Valentine's Paper Flower Wreath

photography by Trisha Zemp
Valentine's Day is creeping up so you know that I'm going to exploit it with some as many crafts as I can muster over the next few weeks. Though I'm all for a holiday that promotes love, I'm a little less into the idea of the mushy and romantic parts and more into showing people that you care. In fact, wouldn't it be helpful to give the world one big giant Valentine? "Wait...note to self...how to make a giant Valentine to give to the world..."
I decided on a friendly, non-mushy flower, the daffodil (which I showed how to make last week--click here) and turned it into a wreath that if you wanted, could also be used as a headpiece crown. Because, uh, who DOESN'T go around on Valentine's with a paper flower daffodil crown? Materials: scissors, wire cutters, wire, crepe paper in shades of pinks and whites, daffodils (learn how to make them here or use any type of flower pattern), glue gun
To make the circle:

1. Form a circle with your wire. I sized it to the shape of my head and then allowed about 5 extra inches.
2. Wind these 5 extra inches around the circle shape many times.
3. Cut a piece of crepe paper about 1"thick and about 3' in length going against the grain of the crepe paper. I had mine folded so it would go faster (see pic)
4. Stretch out the crepe paper with your thumbs all the way down.
5. Glue the end of the paper around each other to start it and start tightly winding around the wire.
6. At the end, glue the end piece tightly.

Make your daffodils. I used various shades of pinks and reds and whites and cut the stems down to about 4-5".
To add on the flowers:

1. Start with your first flower and wrap the stem around the circle as many times as you can go. I left about 1" space between the flower and the circle so that later I could adjust the flower to go whichever direction looked best.
2. Add in your second flower and wrap it in the same way. 
3. Keep on adding until they are evenly spaced around. I used 9 daffodils for mine.
4. To fill in the empty spots, I cut out leaves (with the grain of the crepe paper going vertically) and then glued them to the stems of the flowers.
5. Style the flowers by bringing one a bit above the circle and the next a bit below. Rotate around the whole crown so it looks more natural. Don't be afraid to adjust the heads of the daffodils so that they face the direction you want them to go.

I have to give a big shout out to Trisha Zemp who has been such a joy to collaborate with. Thank you!
Check out more paper flower projects hereAnd more Valentine's Day projects here