Glitter Flowers

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and glitter is a young girl's favorite decoration because it resembles tiny specks of a sparkling diamond. In this tutorial, you will create 3 dimensional flowers that will remind you of elementary when you used to cover everything you owned in those specks of diamond... glitter.

To make a bouquet of glitter flowers you will need the following:

1 8x10 sheet of glitter card stock paper

1 8x10 sheet of lavender-colored card stock paper

1 8x10 sheet of turquoise-colored card stock

1 EK Tools flower puncher

1 glue gun

6 skewers

6 gem adhesives

6 ounces of modeling clay

glitter (as much as you see fit)

1 vase

I sheet of glitter gift tissue paper

glue sticks (roughly about 8 sticks for every 6 flowers)

1 ounce white paint

1 piece of foam (size depends on the base of your vase)

The first step in creating 3D glitter flowers is to create the petal cutouts. The EK tool has a starting line. Align the 8x10 card stock paper with the small starting line. As you punch the pattern from the card stock with the tool, slide the card stock through it ensuring that you keep your card stock aligned to the pattern on the base of the EK Tool.

The hardest step in making the flower is the beginning. Start off by getting a skewer. Place a small dot of hot glue at the base of the petal paper strip. DO NOT glue the strip of paper to the skewer. Wrap the strip along the base, using the skewer as a guide. Continue to place hot glue on random locations of the base of the paper strips as you roll the rest of the strip.

Once you have completed gluing the first strip of paper, you can remove the small formed flower from the skewer. Place a dot of glue on the base of the last petal that's already glued and place the next strip of paper directly above the previously glued petal. To get to my end result in the photo shown, first I glued three strips of glitter paper, then three strips of lavender-colored card stock, and finally three strips of turquoise-colored card stock. In that order.

The pictures should reflect what the flower should look like when all nine pieces of card stock are glued together. Place a small dot of glue in the center of the flower and place a gem on the glue. Some of the glue might spread from underneath the gem. To fix this, simply use the sharp end of a skewer to remove the excess glue.

Make a ball of clay that is approximately 1 inch in diameter. With the tips of your fingers pinch the top of the ball and press down on a flat surface to make the shape of a flower stem. Stick the non-pointed end of a skewer into the pinched top of the clay.

Paint the curved surface of the clay and the skewer. Avoid painting the flat surface of the clay and the last 2 inches of the skewer (end that is pointed). While the paint is still wet, sprinkle the glitter on top of the painted surfaces of the skewer and clay.

Place some hot glue on the flat/unpainted surface of the clay. Carefully place a flower on top of the glue.

Cut a piece of styrofoam that is shorter than the top of the vase and as wide as the vase's top diameter so that the foam will not wiggle around. Depending on the size of the vase, you might want to adjust the size of the skewer by cutting it. Using the first flower made, cut the skewer the necessary length. Then use this skewer to measure and cut the lengths of the remaining skewers by placing each one next to the original skewer and with a marker make a mark where to cut the next 5 skewers. Snap the skewers with your hands at the mark you made.

Placing the first flower in the center of the vase is pretty easy, but placing the other 5 flowers evenly around the vase can be a little challenging. Using a pencil, pen, marker, or even a skewer, you can pre make marks on the styrofoam that can let you visualize where the flowers should go.

Using glitter tissue paper, cut out squares that are 3 inches by 3 inches. If you are using a large vase, you might want to make your squares larger. Begin by holding one square at a time and placing it over a pencil or pen. Fold the tissue paper over (hot dog style). Then bring two ends together as shown on the picture. Place a small dot of hot glue and then quickly place the glued end to the styrofoam. Continue adding more pieces of tissue paper until you have completely covered the styrofoam.

After all your hard work, your final product should look like this.