Book Page Roses

As autumn is slowly arriving, I am becoming more and more excited!  

My favorite season is a tie between summer and fall.  Summer has it's obvious perks, but with fall, I always feel like it marks the beginning of a new year and there's so many good things that come with it.

I've been going to school for the past twenty-something years now, and September is what starts the new year.  With one crisp afternoon, I can find myself flooded with memories of past school days, birthdays (Sept. 19!), and football seasons!  And it only gets worse when I find myself walking down a school supply aisle in a store - I have to do my best to resist buying a fresh pack of markers or pens.

This season is also what I have the most decorations for - so it is time to start autumn-izing the apartment!

It was appropriate timing to work on a project that I've been eyeing up.  

I need to replace my paper flower hydrangeas with a fall flower.  It only seems appropriate to make a flower out of an old book to mark the beginning of a new school year.

So here is a tutorial on how to make Book Page Roses:

(note: quite tedious! Set aside some time, put on some music, sit back, and craft!)

Twigs, book pages, and hot glue is basically what makes up these roses.  I fought my dog for some twigs from the ground outside, but you could also use floral wire.  I also got this book for $1 at a local book shop.  You'll also need a pencil and scissors for this project.

You'll start by cutting out 5 small to big sizes of petals.  Here is a general template of the sizes I used.  It is better to try to draw them freehand because the shapes will end up more organic and unique. 

(For each rose, you'll need 4-6 of each petal size.)

Then, I used a q-tip to roll up both sides of the top of the petal.

 Then flip that over, so the rolled up side is face down, and use the q-tip to mold a petal shape.  This is when the book pages really help - it's a thicker paper, so it really holds the shape.

You should have 4-6 petals of each size formed into a 3-d shape.

 Then you will need to cut out this shape (also on the template) so it can be rolled up.

 That shape will need to be rolled up on the tip of the stick, and hot glued tightly enough so it doesn't come off.

Use a hot glue gun to coat the bottom of your smallest petal. 

Then place it at the top of the stick, and hold it to ensure it stays.  

(Note: Hot glue is called that for a reason - it's hot!! Be careful.  I burn myself every time I work with it.)

Then you keep doing the same thing with the same size petal by placing them around in a circle, and overlap each petal a little bit.

Then, move on to the next size petal, and do the same thing right under the previous one - keep doing that all the way through each size.  The petals should overlap a little bit, and remember that flowers aren't usually perfect.  

Symmetry only exists in theory - just go with it!