Stunning Crepe Paper Flowers by Allison Patrick and Vihra Rowe

I first featured Allison Patrick's mad crafting and artistic skills way back in 2009 when she quilled the New York City skyline, a post that has had more than 30,000 views and is still going strong. (Who said quilling isn't popular!) She works in far more mediums than just paper, however, and each and every project she puts her mind to turns out beautifully.

 

While having lunch at a nearby restaurant last week, I noticed attractive wrought iron wall sculptures that held glass test tubes - sans flowers... they would have benefited from the addition of Allison's crepe paper blooms! As an elementary science educator, she has been artfully arranging floral creations in test tube racks since immersing herself in paper flower making in recent months.  

 

 

Actually, Allie has been creating several kinds of paper flowers for her event decor and paper lighting website, Aster + Quail, for about ten years, but she admits she's really gone down the rabbit hole by expanding her knowledge and skills thanks to lessons learned via Lia Griffith's membership program.

 

 

Now Allie is branching out (ha, punny) to flowering trees and additional varieties of flowers, making each one with more detail than she has in the past. She's excited about designing her own, for example, the kousa dogwood [above].

When I discovered one of these [kousa] trees blooming one block from my apartment, right where I could study it closely, I knew I wanted this to be my first foray into precisely mimicking a flower in crepe paper. I’ve made flowers before... but never with precise measurements to get the scale right. After learning so much from all the Lia Griffith flowers I’ve made, I wanted to take these techniques and use them for my own designs. And I am so pleased with how this first design turned out. Ten years in and it still amazes me what you can create with some paper and a bit of glue.

 

Allison buys her supplies from Lia Griffith's online shop, FeltPaperFlowers. Lia also has a crafting membership program on her website, Lia Griffith. Allie mentioned to me that while there is a monthly fee, it is permitted to sign up for a month and download the tutorials you are interested in... you don’t need to be an ongoing subscriber. 

 

 

Have a look at the flowers Allison and her business partner, Elizabeth, create for events via their business, AsterandQuail. She frequently posts her latest projects along with construction tips on Instagram where she is @craftimaven. She has been featured a number of times on All Things Paper... see her varied paper craft projects here.

 

If you would rather get started by trying your hand via an individual flower or plant, Vihra Rowe of Etsy shop ThePaperHeartDesign, offers an incredible array of DIY crepe paper flower and leaf tutorials and templates that can be downloaded instantly. 

 

Reviews confirm that Vihra's written instructions and detailed photographs are excellent. In addition to her shop, you'll find her on Instagram where she is @thepaperheartdesign.