Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Single Folded Flowers

Well, it is OFFICIALLY summer around here!! I woke up this morning and got ready to post my Tuesday Tutorial and then I heard my local weatherman say "Happy Hump Day." Hump Day? But hump day is Wednesday! YIKES, I have ALREADY lost track of my days this summer and it is only the first week!!! I've got to admit, it made me smile. I love summer.

I have had lots & lots of questions recently about how I make my folded flowers so I am going to post another "rerun" tutorial. This particular tutorial was my very first tutorial EVER! I love that it mentioned Helen Croft since I now proudly serve on her design team. I KNOW when I originally ran this post that I never dreamed I'd make HER design team!

I have had some questions about my single folded flowers that I am using in lots of my layouts these days. I've seen lots of folded flower tutorials out there in cyberland, Helen Croft has awesome tutorials on flowers! This is a single fold flower similar to Helen's Dahlia but I like this just as well. Plus, it has fewer steps.

Begin by punching 9 circles out of double sided cardstock -it really needs to be pretty on both sides. I used a one inch punch for this tutorial but if you'd like a bigger finished flower, use a bigger base punch. My finished flowers measure about 2 inches across.

Next, begin folding your flower petals. It is just like starting a paper airplane. Fold the two sides to the middle making a point at the end. This is where you need to decide which side of your paper you want for the flaps and which you want for the base of the flower petals. I usually fold it both ways to see which I like best. No stress here, you can change your mind all the way up to the gluing part!

I like to use a grid under my petals while I'm folding so I can easily get them all the same size.

 

I use a bone folder to get my edges nice and crisp. This isn't necessary as we are going to fold them up later but it does help when you are placing the petals on the center circle.

Next, I put LOTS of glue on my last circle.

    Begin placing the petals on the center circle. I place four petals on first in a cross pattern like this:

   Then I fill in with the other four petals. It makes it easier to get them on evenly.

Next you carefully fold up all the edges:

 

Just add some sort of embellishment to the middle and you're finished!

So that's it, my very first tutorial. I have used these flowers in so many layouts since. They really are quick and easy! 

Just last week I posted a layout with one of these flowers:

And last summer I made this layout with a horrible cell phone photo but it really captured "a moment."

And one more version with fewer petals:

For MANY more ideas for making flowers, head over to Helen's site!

Happy Scrapping!