Tutorial: Recycled Paper Flower Gift Bows

Wow.  Can I just say, any of you bloggers out there who have put out a tutorial in the past: THANK YOU.  When I set out to write/photograph this little tute, I had no idea just how time consuming it is to do such a thing.  But I am VERY excited to be able to share my first (of hopefully many more!) with you.

And now presenting, the inspiration:

This was the cute little embellishment on top of the gift I got for Valentine's Day from Mr. Skooks from Ten Thousand Villages.  Like any Crafty McCrafterson would, I marveled at how lovely it was and then almost immediately took it apart to figure out how it was made.  Well, not at that moment.  I still had to open and marvel at the actual gift!  But after I opened the gift, I certainly revisited it.  (I know I'm not the only sucker out there for sweet wrapping jobs.)

The good news: it could not be more easy!  Give it a try and you'll be making your own for all your gifts before you know it.

STEP ONE: Gather your supplies.

• You're going to need 3 squares of colored/patterned paper (I cut my pieces out of a magazine that was on its way to the recycle bin, but you could use construction paper, origami paper, or whatever you have on hand).  I cut mine to about 3 1/2" square, but you could easily vary this if you want a larger or smaller flower.  
• You're also going to cut 3 squares of print paper (again, mine were from a mag, but you could use newsprint like the inspiration, or whatever else strikes your fancy) to about 2" (or ~1 1/2" smaller than your colored squares).  Eyeball it if you want.  This does not have to be terribly exact.
• A bit of thread
• Scissors

.

STEP TWO: Fold your paper in half.

STEP THREE: Clip the corners.

Here's what it should look like when it's opened up:

STEP FOUR:  Fold it back and forth accordion style.

STEP FIVE:  Repeat with the other pieces of colored paper.

STEP SIX: Repeat all the steps above using the print paper.

Here's what you should now have:

STEP SEVEN:  Fold one of your colored pieces.

STEP: EIGHT:  Fold another one going the other direction.

STEP NINE: Arrange like so.

STEP TEN: Pinch the 3 pieces you have together.

You can tie them with a bit of thread at this point if you wish, but it's not necessary.  I'm more showing you this so you can see approximately what we're going to do with it in a minute.

STEP ELEVEN: Repeat the above steps for the print paper.

STEP TWELVE: Pinch the print paper trio together.

STEP THIRTEEN:  Wrap the center with thread until it is secure.

STEP FOURTEEN:  Fan it out.  You're almost done!

STEP FIFTEEN:  Layer the print cluster on top of the colored cluster.  Pinch and wrap the thread around until it's secure.  Tie a knot on the bottom.

STEP SIXTEEN:  Separate the petals a bit.

STEP SEVENTEEN:  Fan the paper out.  You did it! 

  

Well, aren't you just so clever.  ;)