Paper Flower Tutorial

On a weekend visit to Belton, Texas, my good friend Shaina showed me a vase full of paper flowers she made for her sister's wedding bouquet.  It was absolutely amazing!  She had it displayed so beautifully next to a vintage typewriter and old door.  

Here's Shaina with her flowers, and a pic of how she and her sister incorporated them into the wedding bouquets.  Can you spot the crossword puzzle flower?

Shaina graciously showed me how to make these flowers and now I will pass this project on to you!  The original tutorial is found over at CraftStylish.  

 1.  Gather your materials.  You will need:

• Scissors
• Floral wire--Pictured is a package of 26 ga., 18" long floral wire.  You can use the wire wrapped around the spool as well--either works fine.  The key is to use the thinnest gauge.  The thicker wire tends to split the paper when affixing it to the bottom side of the flower.
• Needle nosed pliers
• Wire cutter--(only needed if using floral wire on the spool).
• Double-sided tape or scrapbook stickies
• Old book--make sure the pages don't break when you fold them.  You can also use maps or scrapbook paper.  
• Circle punch--you don't have to use a punch, but it sure makes it easier!  You can use any size.  I use a 3" circle punch in the tutorial, but the flowers in the vase are from a 2.5" circle punch.  You can easily cut squares to the proper width, then fold them, and cut them in the same way as demonstrated in the tutorial.

2.  Punch out a circle from a book page.  You may be able to get 2-3 punches per book page.  

3.  Fold the circle in half three times.

4.  Trim the edges to create a petal effect.  It should look like a teardrop when folded.  The deeper the cut the deeper the petals.

5.  Unfold the flower.

6.  Tape down one of the petal folds.  Tape the back side of the taped petal and fold down the petal again to create a conical flower.

7.  Take the tip of the needle nose pliers and twist one end of a length of floral wire into a tight coil.  Remove the pliers from the coil.

8.  Poke the other end of the floral wire into the center of the flower and pull through until the coil sits in the center of the flower.

9.  Hold the coil steady inside the flower with one hand while twisting the wire underneath the flower around a few times to hold the flower on the wire.  Be delicate during this process as it is easy to rip the bottom of the flower.


10.  Repeat steps 2-9 to create a bouquet.  Place in your favorite jar or vase!

On a side note, if you want a bouquet of paper flowers and don't want to make your own, you can purchase them from my Etsy sight!  Click here to purchase paper flowers.