Persimmon Paper Roses

The theme for the March Silhouette challenge project is paper. As a scrapbooker, that is probably the medium that I am most comfortable with for any project. I contemplated many different projects for this challenge post but the decision was easily made when I learned of something going on in my class. His preschool teacher had surgery last week. I decided to make her some persimmon paper roses to cheer her up during her recovery.

{Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links}

A few days before her surgery I asked her to tell me her favorite color. She was very specific about her favorite color being persimmon with green a close second. I was not sure about the persimmon color but she told me that it is kind of a deep orange color with a bit of pink. I went to the craft store and looked in their colored cardstock and there was a paper that was actually called persimmon! I grabbed a few sheets and then went over to the floral section to get some cloth stem wire. Next I chose some green marble accents to put in the bottom of the vase so I could arrange the bouquet. I used green marble accents but could have used any color because you can’t really see into the vase.

Supplies for 12 flower bouquet:

• 6 pieces of 8.5×11 colored cardstock
• 12 pieces of cloth stem wire
• 1/2 a bag of marble accents
• Silhouette Portrait
• Silhouette Portrait cutting mat
• wire cutters
• glue gun
• a coordinating vase
• ribbon for vase (optional)
• spray bottle with water (optional)

Directions:

1. Buy the 3D paper rose (Design #:11563) from the Silhouette online store. Import the file into Silhouette Studio and re-size the shape so two can fit on one 8.5×11 sheet of cardstock. Cut the file six times using all 6 pieces of 8.5×11 colored cardstock. The result is 12 flower shapes.

2. Heat up the glue gun.

3. Cut one piece of cloth stem wire to desired length. I used lengths of 9, 10 and 11 inches.

4. Add a small line of hot glue near the edge of the straight strip on the shape. The line is only about half the length of the paper strip so that the stem wire won’t show. Add the stem wire to the hot glue and fold it over to make the first turn in the rose.

6. (Optional) Spray the shape with water so that it will bend and curl easier. This is optional but I did do one or two roses without the water spray and they were much harder to do. Beware that some of the color may bleed onto your hands. I think my fingers will be persimmon for a day or two.

5. While holding the shape, turn the stem wire over and over again so that the paper wraps around it and the paper. When the last part of the shape has been folded around the wire, use the hot glue to secure it to the paper and to the stem. You will notice my fingers are the color of the paper in the photo below due to the color bleeding from the water spray.

You really have to play around with wrapping the rose. There were a few roses where I put hot glue on the paper as I went to hold the rose’s shape but the roses turned out very tightly wound. The looser roses are a result of me letting the paper relax a little bit before I glue down the end to the stem.

6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for all the flowers.

7. Place marble accents in the bottom of the vase to form a base for the flowers to sit on.

8. Add the flowers to the vase and arrange them. I had to position them into the marble accents at the bottom of the vase to get them to stay. When I had the flowers where I wanted them, I added more marbles in between the flower stems and that helped hold my flowers in place.

9. (Optional) Hot blue the ribbon onto the vase.

Now you have a beautiful, maintenance free bouquet of flowers to give to a friend or loved one!

My son’s preschool teacher was overwhelmed when he gave these flowers to her. Seeing how much she appreciated them almost made me cry!

Original From: http://simplykellydesigns.com/blog/2014/03/10/get-well-bouquet-with-persimmon-paper-roses/