Restoring Sunflowers

This time of year I love to decorate around the house with fresh sunflowers.  The only problem is that the yellow petals dry up and fall off way to soon and I am left with just the dried brown centers.

So I had the idea of restoring the yellow petals using yellow crepe paper streamers.

I began by accordion folding the streams a little wider than I wanted my finished petals.

Next I cut out the shape of the petal leaving the top a little wider at the point.

I ended up needing 20 petals for this sunflower.  I twisted the top of each petal into a point.

Then I folded the bottom edge with a pleat in the center.

Using hot glue I glued each petal in place overlapping slightly.

first petal glued in place

Here is the sunflower half finished.

And here it is with all the petals glued in place.  I really looks like a fresh sunflower again.  I have a whole bouquet of these with stems still attached drying.  Once dry I can add new petals and arrange in a vase for Fall.

I placed this one in a Fall birdcage arraignment with a pumpkin and a faux book page feather I made last year.

It is really hard to tell this isn't a fresh sunflower, perfect for Fall decorating.

Here is an entire bouquet with it's new yellow petals.

Happy Crafting!