Patriotic American Flag Paper Flower (step by step with templates)

 

I decided awhile ago that making paper flowers is just not my thing.  And then I saw someone post an American Flag flower, and I just had to try one more time....  

The Cliff Note Version:

• It's 27 inches wide.
• 5 different sizes of petals (each layer a different size), 2 of each size in white, 3 of each size in blue, 3 of each size in red.  
• Paper is what I had on hand.  White is old CTMH scrapbook paper, red is the bulk recollections pack from Michaels, and the blue is from a sale at AC Moore.
• I used tacky glue.  Most people prefer hot glue I think.
• I cut the templates, the stars, and the center with cricut.  I used the template to cut the rest of the petals by hand - I think it's much faster that way.  (Just my opinion)

Templates & Step By Step How I Did This:

This is the template I used.   I started with a template for another flower (a free one - I have a long list of free templates and tutorials for paper flowers here: http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/01/making-paper-flowers-with-cricut.html ) and I added circles and triangles to get the shape I wanted.

It might not be the best way to go about this, but it worked for me.  

You can just right click on the blue petal, choose save as.  It will save as a jpg.  Upload it in design space, click on the white space to erase it, then insert it in design space.  

Once you have the petal in design space, cut it in 5 sizes.  I just cut one of each size, and used them as my templates.  You can cut them all with cricut if you prefer, it just takes a bit more time to load each sheet of paper.

The Five Petal Sizes I Used:

• 8 x 10.5 (3 red, 3 blue, 2 white)
• 7.28 x 9.5 (3 red, 3 blue, 2 white)
• 6 x 8 (3 red, 3 blue, 2 white)
• 5 x 6.5 (3 red, 3 blue, 2 white)
• 3.81 x 5

To change the size of the petal, make sure you have the petal selected, then in the top tool bar, type the numbers into the boxes under the lock.

The Base

The base of the flower is an octagon.  You can find octagon under shapes on the toolbar on the left.  Just make one as large as you can fit on an an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.  I made mine 8x8 because it was easy.  It won't be seen from the front, so color is unimportant.

The Stars:

In the same shapes panel, find the star shape.  I made my stars 1.25 inches tall.  I think 1 inch would have been plenty.  This looks time consuming, but it is really not.  Click on your first star, once sized, and duplicate.  Repeat until you have a row of 5.  Select all, group.  Now click on that row and duplicate.  You now have two rows, 10 stars.  Select all, group, duplicate.  You now have 4 rows, 20 stars...  I like 3 stars per a petal, so I made 45 stars.

The Center

Also known as the stamen.

I used this one:

Upload in cricut, click to delete all the white, and save.  

I duplicated the image, making one 3 inches, and one 2 inches.  Then I cut three times - once on red paper, once on blue, once on white, for a total of 3 3 inch centers (one of each color) and 3 2 inch centers (one of each color).

Now you have all the pieces you need cut with the cricut.

I took my templates and cut the petals in front of the tv.   

Cut 3 of each size template in Blue, 3 of each template in red, and 2 of each template in white, for a total of 15 blue, 15 red, and 10 white.

Assembly:

I don't measure or use any special tools, which may be why my flowers never look quite as nice as a lot of the others I see!  But these projects already test my patience...  so I just do what I want.  I lightly rolled the sides on all the petals, then cut slits up the centers.  Then I overlapped the slits and glued.

Apparently I did not take photos of the next steps...  but it's basic layering.  Start with the largest petals, place one blue one on each of the 3 top left sides of your octagon.  Then alternate red, white, red, white, red.  Once that layer is done, start with the next largest size...  and work your way to the middle.

Now I haven't actually tried it yet, but I have read that you can spray these with hairspray, wait 24 hours, then spray with a Krylon clear coat spray paint to help them to hold up on a front door.  

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A long list of free templates and tutorials for making paper flowers:

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/01/making-paper-flowers-with-cricut.html

Beyond Flowers - where to find Free 3D paper cutting files for cricut

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/05/free-3d-paper-cutting-files-for-cricut.html

Where to find free svg files:

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/11/svg-freebies.html