Paper Flowers

Flowers can be the perfect touch on a scrapbooking layout.  I've bought my fair share of cute crafting flowers over the years, always paying more than I should.  

Still, I'd find myself struggling to match the exact shade of the embellishment with my background paper.  That problem is solved.

You can make beautiful flowers out of any paper pattern that you like.  

The crafty gals at Captured Moments taught me how to make my own flowers.  Start by punching out three paper circles, each slightly bigger than the next.  

Crinkle the edges of each circle with your fingers.  Use your thumb and forefinger to hold the center of the paper in place.  It is important that the edges are bent and wrinkled enough to break up the fibers in your paper.  Eventually, start to shape your circle, with portions raised and lowered, to give the flower dimension.  

Once you're done crinkling, ink the edges of your flowers to add a subtle coloring.  Layer the circles with the largest piece in the back and the smallest up front.  Use a brad or button to hold the pieces together.  Then, add leaves using the same crinkle method.  Cut roughly the shape of a leaf, crinkle it, and glue it down.  Voila!!  You have a handmade flower with any paper pattern you like.  If you want to see the full page layout the girls from Captured Moments created, using this flower, scroll down the the next blog post.