I have been absolutely enthralled with Anthropologie’s recent window displays for spring. Do you know that each Anthropologie has its own store artist and display coordinator? For each new window display, the stores are all given a common theme which they can then interpret in a unique way. For this season it was paper quilled flowers, and the results are breathtaking! If you haven’t been to your local Anthropologie, run, don’t walk! You can also look up #anthrowindows on Instagram to see the variety. One of my personal favorites is this pink and orange beauty at the Greensboro, North Carolina Anthropologie. The colors are pure magic and I love the combination of quilling with more traditional paper flower techniques. I don’t know about you, but paper quilling hasn’t really been my cup of tea. Yet, in small doses, it can be lovely!
We used their gorgeous window display as inspiration for this cake topper. We made small paper quilled orange blooms and paired them with some paper kumquat branches. *We’ll be posting a tutorial for the paper kumquat branches soon, but in the meantime, we would suggest using real kumquats! Quilling can be very intricate and complicated but we made simple, delicate flowers to adorn our cake. This cake would be perfect for upcoming spring bridal or baby showers and birthdays!
How-to after the jump!
Paper Quilled Flower How-To:
Materials:
- White printer paper
- Yellow paper
- Glue stick
- Scissors and/or paper cutter
Instructions:
- For a fringed center, cut a small piece of yellow cardstock (1.5 cm X 3 cm) and fringe the edge. Roll it up and secure with a dab of glue
- For the flower petals, cut 1/4″ strips of printer paper.
- Roll the strip into a tight coil, let it unroll a bit and secure with a dab of glue.
- With two fingers, pinch the circular coil at the ends so the shape becomes more of a diamond.
- Continue making the diamond shapes until you have enough petals.
- To make a double-diamond petal, make two diamond coils and squish them together, securing them by wrapping another strip of paper around the outer edge of the two pieces and gluing in place.
- Glue all your finished petals around the fringed or coiled center piece.
Now take your quilled flowers in addition to some kumquat branches or other foliage, and adorn your cake!
