The following post is from Janel of Life with Lucie and Ella.:
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! It is so much fun to decorate for the holidays, but you don’t need a huge budget to fill your home with pretty decorations.
Scrapbook paper is inexpensive and can be used to make so many things like paper chain garlands, star tree toppers, and even floral arrangements. Rolled paper flower arrangements are fun to make, and the finished product is beautiful. Better yet, you can make them exactly how you want them. Most craft stores have extensive scrapbooking sections, so it’s easy to find just the right paper for the look you want.
I think paper flowers look best when you can’t see the wire stems. An opaque vase is great for this purpose — one of these raffia covered vases would be great! You can also make a vase specifically for your rolled paper flower arrangement with a repurposed tin can. With a bit of felt and ribbon, the can won’t be recognizable!
How to Make Rolled Paper Flowers
source: Janel Piersma
Supplies:
- scrapbook paper for flowers and leaves
- large and/or small cans to use as tracing templates
- pencil or pen
- scissors
- green floral wire stems
- small beads
Directions:
Use the cans to trace circles onto the scrapbook paper for your flowers. They don’t have to be perfect circles so you can overlap them slightly if you have to. (I was able to squeeze 9 large cicles on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper.)
Cut inside the lines in a wavy fashion to create a wavy circle. Then, cut a wavy spiral starting from the edge and moving to the center of your circle.
Cut the floral wire stems to your desired length. Use hot-glue to attach a small bead to the end of your wire stem. (I used tiny fake pearls.)
Hold the paper spiral so that the point is at the top left. Put a dab of hot glue onto the point of the paper spiral and fold it around the top of the wire without covering up the bead. Roll towards you so that the paper starts to coil around the stem and itself. When you get to the center of the spiral, let go of the paper coil so that it loosens a bit. Adjust the coil so the flower looks how you want it to, and then use hot glue to secure the center of the spiral to the bottom of the petal. You can also use a small dab of hot glue to hold the paper flower in its place on the stem.
If you want to make leaves for the arrangement, cut two identical leaves out of green scrapbook paper. Stack them together and then fold them in half to give them dimension. Glue the end of a stem in between the two leaves, and then glue the leaves together.
Arrange the flowers and leaves in whatever container you wish. To secure the placement of the flowers, you can divide them into clusters and hold them together by wrapping one of the stems around the others. You can also give certain flowers more height by placing them higher in the cluster.
source: Janel Piersma
How to Make a Vase for Your Paper Flowers:
Supplies:
- small empty can, cleaned with label removed
- felt (I used embossed felt that is available by the sheet.)
- scissors
- ribbon
- hot glue gun & glue sticks
Directions:
Cut a rectangle of felt that is long enough to wrap around the can and is slightly taller than the can by about 1 or 2 inches.
Wrap the felt rectangle around the can and hot glue the felt to the can in various places along the top, bottom, and the seam where the two ends of the rectangle meet. Fold the top of the felt down into the can, and secure with hot glue.
If you wish, use hot glue to add accent ribbon around your can.
How do you like to use to decorate for the holidays?
Related Projects:
- Paper Star Ornaments
- Easy Framed Art
- Treat Cones
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
Janel is a stay-at-home mom of two and law school wife. Raised in a budget-conscious and do-it-yourself minded family, she loves seeing something in a store or magazine and making her own version at home for less money. Janel blogs about motherhood, crafts and recipes at Life with Lucie and Ella. | |