A gathering of ideas, rants, reflections leading up to the big day

Monday, July 28, 2008

Paper Flowers

My centerpieces will be bunches of "Mexican" paper flowers. I say "Mexican" because they are being made by 2 white girls and one Japanese girl.

Two weeks ago I invited Mel and Jenn over for some paper flower making fun! I bribed them with food and they came with chic flicks!

In just a few short hours we made 50 flowers! We took some photos that day, but my instruction photos vanished into digital camera world. But today Jenn came over and we made another 30 flowers and we filled in the instruction photos.

I buy all the supplies from the Mexican party supply store (think Michael's squished into your closet). The supplies you need for paper flowers are:
1. Crepe paper sheets (not rolls)
2. Thick floral wire
3. thin floral wire
4. Floral tape (optional)

I also use : scissors, scotch tape and pencils (for shaping).

Step one: Cut your sheets of crepe paper into 1/3 or 1/4 depending on how full you want your flowers to be.

Here is the paper cut into 1/3 of a sheet.
Step 2: Once it is cut to size, shape your sheet. Above I am rounding the sheet to make a rose.
Step 3: Unwrap the sheet and you have a long sheet of paper. I cut it in half, to then form two flowers.

Step 4: Take a pencil or pen for shaping and round one "petal" in, roll the next out, alternating how you roll the petals. Please ignore the chins.


Step 5: Make a funny face. I like to tape the edge of the paper to the wire for extra security. Then you scrunch the paper. I am making my scrunch the paper face complete with sound effects.

Mostly scrunched, see the flower?!
Still scrunching!
Step six: wrap the thin floral wire around the base of the flower and partially down the stem.

Step 7: wrap wires with floral tape.

Viola! Flowers!
This is the batch we made a few weeks ago! Funny enough, the three of us all have distinct styles and call recognize our own flowers!Here is Mel with one of her flowers (and yes that is a pound puppy on the couch).

And Jenn with one of her flowers! The running joke was that Mel's flowers were all very tight and Jenn's were all wide open. Yes it was a very giggly afternoon!


Pretty Pretty! We are getting together again on Saturday to make more flowers. We'll be doing some brighter colors: blues, pinks, reds! Once we have the 150 done, We'll separate them into complementary bunches of 8 to 10 to be placed on the tables.

10 comments:

Ellie said...

Those look great! I think you're doing an awesome job of giving your wedding a well-edited Southwest bent. And when people find out you actually *made* the flowers, they'll freak out. (In a good way.)

Jenna said...

I love step-by-step tutorials and I agree with ellie, people are going to be so impressed that the bride put this together. I love weddings with a personal touch.

jennifer said...

Thanks ladies! My family is the most shocked by my flower making skills. I am very uncrafty, so this is a huge deal for me!

Unknown said...

you look pretty crafty to me, always have. great directions. a great fun experience with special friends, take more pix this weekend, the bright colors will add pop!

Anonymous said...

amazing work!

arlene,
Bainbridge Island florist

Anonymous said...

You go, Martha Stewart. Those look awesome. Y'all did a great job!

Dana said...

Great DIY project. They look great.

Dana said...

How do your arms feel from starting the 100 push up challenge?

Anonymous said...

I love it, Jenn! Your flowers are great and I appreciate the instructions! It takes me back in time to when I first learned how to make Mexican style flowers...but in the intervening years I had forgotten the subtle yet all-important techniques, such as the face scrunching.

See you soon---

Anonymous said...

I love these flowers. Very well done. Thank you for sharing the step by step instructions!