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Don’t Cost A Dime: Flower Art

Happy Friday! Today’s project you could complete this weekend if you wanted to. It’s pretty simple and even kind of fun! When I hosted the baby shower, I took everything down off the wall in the dining room so it wouldn’t be in the way of the shower decor. After the shower, I didn’t really feel like putting it all back up (you can see why in this post). I decided to do something new :) And that was how today’s project came about.

Here’s a sneak peek for what’s in store:

Taking inspiration from Ruche and this flickr picture I created an artwork of paper flowers. The colors are muted and romantic and I love it. Here it is hung on the wall:

And now, time for the instructions! To make this project you will need white paper (I used butcher paper but computer paper would be fine too), a frame (my hubby made mine for me), a canvas drop cloth, a stapler, white thread, a needle, scissors, and double sided tape.

First of all make your frame. Like I said, Jason made mine for me out of plywood. Here it is before the canvas is stretched onto it:

My frame is about 4 foot by 3 foot (because that is how big my piece of drop cloth was, haha!). Next iron your drop cloth. Make sure to get all the wrinkles out because the longer it’s on the frame, the more they show (believe me, I know!). Put your drop cloth on the ground and put the frame on top, back side up.

Staple the drop cloth to the back pulling as you go so it is nice and tight.

Next, it’s time to make the flowers! Again, I got my inspiration from Ruche and I used their tutorial to make my flowers. Rather than repeating their instructions here, just go to their blog and follow them. Ya, I’m lazy like that. No use reinventing the wheel :) The only thing I did differently is I made mine smaller and I crumpled the paper before I started folding.

Make a ton of flowers in various sizes. Once you feel like you have enough it’s time to start attaching them to the canvas. After thinking it through, I decided the best way would be to sew them on. It may sound more time consuming than it is. I think it took me about an hour to sew all of them on.

First, insert your needle from the backside.

Insert your needle through one (or two) folds of the flower. I found that I liked putting it through just one fold the best.

Put your needle back through the canvas.

Pull it through to the back and tighten the flower against the canvas.

Tie the two ends of thread into a knot on the backside.

Repeat approximately a million times until all of your flowers are sewn onto the canvas in whatever pattern you desire.

When you are finished, hang your canvas on the wall.

As you can see, I also put a few flowers on the wall to make it look like it keeps going. I just used double sided tape to stick them up. We shall see how long they stay, I may have to use something stronger :)

And lastly, always have a little buddy to help you as you are working. It makes it more fun!

So there you have it! Quick (and cheap) artwork. You could also try it with patterned paper, I think that would be fabulous as well! Have fun and have a great weekend!