Craftiness: DIY Metallic Paper Camellias

DIY Metallic Paper Camellias

Crazy For Paper Camellias!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone here in the United States. Some of us have the day off as it is a national holiday, but me. . . I did not want to miss sharing this tutorial and pattern for the gorgeous camellia flower. I have a few camellia bushes around my house. In the spring they bloom gloriously. . . for about a week and then just as fast as they came, the flower are gone. I do use their evergreen leaves year-round when I need some extra greenery in my fresh flower bouquets. To enjoy the camellia blooms longer than a week or two in the spring, I decided to make a pretty garland for my front door using metallic paper to recreate these pink and white flowers.

The text weight (not card stock) metallic paper I used is Azalea for the bright pink, Rose Quartz for the pale pink, Quartz for the white and Botanic for the leaves. I used this Gold for the center of the flowers. To give the flowers extra dimension I printed (with a laser printer) a pale pink watercolor onto the Rose Quartz and Quartz, that is why you are seeing three pinks. I also cut three blooms from the Quartz white with no printing for the white flowers. If you would like to reproduce this look, I have added the watercolor print for you to download at the end of the post.

Rather than make a full wreath, I decided to use paper covered floral wire for my camellia branches and wrap them together to make the arched garland for my door. You can find this wire at a craft supply store, and if they do not have the 18 inch pre-cut strips, then a roll of paper covered wire will work as well. Try to get at least 18 gage for the thickness. These moveable branches can also be used for table top decor for a dinner party or placed onto my hearth for some added color. I used two wires for each branch by twisting them together. Oh so versatile.

At the end of the post you will find my step-by-step tutorial for these flowers. A huge thanks to paper-papers.com for hosting the printable template. You will find all of the metallic text weight papers I used today right there on their site as well. The template can print right onto the metallic paper so that it is easy to trim. If you have a cutting machine you can download the SVG file below. Enjoy! ~ Lia