Spring has Sprung So here are the Flowers

Spring Flowers

So April is going to be all about flowers to celebrate the season, and the little bit of sunshine we have enjoyed so far.

I love to make flowers from any medium, paper, organza, cotton felt etc, so during April I will be showing you a selection of my favourite makes. 

Starting with Paper.

This spray is a selection of paper roses cut by hand, leaves made with dies and a bower of buds made from  tissue.

The Roses: Start by cutting a circle from paper (the colour of your choice) the circle should be between 4” and 6” diameter. I do not use a die for this just cut by hand.  

Next from any part of the outside edge start cutting about 3/4” in all the way around and keep going into the centre leaving a 3/4” circle in the centre 

Go over this cut making a wave along the outside edge 

Then from the outside edge roll the cut section around until you get to the centre circle, not too tight but a definite roll (as if you were winding up a roll of ribbon or tape measure). When you get to the centre settle your rolled paper onto the circle and let it spring out a little before hot gluing the it down. 

The Leaves: Gather a couple of leaf dies and cut them out in multiples so you can build them up. This is best done in a couple of different greens to add interest to the colour background.

Bower:

For this you will need 2 ply kitchen or toilet tissue,  floral wires, and flower stem tape. 

To see how the buds and flowers are made click on the link below 

https://youtu.be/iPyeWME1x9g

This is a great tutorial and shows you how to make 7 different tissue flowers that can be used to add a lovely soft addition to a paper flower display. I made a great display for my lounge and the beauty is you can match the tissue colour to your room colour. 

For this spray I have just used white tissue. 

Once you have your flowers assembled lay them on your craft table and play with how you want to display them. It is worth taking the time to do this as the results are always more pleasing than just gluing together hoping for the best. 

I started with the leaves laid out and hot glued the end of the leaves together and this left the outside of the leaves free flowing.

Next I laid a line of hot glue down the centre of the assembled leaves in a bower shape and laid the bower onto the glue. Make sure the line of glue is not too thick and just one line so that not too much is showing either side

Last lay the roses over the centre of the bower covering any glue and nestling the roses against the bower side. Add roses in a cluster on both sides of the bower, for the best effect. 

This makes a great table decoration, I would place one each end of the table leaving the centre free for all the dishes or work apparatus required. They could also be used to decorate the backs of chairs, shelves for displays etc.

Happy Crafting

Dee