Paper Flower Wreath

I was a little late on the fall wreath making train, but this one turned out so pretty that I may use it all winter too!  It took a few hours to make and more than a few gluesticks, but I love the rustic chic outcome!

I started by buying a wreath form at Michaels.  Since I was so late I got it at a great price, $4.99!  I had a bunch of half cut up scrap book pages from previous crafts, failed or otherwise, so used up every bit of those.  I started by cutting circles out of all the scrapbook scraps, various sizes because I knew I wanted both big and small flowers.  From there I spiral cut all the circles.  Get good sharp scissors for this, it will make a difference.  Also doesn't hurt to get some movie theatre popcorn and sit on a friend's floor while they make their own wreath.  I would highly recommend it!

Circles and Spirals!

The spiralling part takes a little practice.  My last ones were were a little nicer than my first ones, and took less time to make as well.  You roll from the outside to the inside.  Start with a little hot glue and twist tightly.  I found that I needed to use a little bit of glue every couple of rolls just on the first few inches.  Otherwise you end up with a big whole in the centre of your flower.  Fine, but I found a little dot of glue worked best.  

Roll, glue, roll, glue, roll, glue.

After you have a few inches spiralled and glued, just roll the rest of the paper around it very tightly until you get to the end.  After you have the whole thing rolled up tight, release it and let it unwind until you are satisfied with the size.  Some I left quite tight, some I let completely unwind.  You will have the very centre of the spiral left over and that is what you will glue the rest of it to.  Fold the centre back and apply a generous helping of glue around the bottom of the spiralled paper.  Wrap the centre around the bottom and voila!

You're very own paper flower!

Now repeat the previous steps until you have a truckload of paper flowers.  Scientific unit of measure of course.  Make however many you see fit.  If you want to cover a whole wreath you will be making a lot more than I did.  I knew I wanted to just do a portion of my wreath so I made as many as the scraps of scrapbook paper would allow.  Turned out to be more than enough, but I just filled and filled.

Find where you want the top of wreath to be and place your "hanger" there.  I used burlap ribbon, folded it over on itself and glued the heck out of it.  I thought I had too much going on for a bow so just did a very basic ribbon.  Take creative authority here, folks!

Prepare to glue!

The next step is a little random.  Take all your paper flowers and start glueing them to your wreath!  Lots of glue and get them as close as you can to each other.  I started with the biggest flowers and then added all of the smaller ones after.  I bought some paper baby's breath from Michaels and I used that as a filler, just sort of placing throughout.  They had really long ends on them so instead of glueing, I threaded them through the wreath and glued them at the back of the wreath.  After it all looks the way you want it, get some clear sealant and spray the heck out of the whole thing!  Front, back, sides.  Give it a couple of coats, especially if it will live outside like mine does.  It has not starting snowing here yet, and my door is covered so no rain on it either.  I am not sure how it will hold up once the snow starts, but I can always respray it if need be! Check the details!

There is no right and wrong here.  I used mixed scrapbook paper, some flowers were perfect, others weren't, the general experience will be the same.  Beautiful.

Shopping List

- Scrapbook paper (various sizes and patterns is great!)
- Scissors
- Glue gun and glue sticks
- Wreath form
- Ribbon
- Filler (optional)
- Clear Rustoleum (or any sealant)

Have fun!

Love, Jen