I spent my Saturday afternoon making crepe-paper flowers. There are several pretty good tutorials out there. I started off at The Bride’s Cafe, then I checked out Jess’ tutorial at How About Orange. But, what I really needed was a template to get my proportions just right, and a Google search led me to Martha Stewart Weddings where I found a Paper Flower DIY, complete with printable templates for the petals and leaves. Perfect, this was exactly what I needed to get started.
The first flower I made was a daisy (quite pathetic without the Instragram magic). Then I tried my hand at making a peony, then tulips (looked good, even without Instagram), then more peonies and even a carnation — which didn’t turn out so well. These flowers may look simple, but they’re labor-intensive!
Anyway, I’m hoping to make dozens more throughout the week (maybe). My adventurous Mom is going to Africa as a missionary for the next several years, and my siblings and I and are throwing a huge bash in her honor next weekend. In my wildest fantasies, I see my sister’s backyard flooded with my crepe-paper flowers… we’ll see. At the very least, I wanna make a beautiful bouquet for my Mom — I think she’d get a kick out of it.
In addition, I have a few ideas brewing about how we can use these crepe-paper flowers as a design resource. How? In what form? I’m not really sure yet. I’m not thinking about clip art. Rather, I’m thinking that they may look really good as part of a photo template or something. I don’t know — we’ll see.
Anyhoo, I gotta go hit the gym now and then get ready for Curb. Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend! :)
Some outtakes:
Aaaahhh…. this wretched carnation that took me an hour to make. Unfortunately, I couldn’t salvage any of the scraps:
{ 30 comments }
so creative :)
http://girlynote.blogspot.com/
wow you have done a REALLY good job, those look sooo good!!
ah you make me want to make them too! xo
These turned out so great! They remind me of the flowers I had to make out of gum paste when I was in culinary school. haha. They were SO difficult but I imagine they’re a lot easier with the paper you’re using rather than floppy gum paste lol<3
This is absolute genius! I’m bookmarking it for a housewarming party I have coming up – paper decorations rule :)
These are gorgeous! Looks like a fun weekend project, I’ll have to try sometime soon!
Those look fantastic Katrina! What a perfect Labor Day weekend project! Enjoy!
Too bad about the carnation, but the tulips, roses and peonies all turned out GREAT.
And you aren’t kidding about labor intensive. Some ladies at my office made crepe-paper flowers like this for Halloween last year (we did a day of the dead theme, and needed the flowers for the altars) and even though we were making them HUGE (less work more colorful bang for our time-limited buck) and we have something like 12 ladies working on them (we run a call center, so folks can often do things between calls or while on hold for other departments) we still didn’t get done what they had hoped to accomplish. But it looked great none-the less, so hopefully your bouquet will indeed give your mom a kick!
This is gorgeous! Super creative much?
Beautiful flowers! Also, your mom sounds amazing. I can’t imagine going on a long-term mission trip like that, but I’m so glad there are people who are courageous enough to do that sort of work. Good luck to her and your family!
regardless of what your said, the flowers actually look really pretty i think especially the flowers in 1st, 3rd and 7th pictures. i’m not so good with flowers so i don’t really know what the names of those flowers (in the 1st, 3rd and 7th pictures) are.
what a big WOW!! so loved this!
Oooh – they’re all so pretty! :) The first one is my favorite – I *heart* it’s little center!
So your HTML and your crafting skills are off the scale impressive! These are beautiful, Katrina!
Soooo pretty! Good idea!
Wow, they are so beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
you are so good with your hands! those are beautiful. so delicate and pretty. brings back memories of when my mom used to make paper flowers for me. your mom sounds incredible and i’m sure would love a handmade bouquet of those flowers!
I had forgotten how labor intensive these things are to make – and how sticky floral tape is! I made paper flowers for the centerpieces for my daughter’s graduation several years ago – but I made the really large one’s from the Martha Stewart site – it rained and they drooped…
Anyway, I made some this weekend on a smaller scale – they turned out sort of pretty. Thanks for the inspiration! Your’s are lovely and I know your mom will be thrilled!
oh kat, they’re gorgeous! labor intensive maybe but the end result is amazing!
p.s. martha stewart is a god. i pray to her at least five times a day.
Love these flowers…I am showing a crafting buddy at work and see what we can cook up! Your flowers are delicate and the crepe paper makes good for the veining on the natural flowers! GREAT flowers = saved blog!
Oh my gosh they are so pretty! LOVE!
Very pretty. I wish I would have done handmade flowers at my own wedding. We did make our own placecards and a few other things. It takes a lot of planning, time, and work. It’s helpful to have crafty friends.
They turned out great! Martha has the best tuts for crepe flowers. Loved them all.
How great was Curb? I am going to miss it… Only one episode left.
Wow! You’re so patient! Your mom is so adventurous, how brave to leave for several years!
We’ve been watching ‘Curb’ here as well, love it! :)
These are lovely! And how exciting that your mom is going to Africa! That’s wonderful that she’s going to serve as a missionary :) I know she’s going to help so many people along the way. Can’t wait to hear more details about her going away bash. I’m sure she’s going to love anything you do!
i am obsessed with crepe flowers- i’m going to have them for my wedding…and hired my friend sara to make a sample bunch-
http://icedgrandesoylatte.blogspot.com/2011/08/bits-pieces.html
here they are on my dining room table (first photo) and she’s gonna teach me.
and as per usual, i love your photos! :-)
beautiful images! Specially the first one!
i don’t doubt that these are labour intensive….but they look absolutely beautiful!
these are gorgeous! I made a set of fabric DIY roses for my mom’s 50th Denim-themed birthday party. It was super labour intensive but they looked lovely! http://indieberries.blogspot.com/2011/06/fabric-rose-diy.html
These are so pretty! I want to make some into a floral crown!