Flowers

Paper Dahlia Favors

Channel the dahlia's intense color and festive attitude with eye-catching tissue-paper favor pouches.

It may not be dahlia season just yet, but that doesn't mean you can't channel this flower's intense color and festive attitude here and now. For these eye-catching favor pouches, we used bright tissue paper to create a pattern that mimics that bold beauty, then tied on a tag bearing planting instructions, and verdant ribbon to pose as leaves. At home, guests will peel back the petals to reveal a dormant dahlia bulb brimming with potential and just waiting to take root.

You will need:

Dahlia bulbs, Swan Island Dahlias

Tissue paper (we used colored tissue paper in azalea (CT1AP), $11.95 for 480 sheets)

String or heavy thread

Ribbon

To wrap the bulb, stack two pieces of tissue paper and fold them in half side to side, then top to bottom.

Download the PDF of our dahlia template, and print onto standard printer paper. Cut out template; then lay on top of folded tissue paper, aligning straight edges of template with the two folded edges of the tissue paper. Trace lightly around the template, and then cut on the line to create a tissue-paper dahlia. Open tissue paper and rotate top sheet slightly so the petal tips are staggered.

Wrap the bulb in another layer of tissue paper, and place it in the center of the tissue-paper dahlia. Wrap the tissue-paper dahlia around the bulb, drawing the sides up and to the center; secure with string (leave ends long for now).

To make the tags, download the PDFs of both the initials tag and the planting-instructions tag.

For the initials tag, type in your first initials and wedding date. Print onto 8 1/2-by-11-inch card stock.

For the planting-instructions tag, print onto card stock.


Using a 1 1/2-inch circle craft punch, punch out each tag. (Turn the craft punch upside down, so you can see the positioning of the design in the hole of the punch.)

Place an initials tag on top of an instructions tag, and use a small hole punch to make a hole through the top center of both tags.

Thread string through the holes and tie; trim ends.

Wrap a pretty ribbon around to cover up the string, and tie.



From Martha Stewart Spring Weddings 2010 : http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/paper-dahlia-how-to?backto=true


Paper Dogwood Flowers

Four-petaled paper dogwood flowers offer a way to enjoy spring year-round.

We picked a new faux bloom this season. Four-petaled paper dogwood flowers offer a way to enjoy spring year-round. Making them calls for basic folds and cuts -- no pruning required. Stamp on the details, affix to a branch, and display in a vase or on a table as an everlasting centerpiece.

The How-ToCut card stock into 5-inch squares. Fold a square in half, then fold in half again. Open square, and crease diagonally, reversing direction of fold; repeat to make another diagonal crease. 

Fold square back up along original creases. Trace petal template onto square. 

Cut out along open edges. Snip off a tiny bit of pointed tip; unfold flower. 

With an unused pencil eraser and green ink, stamp small marks at indents on each petal. 

Use a starburst-style stamp to mark center. Cut out leaves from green card stock. Secure flowers and leaves to branches with clear craft glue.

From Martha Stewart Living, April 2010

Paper Cherry Blossom Display

Cherry blossoms are famously ephemeral, but if you craft artful renditions of them from glassine or vellum, they'll deliver year-round pleasure.

To create five-petal blossoms, start by cutting pink or red glassine or vellum into 3 1/2-inch and 4 1/2-inch squares. Fold a square into a flat cone, following steps 1 to 4.

Using scissors, make four angled cuts to remove the top of the cone as in step



With a utility knife, carve out a small rectangular sliver on each side of the cone. Snip off a tiny bit of the pointed tip of the cone, and unfold and shape the paper to yield a blossom. Collect branches from the yard, and poke their tips through the centers of the blossoms. Place the decorated branches in a tall vase filled with pebbles to anchor the display. For favor bags, fill colored-paper bags with token gifts of your choice, and fold down the closed tops of the bags twice. Punch a hole through one folded corner. Push colored brad through flower, then hole in bag to fasten

From Martha Stewart Living, April 2006