Upcycled Shabby Centerpiece & Paper Flower Tutorial

 Ever since we went to get sodas last week, I've been wanting to do something with our bottles. It seemed pretty obvious to me that they should hold some sort of flower, but seeing as how I have a black thumb, I had to give that a bit more thought. What I came up with: Paper Flowers!

[note: I'm not really sure if there's a difference between "upcycled" or "recycled" or just plain ole "re-used," but I think "upcycled" sounds best, so that's the one were going with.]

And now I'm going to show you how to make one of these pretty little 5-petal bubble flowers!

You will need:

-5 5" x 2.5" rectangles of tissue paper for each flower. You can cut these a little bigger/smaller depending on the size you want.

-small scrap of white tissue for the "stamen" center.

-small hard ball about 1" in diameter (once again, use a bigger/smaller one if you are changing the size of the tissue paper)

-thin green wire. Cut one 4" and one 12" piece for each flower

-floral tape

First, gather your rectangles:



To make the petals, wrap a piece of tissue halfway around the ball and twist the ends on each side (like a piece of candy):

Cut one end off. Repeat the last 2 steps 4 more times:

For the center, I rolled up a small piece of white tissue paper:

Bunch up the 5 petals and insert the white "stamen" in the center:

Wrap a piece of 4" wire around the petal and stamen ends to hold it in place:

Wrap a piece of 12" wire around your twisted ends:

Wrap floral tape around the ends to cover the wire: 

Fluff out the petals and your finished!:

I probably need to add a few more (BTW--the white flowers came from a kit I bought awhile back), but that's going to have to wait until later. It's going to be a busy week!

And in case you were wondering, YES! Those are coffee filters in the basket. I'm a bit obsessed! (here and here)

I'll be linking up to my usual parties this week. You can find them under the "Linky Parties" tab at the top of the page!