Once a month, on the Creating Keepsakes blog, there is a Trends Talk feature, with one of the Dream Team members. This month, it's my turn, and I choose to talk about accordian pinwheels.
I've been spotting these fun accordian pinwheels all over the place. And just recently I finally started to incorporate them into my layouts. But there are so many other fun things to do with them, and you can see lots of examples in my blog post HERE.
For those of you that might be new to making these fun pinwheels, I put together a quick and simple tutorial:
You can totally make these without a scoring board. But having one will definately make it easier. Mine is from Stampin Up, but there are a few other brands out there as well. I cut 12 inch strips of patterned paper to make the flowers. I varied the widths of my strips, from 1.25 inches to 2 inches wide. I found that this size works best on my layouts.
I used a border punch along one side of the paper strip, just to give the edge a bit of interest. If you do this, you'll just want to be sure that the punched edge ends up on the outside of the flower.
The scoring board makes it so easy to score the lines along the strip of paper. I made my score marks every quarter of an inch.
I scored along the backside of my paper, since it was easier to see than on the black side. Look at those perfectly lined up score lines, all ready for folding.
Next, you're going to accordian fold the paper strip. Folding it over one way, and then the other way. Back and forth. If you don't have a scoring board, you can start at this point, and just do the accordian folding on your own, without score marks. The folds don't have to be perfect and straight, so don't stress over it if you aren't able to score your paper.
You would continue to fold all the way down the strip of the paper.
Next, you want to adhered the two ends together, using a strong adhesive that is really going to hold. I use glue dots, which hold pretty well. You can even staple the ends, if you're not super picky about the staples showing a little bit.
You're going to want something to adhere the flower too, once you get it into the right shape. I use a circle punch on a scrap of cardstock, and then put some strong adhesive on it. I just happened to have these jumbo sized glue dots, which worked really well.
This is where you have to show your folded paper strip who's boss. Start with it standing up, as pictured above. You'll want to kind of bunch up the edges on the top, and start pushing them down in the center.
As you push down the center, the outer edges will start to flatten out
And poof, you'll have a flower. But hold onto it, or poof, it will pop right back up and you'll be right back where you started ;)
You will need to carefully move it over, onto your punched circle with adhesive. It doesn't exactly go on there neatly, so just play with it, and squeeze the center edges together and push down to secure.
Then you can add some fun embellishments to the center of your flower to finish them off.
For the flowers on my layout, I added die cut cardstock flowers that I had left over from another project. And then a threaded button to finish it off.
pretty accordian pinwheels...
Posted by: Mandy Szeto | May 31, 2012 at 07:24 AM
Love your layout! I just got a Martha Stewart scorer, and made a pinwheel over the weekend. Woohoo! I was going to ask about making the bigger ones, and decided to go to the CK article, and one of the references had it (kellan studio). Yay! Thanks for the perfect timing of this article.
Posted by: Sandra A | May 31, 2012 at 11:13 AM
OH my I love this Laura.. you are just fabulous--I am so inspired by your work and this is yet another example of your talent! OHHH I gotta go give this a try! THANKS!
Posted by: Erika Hayes | May 31, 2012 at 02:10 PM
so simple and I'm not even scared to try it! Who knew something so quick 7 easy would be so beautiful and fun. Thanks for the lesson.
Posted by: Glenda Thorne | May 31, 2012 at 02:32 PM
Love your layout and love the accordian flower technique even more! Thanks!
Posted by: Bonnie | May 31, 2012 at 09:50 PM
I love pinwheels and I love how you topped yours with daisies! :)
Posted by: Kathy Martin | June 01, 2012 at 04:12 AM
very cool tutorial! LOVE that picture--she is GORGEOUS! GREAT layout as well! :)
Posted by: Diana Waite | June 04, 2012 at 02:57 PM
This is gorgeous! Love the mix of the title & pinwheels!
Posted by: Sara Rossi | June 06, 2012 at 05:56 AM
I love the colors here and the gorgeous pic!! I love those pinwheels but always forget about making them, lol! Those little suckers are hard to keep down so I use hot glue on mine since I don't have those huge glue dots, lol.
Posted by: Carla | June 06, 2012 at 06:10 PM
thank you for making it easy. Love the wall decore and table runner, very unique and pretty.
Posted by: looper | June 07, 2012 at 08:12 PM
Thank you for the easy tutorial, I've been wanting to make these and wasn't quite sure where to start. You are so clever!
Posted by: Sarah Dunkin Kilmer | June 11, 2012 at 10:07 AM
Great tutorial! Easy and clear directions. Thanks for sharing Laura!
Posted by: Nina | June 13, 2012 at 07:52 AM
Hi Laura: Hope all is well! :) I have been remiss in reading your blog and am playing "catch up" now. Awesome tutorial! I have wanted to attempt pinwheels for a while now.
Jamie
Posted by: Jamie | June 13, 2012 at 05:06 PM
Love the detailed instructions Laura. I have had difficulty "smooshing" the flower down. But this makes it look pretty easy.
Posted by: Laurie Tulip Scrapper | August 14, 2012 at 06:09 PM