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October 2010

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Yesterday’s tutorial was over a basic floral pom. Today I’m going to show you how to make the flowers that look similar to colored carnations. I’m sure I found a tutorial at some point to make these flowers but it has been years since I’ve seen it and I’m sure that it isn’t exactly the same as the directions below. I just want you all to know that while I love making these flowers and do them often I am not so brilliant as to have invented them!

Finished flower in use at a birthday cocktail party.
Supplies
Supplies: Tissue Paper, Pipe Cleaners (I like green because they look like stems), markers, a hold punch, a circular object to trace and scissors (not pictured).
Instructions

Step One: Trace the circular object with a marker or pen onto the top sheet of tissue paper. I had about 15 sheets stacked, but you can use as few as 8 sheets and still get the desired effect.
 Step Two: Cut traced circle out with scissors. Make sure you cut through each sheet of tissue paper.
Step Three: Fold circles in half and punch with hole punch as close to the edge as possible. This should leave the tissue paper looking similar to a button with two holes in the middle of the circle.
Step Four: Thread pipe cleaner through the two holes. Twist the small end of the pipe cleaner to the “stem” to secure the tissue paper.
Step Five: Color the edges of the tissue paper with colored marker by holding the tissue paper tightly and moving the edge of the marker against the edges of tissue paper.
Step Six: Crumple individual sheets of tissue paper towards the center of the flower. Try rotating the flower after each crumple so that the sheets of tissue paper do not get stuck together.


The final flower can be fluffed a bit to look more realistic. Make several of these adorable flowers in different colors and enjoy!

Tissue paper flowers are EVERYWHERE right now. Martha made them easy to make and now everyone is doing it. And, why not!? They are a fantastic and inexpensive way to help decorate a party. Make them small and put them in vases or make them large and hang them from the ceiling—any way you use them they always look fantastic.
I’m currently in the middle of creating a TON of tissue paper flowers in several different ways to use for this year’s Halloween event. So, I thought while in the process I’d share with you some tutorials on how to create easy tissue paper flowers for whatever event you are working on.

This tutorial is for a basic flower and is based on the Martha Stewart instructions (be sure to check out the tutorial on the Martha Stewart website… now that is a pro!).

Supplies
Tissue paper, floral wire and scissors are all you need to make these flowers. For the three inch buds that I am creating I have cut my tissue paper into 4X6 rectangles. I’ve found that 8 sheets of tissue paper make a nice, full flower for this size without the tissue paper being too thick to cut through. For larger flowers I’ve found that I need to use more paper to create a full flower.
Instructions
Step One— Fold the tissue paper (like you would a paper fan) by alternating the folds. Crease the folds as well as you can so that the paper will crimp like an accordion.

Step Two— Wrap a piece of floral wire around the center of the folded tissue paper. I’ve only used a small piece of wire for this project because I’m wiring all of my flowers together. But, I’d suggest at least 5 inches of wire for most projects.
Step Three— Round or point the edges of the tissue paper with scissors to create the petals of the flower. (I have rounded the edges for these flowers.)
Step Three—Fan out the two sides of the flower around the wire. 
Step Four—Start pulling up each layer of tissue paper towards the center of the flower. This can be tedious and you might tear the tissue paper a little at times… don’t worry, you probably won’t even notice when the flower is finished. After finishing one side of the flower continue to the opposite side until all layers of tissue paper have been pulled free of their folds.
The finished flower! Once the flower is finished you can add ribbon to it and use it as a napkin holder or add a stem and stick into a vase. 
Have fun making tissue paper flowers! Beware… making these once starts an addictive trend! All props to Martha for the easy instructions that I’ve been using for the past few years and several parties.  
Keep checking in on the blog (or, hey, just hit follow just up to the left there) for tutorials on different variations on tissue flowers that I’ll be posting over this week.

Okay, so I promised some real parties this month and here is one of my favorites! Halloween is one of my very favorite days of the year. I start planning the party a year in advance and very much enjoy the preparation and execution of the party. This past Halloween we had a “Bewitching Ball” with all the formal fabulous we could fit into our tiny apartment. So, I’ll keep from chattering about and show you the photos.

The decor was as DIY as I could possibly make it. Hundreds of bats hung from the ceiling. Tissue paper flowers decorated the mantle and wrapped around any available space. (Tutorials will be up in the next few days!) A hand designed chandelier, made by a friend, was the shining centerpiece.

The food— Well, I can never pass up the opportunity to make fun Halloween food. I found a lot of great recipes on-line (check out last Friday’s post for some great food links) and all of them were a hit.

The Candy Bar— I love the idea of letting guests pick out their favorite candies for their Halloween Candy Stash. Might as well bring back the joy of trick-or-treating while you can, right?

The Signature Drinks—I made two signature drinks and had s few classic bar selections for guest to choose from at the bar. The two signature drinks were “My Kind of Magic” and “Satan’s Soda” both created by me! (look for the recipes in future posts)

The Masks—The guests made their own masks and costumes. They were all so creative and you could tell they spend a ton of time working on them.

It was a fabulously fun party and I am very happy to get to show off the photos. If you have a fabulously fun Halloween party you’d like to share please send submissions for consideration to submissions@awellcraftedparty.com. Please visit our submission guideline page for submission directions.

This Party is Entered in the:

Entertain Exchange