Easy Paper Flowers Tutorial

Keyholder with Handmade Flowers

          Hi friends I love making flowers but I was a bit rusty when I embarked on this project since its been ages since I even attempted to make any kind of handmade flower!! So these flowers are pretty simple and quite easy to make!!

          I altered a wooden keyholder which had been languishing in my "to do something with it "stash for  years !

Key Holder

The keyholder was originally a pale brown in color . After gessoing and giving  several coats of white acrylic paint , I decoupaged it partly with pattern paper[from Bob and Betty].

Paper Flowers on Altered Keyholder

I used a variety of Spellbinders and Heartfelt creations stamps and dies to create the flowers and leaves.

Paper Flower Tutorial 

Easy Filler Flower Tutorial 
First I will share how to make the cute white blooms which are acting as filler flowers in my project.
Materials Used
Dies : Heartfelt creations Berry Blossoms - the tiny 5 petal flowers
Heartfelt creations Delightful daisies

Paper : 285g card stock [Dress my Craft floral exotica]
Embossing Tools : Metallic Golf tools from Dress my Craft
Ink : Ranger Archival Ink Buttercup
Glitter : Sparkling Dust from Dress my Craft

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

I am often asked what type of paper is best for making flowers.
The answer is any type as different papers will  give you different effects!

• Thin paper is best used with punches and when you want fluffy floppy kind of flowers . 
• Regular card stock is the most popular type of paper for flower making as its mouldable and fairly durable.
• Using cardstock of thickness as high as 285 g to make flowers will give you nice sturdy flowers which hold their shape well and can take a bit of crushing!But because of the thickness they need to be moistened by either misting or dipping in water to allow you to shape and emboss them easily.

Recently Shalini [under her brand Dress my Craft ] launched 2 gorgeous papers Floral exotica and oriental which are simply fabulous for making flowers!! They absorb water to the right degree, are easy to emboss , ink well and hold their shape beautifully !!

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

Coming back to the Tutorial : Ink the centers of the die cut /handcut flowers with your choice of color.If you use an Archival ink, it won't bleed when you spritz your flowers with water. Mist both sides of the flower and mop off excess water with a towel.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

To shape all the flowers and leaves in this project I  used a set of fabulous embossing tools called golf tools which have nice grooves on the "golf head" end to help give beautiful creases to your flower while you emboss the petals.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

The set has tools of different sizes which you can choose depending on the size of the flower petal / leaf you are embossing and the degree of embossing you want.If you want to curl/cup your petals more...use a smaller golf tool!

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

After cupping the flower, invert and cup the center .

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

 I have used the round end of the largest golf tool here.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

If you want to add pollen/brads etc...use the pointed end of the golf tool and poke a hole [the 3 smaller golf tools all have nice pointed tips]

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

The golf tool ends are nicely tapering so you can actually create a small or larger hole by sliding the flower along the tool!

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

After pulling the pollen through the hole secure in place with a dab of glue.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

For the large flowers use a bunch of pollen and use just one pollen for the smaller flowers.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

 You can quickly further jazz up your flowers by spraying with glue and sprinkling "Sparkling Dust" glitter.

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

You can also use any clear drying liquid adhesive but I found using the spray adhesive super quick especially if you are working assembly line style and spray a huge lot of flowers and glitter them all up in one go!

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

 Don't the flowers look simply gorgeous even though they were so easy to make!

Paper Flowers Tutorial 

The leaves were stamped and heat embossed gold using Heartfelt creations stamps and die cut with the coordinating dies.

Paper Rose Tutorial

I love making Roses and you can see links to Tutorials shared earlier here : Handmade Flower Tutorials 

This particular flower is I guess the easiest rose ever!

Materials:

Die : Spellbinders Rose creations die. You can use any other style of die cut.

Paper : Dress my Craft Oriental Paper : this one does not absorb water as much as the exotica paper and cups more  making it ideal to make this particular flower.

Golf tools

Jazzing up : Liquid pearls Gold and Sparkling Dust Glitter  [from Dress my Craft]

 Paper Flowers Tutorial 

I used 3 of the  largest and 2 of the 2nd largest size die cuts.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Inking Tips : 

1. If you are creating 3 dimensional flowers , ink up both sides of the flowers with whatever ink you like.
2. Since you are working with thick card stock you need to moisten the flower shapes to help mould them easily. 
3. Mist both sides with water . 
4. If you are using a water reactive ink like Memento or Distress Inks  ...the color will wash off a bit after spraying and you will also get a nice mottled appearance.
5. If you don't want the color to change use Archival inks.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Mop off excess water with a towel.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Place the flowers on an embossing pad and run your golf tools over the petals from the edge to the center cupping the petals nicely.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Can you see the lovely lines created so easily with the grooves in the golf tool!

Paper Rose Tutorial 

If you want deeper cupping in any area, switch to a smaller size tool and emboss.The advantage of working with a good quality thick paper is that you can apply a good amount of pressure without tearing your paper while at the same time moulding your paper into different shapes.

Cup the petals of one of the smaller flowers to create the bud

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Vary the degree of cupping of all 5 flowers using the embossing tools and cupping with your hands. Optionally ink over the grooves created to enhance the lines even further using a darker shade of ink.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Creating the bud is one of the trickiest parts of making a rose and I find it easiest to use something in the center around which the bud petals can be glued around! You can use a paper ball/ bead/ cotton ball or an earbud like I did. Here is an earlier Tutorial using Q tips to form the center : Easy Rose Tutorial 

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Glue the petals around the earbud/cotton ball etc using hot glue. You can also use any other kind of glue but you need to be more patient!

Paper Rose Tutorial 

The trick while using a glue gun to avoid those pesky glue strings is to avoid glue towards the top edge of your petals !

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Glue the petals overlapping each other, keeping the shape conical.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Glue the bud with in the other layers of flowers staggering the petals as you keep gluing.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

 As you move to the outer layers apply glue only on the central areas and less on the petals as such so that you get more of the flared effect.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Finally add your finishing touches! I used golden liquid pearls over the edges of  the flower .

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Once the liquid pearl is dry , paint with liquid glue or spray with spray glue and sprinkle Sparkling dust glitter.

Paper Rose Tutorial 

Wasn't that the easiest rose ever!

Altered Keyholder with Handmade Flowers

I hope you liked the easy flower making techniques I have shared .

Supplies : all from Crafters Corner

Dies : Spellbinders Rose Creations,Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf, Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisy Die,Heartfelt creations Berry Blossoms Die

Stamps : Heartfelt Creations Open Leaf Stamp,Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisies Stamp

Pattern Paper : Bob n Betty Ornate Annie

Liquid Pearl Gold

Dress my Craft products: Flower Making Paper : Dress my craft collection exotica and oriental.Golf Tools.Sparkling Dust from Dress my Craft