crochet flowers & tutorial

and new creative ideas just keep coming at me

chain eight stitches, join with a sl st to make a circle.  chain six, crochet one dc (double chain), chain three more stitches, dc again, repeat seven more times until you have eight holes, sl st into third stitch of the original six chain stitches to close. 
then on second row: 1 sc,1hdc,3dc,1hdc,1sc eight times, sl st to close in first stitch of previous row.
then on third row it gets a bit trickier since you have to work behind the second row.  chain 5 and sl into first stitch of petal, repeat 7 times until you have the eight loops to crochet the next row in.
on the fourth row 1sc,1hdc,3dc,1hdc,1sc eight times, sl st on the first petal to close
on the fifth row continue working crocheting on the back of the work without flipping (that sounded funny)
chain 7 stitches, sl in first stitch of previous petal, repeat seven more times
on the sixth row row, 1sc,1hdc,5dc,1hdc,1sc eight times, sl st in first chain of previous row petal to close.
on the seventh row, chain seven chains, sl st into first chain of petal from previous row, always in the back, repeat 7 more times
last row, 1sc,1hdc,5dc,1hdc,1sc eight times.  close by sl st in the first st. of first petal of previous row. 
wish i could film this.  i will try taking photographs of the step by step process.

my flowers are very big since i used a thick cotton, but they can be smaller if you choose a thinner yarn or cotton.  the centers, i crocheted with embroidery floss just going in a random circle, increasing stitches every now and then to make flat.  you can use your imagination any way you want for the centers, even vintage buttons would look nice.