Simple Paper Flower Tutorial

Simple Paper Flowers

         Hi friends as I told you in my last Garden Pen Stand post ,this year we made 10 recycled DIY Penstands to gift my daughter's teachers. Since most of her teachers are ladies ,a floral theme seemed a safe bet and when my stash of handmade flowers ran low I needed to quickly whip up some simple paper blooms.

Recycling Crafts

This is the  tin can we recycled.Tore off the paper lining and stuck pattern paper on it using double sided foam tape.

DIY Pen Stand

         I love the lacy design of the PoppyStamps Meso background  die which I had won from the company some time back and I placed it on the center of the Pen Stand to form a background for my flowers.

Simple Paper Flowers

One of my daughters teachers apparently likes feathers and so my daughter wanted to add the cheerful yellow feather to our flower arrangement!

Foam Craft Bird House

I kept the Memory Box Spring Border  die cut un inked as the background paper was green and I wanted a stark white contrast! And yes  I couldnt resist adding a glittery silver foam bird house!

DIY Pen Stand

The spiral pollen are a find from my local market and though a bit fragile they do make a garden themed project look interesting

Paper Flower Tutorial

Its a super simple tutorial but I will try and share little tips and tricks along the ways!

Material Required

• Paper Flowers - die cut / punch or hand-cut 2- 3 flowers. The more petals your flower has the less layers you need to make a full flower so that means you can make your flower more quickly! I used the Sizzix Tatterd florals die which is a Big Z die and hence capable of cutting through several layers of paper in one go! Have used the same die in this tutorial too: Paper Flower Bouquet tutorial 

Paper Flower Tutorial  

• Fringed Paper Strip - To create a fringed paper strip there are a couple of options 
• Using a Scissors to hand cut a strip of paper  - advantage here is you can customize the breadth of the paper strip and also the finesse of the cuts. On the down side it does take a bit of time and patience. You can see some examples in one of my earliest post : Punchcraft and Quilling Framed Art
• Using a guillotine cutter - Especially useful to make large fringed flowers like I did in this post : Large Paper Flower tutorial
• Using a fringing machine : I have a fringing machine which I bought long ago when I was fascinated with quilling but frankly speaking I dislike using the fringing machine as its a pain [ You can read more about the fringing machine here : Paper cutting tools]
• Using a Die - this is the quickest and easiest way to get a beautiful perfectly fringed paper strip .Here I have used a Memory box fringe border die . 

Memory Box fringed border

• Embossing tools – Use any rounded end  object you have  or a proper embossing tool as shown .If you dont have the patience to emboss- just pinch your flower petals!
• Embossing Pad or Mouse pad –to shape the petals. The embossing pad shown in the picture is actually like thick foam and it is sold as a perforating pad for parchment craft. I prefer this to the pads sold as "flower embossing pads" since this type has a lot of give and is much easier on your fingers!
• Adhesive- White PVA glue [most of my routine crafting is with Fevicol MR]  to stick the flowers or a glue gun for a real quick adhesion!
• Distress ink and makeup sponge - yes you read it right I somehow dont like the applicator and proper tool advocated for distressing but prefer the makeup sponges to ink flowers!

Flower making tools

Place your flower petal on an embossing pad and quickly run your tool from the petal tip to the center- this gives a deeper curve than running it from the center outwards!

Embossing flower petals

Emboss all the flower petals in a similar fashion

Embossed flower

Invert the embossed flower and either emboss by running your embossing tool in a circular fashion on the flower center or simply just press the center down!

Flower embossing

Make 2- 3 embossed flowers. And if want an even quicker handmade flower...instead of embossing just pinch the flower petals like I did in this tutorial link : Easy layered Flower tutorial 

Embossed flowers

Layer the flowers on top of each other staggering the petals. Using a liquid glue is easier in this step since you get more time to fiddle around and arrange the flowers to your liking! At this stage you can ink the center and the petal tips of your flower if you wish!

Paper flower tutorial 

To convert the  fringed paper strip into a flower you can either hand roll , use a quilling tool or a self closing forceps like I did here. Place one end of the fringed paper strip within the tips of the forceps...apply a thin line of glue along the uncut part of your fringed strip leaving a tiny area near your forceps[ taking care to do this helps you to easily remove your forceps/ quilling tool later!]

Fringed flower tutorial 

Simply roll and your finged flower takes shape. Dont apply a lot of glue on your paper strip as then it can get messy while you roll!

Fringed flower tutorial 

If you feel your fringed flower is to small you can add another fringed strip , apply glue and roll again but its easier to join the paper strips at the beginning itself before you roll!

Fringed flower tutorial 

Once you have securely adhered the end of the paper strip , use your fingers to flare out the rolled up strip and create a fringed flower!

Fringed flower tutorial 

The easiest option to stick your fringed flower to the center of the flower you had made is to use a glue gun unless you have time to wait  and want to use liquid glue!

Flower tutorial 

Some of my flowers have 4-5 layers and while applying hot glue to stick the fringed flower center I applied a generous amount so that the central petals too would snugly adhere to the base of the fringed flower!

Paper Flowers Pen Stand

The leaves were stamped & die cut using the Heartfelt creations Botanical rose- wings .

I hope you enjoyed this very basic Paper flower making tutorial !

Heat Embossed Butterfly

Now coming to the rest of the DIY Pen Stand...added a leafy branch [ new Memory Box die I picked up!] on the top border and my favorite spring border on the lower part of the Pen Stand. And what is a garden without a butterfly or two!

Heat Embossed Butterfly

The golden butterfly was stamped- heat embossed on vellum [ Hero Arts stamp] and die cut with the coordinating Sizzix die. Inked the reverse of the vellum butterfly with distress ink to make it more vibrant yet not dominate over the embossing .

Cheery Lynn  Butterfly

I added a chain of golden balls from the golden embossed butterfly to lead to another tiny golden butterfly!The golden balls you see all over are thermocol balls!

Handmade Paper Flowers

Phew ...that was one long post...I hope I didnt bore you too much!

Supplies : Dies : Memory Box Spring Border   , Memory Box Fringe Border   , Memory Box Leafy Branch  ,PoppyStamps Meso background,  Sizzix Tattered Flowers,  Sizzix Butterfly , Heartfelt creations Botanical Wings , Cheery Lynn Butterlfy. Marianne Designs Anja Leaf 3, Marianne Designs House ,
Stamps : Hero Arts Stamp - Die Cut Butterfly Combo, Heartfelt creations Botanical Rose - Wings Stamp- Die Cut combo