Origami Camellias

Heya! Natalie here, the Scrap Doctor. I’ve long been a lover of Kreatorville Kraft kits and was super excited when Keandra asked me to share a tutorial on how I created (or should I say ‘kreated’?!) my folded camellia embellishment. I made this layout with the beautiful August 2010 kit.....

Confession: Yes I still hoard the precious pieces of my old kits!

Anyway, on with the story. Here’s how I made my flower.

Using the Sassafras Apple Jack “My Type” paper from the August kit I cut 5 rectangles. I didn’t measure them (unless you count that I cut them all 5x3 squares!) but just approximated about how big I wanted it. I’d say they’re about 1.75 x 1 inch.

Fold over each of the top corners, but not so it’s a point, leave a bit in the middle. You could also cut the corners with a corner-punch for a more rounded edge.

To add dimension to your petals, cut a slit up the middle  starting at the bottom and going about half way up. Then overlap the edges and secure it with some glue or tape.  This process will automatically curl up your petals.

Assemble your 5 petals in a circle and glue them all together. 

I then repeated the same process starting with smaller rectangles and adhered this smaller flower inside the big flower.

To give it a bit more colour I used some water-paints. I painted the larger outside flower with a bright red and used some dark red around the edges. I painted the smaller inside flower with a lighter red/orange and some yellow in the middle.

To make the yellow stamen I cut a thin strip from the same Sassafras paper – this is the b-side. Start making some thin fringes along it’s length.

Once you’ve got enough length begin to roll it up with the yellow on the inside. Then you can squash and bend and curl the stamen out so the yellow is showing again.

Attach your stamen to the centre of your flowers and you are finished. I made some leaves too - a simple story of drawing a shape I wanted and cutting it out. First on the green Collage Press paper, then on a handmade transparency (the packing tape applied to a sheet of acetate). 

I just used this one big flower on my layout to create an impact statement, but you could easily adapt this process to a bunch of smaller flowers for a soft romantic page perhaps or in a rainbow of colours for a bright happy kid’s page?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial today. Drop me a line if you try this out.
Maybe I’ll see you around these parts again quite soon? ;-)