Giant Paper Dahlia Centerpieces Tutorial

A few years ago I was searching for an inexpensive way to decorate more than 20 tables for our community's Naw-Ruz (New Year) party. I came across tutorials for giant paper dahlias and had so much fun making them. We put one in the center of each table and added a few electric tea lights. They were a big hit and I displayed the leftover flowers on my living room wall. Here are my tips and tricks. Enjoy!

Materials:

Construction paper, colored or printed cardstock - scrapbooking pads are cheaper than individual sheets. Paper with metal or foil accents is especially nice.

Glue gun and glue sticks

Newspaper to protect your table

Paper cutter

A paper base - circular placemats, cardboard or cake boards work well

Double-sided tape

1. Cut the paper into squares. 3" squares will make smaller flowers. For scrapbook paper that is 12"x12", you can get 9 squares that are 4" on each side. 4" squares were used here and are a good size. The paper cutter makes this step much faster and easier than with scissors and a ruler. (Don't get too frustrated if your squares don't match each other perfectly. The trouble with pads of paper is that you don't start with a perfect square when you have to cut the paper away from the pad. Almost square is as close as we'll get sometimes!)

2. Fold the squares into cones. You are going to take opposite corners and bring them together, overlapping each other by a little less than 1cm. Try to keep the overlap edges in a straight line with each other. The more you overlap the corners, the smaller the cone will be. The inside of the cone actually shows more than the outside, so make sure the inside shows your patterned side of the paper.

• Double-sided tape will hold thin paper together
• Hot glue is stronger and will hold cardstock, a little dab at the overlap is all you need
• Lightly crease the pointed tip of the cone. Forming the cone and creasing first will make applying the hot glue easier

3. Make several cones and arrange them on the paper base to form the outer circle. Don't glue or tape them down yet, you are going to figure out how many cones you need for this first circle first. It's better if there is a little space between cones so that the next layer can nestle between cones. Glue or tape down the first layer of cones. Arrange the next layer and bring the cones in towards the center of the flower a bit. Depending on the size you may need to start flattening or folding the folded tip of the cone to make building the flower easier. Put tape or a dab of glue where the second row touches the cones below it.

4. Arranging the inner layers of cones start to get a little tricky. I like to fold that inner pointed part and secure it with glue so that I have more control over where the cones fit. The cones are moving even further inward toward the center and they start to become more vertical than before. Try to arrange the cones so the tips are between the previous cones, but sometimes they won't line up and that's okay.

5. Fold inner point of the cone by about 2". Glue this down so it doesn't get in the way. The final row of cones look better when they are almost vertical. Arrange the last row before you start gluing them to see if you can fit more in than you think. You can force the last rows to attach to the previous cones and this makes the empty spaces come together.

The flowers look great as a centerpiece or on the wall and you can make them as big as you want. Give them as gifts to take home at the end of the event!

-With Love from Demarus Tevuk