.

Joslyn also asked me to make her paper roses for the boutonierres and corsages for her wedding party.

She wanted champagne roses with some wine accents for the centers, so I used petals in deep wine and dark red pearls.

Each rose is wired and has a paper leaf made of two layers of papers. The rose petals come in three shades: shimmer ivory, champagne and deep wine.

Two of the roses needed to be extra special, so I added lace paper butterflies and double paper leaves.

Each flower is wrapped in deep red satin ribbon, which can be tucked into a button hole, or twisted around the wrist as a corsage.