Roses are Red.. (and whatever other colors you want them to be, too.)

Follow these steps to create your own bouquet of flowers that will never wilt!
In the following example, I am creating a paper rose. In later posts I will show you how to make other flowers.

MATERIALS: Patterned paper of your choice (thick enough to survive the wrath of a hot glue gun), wire (to act as the stem), a hot glue gun, and scissors.

Materials

STEP 1: Make the base of the flower

This part is tricky if you're not savvy with a glue gun. Cut out a 1-1/2" to 2" piece of your patterned paper, and if desired, cut frills into the end that is facing up. This will be the center of your flower in the end result. You can also add the frills later, although it's a little trickier. (In my photo example I decided not to cut frills until the end.) Using your glue gun, glue the wire as so:

After this, proceed to roll the wire (stem) until you reach the end of your little piece of paper. It should look something like this as you're rolling it up:

Once you are sure your flower's base is secure, it's time to cut out petals. Get creative and pick whatever colors and patterns you'd like to use. Once you have your paper of choice ready, cut out different sizes of petals. You want to start out small and get bigger as you glue petals onto the flower base. Here's an example of 3 petal sizes:

You can make yourself a stencil for petal size and shape, or free-hand it like I did for a more natural look! You can always crinkle the edges or roll them up using a pencil for a more realistic texture.

 Now it's time to glue on the petals! Start with gluing small petals at the top of the base, and work your way down and increase the petal size, like so...

As you glue on each individual petal, press down with your finger to and let the glue dry for a bit to ensure your petals won't fall off!

Keep gluing those petals on until you feel like you're satisfied, or keep going until you can't see the bottom of the base anymore! When you're finished with these steps, you should have a lovely rose:

EXTRAS: You can use floral tape around the wire to make a thicker stem- I prefer not to use it because it tends to unravel easily! You can also add leaves if you desire.

Paper flowers make a great gift to anyone for birthdays, holidays, get-well gifts, and more! Keep working on it, and you can make a sweet bouquet like mine here: