DIY Paper Flower Wall

Hello first blog post! (Well first public blog post, I do have a private blog from the 10th grade that will be quite the time capsule some day...)

I'm getting married on September 8th (47 days and counting) and coming from the crafty family that I do, our wedding will have lots of personal touches. My fingers will also be completely burned to the nubs from my nimbus3000 glue gun, but the guests will enjoy the details. My first inspiration for the wedding was this pin I came across on Pinterest:

I absolutely LOVED this flower wall and after some research found that it was made 100% of paper. So I went on a mission and dragged my loving mother into it (she is my crafting buddy and inspiration.) We started one night watching Pretty Little Liars (one of my guilty pleasures) and messed around with a huge pack of 8 1/2 x 17 paper we found at a discount store. These were some of our first creations:

We sat on the living room floor and searched for websites with instructions on how to make flowers with only paper, tissue paper and of course, a glue gun.

To make the giant paper poppy (top right) and tissue paper flower (bottom right) we used directions from Martha Stewart Crafts. To make the paper rose, we used these instructions (also from Martha) but instead of crepe paper, we used our thick white discount store paper. 

The last flower in the bottom left was a random creation of our own by cutting simple petals shaped like pointed ovals, folding them in half, and making the same center as the giant paper poppy. We learned that the more imperfect you cut them, the more realistic they look - and the more petals you add the prettier they are :). That means more work as well.....

So by the end of the night our living room floor looked like this:

One last addition in this picture are the cupcake-paper carnations. We made this out of boredom and only have cupcake (things? what are they called? holders?) left. But guess what - found 'em on Martha Stewart as I am searching now.

My main goal was to have flowers of all shapes, sizes and texture as long as they were white - but I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. The next issue was figuring out how to make a wall like in the original Pinterest find. In our basement we had three huge thin metal panels that my mom had used to attach design ideas (she is an interior designer...it's in my blood!). Well, we took those out of her studio (weddings call for sacrifices...) and decided to put magnets on the back of each flower. We used simple round magnets the size of nickels, they are really inexpensive as well. Not everyone has these laying around, and they actually wouldn't be too difficult to construct - a thin sheet of sheet metal that can be measured and cut at your local home improvement store and then lined with a relatively thick wood trim. You'd want to secure wood around the entire perimeter of the metal as well as two-three horizontal pieces to make sure the metal stays firm and doesn't droop inwards. 

Here are a few pictures of what the three panels are looking like so far:

 

We are hoping to cover all of the remaining grey background that shows through with simple white leaves that we can attach underneath some of the flowers.

The pancake-loving fiance also added a loving touch with a flower or two. (But only two, and in exchange for a warm cooked meal and some Parks and Recreation episode watching...

He's a keeper. <3

                       

Update: Finished Product!! :)

Update 8/21/2013 - I'm now making a second wall with more DIY steps. You can see more about it here.
DIY Paper Flower Wall Take 2!
DIY Paper Flower Wall Take 2: Part 1
DIY Paper Flower Wall Take 2: Part 2 Large Cardstock Flowers
DIY Paper Flower Wall Take 2: The End Results