Upcycled Paper Flowers

For a recent wedding gift, I made these gorgeous paper flowers from some books that were (literally) falling apart. As an avid reader myself, I am completely against the destruction of any books that are still in good condition and completely readable, so I highly recommend stopping by your local thrift shop to find some old books that will fit the bill. I especially love the yellowed pages as they give the flowers a bit of an antique finish.

Saving old books one petal at a time

These can be made out of almost any rescued paper, although I would avoid using tissue paper or other thin paper.

Please note that due to the sheer number of petals required to make one of these flowers, perfection is not necessary. Rather, allow yourself to enjoy the freedom of making something perfect out of the imperfect.

Tools:

• Scissors

Supplies:

• Clear tape
• Mini glue dots
• Old book
• Sticks, trimmed to the desired length (I used stems from a pear tree that had fallen off as they offer the most flexibility.)
• Quick dry craft glue

Look ma, no paper roll!

Steps:

1. Tear out some pages from the old book.
2. Starting at the edges, cut flower petal shapes from the paper. In order to get started, trace around a real or fake flower petal- you’ll quickly get the hang of cutting them out. Be sure to cut out a LOT of petals, in all sizes.
3. Once you have a small pile of petals, choose a medium-sized petal and roll it together as tightly as you can. Use tape to hold.
4. Add petals around the center one, securing with tape, until you are satisfied with the center section of the flower.
5. Fold the next set of petals two or three times accordion-style, and tape the bottom section to the flower. Continue as desired.
6. With a relatively even outer ring of petals, begin taping on additional petals flat. Go around the flower once or twice as such.
7. Add petals to the outside, attaching the bottoms of the petals with two or three mini glue dots. These will later be folded outwards.
8. Set aside the flower, and cut a number of thin strips from the book pages. (The width depends on the size of your flower, but most of mine were about ¼ to ½ an inch.
9. Tape together, end to end, ensuring that tape does not extend over the sides.
10. Begin winding this around the end of the stick. Once the flower can be placed over the paper roll without danger of falling off, glue the end of the paper roll down.Place glue on the top of the roll of paper and around it as needed, and push the flower over it. Press the bottom of the outer petals into the glue if possible.
11. Once dry, add additional petals to the outside to cover up the paper roll, using glue dots on the bottom to attach them.
12. Fold the petals out as desired, and you have a lovely flower that will never wilt!