Hello everyone! What an honour it is to guest blog here and to share with you a really fun and frugal project! A big, glittery thank you to my inspiring friend, Violette, for this opportunity to connect with more creative spirits!

Paper Rose topiary
Originally uploaded by Sister Wend

I had to make these Twisted Paper Roses the moment I saw Alisa Burke’s tutorial. She really has been “redefining my creativity”! Alisa uses many different materials to make these but I just love the idea of using flyers and the free newpaper that comes twice a week. Experiment with how tight you coil or twist. You can vary the results easily by increasing or decreasing tension and using different parts of the flyer or newspaper sheet, where one colour predominates. Catch Alisa Burke’s tutorial here.

This is how I made the roses:

Choose a flyer or newspaper and rip or cut it from the fold.

Twist and coil glue, twist and coil, glue

Make a whole bunch! To make the topiary, I then took two styrofoam balls, shoved the bigger one onto a dowel, about a quarter of the way in. I then bruted the dowel entirely through the smaller ball. I shoved it in, first on one end, and then the other, working it gently through. Then I used pretty pins to fix the flowers on the balls. You can paint the balls and the dowel if you want, add a ribbon, stick it in a terracotta pot and there you have a really beautiful centre piece as well as a conversation piece!

These would be nice at a handmade wedding!

If you make some, will you please tell me? Thanks!

–
>Wendy T. Gibson<

A note from Violette – I will be back in a day or two with a few photos of our trip, which has been awesome so far.