DIY: Paper Flowers

I have a tutorial for you today! How to make paper flowers. These flowers have a flat underside which makes them perfect for a number of applications like a flower wreath, a hair accessory, or a special embellishment for a wrapped gift!

All you need to get started is:

• Paper – book pages, newspaper, scrapbooking paper (anything lighter than cardstock that you can tear, but is not too flimsy).  
• Glue – hot glue, Elmer's glue (with Elmer's glue use a paint brush and a dappen dish).   
• Your fingers!

Instructions:

1. Tear the paper into petal-like pieces. Make some large and some a little smaller. Be careful not to make them too small. Working with small pieces is a lot more difficult than larger pieces. It works out best if you make them big and "trim" them after the flower is done!

The size of my pieces range from 2" x 1.5", to 1.5" x 1.5".

2. Take a 1" square of paper and glue the tips of 4 or 5 large "petals" to form your base.


3. Take the remaining petals and glue + pinch the tips of them so that they lift up like a flower from the base when glued. Let them dry.

4. Now just use your eye to place the petals and glue them! I usually spiral them around layer by layer and then go back in and glue more in the bare spots.

The benefit to using a paint brush is that you can apply minimal glue and then use the tip of the handle to apply pressure and make sure it secures properly. Also, your hands get to stay somewhat clean :P

5. Finish off the center! This can get tricky, but you can do it! Use the paint brush to sneak in the glue, place the petal, and then use the handle to hold it in place until secure.

In the first image you can see a previous paper flower that I made where I crumpled up a petal into a ball and wrapped it with another petal to make a center button and glued it in the center. It was a little easier and gave me a different look :)

6. Lastly, after it has dried a bit, trim the petals that are too big. You can see in the below image that my base petals and one or two others need trimmed. Tear off the excess.

...and Voila! It's done! Your very own handcrafted paper flower!

To make a special Valentine's flower just use heart shaped petals and valentine's paper!