ARTFULLY AVOIDING THE LANDFILL (& driving my husband crazy) ONE PIECE OF JUNK AT A TIME

3/21/10

Paper Flowers So Easy A Caveman & Coleen Can Do It

Finally.  Easy paper flowers.

Materials:  Old Book + Paint or Permanent Marker + Ruler + Floral Wire
(or Farm Wire like I used) + Floral Tape & Florist's Foam.

Start by either painting (or coloring with permanent marker) the edges of a few pages of an old book.


Rip out a page.  Rip it in half lengthwise for tulip type flowers.  
For smaller flowers, rip the page into four pieces lengthwise.
Fold the strips accordian style and tape or glue the ends together.


Pinch the folds together (make sure it's not the gilded edge) and press down to flatten it out.


Glue the bottom side, flip over and glue a button in the center and you have a flower!



For the tulip type flowers, cut a thin strip of colored paper, roll each end with a toothpick and
pinch it somewhere near the middle to make a pistil.


After that it's a simple matter of taping your flower to a piece of wire and 
wrapping it with green floral tape.


Then you can put your new flowers in an old vase you forgot you had.


A couple of helpful hints.  Glue the florist's foam to your vase if possible.
The thicker the paper the better.  The ones I used were so thin that they didn't form well.
Thicker paper makes prettier flowers.  I added one made from a piece of cardstock to my bouquet.




Of course you'll want to spend oodles and oodles of time posing and positioning your new project too.  Mine's on the mantle, hence the old fireplace bellow behind my Willow Tree angel.


And I just love the edges of that old Bible Dictionary!  Aren't they pretty?
post signature

2 comments:

  1. Well now are those just a picture of spring?

    I think I might try my hand at some of those this week. Do the pages have to be large? I guess the smaller the page the smaller the flower.

    Nice project. It would make a nice gift when visiting a friend or something, huh?

    You vase looks larger on the mantel than in the first shots. I thought it was a small coffee cup...but it is much larger, huh?

    Oh... and the glass insulator full of letter cubes...nice touch!
    I always love your projects!
    Not too fanciful...just right for me...
    Or a Caveman!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aww... those are TOO cute! What a great little project! And I love the title of your post... LOL!

    ReplyDelete

Leave a note, I'd love to hear from you!