How to Make a Pencil Box Bouquet

September 29th, 2008 in patterns & designs, paper crafts

Jeffery Rudell, contributor

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A fresh spray of colorful paper flowers turns any old pencil box into a reason to smile. Theyre easy to make, they wont wilt, and they never need watering. Perfection.

Simple, geometric shapes and vivid colors make a bold and cheery addition to any office desktop.

Send a bouquet of flowers for the price of a few postage stamps. These flat paper posies will delight and surprise your dearest correspondents.

A fresh spray of colorful paper flowers turns any old pencil box into a reason to smile. They're easy to make, they won't wilt, and they never need watering. Perfection.

Photo: Jeff Rudell

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For many years I worked in an office, in a tiny cubicle, and was known to all my coworkers as the designated "corporate crafter." If you aren't a corporate crafter yourself, you likely know the type: he or she is the person who has constructed a full suit of Medieval armor out of 45 boxes of metal paper clips; the person who decorates her memos with eraser prints she's carved for herself using a letter opener; the person whose computer monitor is buried beneath a menagerie of origami animals made from Post-It Notes.

I was that person. I created "staple" portraits on printer paper of all of my coworkers; I turned my 500-sheet memo pad into a garland of tetrahedron ornaments to decorate my cubicle during the holidays, and I drew elaborate blue landscapes (after Corot, no less) using only an ink pad and my thumbprints. During the hours I spent listening to people argue about procedural matters on conference calls, I kept my fingers busy cutting and folding and crafting.

Now that it's my job to spend the day playing with paper (instead of just "pushing" it), I am often reminded, whenever I speak with friends who are still on the corporate career path, of just how bleak the average corporate office environment can be. And so, as a service to all those "corporate crafters" who still labor away in gray boxes and carpeted cubicles, I offer this tutorial on a fast and inexpensive way to brighten up a desktop or liven up a day. Email may have largely replaced the thank-you note, but postage posies like these give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Someone just sent me some fresh-cut flowers."

Download this template of flower shapes, trace a pretty image from the Internet, or create your own designs.

Begin by cutting flower shapes from a palette of brightly colored paper. You will need two of each shape; one for the front of your flower and one for the back of it.

Attach a length of floral wire to the back of your flower shape. Then, use adhesive film or glue to attach the second flower shape to the back of the first, sandwiching the wire between them.

Wrap the wire stems of your flowers with green floral tape, which is widely available at craft stores.

Cut a small disk of paper and affix it with glue to the center of each flower. Repeat on the back side.

Your bouquet is now ready to send to a friend. The pieces should lie flat and easily fit into a standard #10-sized envelope. Bend the stems to fit the envelope.

What an unexpected treat it would be to find this bouquet waiting for you in your office mailbox. A great project for kids (and a wonderful gift for mothers), this whimsical arrangement will brighten any office or cubicle.

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