Paper lotus

This flower used fundamentally the same technique as the paper roses. However, inspired by some fabric lotuses I saw in a craft store, I decided to use a different petal shape and arrangement to create a lotus rather than a rose. I also tried out the idea of a color gradient flower, in this case with blue in the center and purple on the outermost petals.

The finished product.

From the side!

In a vase!

Tissue paper flowers

After discovering the successful water-color coffee-filter rose technique (detailed in the last post), I decided I no longer wanted to make roses out of tissue paper.

I'd already bought quite a bit of colored tissue paper, so I searched the internet for something else to craft. I settled on this tutorial, although I decided against adding LED lights for the time being.

This time I photographed all the intermediate stages in the flower's construction.

Starting materials: Tissue paper, and a petal-mold made out of a failed tissue paper rose.

The molded tissue paper petals, before being taped together onto a pipe-cleaner stem.

The petals taped onto the pipe-cleaner stem. The flower was basically done at this point, but it seemed like it needed a bit of pizzazz.

For the pizzazz, I chose to cover the center with blue glitter glue (rather than an LED light, the way the tutorial suggested). The final product was very subtle. For my next flower of this type I'll probably use glitter glue in a contrasting color for a stronger effect.

Success Rose

I started trying to make paper roses following this tutorial, in large part because the roses pictured in the tutorial are so gorgeous.

While I was making my first rose I didn't bother to document most of the early stages because I assumed that, as usual, the first attempt or two would turn out hilariously ugly. To my pleasant surprise my very first rose turned out lovely! I'm going to use this technique for all the rest of my roses from now on, and find something else to make with tissue paper.

So, without further ado, here is what I've documented of the making of this rose:

These are some of the water-color painted petals I didn't end up actually using in the rose.

This is the center of the rose. At this point I realized the rose was turning out wonderfully and was worth photographing.

This is me fussing with the rose, adding more petals to the center.

This is the final product.

Paper Flowers: First Attempts

Typically, bloggers do not share their work with the internet until it is perfected, so that their readers can admire the beauty of the perfected product.

However, since I'm a rank novice, I'm going to share my first, much-less-than-perfect attempts in the hopes that readers will find some solace in the fact that everyone struggles in the beginning.

So, without further ado, here are my first semi-successful paper flowers!

Napkin paper flowers:

These are super easy to make! I'm using them to hide a hideous internet cable on my wall.

The tutorial can be found here: 

http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-wallflowers.html

Tissue paper roses:

These are made from a variety of tutorials and my own improvisations on those tutorials. I still haven't found a method I like yet.

Regular paper roses:

These were a major pain to make!
The tutorial can be found here:
 http://www.creaturecomfortsblog.com/home/2008/6/23/tutorial-tuesday-diy-paper-flowers.html

First Post!

It all started when my sister Emily (pictured below!) travelled all the way from the middle of nowhere, Missouri to the middle of nowhere, Toronto suburbs to visit me.

My craft guru, looking cute in a grocery store!

Emily and I had previously decided to make a collaborative craft project for our sister Kirsta's birthday--a decorative pillow that I had been embroidered by me and sewn by Emily. While she was here, we went to a fabric store to get materials for Kirsta's birthday pillow. I started embroidering again for the first time in months and discovered, to my pleasant surprise, that I hadn't lost the touch--the project went quickly and smoothly and the final product looked the way Emily and I had imagined it. (Although that was my first craft project, it's not pictured here in order to prevent Kirsta from seeing it and spoiling the surprise)

I enjoyed working on Kirsta's present and resolved to start crafting on a more regular basis. Crafting is in many ways an ideal hobby--it's a form of creative expression, it's cheap (tutorials are free on the internet, and I get more supplies than I could possibly use at the dollar store down the road), it's time flexible, and best of all, it sometimes has the added bonus of producing things that are beautiful, useful or both.

This blog is modeled after Emily's craft blog (http://craftthepainaway.blogspot.ca/) and the basic idea is that I will use it to document my craft progress and motivate myself to keep crafting.