In my last post, I showed you my first two crepe paper flowers. I decided to work on the rose a little, so that I would at least like it! I pulled in the petals tighter at the bottom and added another layer of floral tape to keep them tight. Then I saw in my Martha Stewart Crafts book (a gift from my M-i-L) that you should stretch the crepe paper to make the petals a little more shapely. You are supposed to do this before taping them to the wire, but I thought I would try anyway. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but I think it is much better. Less floppy, and more rose-like! 
I also decided to make a couple more of the little orange flowers. I put them in this small vase and set them on a dark corner shelf. They are very bright in that corner and add a burst of fall color to the living room. Just what I was looking for! 
My husband, who knows I love all things crafty, gave me a paper flower making kit for a gift this past year, but I didn't take the time to work on it until he was in Paris this past month with work! This kit included paper, wire, floral tape, stamens, and a book with instructions and patterns to make the flowers. I followed the instructions in the book to make a rose, and this was it. The paper is thick, who sided and makes a very sturdy flower. I think I would like it a lot more if it wasn't so BIG. But it is pink, and it looks like a rose to me, so for a first attempt I was pretty pleased. 
I decided for my next flower to make some orange ones to display in the fall this year as a seasonal pop of color. I had a roll of cheap streamer paper and thought it might work. I used a white stamen from the kit and rolled around that a cut of 1/2 ish by 4 inch piece of streamer that I frayed with scissors. Then cut circles out that were the size of the paper, crimped them together on the bottom, and put them on one by one. This flower is much more fragile, but I love the look of it, felt the thinner paper was easier to work with and think it looks better in the end. 