Pink Peonies

I made these!!! Felt pretty floral!!

These are what you'll need:
Chiffon fabric (I purchased about 1/2 a yard and was able to make about a dozen blooms)
Scissors
Tea light candle
Needle and thread
Beads for the center of the flower (I purchased Bead Gallery beads from Michaels)

First step- Cut 5 circles, in an ascending order of largeness.  I ranged my cuts from a 4 inch to a 3 inch diameter.  The circles DO NOT have to perfect!

Next, you light the candle, and take one circle and place the edge of it close to the flame (not on the flame o

r it'll burn), you'll see it shrivel up like magic!

Do this for all 5 petals!  Now, here's a part where you can get creative... You can just shrivel them all up into circles without petals, stack them in each other, and you'll get a poppy-like flower (I actually prefer the way this fabric flower looks more than the petaled one).  OR, you can cut and flame petals and make it look more like a peony!  So, here's how to make petals:

Cut 4 slits in the shape of a cross, be sure there are no more than 4 petals on the bottom 2  layers and top layer.  (Or it'll look strange).  Also, be sure not to cut them too deep, or the petals will get a little floppy!

Seal the newly cut edges with some flame:

You can add more petals in the middle 2 fabric layers.  I made 8 layers in some of mine by cutting the 4 previously made petals in half:

Then seal their edges with some flame:

Then, you stack the layers inside each other, with the bottom layer being the biggest, and the top the smallest.  You cannot go wrong here, you can mix petaled with non-petaled layers, go solid, whatever you do will turn out great! 

To secure the layers together, you should sew them together, nothing too fancy, just so they won't move around.

The final step is to sew the bead right in the middle of the flower, and you'll have beautiful blooms that will quite impress you!  

now what do I do with them?

bm