Altering paper flowers by Jane Johnson

Hi, Jane here today and I'd like to show you how I alter cheap paper flowers to make them look like you have paid a lot more for them!!

You will need:

paper flowers
stamens
florist tape
pens (I have used Copic markers)

STEP 1
Choose your paper flower you wish to alter - pale colours work best.

STEP 2

You can alter the colours of your centres to best match the papers on you card. For this particular flower I am using Copic Y38 to create a circle in the centre as shown above.

STEP 3

Next take a lighter shade of the same colour and go over the first circle and extend beyond it. Here I have used Copic Y21.

STEP 4

Using a green pen (I have used YG95) create a cluster of dots in the centre and space them out randomly spreading up the start of the petals.

STEP 5

To soften the look take a pale marker in the colour of your original circles (I have used Y11) to blend the centre leaving some of the outer dots untouched.

STEP 6

To create a more natural look I like to use two different kinds of stamens - short yellow ones and longer stemmed white ones. I bought mine in a large bundle so they were very cheap or you can make your own by dipping strong thread into acrylic paint and leave them to dry - keep dipping them into the paint until you're happy with the size of the stamen!

STEP 7

Push the stamens through the centre hole in the paper flower and on the underside begin to wind the florist tape. You need to start with the tape wound around the base of the flower petals and some of the stamen and work your way down, pinching the tape tightly to create a stem (the tape sticks to itself when squeezed this way). Simply tear the tape when you have your desired length of flower stem.

STEP 8

This is what the flower will look like when you have created the stem.

STEP 9

Now you can open out the petals and arrange the stamens. It looks more natural if you arrange the short yellow stamens in the centre and the longer white stamens spraying out from around them as in the above picture.

STEP 10

Here is a close up of one of my flowers created in this way (the cream one is made to these instructions). It is shown next to a white Prima Athena flower - as you can see they look quite similar and if you add further flowers to the stem you can create a fuller flower just like these!

Here is the complete card featuring the gorgeous new background stamp "spring meadow" and "Spring Leap" by Elisabeth Bell from the new March release! For further details on the papers etc on my card please see today's post on my blog! Hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and will try it yourself!

Jane x

http://janeslovelycards.blogspot.com