Tissue Flowers

Of all the crafts I learned as a child, tissue paper flowers are still my all time favorite. Something about peeling the petals that brings me great joy. The Girl and I are going to a play this Friday. We know two people who are performing and instead of bringing the usual real flowers, I decided to use some supplies from the craft closet and make tissue flowers. They will also last a lot longer than real flowers so they can keep them as long as they like or they could recycle them. They would also make a great Valentine's Day gift. In case you've never made them or forgot, here's a tutorial.

Supplies:
Tissue Paper (you can use recycled gift tissue, it works great)
Pipe Cleaners (I like the long ones)
Scissors


First, I like to cut them into square-ish shapes and then sort them by size. The tissue I'm using is some left over gift tissue from T@rget. I think it was $1.99 for the whole package and will make an impressive bouquet.

Once I get them all cut out and sorted, I trim the edges a bit to look like petals. I try to use a different edge per size so that there is some variety.

Now your ready for construction: For these flowers, I used three sheets of each color. Layering the tissue, largest to smallest with the petals on the sides.

Next, accordion fold your tissue. Then, pinch the center and affix your pipe cleaner firmly. Fan out your tissue like a butterfly.


Starting from the center, gently begin pealing the petals towards your pipe cleaner center working you way sheet at a time until you are doing the outer petals. Sometimes the paper will tear, it's ok, they are usually so full that you won't notice unless it's an outer petal. Once it's all been peeled, you can scrunch them into shape. A vase is great to hold them as you make them so they don't get squashed. Make a lot and give them away.