Paper Flower Wreath Tutorial

so i made this wreath... and don't know that i love it enough to make more. it's a bit time consuming. BUT, if you had to be somewhere for a long period of time and needed something to do to pass the time, this might be a good idea! IF i were to make it again, there is one thing i would do differently -- use double-sided paper. or even just cardstock so there is color on BOTH sides of the flowers. mine looks fine. i guess. but my best friend made one with double sided paper and it looks 10x better. just a thought.

my best friend is the store manager at a ROBERT'S CRAFT store and they have an idea table for seasonal crafts. that's where the idea came from for this wreath.

alright, here we go, people!

you will need: (sorry, no picture)
*foam wreath (i used a 12" wreath)
*floral tape (mine used jut more than 1 full roll)
*ribbon to hang it (i used roughly a yard)
*paper (i used 5 different patterns, 3 sheets of each)
*glue gun + LOTS of glue sticks
*optional* cricut machine (could also use a silhouette machine, or just trace something round)




first, i used my cricut machine to cut circles out of my paper. i fit (9) 3 1/2" circles from each page.



you then have piles of circles. obviously. i'm new to this ok? please bear with my pictures... not picture after this, i drew a swirl on the back of a bunch of circles, then used ONE that was traced and put it on top of a stack WITHOUT swirls and cut them out. saved me from drawing on EVERY circle. my paper was just that -- paper. some paper is thicker, it will work the same, you just can't cut through as many at a time. does that make sense?



so your circles, after the swirl is cut, shoul look like this, or something close. trust me, they don't have to be perfect.



i got this tool at ROBERTS and it was a life saver. you could roll them by hand, but it will be well worth your money to get one of these little babies when you're rolling more than 100 flowers.


so slip the OUTSIDE point of the circle-turned-swirl into the little slot (you'll roll from the outside to the inside)



and start rolling. whichever pattern you want to have show on the INSIDE of the flower, that one goes on the inside.



roll, roll, roll until you get to the center and it looks something like this. then just pull it off the tool.



it should look something like this. wash, rinse, repeat. and make a pile of them. or put them in a bowl so they don't roll everywhere. either way. in the time it takes to roll them all, they "relax" a bit. kind of like a perm. only paper. :) i liked that so they would end up larger and cover more surface area on the wreath. i did find that some "relaxed more than others and i kind of love that. different sizes make for different texture. awesome.



when i got tired of rolling, i took a break and wrapped the foam wreath. pretty cinchy. just wind it around the wreath so it overlaps on itself. done.



wrap the ribbon around like you're making a bookmark... that's the first thing that came to mind. i dunno. anyway, find the middle and hold it at the back of the wreath, tails hanging down the front. then wrap the tails around the FRONT of the wreath, UP the BACK, and through the loop. make sense? let me know if you have questions.



put a blob of hot glue on the "base" (formerly the center of the circle) of the flower, then use one finger to push the new center of the flower down into the middle, hence the glue, and hold for a couple seconds. wash, rinse, repeat. million times. till all the flowers are done.



when you're read to glue the flowers to the wreath, put another blob of glue on the BOTTOM of the former base...



and press it wherever you want it on the wreath. wash, rinse, repeat. again, a million times.

and then you're done! YAY! i did mine over 3ish days... i also have 3 children and was using the only table we own. it was a constant "get it out and work on it" "put it away so we can eat" deal. i play the same game with laundry and my bed. during the day, it's spread all over the bed so we can (hopefully) find what we need and at night it gets shoved back into the baskets at the foot of the bed. anyone else do that? or is that just me?

i was thinking tho... wouldn't this be cute done with a few REALLY BIG circles on a burlap wrapped wreath? i see a lot of burlap crafts in the blogger world right now and love it! like THIS ONE from my super good friend BRITTANY over at LOVESTITCHED. i totally want to make these for the christmas tree that is not yet set up in my home. :)