DIY Paper Flower Boutonnieres

A few months before the wedding, I made an appointment with a local florist. We sat down, discussed our colors and feel, talked about my dress and flower preferences, looked at pictures of things I liked. Because of the crafty items I was making, I only wanted bouquets for the bridal party and boutonnieres for the groomsmen, parents, officiant, etc. When I received the price estimate in my inbox a few days later, my jaw dropped. After a few days of hemming and hawing, I came to the conclusion that I could not spend that amount on something that would die (despite how beautiful the arrangements would have looked). I went to the fabulous internet for inspiration.

Some cool alternatives I found:
-Lanterns
-Action figures
-Books/miniature books
-Pinwheels
-Button flowers

I decided on paper flowers. I will eventually share the paper bouquets I made as well, but today I'm discussing the boutonnieres. Here is the final product:

To begin, I went to a craft store and bought scrapbook paper in different shades of blue (our wedding colors). I also found a book at the thrift store that I felt no guilt in destroying. Then I started cutting circles. Each piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper yielded 4 circles of 6 inch diameter. Each book page yielded one circle. I grabbed the scissors and started cutting the circles into spirals, beginning at the outside edge and aligning each "row" of the spiral about 1 centimeter apart for the book pages and 2 centimeters apart for the scrapbook paper. I free-handed it but you could find a template if you were feeling particularly particular. I think they turned out great without one. Here is a sample:

Starting at the outer corner, I began rolling up the spirals:

*Stopping in the middle of rolling is not recommended

Once the circle was entirely rolled, I let go of it entirely so that it could relax. If it was staying tighter than I wanted, I would grab the free end and bounce the rest up and down to encourage some loosening. Then I used a dollop of hot glue on the middle of the spiral and pressed it to the bottom of the roll. Aaaaaaand repeat as necessary.

For each boutonniere, I cut a triangle of cardboard and attached one blue flower and two book page flowers. I attached each triangle to a bar pin back and the process was complete. Because I ended up making boutonnieres for 26 people (I added readers, musicians, grandparents, ushers once I realized how much money I was saving), it took a few days and I basically did the processes piecemeal, including cutting spirals in the car while Kevin and I drove up to Steamboat Springs for a weekend. But it was actually pretty hassle-free and everyone looked awesome!