I’ve figured out how to make lots of crepe paper flowers—peonies, poppies, daisies, tulips, crocuses and lots more—but I’ve put off classic roses. They’ve never been one of my favorite flowers because they seem to be a sort of default buy (When in doubt, go with a dozen red roses, right?), they seem almost ordinary in my mind. That was, until, last weekend.

I was recently asked to contribute to an Alice in Wonderland themed styled shoot, so it was time to finally tackle the rose! It took me a few tries, but once I got it, I REALLY got it. And now I’m in love with roses!

The spiraling center, radiating delicate curled petals… I just love everything about them. Of course my favorites are the unexpected colors though! These yellow beauties are my favorites, but orange is next on the docket, so that may change. You can order yours here!

Once I had the basics mastered, I started experimenting with mixing petal colors, and even made one very special hand-painted rosebud for the Alice shoot (remember that about a hundred rose photos ago?).

When I was finished with my rose production extravaganza, I asked my photographer friend Adi to come over and snap a few pics. He took the shot of the white bouquet at the very top of my post as well as this one below! Check out more of his work on his newly launched website!