Another flower tutorial

I love using flowers on layouts. I think they are so pretty, and they just make a page, you know? But some of those flowers, pheeew, are they pricey... So playing around with a few tutorials, I came up with these. And I adore them.

Supplies:
-a Five petal punch
-paper, of course
-scissors
-a thin, square brush, paint brush
-fast drying glue
-patience

Punch out five flowers:

so, these lil guys are about an inch across, I just wanted to show you that (hence the ruler, which isn't necessary here).
Take one of the flowers and put it in the palm of your hand. Note: if you are going to be using patterned paper, make sure the patterned side is facing DOWN. Now, using your scissors' handle, the more oval one, press it into the center of your palm and rotate it on the flower like this:

You are trying to make a little "cup", like this:

Now, do you see those creases between the petals? Take your scissors and cut a slit almost to the center:

Then, using your paint brush (or any thin, tubey thing), fold each petal around it:

Once those petals are rounded, flip it over and paint some glue on to the slits:



O.k., so take the top petal, and the two bottom ones and bring them together. They are going to overlap, but it's fine; we're trying to make a rosebud.

Now bring up the side petals and hold it for a few seconds so the rosebud doesn't open:

(this is why a fast drying glue and patience are listed). =)

Once those petals don't come apart anymore, you are going to repeat this with the second flower, only up to rounding the petals. You don't have to cut the slits so deep anymore, you can do them a bit shorter. Paint some glue to the inside of the flower (we are leaving the decorated side on the bottom again, since you are going to fold the paper upwards and see the outside only). Place the first rosebud in the middle:

(the shine is from the glue)

Repeat the folding up of the flowers, starting with the top and the two bottoms. You will now have a fat lil' rosebud:

(I forgot to take a picture, sorry)

On to the third flower. Put this flower in the palm of your hand, patterned side up (if that's what you are doing), and make another little cup. Now, flip it over, take your paintbrush (hard end) and twirl it on each petal around the edges, from side to side. You are trying to make the petals into little cups also:

(she's upside down, so you can see the creases)

Cut the slits again, a bit smaller than the last ones and fold the petals to create points:

(like you were rounding the petals inward before, it's as if you were rounding them outwards)

Add some glue to the flower, halfway up the petals, place the rosebud in the middle, and fold up the petals:

(you can play around with the petals, since it'll be a bit harder for them to stick up now.)

You are going to do this two more times with the last two flowers. On these bottom flowers, it's not necessary to make slits, since now they're going to lay more flat. I will say you should try to off set them, not just line up the petals. It makes them look fuller:

(these end up being about a centimeter and a half tall)

I hope you've liked this tutorial. It does take a bit of time, but you can make any matching flower to your layouts now =)

oh, & feel free to ask any questions!

Thanks for looking!
Bean