DIY Patriotic Flowers

It still needs something.

It seemed to me that my Memorial Day / Fourth of July mantel still needed a little sumthin sumthin.  Because most of the items were store bought, I felt that the display was needing a little life.

Pinterest is my friend.  I searched for home decor ideas for July 4th and found a tutorial for making paper flowers.  Let me give credit here to Kelly Rowe at her blog, Live Laugh Rowe, for her creative use of scrapbooking paper to make these happy flowers.

First gather up your supplies.  You will need:

colored papers

several round stencils (or different sized cups and coins to trace)

scissors

paper punch or other sharp tool to make holes in paper

small brads

florist wire

colored tapes (optional)

Directions:

1.  Trace circles onto your colored papers and cut them out.  I used three colors per flower.

2.  Using your paper punch or other sharp tool (I used a tiny eyeglass screwdriver), punch a small hole in the center of each circle.

3.  Make several cuts in towards the center of each circle.  Do not cut all the way to the hole.  Fold each "petal" in half towards you.

4.  Layer the three pieces and use a small brad to connect them.

5.  There are two different methods to use to attach the stem wire to the back of the flower.  One way is to use a piece of colored tape to secure the wire onto the flower.

The other method is to fold the wire in half and then feed the two ends down behind the brad ends.  I primarily used this system, because I wasn't convinced I liked the look of the tape on the back.

That's really all there is to this simple and cheap craft.  Load them into a jar or vase and you're all set.

I added this previously empty pot of flowers to my mantel, and yes, I do think they added that little extra zing that was needed.  

Yup, that's much better now.

Now I need to find some red, white, and blue recipes.

Stay tuned.  Stay hungry.