DIY Paper flowers

After sending out my invitations, I had all these encyclopedias that I wanted to use in some kind of craft for the wedding. A friend sent me a link to a blog post from Offbeat Bride, "How to pull off some awesome decor for your literary wedding".

 I loved the paper roses, so I decided to give them a shot.

I found this awesome tutorial at A Beautiful Mess. There's a great, short little video (without words) that I found super helpful (obvi., why else would I tell you about it?!). I started out by cutting out 1" x 1" and 2" x 2" squares from the encyclopedia pages. I tried 3" x 3" squares, but the flowers were too big and looked a bit ridiculous. I (and mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and hubby) ended up making about 5 dozen roses. I wanted enough for 3 roses per bridesmaid bouquet, 5 for my bouquet, and one for each of the groom/groomsmen's boutineers, with the extras going to the centerpieces. 

The hardest part is getting the flowers started. Then you start adding "petals" around the flower. I tried to depict it below, but ehh, you should probably just watch the video.

Add a small amount of hot glue to the bottom of the "petal"

Fold the "petal" for the starter (p.s. these pictures were impossible to take).

Again, you should probably watch the video.

Ta-da!

Pretty flowers ready to head to the florist.

My bouquet.

Terrible picture, but you can see the pictures on the groomsmen's boutineers

The flowers really weren't that hard to do (I mean, even the hubby was able to do it!), once you get it started, and I received so many compliments on them! You should totally try them for your wedding!