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Paper Flower Tutorial

Doesn't this look divine?  When I first saw these, I thought they would be really difficult to do because they look quite intricate but actualy, they're easy!  Anyone can make these with the minimal of materials.  I'll take you through it step-by-step and you'll see how easy it is.

Materials needed:

- hand-painted paper or colored paper
- watercolor paint (if painting your own paper)
- florists tape
- cork
- wire
- decorator's tape
- scissors
- craft knife

If you decide to paint your own paper, you can add a wash of soft pink to your paper/card.  The benefit of painting your paper is that you can get lovely soft gradations of color which will make your flower look more natural. Depending on the size of your paper, paint about 2 or 3 pieces which you can join together.

Cut your paper in thin strips with a craft knife.  Only cut up to 3 cms from the top.

If you've used a few pieces of paper, join them with paper glue so that you end up with a long strip. The longer the strip, the fuller and larger your flower will look. You will now have a piece of paper that looks something like this.

Start rolling up this strip of paper.  Tape it so that it doesn't unravel.  The tape will be hidden later.

Now you can cut your green paper into leaf shapes as above. Fold your leaves in half so that you get a center vein.

Attach your leaves with more tape all around the base of the flower.

To make the center of your flower, cut a small piece of cork and push a piece of wire through it as in the image.  Then twist the ends of the wire together.

Push the cork heart through the center of your flower.

Cover the stem with tape.

Lastly, cover the base of the flower and stem with green florist tape.

Et voila!  I told you it was easy!  Wrap them in some tissue paper and give them as a gift.

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Tin Can Tea Light Holders

I love this idea!  So simple and so beautiful!  I love the fact that you can use recycled cans.  This is a really inexpensive way to make a really pretty feature.  If you have a covered deck, it would be lovely for your summer party outside.

Materials Needed:

- tin cans
- pretty paper
- wooden hanger
- wooden pegs
- glue
- string or raffia
- scissors
- ruler
- tea lights

Take your well-cleaned tins and measure carefully the height of the tin.  Cut strips of paper and you can trim off the length so that the paper matches neatly.

Glue your paper strips to the tins and tie on your string or raffia.  Also glue this in place so that it cannot slip.  This not only looks pretty but will keep things in place whilst the glue dries.

From the string, you can now add more lengths of string so that you can attach this to your hanger.  Tie them on as well as peg them, again for safety.  If you feel so inclined you could also decorate your wooden pegs with the same paper so they match up or you could simply leave them natural.

Now you're read with your ambiant lighting for your summer party!  Have fun!

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Ranunculus Paper Flowers

I absolutely adore this gorgeous flower.  They come in all kinds of beautiful soft shades.  Alas buying fresh flowers is expensive.  This is why this tutorial is so great as you can easily make these in paper and enjoy them for a long time.  All you need is some lovely colored card and you're good to go!

Original tutorial here

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