DIY Flowers II

Update on the paper flowers thing*.

Ginnie, Kimie, and I worked a couple different methods of flower creation the other day.


This is the Continuous Petal Method as seen in Martha Stewart.

She includes a template for cutting just the right shape of petals and walks you through the process for making the stamens, whether to match or to complement.  You eventually wrap the petal strip to the stamen using floral tape, then attach the stamen to a longer stem, again using floral tape.

These are Kim's hands. As you can see, she is scrunching the flat side of the petal strip onto masking tape a mounting strip, then attaching it to the green pipe cleaner respectable florist's wire.  Just like Martha.

Above is the Continuous Petal Method in process.  Below is the finished CPM as done by Yours Truly in Tissue Paper.

Mmmm, attractive.  And unique.

 The Lesson:

When Martha Stewart says "Crepe Paper Flowers," y'all, she ain't kidding. I know it looks all 'informal' and 'cute' and 'ooh, that looks so easy', but if you stray from the Formula at all, you get the above Headless, Armless, One-Legged Ballerina-Look going on.

Although...maybe if I had about fifty more of them all bunched together with some nice ribbon, it would kinda look more...better.


So anyways, this is the Continuous Petal Method done (per Martha) in Crepe Paper.

Can we see that comparison again?

Sure, that first one wasn't all that bad.

Nevermind.

Kimie and Ginnie both tried the tissue paper carnations again (see DIY Flowers, the original post), both using the correct number of layers.

See?  Bunch them up and they do kinda look more...better.

But definitely the most successful iteration of the day was Kim's version of the CPM:

Now that looks like a rose

There were also a few Single Petal Method attempts that day:

Martha's...

And mine...

(See what I did there?  Soft Focus, Glow...Martha's team got nothin' on me.)

I used a shiny green bead on an unfolded paper clip for my stamen

(nuts to the matchy-matchy 15 minute make-your-own stamen recipe!).

My finished SPM flower:

Hey, that's not half bad, eh?  Maybe a little bare in that upper right quadrant.  Let's attach it to a stick.

 You know, for Realism.

Ooo, even better.  How bout another angle?

Ok, that's enough.  Let's move on.

Mom had some paper doilies tucked away in the pantry (you know, for setting cakes on).  I stole them and made this:

The straw was an auntpeaches.com idea...it's not really one of her better ones.

And finally, here's a great recipe for Dinner Napkin Snowballs:

Here's mine (I stuck a ribbon on it, in case you miss that part):

I was pretty proud of this one, too, and pretty happy that it came from a lesser well known crafter than Ms. Stewart.  Yet of all the recipes we attempted in this pursuit of DIY Paper Flower perfection, this, I thought, was the one that most closely resembled the signature Martha Stewart simple-yet-elegant vibe.

But then Dave walked in the kitchen...


"That's a nice flower you made, Jack," he enthused.

Jack, the four-year-old, looked bemused.

"HEY," I said, glaring.  "It's a SNOW ball"



*Professional florist: "Paper flowers are an awesome way to go." - he may not have meant "paper flowers you made yourself", though.  HOWEVER...

I am determined.  Get your tape, scissors, crepe paper, coffee filters, beads, and wire, y'all...we're knocking out WHITES first, and we need about 160 to start with!  Nickie is going for the Martha Coffee Filter Rose painted roses...the rest of everyone else, we're making Paper Whites in Whatever Method makes you proud of yourself!!  For now, we'll make them up on wire stamens and don't attach them to anything...we'll figure out stems and leaves later on.

WHO's WITH ME???!!!?!?