Share a Paper Garden

      Now that spring has sprung, it might be fun to make some flowers with your troop. These bright and beautiful tissue paper flowers are easy, inexpensive and they never die! The girls really have fun making them, but the best part is sharing them.

Cut a large rectangle sheet of tissue paper into eight equal rectangles. Place these in a stack and fold the short side in at 1/2 inch. Accordion fold the sheet all the way to the end. Wrap a piece of floral wire around the center of the strip and twist it closed. Clip the tips of the folded strip into a point or rounded shape. Then, slowly and carefully, pull each layer of the tissue away from the wire ends to separate each layer. This creates a beautiful flower. More detailed instructions can be found below.

Take a bouquet of these lovely flowers to a retirement home to give one to each resident, or ask if your girls can make centerpieces for tables at the local senior center. These flowers would make excellent gifts to leave on a door knob for May Day, too, and moms would love a bouquet for Mother's Day!

You can even alter the pattern and make them in any size. They'll be beautiful anywhere. Encourage the girls to give their flowers away to brighten someone's day and they'll be making the world a better place -- one flower at a time.

Have fun,
Shawna

Instructions

These flowers are beautiful, inexpensive, and easy to
make. The would be excellent for giving away as a spring
or May Day gift or as decorations for a party or ceremony.

You’ll Need
• 1 piece of tissue paper for each flower 10” flower
about 20 x 26 inches
• Green floral wire or chenille stems
• Scissors
Preparation
There is not a lot of preparation needed for this craft. If
the girls are young, you may want to fold and cut the
tissue paper for them. Older girls can do that step
themselves.

Create
1. Take the full sheet of tissue paper and fold it in half length-wise. Then
fold it half the other direction twice to create a 6 1/2 inch by 10 inch
rectangle. This will give you eight layers. Cut the folds or cut a small slice
off each edge that has folds to make eight separate pieces. You can also
stack eight full sheets of tissue paper and cut that stack into the smaller
rectangles if you wish to make more flowers at once.

2. Begin by folding the short edge of the stack in a half inch. Continue
accordion folding the sheets until it is all folded.

3. Fold to find the middle of the folded strip where you’ll wrap a piece of
floral wire. Twist the wire closed. Leave the floral wire long as a stem.

4. Snip the tips of the folded strip into a triangle (or rounded if desired) to
create the petal look.

5. Slowly and carefully pull each individual layer of the flower up and away
from the stem until the paper creates a full flower shape. If you want a
rounder ball you can pull some of the layers back toward the stem as
well.