Tutorial: Origami Flower Mirror

One of the websites I browse frequently - as in, more than once a day - is Craftgawker.  The whole premise of the website is inspiration for crafters.  I check it out to get ideas and try some of the tutorials that are posted.  Or just to put myself in a better mood.  :)

Anyway, I ran across a tutorial at Nifty Thrifty Things for an origami flower while browsing Craftgawker one day and decided to make some out of some of the millions of magazines I have floating around my room.  This is what I ended up with:

I got so excited about them that I decided to make a bunch of them one night while I watched Hotel Rwanda with one of my roommates - amazing movie, btw.  As I was making them, I discovered that I could cut off the back pointy end so that it would sit flat without messing it up.  Genius, I know.

I originally planned to arrange mine around a round picture frame but couldn't find one.  So I opted for the mirror instead.

So here's how you make the mirror (one day I'll remember to actually take pictures as I'm making this stuff):

• Buy a mirror.  I'm pretty sure the one I have is a 10 in.  I got mine at Michael's for $4 or $5. I'm sure I could have found it cheaper somewhere else, but I had a gift card.  

• Make eight of the origami flowers using the tutorial in the link above.  You might need more or less based on how big you make yours.  I made mine out of magazine pages.  I didn't measure the squares of magazine paper, but they were probably about 4 in x 4 in. 

• Once you've made the flowers, cut off the back end in such a way that it sits flat.  It's not hard to do.  Just be brave and snip it.  If you made them correctly, they shouldn't fall apart.  

• I put a dab of hot glue on the back side where I made the cut just to make sure it doesn't fall apart.  

• Once the hot glue dries, arrange them - evenly spaced - along your mirror's edge, and hot glue each one in place. 

• Add a loop to the back so you can hang it on the wall.

And you're done!  Pretty easy and definitely cheap!  I especially love that it has a certain tropic feel to it that rings in the summer.  Happy crafting!