Paper Flower

In the search for more up-cycled classroom decor, I began thinking back to my cousin's wedding.  He had a beautiful backdrop made of paper flowers all in white.  My room is already overwhelmingly white, so purple seemed like an obvious choice.  So I pinterest-ed dahlia flower, and after following multiple links I finally found a tutorial at Love, Pomegranate House.  

Thanks to craft night and some very generous friends, I got all these tube-y parts made.  Big thanks to Erin rolling the paper, letting me glue it, then Chonte' holding it long enough for the hot glue to cool ... with their help it only took a couple of hours to get these tube-y pieces done ... (disclaimer: I have a tendency to exaggerate).

Once home I began gluing the individual pieces to a cardboard circle I cut from a cereal box.  I started with darker colors and worked my way in.  I used each piece of the darkest paper, and very few pieces of the lightest color.

Pretty, right?  I used the flower along with some re-purposed, reclaimed fence pickets (free from my Dad), and a minnow can my husband picked up at a garage sale for one dollar.  I have had the drawings for years.  The artist is a friend of my family, and though this picture is tough to see, one is a bass and one is a duck.  I removed the red mat I originally had around the drawings, but never really liked, and just put my cheap IKEA paper in the frame and put the drawings on top.   I also have a raccoon drawing from the same artist.  I hung it in the back of the room.  

I am going to have to get a better picture later - the glare is killing me, but I love that this is visible from my desk.  I love my new room.