HOME CHRONICLES: DIY Burlap Flower

For my birthday I really wanted to get to go to the Antique Mall in Wichita. It is about four hours away from us, but we were already going to Wichita in late November so Shane was so nice to let me go on our way home while he waited in the car with Amelia. Thanks babe! It was amazing! And I found some really great finds! For example, I found this adorable burlap flower wreath. I fell in love with it right away. I really like the burlap flower in the white burlap, and this was my first time seeing such delicate leaves, and then of course the fact that it is a wreath, it couldn't be any better! I originally thought it would be perfect in Amelia's room in her collage above her bed, but then I started enhancing the collage in my bedroom. So I tried it in there and it stuck: I love it! But now I am going to have to make one for Amelia's room, so first things first. I needed to learn how to make the burlap flower. It is actually fairly simple. There are quite a few steps but once you make one flower you can do it in your sleep.

Start with making your burlap stiff/flexible. Once it is flexible it is easier to cut the flowers out. It is also a necessity for when you go to bend the flower petals back. So, to make the burlap stiff you can either modge podge all over it or you can just mix some Elmer's glue with water to make a paste so you paint it all over your burlap. Then let it dry.

While it is drying go ahead and make your stencil. You can probably find one online, but I wanted to make my own. So I used this embroidery circle to help make sure my petals weren't too far off from each other. I made a six petal flower.

Once you have your stencil go ahead and trace it onto the burlap. You need three burlap flowers to make the burlap flower.

Let's start with the first flower.

Cut a slit into one of the petals to the middle of the flower.

Then cut the top off of the petal to the right of the slit like the picture below.

Then put hot glue onto the petal that you cut the top off of and then put the petal on the right onto the petal with the hot glue.

It should look like this after you glue it.

And this is the back.

Now lets move on to the second flower.

Cut out one petal. Then cut off the top of the petal to the left of the petal you just cut out. See below.

Put the petal you cut out aside.

Now glue it just like you glued the first flower- put glue onto the petal that you cut the top off of and put the petal to the right of it on top. So that it looks like the picture below.

Now lets move to the third flower.

Now cut two petals out. Put those two petals to the side because you will use them in a second. Then cut the top off of the petal to the left.

Then put glue onto the petal that you cut the top off of, and put the petal to the right onto it.

So it should look like this.

Now take all three petals and cut them as shown below. I only picture two but you should have three petals. Make the top part look like a heart, and then cut off the bottom.

Then glue two petals together. Put glue on the side of one of the petals and glue the other one onto it.

So that it should look like this.

Now fold the petals up. Put glue on the end before you start to fold it.

It should look something like this. Isn't it cute!

Now take the end of your paint brush and wrap it around the petals to fold them back. Do it to every petal on all of the flowers.

You should have four flowers that look like this. Aren't they cute!

Now is the fun part. You get to stack the flowers and create your burlap flower.

Put the second flower onto the first flower. Try the flower a couple of ways to find the right fit. Once you find the right fit go ahead and glue it together.