Spring Has Sprung and Unsprung

I know...unsprung is not a word. But it sure seems that it should be! We had an especially cold winter and for at least a month now, one day it is a beautiful warm sunny Southern day and the next it is cold and rainy again.  I think our April fools joke was that it looked like a normal pollen filled warm Spring day but once you opened the door you got a little burst of cool air. But have no fear, the next couple of days are going to be warm and sunny!

The flowers have not let the fickle temps bother them. They are beautiful. The daffodils are winding down and the azaleas and dogwoods are in full bloom. Anyone who knows me and has been in my house knows that I LOVE COLOR! So everything is right with the world now that the outdoors is colored in greens, and pinks, and reds, and yellows.

 So, in honor of the blooms, I am going to show step by step instructions for making Origami flowers. Why not bring some flowers into your home that will last forever? Don't be intimidated by this project...it's easy once you get the hang of it. All the paper folding may seem confusing at first, but trust me, you will have an "ah ha" moment and then you will turn out lots of flowers in no time at all.

Supplies:
1.Coordinating paper cut into squares. For this demo, I cut the paper into 6" squares. The larger the square, the larger the flower. You can also use newspaper or magazine paper.
2.Tape
3. Glue...I used a hot glue gun but you can use super glue or E6000. Double sided tape would also work.
4. Buttons or anything else to embellish the center of your flower (optional).

These are the coordinating papers I used for the demo. Tip: if your paper is too thick it will be harder to fold.

Step 1:   Fold your paper in half to form a triangle.

Step 2: Fold each side point up to the center point.

 Step 3: Fold in half  the 2 sections you just completed.

 Step 4: Open and flatten the section you just folded. This forms a pocket.

 Step 5: Fold the top section down into the pocket.

 Step 6: Fold bottom section of each side at the crease and then bring the sides together and secure with tape.

 Once you have completed 6 petals, join them together with glue. I like to use 4 petals of one paper and 2 of another to form my flower. I cut the tip off the base of my petal so that I can glue the flower flat onto another surface.

I like to add a button or some other embellishment to the center of my flowers.

 Here are a couple of completed examples of what I have done with my paper flowers. For these examples, I painted stretched canvas and glued sticks from my yard onto the canvas. I also used some fishing line and sewed around the sticks in a couple of places for stability. I then glued on 3 paper flowers. Now I have a touch of Spring all year!

 These paper flowers can also be glued onto sticks and placed in a vase or pot.