Craft-D-ness: Sunny Spring Paper Wreath & Flowers

The changing of seasons is quickly approaching...the signs are all around our house: my hubby's days have lengthened since his Track & Field season is starting; his athletes are getting into shape; the birds are singing as they return from their winter migration to begin the nesting process; and I saw male and female cardinals the other day! As a result, I was inspired to start preparing our home for Spring now. Since the twisted paper and wired paper ribbon I had on hand were just the colors for this season change, I decided to make this Spring Paper Wreath & Flowers.

Spring Paper Wreath & Flowers from Craft-D-ness

Welcome Spring and all that it entails!

Wreath supplies - styrofoam wreath form, twisted paper and wired paper ribbon

To make this wreath, the supplies were simple. Of course, I started with a 14" styrofoam wreath form. To cover the form and to create the flowers, I used Wired Edged Ribbon, and Double-sided Paper Twist. In addition to the above, I used hot glue, scalloped-edged crafting scissors, regular scissors, jewelry pliers, and straight pins.

Styrofoam wreath form covered in gingham wired ribbon using straight pins

I covered the styrofoam form with this yellow gingham wired ribbon using straight pins, although the ribbon wire also helps it stay on the form.

To make this blue gingham flower - I cut out a circle of thin cardboard and set it aside. Then I started rolling the twisted paper around hot gluing it to itself as I went around until I got it to the size I liked. Then I retrieved the circle of thin cardboard and glued the coiled flower to it. I wanted to embellish the flower further so I untwisted a few strands of the paper and glued them to the back of the cardboard circle. Finally, I used the cardboard circle as the contact to the wreath form, again using hot glue.

Yellow paper petal flower with a coiled center.

To make the yellow flower, I removed the wire from both edges of the wired paper ribbon. Then I cut it into strips. I used my craft scissors to give a scalloped edge to the paper. Again, I used a cardboard circle to affix the paper petals layering them as I went around. Once they were attached, I cut them into a ruffle-like pattern so it looks like many little petals. For the flower center I coiled twisted paper, just as in the blue gingham flower above.

Removing the wire from the wired paper ribbon.

Here I am removing the wire from one side of the paper ribbon. I used a set of jewelry pliers to pull it free.

Creating fan-like petals with the wired ribbon for the paper flower.

I only removed the wire from one side of the ribbon. The side I attached to the thin cardboard circle has no wire and the outer edge of the "fan petal" is wired to insure it holds the shape. I made 2 or 3 of these fan petal sections and attached them to the cardboard creating the fan flower.

Covering a bottle lid with twisted paper to create a button-like center to the paper flower.

The fan flower had a hole in the center, so it was necessary to cover it by making a center "button" for the paper bloom. To accomplish this, I took a bottle lid and hot glued a piece of unfurled twisted paper to it.

Close up shot of the Spring paper flower trio

Here's a close-up of the finished trio of paper flowers. I really liked the results since working with twisted paper and wired paper ribbon was a first for me. However, I did make a Spring Wreath out of paper napkins once.