Hi everyone! Mother’s Day is this Sunday! I have my gift ready, do you? Today I’m sharing a crepe paper calla lily tutorial that incorporates chocolate! This makes a great gift for the mothers in your life because its handmade, the flowers last forever, and the center is edible!
On another sadder note, I started to add a watermark on some of my photos because I found my peony tutorial on another site. The other site took all my photos and even put their own watermark on my photos. 🙁 I really don’t like to use watermarks though, so I’m still not sure if I’m going to continue or chalk it up to something that will inevitably happen on the internet. Any thoughts on this?
If you would like to feature this tutorial on your site, I really appreciate it! But please only use 1-2 photos and a snippet or summary of the post with a link back to my post.
Now, onto the tutorial for the calla lilies!
You will need:
- Crepe paper: Crepe paper is paper with crinkles in it. It is similar to paper streamers but much more dense. I use 180gm crepe paper. I strongly suggest buying quality crepe paper because the stretching ability is much greater.
- Candy with a gold or yellow wrapper: You need something to be the yellow center of the lily. I used Almond Roca because it was the only one I could find that was long.
- Florist tape and wire
- Scissors
- Glue
First, cut rectangular strips of crepe paper, 2″ x 4″ (left side of image). Make sure that the crinkles are parallel with the long side of hte rectangle. You’ll need one strip per flower. Next, trim your strips so they have the petal shape shown above (right). The exact shape isn’t important, so you can make your tip sharper, wider, or however you like.
Now you need to cup the petal. You do this by putting the pads of your thumb at the bottom of the petal before the neck. Stretch the paper outwards and the petal will form a bowl/cup. Only stretch the part right above the neck of the petal. Do not stretch the top tip of the petal.
After you have cupped your petal (on the left) , turn it around and roll the top edge towards you (right). Begin at the top tip of the petal and roll down. Do not roll or stretch the actual tip of the flower because you want it to remain pointy.
This is what your petal should look like now. It should have the rough shape of a calla lily.
Now you need to make the stem. Make the stem as long as you need. Because I used a thin wire, I tripled up the wire for some strentgh. Leave an extra 5″ or so of wire so you can wrap it around the chocolate.
Wrap the excess wire around the chocolate tightly.
Now use your floral tape and start wrapping the chocolate to cover the wires.
Move your way down the wire and wrap the entire stem. Remember to stretch the tape slightly as you go so it is sticky. If your tape looks chalky like mine above, it is probably because it is too old and the adhesive has turned powdery. I ended up switching tape rolls.
Now you need to insert the center into your formed petal. Open up the petal and place the candy center inside.
Position the candy center so that it is high enough to be seen, but low enough to be covered by the petal.
Apply a little bit of glue to one side of the petal opening and glue down to the green base of the candy center.. In the image above, I glued down the left side. Then wrap the remaining side over and glue down as well.
Your petal sides should overlap as shown above. Use floral tape to wrap the bottom of the petal and blend into the wire stem.
This is what your flower should like now.
Now use your fingers to re-stretch the cup of the petal so that it isn’t touching the candy center.
And now you’re done!
You can make a bouquet of calla lilies or add some silk flowers into the arrangement as I did above.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. This flower is very easy to do and you can make an arrangement in less than 30 minutes! If you have any trouble, please feel free to ask me! If you decide to try this flower out, I would love to see your work!
20 Comments
Gail @Purple Hues and Me
May 5, 2015 at 4:18 pmThis is adorable! As to discovery of your photos and posts on someone else’s site, I’ve found lots of my tutorials all over the place and actually worried the first time it happened but not anymore. I could lodge complaints, but there’s no way I could stop this from happening over and over again, so why go to the trouble. I don’t need anymore stress at this stage of my life. This is like a hobby to me. If this were my livelihood maybe I would take a different stance. You shut one place down and another pops up. You have to decide what’s best for you. The other day I got a G+ follower from Russia and was curious about why this person wanted to follow me. Everything was in Russian. I looked on some of her posts with Bing translating for me and discovered some of my photos and tutorials with my name, watermarks and blog link plastered all over her post. She still commented as if they were her own or that I gave her permission. What on earth could I do about that?
Catherine Holt
May 6, 2015 at 4:57 amThis is totally awesome. Love the fact that its beautiful, handmade and edible. It’s a complete win win!!!
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:08 amThank you Catherine! I did have a few chocolates while making this..you know, for testing purposes. 😉
KnickerKnacker
May 6, 2015 at 6:46 amI want to thank you for providing your wonderful patterns and tutorials free to all of us. I’m very sorry that someone would/will STEAL your pattern and tutorial and then marj it as their own. Their day is coming, they’ll have to pay for what they have done.
Again,
THANK YOU,
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:09 amThank you so much KnickerKnacker! You’re so sweet. I love sharing my tutorials!
TwoPlusCute
May 6, 2015 at 7:45 amAsh this is beautiful! Do I sound like a broken record? Not much I can do, it IS a beautiful craft.
As for the watermark, just do it. Add it everywhere, don’t be shy. All you need, is to create a watermark you will love, a mini art project. You make your own tutorials, with effort and love and you should mark the photos.
Plus, it looks more professional and upscale when it has a nice watermark. It’s blogging win, in my opinion.
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:10 amThank you so much! You’re right. If I am going to use a watermark, I will spend time designing one that isn’t too noticeable and doesn’t take away from the photos.
Ch
August 29, 2016 at 6:10 amYour tutorials are wonderful! The explanations and pictures are more than adequate to follow and achieve the same results. I think a lot of people purposely lead steps out because they don’t want you to yield the same results. They rarely answer comments and questions or update thier posts. I love following you.
I am planning on blogging myself and was concerned about that too. I think you should take TwoPlusCute advice and make your own signature mark that fits you. You can do it!!!
Karren Haller
May 6, 2015 at 10:01 amThese are very clever ideas for a flower with a treat inside!!
You have explained very clearly how to make these, thanks for the idea and for stopping by
Oh My Heartsie Girl ww this week to share!
Hope you enjoy your day!
Karren
xoxo
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:11 amThank you so much Karren! and thank you for hosting!
Carrie Groneman
May 6, 2015 at 10:35 amHello Ashley, first of all I LOVE your flower, as I do all of your creations! You have such a talent and gift. Now, for watermarking, my opinion is you MUST do all you can to protect your work. It is only practical and smart. As you do this, and then shout out for help when something illegal happens THAT is what helps to stop it. For example: besides being a blogger I have authored books. In my fb feed, another author had her picture (what????) stolen and used as the profile pic by another person. It was detected and a bombardment of authors and others began to write the thief, fb and other sources where it had appeared to complain. It resolved the situation quickly. By watermarking, even strangers will be able to come to your rescue immediately when your property/creations/images are stolen. Go back and watermark, and from now on. AND, let everyone know, in a kind, but matter-of-fact way where your pilfered pictures are. That person will take them down fast and not do it again – as well as curtail others from doing it also. You have a genius for what you are doing and have all rights to it. Thank you for sharing with us! Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:12 amThank you so much Carrie! I guess I am just worried that it kinda takes away from the photo and I don’t see most big blogs doing it much. That is SO strange to take someone’s personal photo for a profile pic!! Thank you for your advice!
Mary Burris
May 6, 2015 at 11:48 amThank you for joining us at the Oh My Heartsie Girl Wordless Wednesday! I look forward to seeing you again next week!
Mary
Jingle Jangle Jungle
Ash
May 7, 2015 at 10:12 amThank you so much Mary!
Mary Ann Ford
May 8, 2015 at 4:56 pmDEFINITELY protect your images (intellectual property) and projects! It would be rotten if someone took your images and project and posted them as their own; and ended up on tv with their own show, etc. An exaggeration but still a valid illustration.
Ash
May 10, 2015 at 12:40 pmThat’s very true, Mary Ann! Thank you!
heidi
May 10, 2015 at 11:51 pmThese turned out beautiful. And what a tasty treat at the center.
Ash
May 11, 2015 at 4:50 pmThank you so much, Heidi! I have to admit I ate a few while making this tutorial! 😉
Kayla
May 14, 2015 at 6:46 pmThis is so cute 😀 I love it!
Ash
May 15, 2015 at 6:30 pmThanks so much Kayla!