Flower Power

We have had a couple of sunny days now, which inspired me to go outside and pick some flowers. Easier said than done. The only blooms in our backyard were one lonely daisy and some fading violets. The frontyard was a little better, but I didn't want to pick the few happy iceland poppies, and I had a feeling pansies just wouldn't last too long inside.

So I had two choices: run over to Lowe's and buy myself a pretty pot of flowers to enjoy, or somehow create my own. Since spending $ at Lowe's is not part of the U-I-P Challenge, I dug out my scrapbook paper and went to work finding and creating some paper flowers. Martha Stewart (of course) had a great page with dozens of different types of paper flowers, some basic and some complex, all beautiful. Seriously, had I known paper flowers could look like this, I just might have considered it for my wedding.

I chose two to make: a simple dogwood style flower and a giant poppy to make. Check out the site and steps by clicking here.

A few tips if you choose to make either of these. For the poppy, I scaled the template they give online waaaay down, and my poppies still were huge. (Notice how the wine bottle vase is dwarfed by those things.) Using a heavier weight paper like cardstock helps create the little ridges on the petals. And watch the video the site provides - it explains the purpose of cutting the slit in the template and how to make the "cup" for each petal. The dogwood flower is pretty basic, but for each I cut out two four-leafed petals instead of one, one small and one big, and placed the smaller one inside, tacking it with a brad or a piece of pipe cleaner in the middle. I then tied a string to the back to attach it to my branches.

Wouldn't these be great for Valentine's Day gifts? Who wouldn't want a bouquet of never-dying hand-crafted flowers?? Alongside a vase of fresh roses, of course!