Paper Flowers

Today rolled in and I was abandoned by my lovely fiance for a football game, sigh.  I had a few hours to burn before work so I decided it was time to get crafty!  One of my dearest friends turns twenty on Sunday so I decided these paper flowers would look stunning instead of a bow on her present.

Pretty flowers!

Aren't they gorgeous??  I used an old textbook for the paper, but I am sure anything would look good!

First step was cutting out the flowers.  The first time I tried I made a circle and then turned it into a spiral, but it looked too ice-cream cone-y.  For the flowers pictured above I made my circle with more of a scalloped edge and kept that pattern through the spiral.

The next step was to put a little color around the edges.  Trust me, it is WAY easier to do this step before you make the flower or else it gets really hard to do the inside of the flower.  I used Close to my Heart ink and a makeup sponge to create the vintage-y edges.

The next step is to roll the flowers.  Begin with a tight spiral and gradually begin loosening the spirals as you go.  You don't have to be perfect, you can make adjustments when you have finished!  Unfortunately I am currently gluegunless so I had to use some craft tape to hold my flowers together.  It is a litte easier to tape (or glue) as you go.

Sparkle fingers!

When you have completed your spirals, pull out the edges until your flower is in the desired shape, and then make sure you fasten everything!  Don't want your pretty flowers coming unraveled.  

Pretty, pretty flower!

I also chose to glue some leaves on for the added affect!  I am so pleased with how these turned out, I think they will look GORGEOUS on the parchment paper I am going to wrap her gift in.  When I get it all put together I will try to post another picture :)

Hope you enjoy!  Feel free to send me pictures if you try these out or have any suggestions!

Au revoir,