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.

Filter Paper LIGHT - Art Sculpture

I have always been fascinated with handmade lighting, especially if it involves paper. You may recall the blue paper flower with LED lights I made a while ago, or the various vellum paper lanterns I made for myself and for my friend Belinda.

Anyway, this lighting project is a bit different. I still used LED string lights to light it all up, but instead of card stock paper, vellum or tissue papers, I used coffee filter paper.

Coffee filters are cheap, wonderfully fluffy, pliable, half-opaque, half-translucent and best of all, light.

They do not weigh the finished piece down. For an amateur handy-person like myself, and I cannot stress the word "amateur" enough, hanging this paper/light sculpture on the wall was easy breezy. I hammered a couple of nails and hanged the piece using a bit of wire. Much easier (and lighter) than hanging massive pictures, or posters.

TUTORIAL
Here are the steps for making it.

Materials:

• LED string lights (mine are from IKEA)
• Coffee filters (about 200)
• 1 art canvas 14"x14"
• Some string or sewing thread
• Glue gun, and 
• Wire.

Directions:

1. Arrange the lights on the canvas and sew them in place.


2. Fold a coffee filter like in the pictures and glue it on the canvas, careful not to touch the lights. Do this with 150-200 coffee filters and see if you need any more to cover the holes (if any).


3. Add wire at the back of the canvas and hang on the wall.

Here are some more pictures of the finished piece, currently hanging on our dining room wall.

Autumn Sun Through Vellum

Want simple lighting decorations for a casual party?

You'll need about 4 things:

1. vellum paper
2. a few glass jars lids
3. double sided tape
4. battery-operated LED tea lights

Cut out the paper as needed to wrap it around the lid, then use double sided tape to secure it and drop one LED tea light in each lamp.

These look lovely when lit up, and especially lovely on a sunny afternoon.

You can see more of my vellum light decorations here and here.

How To Make Paper Leaves

Paper leaves are easy to make.

All you need is:

• paper
• ruffled edge scissors
• glitter gel pens
• ink

First, cut out leaf-like shapes from a nice paper with the decorated edge scissors.

Lightly touch the leaf with ink to give it more depth, then draw the veins with a gel pen in a contrasting color.

You can glue the leaf to a flower, or wire it and wrap it in floral tape.

And, voila - - -  a paper leaf, ready to complement a paper flower (in this case, a bookmark paper flower).

How To Make Paper Roses

Making roses from hand-cut paper petals is one of my greatest joys.

When the paper is right: pliable, heavy-weight and in a pretty color like this candy pink, the whole experience is all the more enjoyable.

There are countless ways to make a paper rose.

You could try the way Paula taught me (via her blog), or you could try this method I came up with this Saturday.

The tutorial is all mine, but you are most welcome to try it.

Enjoy!!