DIY Paper Flower Backdrop

The paper flower backdrop from my springtime session with these gorgeous girls has been getting so much attention on social media that I decided to share an easy step-by-step tutorial so that you can do it yourself!  Read on and get your scissors ready!

Assemble your materials before beginning: Assorted cardstock and scrapbooking paper, glue gun, extra glue sticks, pencil, and scissors.

Create your petal templates -- one small, medium, and large for each style of flower.  Fold your template paper in half and cut out the shape of a petal.  Try different styles with rounded petals, pointed petals, and ruffled petals.

You will need 9 sheets of 8.5x11" paper for each flower.  I like to use all one color for the entire flower, or mix a few shades of the same color for one flower.  You will first cut 6 sheets of paper in half -- these will be the large and medium petals.  Then cut 3 sheets of paper in quarters (cut it in half, and then in half again) -- these will be the small petals.  

You will need 6 large petals, 6 medium petals, and 6 small petals.  Trace your petal template on the colored paper, and cut them out.

After cutting out the petals, cut a 1" slice in the bottom center of each petal.  Then curl the tops of the petals around your finger to give them more of a textured and 3-D look.

Put a dot of glue near the cut that you just made in each petal.  Fold one side over the other and your petal will take on a curved and 3-D look.  Do this to all of your flower petals.

After gluing the bottom of all of your petals to give them that 3-D pop, this is what they should look like.

Next you want to assemble each tier of petals separately -- small, medium, and large.  To do this, put a dot of glue at the bottom corner of one petal, and overlap the next petal on top.  Do this so that all 6 petals will fit together and form a closed circle shape.  

Insider tip: Depending on how you space the petals when attaching them together, sometimes you will only fit 5 petals in the ring of petals that you've created.  Keep your extras, and you may find a use for them in a different flower later on!  

Once you've glued all of your petals together, they should look like this!  

Next you will want to stack them inside of each other and glue the three tiers of petals together.  I recommend tracing a circle of glue around the base of the large petals, and then pressing the medium ones on top.  Then do the same by putting the smallest petals into the medium petals so that all three tiers are now attached.

Now we are going to create the center of your flower!  There are so many options for this, so I encourage you to have fun with different materials and colors to create a garden full of unique flowers.  You can use cardstock like in the sample below, and you can also cut & crumple tissue paper for unique flower centers as well.

To create the center like you see below, cut two long pieces of paper and fold them in half.  Then use your scissors to make a fringe in the paper.  Finally, use your glue gun to dot glue along the base of the fringe as you roll the fringe up.

Finally, you can glue the center of your flower into the base and you are ready to hang it up & enjoy!  

To hang my flowers, I glued a metal washer from the hardware store to the back of each flower, and then I hung them with magnets on my backdrop.  This makes them easy to reuse and reposition on your backdrop.  

Insider tip:  You can buy heavy duty magnets at the hardware store, and these work wonderfully to hang the flowers.  However, be very careful not to drop the magnets since they will shatter and the tiny pieces are sharp & dangerous.  

Storage:  These flowers are STUNNING and are very versatile, and you are going to want to keep them and reuse them for other sessions.  I stack mine inside of each other and store them in a large, clear plastic tote with a cover.   I add a few more with each session, and I like to change out the color scheme to make every session unique.

Have fun!

A Personal Post: From Teacher to Photographer

You know what I loved about being a teacher?  The one thing that absolutely fired me up and never got old?  Bulletin boards. I was the first grade teacher that fell in love with bulletin boards long before I ever had my own classroom.  As a child, I loved the stacks of colored construction paper in my third grade teacher’s closet and the way they magically transformed into a beautiful scene on our walls overnight.  At 16 I started working at a preschool center, and it wasn’t long until the owner was paying my sister and I to come in extra and decorate the lobby with seasonal and thematic murals made from cut paper.  In college, our education professors actually graded us on our bulletin board creations, and by then they were these elaborate 3-D projects.

And then I had my own classroom, and I was the teacher that found pure bliss in having a room filled with 24 students, the floor covered in construction paper, and the children running to the hallway eager to place their creations on our bulletin board.  Whenever the week was feeling a little too long, you know what we did?  Art Day.

I was the teacher that found value in teaching my first graders how to cut, glue, trace, follow step-by-step directions, collaborate, and negotiate amongst themselves.  I loved the sense of pride that they developed when they marched into the hallway and pointed out their handiwork to their peers.  I loved the wonder and the exclamations of “WOW!” when they turned the corner and saw their hard work come together in a beautiful creation.  I loved the sense of ownership that was fostered, and the little community that grew from our Art Days.  I loved the way that from those bright squares of construction paper, a fun & whimsical scene was born that really pushed their imaginations while brightening up the bare cinder block walls of our school.

So, yeah.  Bulletin boards.

But what does that have to do with photography?

Well, yesterday I spent the entire day crafting.  The floor of the studio was covered in tiny paper hearts.  I was up and down a ladder, hanging fishing line from the ceiling for my next studio set up.  At one point I had to hang up the phone because of what can only be described as a “tissue paper explosion”.

The past two weeks have been spent hand-painting frames, giving a vintage high chair new life, creating a dreamy Christmas bed, drawing Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss’s books, and prepping for a cake smash.  I make more trips to AC Moore in one month than I do to the gas station, and my collection of upcoming projects for the winter months just keeps growing.

Pure bliss.

I feel so fortunate to enjoy a job that I can do with such passion, weaving together all of the things that I love:  creating, storytelling, and working with babies & children.

My husband came home from work yesterday and told me about this meeting and that meeting, these customers, this paperwork… And I told him about the floating hearts in our Valentine’s set up, the Dr. Seuss backdrop for the next baby boy’s cake smash, and the styrofoam cake I’ll be making tomorrow (more on that later) for one sweet little boy.

So while I may not be a teacher anymore, I’m happy to see that the one thing I have always loved is still a huge part of my day-to-day life.  After all, when you do what you love, it doesn’t feel like work.

Here’s to many more playful days spent crafting and creating.