Tutorial Tuesday - Paper and Ribbon Gift Bows

Hello and welcome to our newest Tutorial Tuesday. This week I have a video for you on how to make paper and ribbon gift bows. 

You will need:
- Thin Paper (wrapping paper works well, stay away from cardstock weight scrapbook papers)
- Ribbon
- Double Sided Tape
- Staples

You need 3 strips each of 3 different lengths of paper/ribbon.
I found that 3/4" width worked the best and for a medium bow I used 3x8", 3x7" and 3x6" strips.



Hope you enjoyed the video :)
Happy Crafting,
Maxine

Tuesday Tutorial - Kusudama Flowers

Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday. This week we are making some more beautiful flowers but these are 3D ones compared to last weeks flat ones. You can make these in a whole range of sizes. The method remains the same for any size you just adjust the size of your original starting square. I'm not always best as explaining things in writing but hopefully the pictures will help clarify anything!

So lets get started!

You will need:
5 squares of paper/card per flower (mine measured 3"x3")
Wet glue (I used Glossy Accents but you can use any you prefer)
Bone folder (optional but helps with your creasing)

1. Cut your paper into squares. You will need 5 squares per flower.

2. Fold your squares in half to form a triangle.

3. Fold the left and right corners into the middle to form a square.

 

4. Fold the corners down so that the middle edges line up with the outside edges of the square.

5. Open up the 'flaps' and flatten them.

6. Fold the top triangles down so they are level with the edges of the paper.

7. Fold the triangles back in half along the crease you made earlier.

8. Glue the 2 outside triangles together to form your petal.

9. Repeat for all squares of paper.

10. Glue each petal to the next. Run a thin line of glue along the edge of each petal to stick together.

11. Your flower is finished!

12. If you want to make a Kusudama ball then you will need 12 flowers, you can then glue them together to make the ball.

In my example above I have put my flowers onto pipe cleaners which I find fit into the hole in the middle perfectly. I have then displayed them in a bottle/vase.

Hope you enjoyed this flower tutorial. If you make some flowers we would love to see. Feel free to share some pics as a link below or on our Facebook page.

Happy Crafting,
Maxine xx

Tutorial Tuesday - Folded Flower

This week for Tutorial Tuesday we are making a folded flower. These are great on all sorts of projects as you can make them to any size that suits. Make small ones to use on cards, larger ones on scrapbook pages and even larger ones for wall hangings and displays.

You will need:
Patterned paper (double sided is best but you can also stick 2 single sided sheets together)
Bone folder (optional but I found it easier)
Double sided tape
Circle die cut or punch (or cut the circles yourself)

1. Cut yourself 8 circles and ink the edges if you choose. If you are using single sided patterned paper then cut 16 circles out and stick them together with the patterned sides facing out. For reference my circles measured 6cm diameter and the finished flower measures 12cm diameter.

2. Fold your circles into quarters.

3. Fold the top 2 quarters as shown below.

4. Turn over and fold the outer edges to meet in the centre.

5. Repeat for all your circles.

6. Cut another smaller circle from a piece of scrap paper. Start to stick down your petals, it's easier if you stick the first 4 as shown and then add in the other 4 to get your flower nice and even.

7. Once all your petals are stuck down you can add a button or other embellishment to the middle and you are done!

Here is another example of a larger flower I created and stuck onto a wall hanging. I only created 5 of the flower petals for this one, so you can see that you don't even have to create the whole flower for it to look effective!

Have fun creating your flowers. If you make any I would love to see, feel free to share a link below in the comments or show us a picture on our Facebook Page.

Happy Crafting,
Maxine

Button & Paper Flower Bouquet

I am going to start off our first blog tutorial by reviving this gorgeous Button & Paper Flower Bouquet project that I originally wrote for Truly Madly Crafty.

This is what we shall be making:

For this project you will need:

- Buttons in various sizes (you can find a selection on our website here)

- Wire (ideally 0.6mm+ we have  jewellery wire here, when I originally made these I used garden wire)
- Pipe Cleaners

- Double Sided Patterned Paper - 1 12x12 sheet will make 3 flowers (You can see our Paper here, I used the Echo Park Dots and Stripes Candy Shoppe for my flowers)

- Wire Cutters & scissors

- Glue (I used Glossy Accents)

- Mica Mists (you can see our range of colours available here)

- Glitter Glue (I used Diamond Stickles)

Making the Button Flowers

Step 1: Make up piles of buttons going from biggest to smallest (5 or 6 buttons works best for these flowers)

Step 2: Cut your wire to double the length that you want your finished flowers to be. Mine measured 18". And fold in half.

Step 3: Start to thread your buttons onto the wire starting with the smallest first.

Step 4: Twist the wire close to the bottom button a few times so that they stay in place.

Step 5: Repeat for however many you want to make. I made 16 for my bouquet.

Making the Paper Roses

Step 1: Cut 3 4"x4" squares of paper. Fold each square in half on the diagonal 3 times (to create a small triangle)

Step 2: Cut each triangle into a petal shape and snip off the point.

Step 3: Unfold and you will have 3 - 8 petal flowers with a hole in the middle.

Step 4: Ink the edges of your flowers if you desire.

Step 5: Cut the flowers as follows:

Cut 1 flower in half, cut 3 petals off the second and cut 2 petals off the third.

Step 6: Now you need to start gluing your flowers. Apply glue to 1 of the end petals on the 6 petal, 5 petal, 1 of the 4 petal pieces and the 3 petal piece. Fold the other end petal over the glued one and hold until it sticks!

You will end up with the following:

Step 7: Now take your 2 petal piece and curl the ends back. I used the end of a paint brush.

Step 8: Curl the petals around the paintbrush (or your choice of pointy stick!) and glue in place. Make sure you leave a big enough hole in the middle so that you can fit the smaller single petal inside it.

Step 9: Take the half flower that you have left and cut 1 petal off. Now curl the end back and around your pointy stick as above. You will now have the following:

Step 10: Curl the petals back on each of the flowers.

Step 11: Now you can start to stack your flower. Start with the 2nd largest petal piece and apply glue to the bottom around the hole. Then place into the larger flower and hold until it has stuck!

Repeat the gluing until you only have the 2 smallest pieces left. Apply glue to the smallest piece and push into the other piece. Before you apply glue to that piece check to see if you need to trim it down by placing into the centre of your flower. If it sticks out the top too much just trim a bit off the end.

Now your flower is complete!

Step 12: Now you want to make your flowers shimmer and sparkle! I used a Mica mist to spray each of my flowers (let them dry) then added some stickles or other glitter glue. Apply to each petal and then spread with a paintbrush or your finger!

Step 13: Now you need to add your pipe cleaners to the flowers. I started off with 12" ones and trimmed them down to 9" to match my button flowers. Make sure the hole in the bottom of your flower is big enough (you may need to trim it slightly) and thread your pipe cleaner into it. You can simple leave like that or apply some glue to the top of the pipe cleaner to hold it in place.

 Step 14: Now arrange your flowers and buttons in your vase and you have a beautiful arrangement that won't die and that you can make to match your decor!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and I would absolutely love to see if you create any bouquets yourself, feel free to leave a comment here or join us on Facebook.

For now, Happy Crafting ~ Maxine

 Instructions © Maxine for Creative Hobby Supplies, Please do not reproduce without prior permission. 2013