vintage paper roses...

I have seen flowers like this everywhere... but I kept thinking to myself that I could make them. I thought that for about a year. So finally I got off my butt and started putting them together. Super easy to do!

I used old book pages (wow, are you shocked?!!), some antique sheet music (this was really almost too fragile to manipulate- not sure I'd use it again), a handful of circle and flower punches and some larger dies. Glue and buttons completes the list.

Just start layering the circles and flower shapes- there is no right or wrong way. Once I had a little stack, I put a tiny dab of glue in the center of each layer so they'd stick together ONLY in the center. A bamboo skewer worked to curl the edges of each petal under, pretty tightly at first- they softly unroll as you work with them.

A button glued into the center and voila! If you have a shank-style button, just snip the loop off with a pair of sharp scissors. You could use brads, pearls, anything you like in the center. I had lots of buttons laying on my table so it saved me from getting another thing out (The main reason I used them was because there wasn't a square inch of clear space on the work surface and I was trying to straighten up).

I've got a huge container full of 'flower' parts so I'm sure I'll be working on more of these. They were fun to do and will make a great take-along project for all the time I seem to spend sitting in the car waiting for The Daughter!