Dahlia Paper Flower on Color Block Card Base

Hi this is Laura and I have made a card that goes beyond my “style”. It truly is one-of-a-kind. I made a color block woven card base with a paper flower, which is the focal point.

I started on the card mat first (which looks like a checkers mat) and cut two 4″ x 5.25″ pieces of paper in different colors. Some colors chosen “match” my patterned paper which is part of a discontinued Basic Grey line. 

Making the checkered paper mats was easy. Simply cut the papers in one inch wide strips, one sheet vertically and one horizontally. Then you weave them through each other using repositional tape on the ends to keep the layers down. 

I made a few samples to see which set of card base colors looked best on the patterned paper that I would use for the coordinating paper flower. 

 I wove the card stock colors together this is what I have to choose from: 

(1) Textured Wedding Cake and Stardream Metallic Saturn,
(2) Pearlized Textured Jet Stream Blue and Basis PINK,
(3) Wedding Cake and Black

The patterned paper that I planned to use for the card looked best on the black and white card base.

For the paper flower, I decided to do a paper Dahlia flower. Years ago I had made Dahlia flowers, but I needed a how-to refresher. So I hit YouTube and found Connie Stewart of Simply Simple Stamping who shows how to make a paper Dahlia flower the easy way.  

According to Connie, the Dahlia flower is a series of origami folds. Don’t be be scared off by origami. A few simple steps and some practice will give you confidence.

I began with half of a sheet of a double-sided 12×12 patterned paper. Use double-sided paper because the folds need to reveal another pattern — or else the edges will be white like the backs of the card stock paper, which would most likely be white. You could use single-sided paper, but I think the flowers look more complex and beautiful this way.

Using a 2″ circle punch or 2″ metal die, cut a minimum of nine circles. I recommend cutting more than that, so you have more material to practice on. Connie says eight circles are the petals and the ninth one will be the base of the flower. If you are cutting more than nine, the last one will be the base and the one with adhesive.

When you have finished folding the petals, line up the eight petals and adhere them in a circle on one of the cut circles not used. I used more than eight. You can use repositional or permanent tape or liquid glue on the circle. I use repositional tape to make sure that I could maneuver the petals better. When I was happy with the placement, I used Art Glitter wet adhesive.

Then top the flower with a rhinestone or another round embellishment. I’m a perfectionist — and that makes paper folding challenging for me. But I think the flower came out nice and it looks dramatic against the color block card base. I matted the card base onto some extra patterned paper for a nice trim.

I hope that you enjoyed this project and will try making paper Dahlias too. If you have any questions, I’d love to help! Be sure to share your paper flowers here. I’d love to see your color combinations!