Flowers on Friday

Today we're going to make this cute vase of flowers that was featured in the Christmas edition of Better Homes and Gardens. I've taken that project and put my own spin on it.

First, a disclaimer. I put this together while I was away from home, so I didn't have all my materials, nor did I have good places to take proper photos. But you'll get the idea of it all, and then I'm sure you'll be able to complete this project with the love and care it deserves!



1. For this you'll need some scraps of paper (each flower only uses 10 x 10.5cm of paper, or approximately 4 x 4.5inches). Scissors, glue, and a stem for the flowers. I used these wooden skewers, but you could just use dry twigs from the garden, or wire.



2. Cut one strip of paper 10cm x 3.5cm, and 4 strips of paper measuring 5cm x 3.5cm. The long strip will become our bud, and the smaller strips will become petals. You can cut more pieces if you would like more petals for a fuller flower.



3. Round off the bottom corners of the long strip, and the opposite corners of the smaller strips. There's no need to be too exact when doing this - I just free cut them.



(Yes, I changed paper for these photos - I got so carried away making the first flower I forgot to take photos of all the steps!)

4. Curl each petal longways by rolling it around a pen. Curl the bud into a cone (with the rounded edge down so that it becomes the pointy end of the cone) and glue it together.



5. Glue each petal around the bud in a pleasing arrangement. Then attach your stem (I simply slipped my wooden skewer through the bottom of it and glued it in place). If you were using wire you could just wrap it around the bottom of the flower.



6. Finishing touches - make a few of them and arrange in a 'vase'. If you haven't guessed already, what I actually used for this project was an old (and finished) scented room diffuser. You know the kind where it comes with a little container of liquid fragrance and you stick the wooden skewers in it to diffuse the scent throughout the room? You would otherwise just throw it away once it had dried up, so this is a great way to recycle. Plus I figured if there was any scent left in it then it was quite fitting to turn it into a vase of flowers that still smelled nice!

What I would probably also do if I was making this at home - would be to wrap some ribbon at the bottom end of the flowers where they attach to the stem to hide that slightly ugly bit. And you could paint your stems or attach leaves. Wherever your imagination takes you.

Hope you enjoyed this one! Let me know if you end up making this - I would love to see your finished projects.