How to Dye Paper Flowers for Scrapbook Layouts

Scrapbooking today is all about embellishments. Scrapbook embellishments keep getting more and more elaborate. With ribbon, fabric embellishments, paper flowers, metal embellishments like brads, words, name plates, etc., scrappers are able to create breathtaking layouts for their albums.

Paper flowers are a commonly used embellishment because they look pretty and they are fairly inexpensive. These flowers are made of acid-free, lignin-free materials and are extremely versatile. You can purchase the flowers in many shapes and sizes. They come colored or white. You can often times purchase the white flowers in bulk to save money. If you do purchase white paper flowers then you can color them yourself with just a few simple ingredients.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• White paper flowers
• Inks (scrapbook safe)
• Water
• Plastic or paper container (craft jars work well)
• Tweezers

1. Drop the desired amount of ink in your container and add some water to it. Your water to ink ratio will determine the distribution of color. The more ink the darker the color.

2. Pick up the flower with your tweezers (eyelet tweezers work well) and place it in your ink mixture. Cover the flower completely and let it sit until it has turned your desired color. The longer the flower is in the coloring the wetter it will get, therefore erasing any creases or texture in the paper.

3. Carefully remove the paper flower from the solution and lay flat on layered paper towels to dry. The paper towels will soak in the moisture and excess color.

Tips & Warnings

• If your color is too dark you can rinse the flower in water to lighten up the color hue.
• Customize your flowers to match the color scheme of your layout by purchasing ink colors that match your papers.
• Try not to soak the flower for too long so that the character of the flower (creases and ridges) doesn’t stay in the petals.
• Let the flower dry completely before attaching it to your scrapbook layout.
• Use coordinating brads or eyelets in the center of the flower to add dimension and attach the paper flower to your page.