Origami Kusudama - Bouquet of Double Flowers

I thought I would try making an origami ball, or kusudama. I've made a cherry blossom ball before, but that was quite a while ago. It turned out pretty well. I gave it away before I took pictures. This one is a bit of a bust. Quite of my flowers have petal issues, and the whole thing is rather oblong instead of round. I'm sure with more practice I could do better but it's a lot of work for such a tiny little thing. I think I'll go back to the cherry blossoms. That's a fair bit of work too but more fun for some reason.

If you want to give it a try, here's the youtube video I learned from.

I've been making magic rose cubes like crazy.

Origami Flowers

I wanted a couple quick and easy thank you gifts so I whipped up these little flowers. The stems are rolled paper with wire in the the middle so they can bend a bit.

I'm enjoying my summer, but it's a lot busier than the last couple and I can't wait for a chance to start crafting and sewing again. My poor forlorn machine sits in the corner and eyes me balefully. . .

Find the Origami Flower instructions here

No Sew Fabric Flowers

I found a tutorial for No Sew Fabric Flowers on Made, one of my favourite craft blogs recently, so I whipped them up quick to give to my mom on Mother's Day. I decided last minute to go to see my family for the weekend and figured these could survive the trip. I should have painted the sticks and/or filled the vase with coloured stones but I was seriously short on time. The pink polka dot one is made from wide ribbon. I think I actually like that best.

Here are a few more that I made.

So? What are you waiting for? Give it a try!

Pretty Paper Flowers from Martha Stewart

These flowers were super easy to make. They are from the Martha Stewart website. I think I like them better with the magazine pages to add interest instead of ordinary coloured paper. You should give them a try!

I needed a birthday gift for a friend, and I wanted to make her some flowers - but I had no paper. . . and then I remembered a couple magazines that were just too pretty to throw away. This was the first non digitally designed card I've made in quite a while.

The first flower I made was the peony on the front of the card, and I decided to try it huge. They take a while to make because of all the layers but they are really easy. I needed a fast and easy flower so I went with origami tulips.

The diagrams I used are in chinese but google translate is a wonderful thing. You can check out Eagle's Origami Teaching Diagrams here.

Happy folding!