Celebrate Summer with a Bouquet of Brightly Colored Tissue Flowers

When I was in grade school, the go-to "art project" around Mother's Day was always tissue carnations. Led by our art teacher, we'd take one Kleenex tissue and fold it back and forth like a fan. Then we'd get a green pipe cleaner and wire it around the middle of the folded tissue. Once it was tight, we'd start pulling open the plys of the tissue -- then our teacher would come around and spritz them with her perfume.
I can't even remember how many of those tissue carnations were given to Mom from me and my sister, but she enjoyed everyone of them.

Today, tissue pom-poms are trending at bridal and baby showers, wedding receptions and birthday parties. You see them all over Pinterest and Facebook. My niece had them hanging at her wedding, and thanks to that, I have a huge supply of tissue paper.

So, I decided to whip up some tissue flowers (half of a pom-pom) and make a brightly colored bouquet to set on the dining room table during the summer months. Now that Studio Sydney is all cleaned up, I can actually see what I have and where it all is. This is a fun and easy project to do with your children, grandchildren or the whole family.

What you need:

I had a pretty little bowl that looks like a watermelon, but the finished flowers can also go into a vase. You'll need tissue paper (not Kleenex, but the kind of tissue paper you use inside boxes when wrapping gifts) in any colors you choose, wire wrappers (like the kind used to tie up bread), skewers (or pipe cleaners) and scissors.

How it's done:

Step 1 -- Cutting the tissue
Each of my flowers is 8 layers thick and is 6.5 inches wide by 7.5 inches long. You can make yours whatever size you prefer. The larger the paper, the bigger the bloom. Remember that larger blooms will require more layers of tissue paper.

Step 2 -- Folding the paper
Starting at one of the 6.5 inch ends, begin folding the paper back and forth, like a fan or an accordion. Fold at 3/4 of an inch and it will come out even at the end.

Step 3 -- Attaching the wire
Attach the wire in the middle of the folded tissue and then round the ends cutting in a curve.

Step 4 -- Attaching the skewer
The skewer is attached simply by wrapping the ends of the wire around the top of the skewer. I used skewers, because I wanted the length, but you can also skip the skewers and wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle of the accordion.

Step 5 -- Unfolding the tissue paper
Very, very gently begin pulling the tissue layers apart from one another. Do all of the layers on one side, then repeat on the other side. The tissue paper is very thin, so be careful not to tear it, but don't have a heart attack if you do tear them; it's bound to happen. You can usually hide them.

Step 6 -- Fluffing out the bloom
Now make them all come to life by fluffing out the blooms and place in your container of choice.

See how easy they are? If everyone in the family makes one, you'll have a full bouquet in about 15-minutes.

 

 

I'm going to get the rest of my summer decorations down from the attic in a few days, but these are going on the dining room table tonight. I hope if you make them, you'll tell me about it. Enjoy!

 

 

Love you, Mom.