spiral flowers *tutorial*

This was one kind of flower that I made for my wedding last month and it worked really well for the boutonnieres. My husband's was especially adorable, and the photo below is courtesy of my stunning wedding photographer, Suzanne Corum. Visit her site here.

Here's the magic secret weapon to make these flowers look so awesome: shaped scissors.

Use the magical scissors to cut circles out of a thicker paper. I used card stock. You can make the circles as big or as small you want to, it will just affect the size of the flowers.

Then use the scissors to cut a spiral into the circle. Again, you can make the spiral as tight or as wide as you want and it will affect the size of the flower. I found that some irregularity (read: shaky hands) actually added some visual interest, so you don't have to be too careful.

I made a million of these.

Once they're all cut in a spiral, start rolling from the outside. If you pinch at the bottom as you roll it helps.

Keep going.

When you get to the end it should look something like this. 

Tuck the middle up under the bottom of the whole roll.

When you let it go it should look something like this.

I added some hot glue to the center of the spiral and gently pushed down on the top layers to get everything good and stuck together. Then I did this all a million more times.

And there you go! Beautiful flowers!

Let me know what you think and share pictures if you make some!

peace&love,

Jill