Scrapbook Paper Wall Flower

The past several weeks have absolutely flown by. Our home here has had family visiting almost constantly, and we have done our share of visiting, too. Since I’m not feeling too confident that all of our family fun will make it here onto the blog, I think I’m just going to pick up wherever I feel like it: no guilt, no apologies.

So, with no guilt and no apologies, this is what I have for you now.

Cambrie’s birthday is this weekend, and what Patrick and I have decided to give her is, basically, a room, We’re painting the free bed and the shelf that I mentioned here, getting her a set of sheets and her own pillow, and throwing in some cute, decorative stuff to make her room a little more personalized and girly.

This project, a paper flower wall hanging, was inspired by this one I found at Hobby Lobby:

The moment I saw it I thought, “That’s cute! …I could do that.” I saved the picture on my camera for at least a month and a half so I could refer back to it. I’ve finally completed my own version, and honestly, it was a piece of cake. Here is how I did it:

I started by testing out different petal shapes to see if I could get that pleat right. I tried it with white paper so I could mess up as much as I wanted, then once I had it the right shape and size, I traced it onto cute scrapbook paper. I had two contrasting papers, so I traced out three petals from each one.

The folding is a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it it’s not too bad. You have to gently accordion-fold, but only actually crease it at the bottom. The top should not be creased, or you’ll just have a zig-zaggy kind of silly looking flower.

Now it’s time to start the center of the flower. I got some Styrofoam balls from Hobby Lobby (the kind that make me want to create a solar system with some coat hangers). When you cut them in half, they are the perfect sort of base for that flower center. If I were to do this over, I’d probably get a larger size for the dimensions of the flower I did, but it’s not horrible.

You’re going to take some of your scrapbook paper and cover this little half-sphere. It is a little tricky, but if you fold it right, it’ll work. I used hot glue to attach it, and I glued as I went so each flap and crease would be held down.

Next I started putting together the petals. I loosed taped the end of each one to hold it together, then hot glued them all, one at a time, just at the very center. It was like putting together the spokes of a wheel. To secure them even more, I cut out a circle of scrapbook paper and put it on the back, so they were all glued to that one piece. I also took some time to add a little loop of ribbon for hanging.

After all that was dried well enough that I wasn’t afraid it was going to fall apart, I glued the flower center onto the front. Let it dry, and voila! I had a super cute flower to liven up my toddler’s room.

Obviously, since it’s just paper and hot glue, it’s not something I’d ever let Cambrie play with (unless I was prepared to throw it in the trash), but for aesthetic purposes, it does just fine. Here’s another picture with my hand in it so you can get an idea of the scale.

This was just part one of her room decor, so stay posted for more. I’m so excited to see them all together!