Unlimited Imagination Flowers and Wreaths

The craft of paper wreaths have been around for awhile and there are some truly gifted crafters out there. It's a really easy craft to make. So even if you are a new crafter or someone who just isn't artistic at all, this can still be accomplished. It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. This is listed under Christmas because the idea for this instructable is to inspire you to make a paper wreath, a holiday flower or even a small table centerpiece. Plus, they make great gifts because it shows you spent time thinking about them.  I hope to inspire the young and old alike, the crafty and not so crafty. Even the newest of crafters can accomplish this craft. II have listed many different ideas you can try out. If you have any questions along the way feel free to ask

I made a purple and white holiday flower for some friends of ours. The funny thing is all I had was glow in the dark hot glue so it glows too!! Follow steps 4-5 for the Purple and white flower wreath. Glow in the dark hot glue optional ;-)

We were having an Alice in Wonderland Themed party a few years back and I was trying to come up with a big flower with a face. Since I had a two week time limit my options were limited. I found a design to use paper rolls to create a wreath and I thought why not a flower?? I will show you how to do two different types of designs. One will be like my Alice Flower and the others will be a mix of lit and unlit flowers and wreaths. My lit wreath will be posted shortly.

Google paper wreaths to see some of the wonderful ideas that are out there

Cheap, easy and beautiful!

** I will be adding several projects shortly. Each will have it's own supply list in addition to the Main supply list. Keep an eye out for the main picture to change. I will update this each time I create a new one with new instructions. ** 


Main Supplies needed:

1/8" plywood in your desired size - you can also use hot glue and glue 3 pieces of cardboard together (it comes out surprisingly strong and stiff) will explain measurements in tutorial 

Drill with 1/4" drill bit - to drill holes for the leds to poke through so this is optional  (for wood base only)

Hack saw, dremel, some way to cut it into a circle

1-2 packs (200 sheets max depending the size you make) of colored paper your choosing - Keep in mind  to get a lot of fluff you gotta make a lot of spirals/petals

Hot glue gun and tons of glue sticks (5-6 bags)

Large bottle of fabric glue

Heavy duty staple gun 1/8" staples - optional

Two picture hangers - picture hanging wire - a small picture hanging kit from the $ store works just fine

One plastic tree man face - the packs that have eyes, nose and mouth to attach to your tree - toss the nose for my version
Will need to google for locating it in your area or online store

Or you could make them with some paper mache or paint them in

Pack of LED Holiday Lights - optional

Clear coat (optional)

Step 1: Making the Base - Wood - Cardboard Next Step

If you're doing a wreath for the front door then figure out how wide it should be

Draw and cut a circle the size needed for the door minus 3-4"

A good trick for this is to find the center of your circle - tap a nail firmly into the center - tie a string around the nail pull firm - measure your distance and mark it on the string - tie a knot around the pencil and make a circle - don't let the string wrap around the pencil or you'll end up with an oval :-)

You want a good  base for it so it will last longer for you. If you have too much paper sticking freely from the edges of the wood, it will get too bent and damaged over time. Leaving a few inches on the ends covers the wood and bent tips are easy to fix. If they do get bent use a light coating of starch and the tip of a iron on silk setting. Use a wooden cutting board so you can hold it with one hand and use the iron to tip them with the other, to get them flat and stiff again.

*** You don't need as much paper as shown in my pic- it was my first one ever so half of the length should work fine ***

If using cardboard - measure it out the same way - glue together 3 pieces - coat with fabric glue and cover with velvet or spare cloth to cover cardboard

Create a circle with your nail, string and pencil. You want to do this again for each row of flowers you desire. Since you will be working from the edge inward you can decide this as you go. Use this line as a guide for gluing or stapling the petals

For those without power tools -Using cardboard is a great alternative. If you choose to use wood a good coping saw will work well for you. 

If you need an open circle shape you will require power tools - Make measurements accordingly leaving enough wood to support the petals properly. 

You can do whatever shape you choose - Squares, Ovals, Dodecahedrons whatever sparks your imagination

You don't have to cut a traditional wreath shape - just make a slit for it to fit the wreath hanger

Paint your wood base your desired color- let dry

Step 2: Cardboard Backing

Supplies needed:

Cardboard - I cheated and used the circles of cardboard we get with our store bought pizza - don't use the ones with food caked on it :-) or cut your own out

String or rope - 3-4 ft

Velvet or scrap cloth

Scissors

Hot glue gun - hot glue

Fabric glue

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Make sure you have enough to make three circles of your desired size

Use hot glue to glue the pieces together - press flat

Create a circle with a nail, string and a pencil. You want to do this again for each row of flowers you desire. Since you will be working from the edge inward you can decide this as you go. Use this line as a guide for gluing the petals

Using your string - cut to even sections, make a knot at the end and braid it to the desired length - tie a knot at the end - you can dye it with clothes dye or food coloring if you want

Cut out a piece of fabric that is 1-2"  larger than the circles cut

Measure and mark where you need your hanger to be on the card board - lay fabric over it, then pull the fabric up to the points where you marked the board - mark the underside of the fabric at those points

Cut a small hole at each of the points on the fabric

Hot glue down one end of your braided sting to the point you marked - use a scrap piece of fabric to smooth it out - Be Careful IT'S HOT!!

Pull the string through one of the holes in the fabric - position the fabric making sure it all fits correctly

Pull the other end of the string through fabric - flip the fabric back and hot glue it down - again using a scrap piece to smooth it out

Now you can start gluing down the fabric with the fabric glue or hot glue - if using fabric glue do 2 thin layers back to back in small sections pressing the fabric down on the second coat - the first coat absorbs into the paper but the second creates a sticky layer on top of that

*** Don't coat it too thick or it will soak through the fabric **

You can crease it as you go I did a little on mine

Make sure you have enough fabric on the ends to wrap it around the ends to hide them - you can pull the fabric a bit when using velvet 

Wrap the ends and secure  on other side with hot glue

I didn't like the possibility of the unfinished edge showing on mine so I finished it off with hemmed edging

I cut the hemmed edge off the velvet shirt I used  (because it's too big! wiggle, wiggle!)  for the edging on the inside of the ring to give it a cleaner finished look - cut extra away from the hem so you can tuck in under the hem for a completely finished look

Don't glue down the first 3 or last 3 inches of hem to the edge

Excluding the first 3 inches start by folding the extra fabric under the hem and hot glue down - then hot glue the hemmed part down to that

When you get to the end you want to tuck the 3" you left on the other end over - tuck the other end into that and hot glue it all down

Step 3: Creating the PeTaLs

Ok, while your base is drying grab your printer paper, ruler scissors and tape. Possibly a box to store your petals your keeping from getting smashed by pets and monsters. Grab a sheet and start playing with it. Start twisting it and creating big spirals and smaller, thin longer spirals. Getting this technique practice will help you. I say use printer paper to practice because it will  be much cheaper to use and most will be thrown away.  Tappering the petals is not required. In fact the larger the tube the more fluffy the flower.  This instructable is here to just inspire you. you can do one just like mine if you want or come up with your own. I will show you how to attach the spirals and hang it. Play around and get inspired :-) If you still need help youtube has alot of videos out there on how to roll the paper for different effects.

Ideas to play around with:

Measure each petal before attaching it to make sure they are all the same - trim accordingly 

Coating each petal in a fabric glue/water mix will make your wreath last years longer - get a large mixing bowl mix 1/4  fabric glue to 1  water - you can make it stronger for heavier papers - dip paper, soak, form petal set aside to dry on wax paper

Cut the sheets in half and see what you can create - temporarily tape it in place when you make something you like and set it aside -  then try to make something different with the same size piece - sometimes you can make several styles, sometimes not

Remove tape from the petals and measure out the section - cut a section from your scrapbook paper, construction or card stock the same size -duplicate the petal with the card stock and tape firmly in place - set aside in petal box

** Also used is old books - I cherish all old books so the white pages of the phone book works well - use a light tea mix to get a brown staining if you want the old book look **

Try different shaped pieces - triangles, ovals.....

You can use scissors that cut a design on the end of the paper to create texture

Cut out different size squares for smaller but fatter petals

I plan to do one using water colors to create a shading effect on each petal

Lots of spray glue and glitter, assured to make any little girl bounce with joy

Creating 3-4 large petals and then setting smaller thin ones in between them makes for a cool effect

You can even add some of those glittery spirals they have at the craft store

Don't forget the giant leaves!!

Use 12"*12" scrapbook paper for stiff detailed leaves - a dark green fiber paper would be nice - Using the fibrous paper you can glue several together and make the seam as part of the vein the leaf  ** If I do this I will post pics**

Several layers  of white glue on the backside of the leaves works well - let dry completely between layers

LED chirstmas lights fed into each tube would make a wonderful wall light- I will show how to do this one

Petals within Petals within Petals

I'm creating a sun that fits in the ceiling corner for my toddlers wall - my husband is going to use water proof RGB LEDS to create whatever color effect we wish. I will post more on that later.

You can do the same with LED christmas lights 

Create a meteor flying across a room

Create a majestic large LED (LOW ELEC) light fixture for a foyer -Special treatment needed for hard to reach areas  --With these types of fixtures you need to seal them well. Having them in an area that is hard to reach can make cleaning difficult.  They have some really neat products out there that repel moisture and staining. That might be a good option. Or several, at least 5, light layers of clear coat. You can use the glue to stiffen the paper but use a clear coat on it afterwards.

Outdoor Christmas tree ornaments -Water proofing needed

• Please don't use Styrofoam balls to create these, you can do what you wish but please reconsider it- These little works of art aren't meant to last forever - I personally feel if they are so far gone in however many years that they are nothing but a Styrofoam ball I sure as heck don't want that to be my foot print on our precious earth. A viable option and much cheaper one would be small balloons paper mached with 3 layers with white glue. You can do more layers to make a harder ball, as hard as you want. It will allow you to glue dowels on the edges of your petals and poke into the ball. An neat effect would be to paint the ball silver or gold so that the little parts that did peak through glistened. Paint your dowel sticks the same color.

Attach picture hangers with hot glue and string or a wire


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Here are some of my designs adding more shortly - also google paper wreath for many more ideas

Step 4: White and Purple Holiday Flower Wreath Step 1 of 2

I used a cardboard base shown in step 2

Supplies needed for this wreath:


Skeleton Magnolia Leaves qty 8 - I love these and they mostly come in a pack of 50 or more but I am sure you will find many other uses for them :-)

Hot Glue Gun 

Paper in color of your choice

Fabric Glue or White Glue

Fine glitter

Sponge brush - any size will work

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I wanted this one to be more random so I did not draw out my guide lines 

All I did was start gluing them on filling all the holes - first two layers were white - then on the third layer I went to every third purple I cut all of my paper to 5.5" x 8.5"

I roll a spiral and then widen the end with my fingers to the desired width

Roll, Glue and Fill -  Roll, Glue and Fill This is actually a lot of fun and goes quicker than you think

Step 5: White and Purple Holiday Flower Step 2 of 2

Using your white glue and leaves

Make a mix of 1/2 glue 1/2 water - This will make the leaves last longer as well as allow the glitter to stick

Dab the glue mix onto the leaves with a sponge brush - coat it well the glue will dry and not coat all of the holes on the skeleton leaf - dab it on don't brush it or you will tear the leaves

If you have a leaf with a badly torn edge you can creatively cut the leaf, in a leaf shape, to clean up points and edges 

While wet coat with light layer of fine glitter

Set on plate or wax paper to dry - be sure to check them frequently and move them around on the paper - this allows them to dry faster and not stick to the paper - if they do stick mist it with water until it releases - then let dry, but still check it

Once dry - hot glue them where you wish on your flower

Put a good clear coat on it if outdoors - I would only use on covered porches

Hang it and enjoy!

Happy Holiday Crafting!!