May 23 2014

Garden Garland

Garden Garland  by Barbara Rucci

Making flowers from tissue paper is just short of miraculous. They look so real, and they last season after season. There are as many ways to make paper flowers as there are flower species, it seems. For this flower garland, I made sweet and colorful dahlias…one of my favorite summer flowers. Read on to find out about supplies and technique.

Supplies:

Tissue paper

Circle template (5” diameter)

Pipe cleaners

Hole punch (small 1/16”)

Scissors

Yarn

 

Making Tissue Paper Flowers:

1. Cut your stencil (we used a cereal bowl) and then fold it in half then quarters to find the center. Punch two holes in the center for pipe-cleaner placing.

2. Using 12 sheets of tissue paper at one time, lay the paper out on a table. Use your circle template and trace a row of circles with a pencil. Loosely cut around the circles.

3. Carefully cut the circle more precisely along the line. The tissue paper may shift when cutting, but that’s ok. Mark the center two holes.

4. Next, cut the zig-zag edge. No need to get it perfect, just make some little points. Punch two little holes in the center. String a small piece of pipe cleaner through the holes, then twist them once on the other side.

5. Holding the pipe cleaners as a handle, gently bring each layer of tissue paper up to the center. As you bring it up, squeeze it together and make folds. Do this with each layer separately.

6. When all layers have been squeezed and folded, use your fingers to spread the petals back out. Voila! You have a dahlia.

Making Braided Rope from Yarn:

This technique is very easy. Cut a piece of yarn four times longer than your finished rope size. Fold yarn in half and start twisting. When the twists are as tight as they can be, find the center again and fold it over. Your twisted yarn will start to twist back on itself and instantly create rope!

 

To make the garland, simply twist the pipe cleaner stem around the roping. So simple! I used two flowers together for a fuller look. So pretty! And perfect decoration for a summer soirè.

xo Bar