Curled Flower

I am guilty of falling in love with a store bought flower, yet I try to do everything as thrifty as possible, so I knew my love could NOT last due to the shortage in my wallet. I have been working on a way to create a similar flower. While my version is nowhere as beautiful as the store-bought-beauty-that-stole my heart, I am very pleased with how they have turned out and would like to share them with you.



Supplies:
Two- hand-cut or die cut flowers (I used the “Wedding” cartridge on my Cricut) I found that three flowers works nice too with the bottom flower remaining straight
Ink - I used a blue marker
A bbq skewer
Spray starch (you can use a spray bottle of water or a wet cloth)
Adhesive (I find a glue gun does the job strong and quick)
A rolled rose (see my previous blog if you’ve never made one of these: http://ohschwietscrap.blogspot.com/2009/11/paper-rose-schwiet-way.html or anything creative for the center like a botton, brad, circle hole punch, or even a quilled circle



I start by ink staining the edges of the flower and marking a little into the center of the flower.
Using those marks, I cut up into the center of the flower a little. This will emphasize the curl more.



I glue the two flowers together. Feel free to play with sizes. I also find that double sided is the most impressive since the underside will be exposed when the flower is curled; however, I cheat and glue two coordinating papers together.



Spray the now double flower with starch. Before I roll the petals I dab a little off. If you don't have spray starch, you can wet the petals for the similiar less stiff result. I wet by placing the flower on a damp cloth, but a spray bottle of water would work. I've also been told Glimmer Mist works too.



I pull back one edge of a petal on the top layer while curling it around the skewer.



When the petal seems to be in the position I like I scrape a bit of the paper with my thumb nail making a crease.

Repeat the rolling to all that petal on the top layer and continue with the bottom layer. Play around and experiment with how much curl you want as well as the direction of the curl. Here’s a little tip: even with the starch the flower will uncurl just slightly so you will want to exaggerate the curl some. I have found that I prefer rolling the top layer and the bottom layer in the same direction with the top layer having a tighter curl. I now love rolling the petals forward towards the center!!

When it dries it will remain relatively stiff.



At this point I hot glue a rose bud to the middle. Some flowers I crunch slightly around the bud.

After playing some more I discovered a few tricks by mistake....I really like the look of only one flower rolled...also lining the two flowers up and rolling just the front layer looks pretty cool too.