Good morning!
It seems like there is a LOT going on in May. Teacher Appreciation Week, graduations, last minute programs and parties at schools, the end of sports seasons, and of course Mother’s Day!
Last week I got an email from our PTA that the Teacher Appreciation Week “assignment” for Monday is to bring our teacher a flower. I immediately thought I should make one, and that a simple paper flower would be perfect. Enter who else, but Martha.
A LONG time ago, I used to subscribe to Martha Stewart Living (back when I actually had time to read the magazines, and honestly, before I could find most of the same information online or through Pinterest or awesome blogs). Martha always has a way of creating simple beauty, and in one issue, she featured some paper flowers that were made of rolled paper. A few months ago I was reminded of these roses when I saw a wreath with similar flowers, though more complicated and made of felt on Pinterest (The pin was from an etsy shop, ItzFitz that has some GORGEOUS wreaths to check out!).
Once I started making the rose for the teacher, I was inspired to also make a wreath – but with paper flowers for my mom. I used the oh-so-adorable Lime Twist “Life’s A Party” , some cute Jenni Bowlin buttons and papers from the Jenni Bowlin Crafting Kit #3 to create the flowers.
To make rolled paper flowers, you will need:
- Patterned paper
- trimmer
- Scissors
- Glue dots or some kind of dry adhesive
- A compass if you need to have perfect circles
First, use your trimmer to cut squares – the larger your square, the larger the rose. (Or you could do what I do and free cut rectangular “squares”).
Now, if you want a perfect circle, pull out your compass at this stage, or skip step one and use your Cricut or Silhouette to make circles. I did neither, and cut imperfect circles by hand. 
Using your scissors, cut the circle into a spiral, leaving a small circle in the middle. This doesn’t need to be perfectly done. 
Beginning on the outside, roll the end of the spiral into a circle. Use a bit of glue (glue dot) to make the edge stay put.
Continue rolling and rolling until you have run out of spiral. Stick a nice big glue dot on the circle (in the middle of the spiral) and kind of smush your flower down onto it to hold it together. You may also need to put more adhesive as you roll (the bigger the flower, the more adhesive I seemed to use as I went).
Flower is done! You can add a little bling to the middle of the flower, or a button, or even a circle of more paper. Or you could just leave it as is!
To make the flower for the teacher, I punched a hole in the circle before I rolled the flower. Then I added a little quick-dry liquid glue to the center and slid in a pencil (added a little bling to camouflage the eraser). These were made with paper from Jenni Bowlin’s Crafting Kit #3.
To make the wreath, I mounted a lot of flowers on brown American Crafts cardstock, then hot glued the cardstock to a grapevine wreath (also adding a bit of ribbon to hang the wreath with). I made some paper leaves with the scraps. To give it more of a chance to hold up against the elements, I sprayed (or more like shellacked) the papers with a clear finishing spray. These were all papers from MME’s Lime Twist “Life of the Party.”
So easy to make a flower for your favorite teacher, mom or grandma, or even quickly make a gift that they can admire every day as they walk in the door! These flowers are so simple that your children, grandchildren or students can even join in on the fun.
I hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!
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On the home decor front, I found 
