DIY Handmade Paper Flowers.

 You know how most girls get a little extra spending money and buy something normal, say…a pair of shoes for example?  Or jewelry-how about a nice pair of earrings?  Well, I am not your girl.  After tucking some Christmas money away I remembered how I'd been saying for at least the last year  that I was going to learn how to make paper flowers.  

And then I never did it.  I didn't even take in all that my paper flower book had to offer visually, which was a lot.  I just answered the plea inside me to make paper flowers with their worst enemy-excuses.  I didn't have enough time or the right supplies.  What would I do with all those paper flowers?  

 I got over those excuses and spent some Christmas money on the most amazing crepe paper you could ever dream of.  Seriously, it's THAT good.  I ordered mine from a shop in California called Castle in the Air and you can find it here. I'm real big on not spending a lot of money on art supplies unless they are far superior to their cheaper versions.  And these are far, far superior than the $1 rolls of crepe paper.  There is truly no comparison.

So this weekend I pulled out my book and new crepe paper and got to work.  When I first started I expected to follow the book's directions, step-by-step.  That process doesn't usually work very well from me because the steps start to slide together in my mind and I get confused and say "Now where do I put that?"  

 So instead I used the book as a guide and then handed the reigns over to my imagination, to let it do the rest of the work.  Once I made one or two flowers I noticed my mind would already be thinking of the next idea to try.   I used the flowers and some feathers from a dear friend to ready the dining room shelves for spring.  The theme is "Flowers and Feathers." Two of my most favorite things in the world.

 I thought I'd give you a closer look of each paper flower, seeing as they are all so different from one another and yet so unique and originally beautiful.   (kinda like us, yes?)

 I love (love) how these turned out on the shelves!  I had a brief moment where I wondered if it was strange or too silly to put paper flowers all over the dining rom but then my very next thought was "really?"  The more silly and whimsy and fun and joy..the better.  These flowers are that to me. 

 Of course, it helps too when Anna Ruth notices the flowers all on her own and says how much she likes them.  Then Betsy Grace laid eyes on a flower today and kept telling me "I like it Ma!".  That is all the approval I need!  The flowers in the dining room stay. 

I just love projects like this! I actually have a whole "to do" list, just filled up with creative things I'd like to try.  How about you?