July 19, 2009

Paper Flower Madness {A Tutorial}

They can be called flowers or snowflakes, even star bursts or sea urchins.

  

Paper flower chandelier 23

No matter what they look like after being Edward Scissorhanded, I LOVE making them (and I think you will too).

 

Paper flower chandelier 1a

This looks like a wreath, but it isn't.  It actually has 4 sides, isn't that exciting?

    

Paper flower chandelier 20
 

After being enchanted early this summer, by the May 2009 Anthropologie catalog, with boats and twinkling lights, and especially the Magpie Chandelier -

 

Anthropologie catalog

I knew, I had to try to make something magpie-ish myself at some point. 

Enter paper flowers… (click on images for much better view)

      

Paper flower chandelier 21

As I said, this little paper flower contraption looks like a wreath in my photos, but it really is not because it has 4 surrounding wires covered in flowers, more like a chandelier. 

I used clear packing tape (strong stuff), to tape the flowers to the wires from the inside.  Then I used double sided tape, to tape another flower behind each front facing flower, to cover the original packing tape that is only slightly visible.

      

Paper flower chandelier 4

This is the 4 wire contraption I made, and then stuck flowers all over the wires…

      

Paper flower chandelier 16

It's really fun in person, and I think Mister Lovee (based on his comments) might even try to steal it when I am not looking ;)  Maybe he wants to decorate his workshop, tee hee…

      

Paper flower chandelier 2

I thought, if you wanted to make one yourself, I could show you how I make these fun little paper flower urchin thingamabobs?  

       

Paper flower chandelier 5
 

I start with 1 full piece of scrapbook paper that I cut into 4 smaller pieces This is the size I like to work with, but you can make them bigger per your preference. (I also like to use wrapping paper)

I then take one of the 4 little pieces an fold it into a triangle, cutting off any excess…

 

Paper flower chandelier 8

I take my triangle and fold it in half, making another triangle…

  

Paper flower chandelier 9
 

The next step is to fold the right side in towards the center…

  

Paper flower chandelier 10
 

And the left side folds away towards the center as well, giving you a "V" shape…

 

Paper flower chandelier 11

You then cut off the upper points, like so…

 

Paper flower chandelier 12

You have what is a bit of a cone shape now, to play with…

  

Paper flower chandelier 13

Experiment cutting into the top and the sides all you want.  I think that is the funnest part, the experimentation factor…

  

Paper flower chandelier 14

Then open it it up to find… Ahhh yes, a sea urchin flower ;) 

  

Paper flower chandelier 17

Or a snowflakey flower… 

  

Paper flower chandelier 18

Trial and error is the name of this paper flower game… 

      

Paper flower chandelier 22

If you don't already make these, I hope you enjoy doing so.  I can get lost in paper cutting.  It is so relaxing and addicting.  (My photos are a bit funny because it is so cloudy out)

  

Paper flowers 1

Last winter, Holiday 2008, I had a blast making these, and I still have not taken them down…

      

Holiday 2008 13

So, try your own magpie creation, I'd love to see what you come up with.  A super fun project for any time of the year…

      

Paper flower chandelier 6

My Grandma and I loved making these paper flowers together during the holidays and now she is making them on her own.  I also showed her how to make the coffee filter wrist corsage, and she has become a coffee filter wrist corsage maker extraordinaire.  She has gifted them to oodles of people for special occasions.  I gave her a bunch of paints and sparkles when I saw her on Father's day so she can go even wilder making them.   

I hope you enjoyed this wee tutorial 😉

 

🖤,V

 

ps:  I wanted to share some of the wonderful treasures that have filled my mailbox lately.  SO many talented folks out there in the great big world.  Today I am sharing a magical piece of artwork – photography that Sadira thought up and Rich Charpentier  magically photographed (as he is a professional photographer) for the Mad Tea Party.  I am told you can get your own right here…  Boy oh boy, this is goooooood!!  Great collaboration you two!  WOW!

      

Sadira and Rich Mad Tea Party

pss:  Mister Lovee took me through a tunnel into desert wonderland on Friday night…  I don't want to bore you silly with it, but I will share some pics next time ;)  xoxo, V 

  1. karin says:

    Oh those flowers. I used to make hundreds of those kind of flowers as a child. Although I don’t think I had that kind of pretty paper at hand 🙂 But still: It brings back sweet memories!

  2. Dena Miller says:

    Hi Vanessa,
    You are so creative! I love to read your blogs and look forward to see what your next post will be about. Your pictures are also amazing!!! I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed being a part of the Mad Hatter Tea party! I would love for you to visit my blog again at http://blogs.myspace.com/miladyleela I am looking into getting another blog site that would be easier for people to find me…I’ll let you know when I get that started.
    Much love,
    Dena

  3. What I like even more than the flowers is the end of this sentence: “My Grandma and I loved making these paper flowers together during the holidays and now she is making them on her own. ”
    because my thoughts jumped mid-sentence, I thought “oh no, Vanessa’s grandmother died” but it turns out she is happily making paper flowers. Love it.

  4. cindy says:

    love those flowers!

  5. vivian says:

    i love your flowery creation! looks like a lot of work cutting out all those flowers, though well worth it! thanks for showing us how you did it!
    have a great monday!
    vivian

  6. Rhonda Roo says:

    YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!
    I love you I love you I love you!!
    I have been *praying* to the Goddess of Insane Creativity and Craftiness Galore that you would provide a paper flower tutorial and here it is!
    So glad I called in today.OOPS.
    Er, I mean, so glad I wasnt feeling well,{fakes a cough}.
    Now I can make flowers all dayyyyyyy
    THANK YOU!!!!!
    xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

  7. Dee says:

    Vanessa,
    Those are really really cute! I have a son, so don’t think he’d have fun making these, but I may have to volunteer with the girl scouts at church to do this project, thanks for the tut!

  8. Maggi says:

    What a great tutorial, can’t wait to try this one out!

  9. nisipici says:

    Ooooh la la! Yes, I’ve made snowflakes like that (I used to climb on desks and hang dozens of them from the ceiling of our office around the holidays) but never used patterned paper to turn them into flowers! Thanks for the ideas and I LOVE your wire/flower creation!

  10. Kris says:

    It’s so weird that you decided to show a tutorial for these! I saw them in one of your last posts and they intrigued me. I went searching through your blog for maybe a post about them I had missed (found one in June but alas, no tutorial.) Even showed my dd, because she is so handy. I figured we could attempt them. Thanks for the tutorial! I’m making a flower garland out of them! Love your choice of papers too.

  11. Cassandra says:

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE this tutorial! I’m going to have to make my own paper flower chandelier… Thanks so much pretty V!

  12. aubreeze says:

    i love that flower print paper!

  13. sadira says:

    V you are an absolute doll…it’s so fun to pop over and see myself on your blog! I’m so pleased you liked the canvas…it was our pleasure to send one to you! And, I am loving the flowers/snowflake/urchins…I never in my life thought of making them from such finely decorated paper…just exquisite!!

  14. michelle says:

    I haven’t been over to comment in ages! It has been somewhat crazy here. Love this idea, you know Brittany and I are going to try this! I love any good project that will keep me in with my air conditioning these days! Have a great day! Hugs!

  15. Pink Trees and Sunshine says:

    Ooooh, what fun! I think this could be a new obsession :~)

  16. Rachel says:

    These are GORGEOUS! I love that you used them for the holidays, what a beautiful package decoration/garland/tree ornament. LOVE! I’ll be linking.

  17. Stephanie says:

    It’s snowing bright colorful summer snowflake flowers…fabulous!
    oh how I LOVE anthropologie for wonderful inspiration! thank YOU for sharing.
    fantastic tea party photo!!!
    x..x

  18. Krista Komis says:

    OOh I love your sea urchin flowers!! They remind me of when I was little and used to make paper snowflakes, but yours are more colorful and *eeks* I can’t wait to make some! (Look what you’ve done now, you’ve created a paper cutting flower making maniac) I’m off to do some right now! 😀 You just have the best ideas ever.

  19. Amada Lebel says:

    Love this, it is magical. Just found your blog from Tristans and I have enjoyed running through the pages. You are so talented! I am adding you to my “Favorites” and to my blog
    Amada
    http://www.overthetopstudios.typepad.com

  20. We had such fun with paper flowers this spring. When my darling daughter the Tiny Dancer was the star student in April I brought in all manner of tissue paper and pipe cleaners and we went to town! I would disagree with the commenter who said the son wouldn’t do it…you should have seen the boys go wild for this! They had so much fun, I left all my supplies for the teacher and they came back the next week and made more! It was just in time for Mother’s day and they had a blast! I like these urchin-y spine-y creations a lot and think that the scrapbook paper that I horde might find a new home! And I think it would be great to layer with the tissue to make even more flutter-y goodness. You are such the creative diva Miss V! Love you!
    xox
    e

  21. Meghann says:

    That is PERFECT! Oh my gosh, thank you for sharing, I had never thought of these delightful little flowers, how creative you are 🙂
    I’m going to make a bunch of them for my birthday party in September – I wanted to have a Mad Tea Party in my backyard and these would be perfect 🙂
    Have a great day,
    Meg

  22. SueAnn says:

    What a fun paper project….they are so pretty! And full of color and light. Which I am also on the look out for.
    My hats off to Grandma…she rocks!!!! You must show some of her creations when she is done!
    Hugging you
    SueAnn

  23. YSLGuy says:

    I watched Edward Scissorhands last night, so I love the reference.
    These are wonderful, and I might have to try my hand at a few.

  24. tricia says:

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! These are so beautiful and I can wait to try making them!

  25. karin says:

    oh Miss V!
    I am on the road this week and all my craft things (paper scissors, sparkles, etc) are waiting for me at home…its going to be a long week!
    Sitting in a hotel room is not that inspiring…but maybe I can try and make something fun with the things I find in the room…hmmm, I may have just been inspired.
    I’ll let you know if I come up with anything good!
    xoxo
    ~karin

  26. Kylee Ward says:

    V~
    So colorful and pretty!! Inspiration a plenty….I’ll give it a try 🙂 Have a great week Miss V!!
    Kylee

  27. oh -i so love it-its magic..

  28. Lisa Swifka says:

    These are certainly bright and cheerful! I remember doing something similar in school. From wreath to a garland or on top of packages…..endless possibilities and sweet of you to share.
    That photo from the tea party is AMAZING!!!!
    xoxoxoxoxoxo

  29. Rock on Ms. Vanessa, thank you again for another wonderful tutorial! I have always loved making paper snowflakes but I like the way you fold it and turn them into flowers and sea urchins and such. My girls will just LOVE this…what a fun summer-time activity! That Tea party picture is amazing too!
    Jamie 🙂

  30. Shell says:

    I remember the couple from the Tea Party. I loved the beauty and richness of their pictures.
    Ah, your flowers are beautiful. Be really to decorate some in my room especially to coordinate with the seasons.
    You must share your desert wonderland experience. Deserts are my favorite part of the meal.

  31. Vanette Hawke says:

    thanks for the tut, Im new to this page so I was very impressed im going to make them for work to brighten up our windows for spring. I work in an old peoples home so they will cheer every one up
    thanks V

  32. Bootsie Wevon says:

    I think I’ll try making these. I have lots and lots of scrapbook paper on hand, since I LOVE to scrapbook! 🙂

  33. Silke says:

    These look amazing! Thanks for sharing the “how to” with us! I’ll be experimenting with them this week!! Thanks!!! 🙂 Silke

  34. Sidereal says:

    Fun Flowers!
    I love the Anthro catalog, I keep ordering it but can’t seem to get them to send one. (Insert me pouting)
    Have a lovely day,
    Lynn

  35. On this very rainy afternoon I went and bought a pack of colorful two-sided craft paper. Am now armed with a pair of scissors and some of your creative inspiration! These pretty sea urchin flower thingees are so pretty! I think I might assemble some sort of wall-mobile to display them. Thank you for sharing such a wonderfully creative idea!

  36. kristinguillory says:

    ohh how wonderful you are…thank you for telling us how we can make some beautiful flowers..Im going to have to try that out very soon..yay…:)

  37. I love that you shared how you made this — I’m going to try it! I am!

  38. Donna says:

    I love the idea and tutorial…thanks!
    I have so much scrapbooking paper and I’m affraid I’m not much into scrapbooking like I use to be.This will be great to use it up…yee!

  39. kayellen says:

    So pretty Vanessa!!
    You have inspired me to play with paper:))))
    Smiles,
    K

  40. You are so sweet Vanessa for sharing these lovely paper flower photos with us and then showing us how to make them. I love working with paper and scissors, origami boxes were my specialty growing up as a kid. I would store all my little treasures in them. These flowers would look lovely with a paper mache or gesso finish and glue them onto boxes or whatever. I love the wire contraption that you created to show off the flowers and it does resemble a wreath. Thank you for sharing your creativity.
    Teresa

  41. gillian says:

    I love these! I will haul my butt to Michaels for scrapbook paper, and make these toot sweet! xoxo
    (toute suite!)
    xoxo

  42. Oh my! I love, love these snowflaky whimsical flowers. :0) How fun….there are lots of free snowflake patterns online….now I’m inspired…thanks so much for sharing this wonderful fun idea.
    Have a great week and drop by for a visit anytime,
    Stephanie

  43. Thanks for sharing Vanessa. Hhhmmm I think I can do it. I’ll try something later out of ordinary paper and we shall see LOL I would love these flowers to be on top of gifts. Pretty and colorful.
    Li

  44. Gabriela says:

    Hello Miss Vanessa,
    These flowers are fabulous!
    ~ Gabriela ~

  45. Paris Parfait says:

    Haven’t made flowers or snowflakes like this since I was a child. So much fun! Thanks for the tutorial. Oh and that Mad Tea Party photo – fantastic! xoxox

  46. marjorie says:

    Oh!! Paper pretties for my day! Your such a sweet cakeling, indeed! Yours are so lovely!!
    I’m back from my family-times and ready for much mischief!! 😉 tee hee
    Thank You for sharing such a pretty tutorial!!

  47. amanda says:

    i’m at work reading this post and before i knew it the scissors and a piece of scrap paper were in my hand.
    thank you thank you Vanessa! for taking me back to my childhood while i’m stuck behind an adult desk. i’ll be making more of these for sure, once i’m home with all my pretty papers.

  48. gemma says:

    Hi,
    The snowflake pattern makes pretty flowers.
    Love that!
    I met Sadira at the Tea party. She lives in my old stomping grounds. She’s awesome…
    great photo!

  49. Robin says:

    Oh, how magically summerie they are….
    I hope you have had a beautiful day today

  50. Johanna says:

    wanted to tell you that I couldn’t even finish reading this post w/o grabbing the nearest piece of paper & cutting it up! My flower vase is now happily sitting atop my hand cut “lace” doily 🙂

  51. Now that’s what I call super cool! I love that wreath Miss V~I’ve missed you…. summer with five kids leaves me little time for social visits but when I do visit you it sure is worth my while! Love the skates as well~reminds me of the days at Skate country, corner of Ft. Lowell and Glenn, That was a long time ago….hehe it’s probably not there anymore:( Love those rainy days too:)
    xoxo, Ann-Denise

  52. Terisa says:

    Too Stinkin’ Cute!

  53. Chris says:

    Ms V, thank you for this tutorial, because I am going to make tons of these at home tonight! yes I am.

  54. Christine says:

    Mine are not coming out correctly! I think I’m messing up somewhere where you have to fold the right and left into the center. Can anyone help?

  55. valerie says:

    found my way here via a post on craftig I have loads of scrapbook papers but no scrapbook mojo at the mo so this looks like just the thing

  56. Sara says:

    Your flowers are absolutely gorgeous! Take a look at what I’ve been doing with the same type of flower and some others from metallic crepe paper! http://www.creativejewishmom.com
    Look under the category holiday:Succah decor

  57. Gorgeous cuts and design.Thanks for sharing this interesting stuff.
    ~Ella~

  58. Inspiring creation!This is really cool
    ~Ella~

  59. So beautiful. I just have to link these on my blog and spread the word. Thanks for the tutorial. Here’s my blog if you wanna check out the post http://sailmakersdaughter.blogspot.com/

  60. Hi great blog thank you thank you Vanessa! for taking me back to my childhood while i’m stuck behind an adult desk. i’ll be making more of these for sure, once i’m home with all my pretty papers.

  61. Term Paper says:

    You LOVE making them probably I also fond of make them.Alas! I can’t make them Properly But I will have to try this.Because Its useful Paper Flower Madness.

  62. I hav been wandering online since the past couple of hours and accidentally came to your blog post..Just admiring the way you conclude your post:*********** I used clear packing tape (strong stuff), to tape the flowers to the wires from the inside. Then I used double sided tape, to tape another flower behind each front facing flower, to cover the original packing tape that is only slightly visible…… *********

  63. I have been wandering online since the past couple of hours and accidentally came to your blog post..Just admiring the way you conclude your post:*********** I used clear packing tape (strong stuff), to tape the flowers to the wires from the inside. Then I used double sided tape, to tape another flower behind each front facing flower, to cover the original packing tape that is only slightly visible…… *********

  64. Your really good at what you are doing. Keep up the good work.. Will be looking forward for more posts.. :0

  65. Brilliant! What a great read. That was a good post – informative but not too heavy. Thanks for taking the time out to write it! I think spirituality is really important too, we certainly agree on that point. A leader without spirituality is missing a key element.

  66. It’s really glad to read about the following topic which has
    enhanced my knowledge regarding topic and plus has given
    alot of ideas which I can think on.
    So I would say thank you to the blog owner for providing
    this amazing information.

  67. Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the dumb understand.

  68. Jennifer says:

    I haven’t got a talented bone in my body…for art anyway…any art…and I can’t seem to figure these out! I am so confused. My flowers are NOT turning out anything like these.
    I am going to keep trying, but am not holding out much hope!

  69. daozteagu says:

    pov lipstick blowjob free sexy hindi chut land ki new stroy hot teen stripping and enjoying herself
    http://zippic.info/?profile-MARCY
    http://xaijo.com/?sexy-TRUDY
    http://adult-story.info/?profile-TERRENCE
    japanese train sex molestation video forced to have sex videos slutload arabic lesbian oral surgeon job description and salary woman magazine finlande tommi liimatainen house mp3 she went to barber to shave her head gianna picture tits sperm what can you do with old makeup free streaming ps3 porn grandmas first anal bibcam sex free short porn clips boys like girls heels over head lyrics godzilla anime sorozat examples of beautiful testimonials pedofilie porn george galloway mission high school san francisco forum sex girl arab sex web com indian latest urdu sexy stories

  70. daopteagz says:

    anita rani nude illegal teen models wiring diagram for foot control on mini kota trolling motor
    http://zippic.info/?profile-PAUL
    http://xaijo.com/browse/?girl-EARLINE
    http://adult-story.info/?profile-ROSEMARY
    son live mother sex and tailor made daughter asia crystal star of david necklaces “luscious cock ride” rika nishimura nude video gta vice city drive on water code dogfart chloe nude art files apeejay school of management britney spears nude blonde slut lymph pain in groin and back of knee felix the cat cartoon sitting at a bar black grils pic of having sex dragonball z sailor moon hentai star trek paper models mediafire sex mallu how to give a girl head sex party indir
    http://bitly.us.to/hANrOaH

  71. FUCKASS says:

    I want to dip my head in oil and rub it all over your body

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post