DIY Paper Flowers

Learn how to make DIY paper flowers that last forever with double-sided cardstock, wood buttons, and a fake flower bouquet!

You can love and have one thing or another—house cats or houseplants/cut flowers. If you have an indoor cat, only you know all about it. If it’s potted, they tear it up. If it’s a fancy arrangement from the florist, they destroy it, and if you luckily manage to break the vase, it comes in (imagine water everywhere).

DIY Paper Flowers

I love flowers, and this is sad. But I always choose my little furry beasties when push comes to shove. I tried bringing fake flowers into the house, but I hated them. They seemed so bad and, for some reason, kept reminding me of Western Sizzler. What’s that about?

So I figured if I were going to have fake flowers, I would go super fake. A book of cute paper later, and I have just that. However, I must admit, I can’t have them out because the cats are tearing them up. Drat!

Supplies for DIY Paper Flowers

• Double-sided cardstock
• Wood buttons
• Fake flower bouquet
• Hot glue
• free Silhouette cut file

How to Make DIY Paper Flowers

I decided I didn’t want any two flowers to be the same but still similar. I selected my paper out of a themed book that you can purchase at hobby stores or even Walmart. Using your free cut file, cut the shapes of your flowers out. Now I have this set up to cut two of each thing. I initially planned to make two flowers by switching the alternating color order. My Silhouette, however, had other plans as it kept messing up cuts, and I sometimes had to cut an extra page to have enough decent cuts for a single flower. Ugh.

Starting with your smallest piece, fold all the petals inward and then pop them upward as you go back around. Repeat for the following most minor round of petals.

For all of the petals from here on out, fold the petals in just as you would. Then, as you bring each petal back out, use something round (a pen, a crochet hook, anything) and fold the card stock around it to make a gentle curl.

Start gluing your flowers together with the button going into the center.

Next, glue the petal rounds into the larger ones until you reach the desired size.

You can go through to make big flowers or stop and make smaller ones.

Your flowers can be used as embellishments for paper crafts, glued directly onto a craft project, or turned into a bouquet. Purchase a cheap bouquet from the dollar store or even Walmart. You’ll want your flowers to have pieces like this on their backs. You can toss the flowers or use the petals for another project. Take the flowers apart, saving the green pieces from the backs.

About 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the end of the stem, fold the wire over.

Place the green plastic bit onto the wire and hot glue it together until it is set.

Add another dollop of glue to the plastic/wire stem and hold it to the back of your flower. Hot glue hurts when it sticks to you, so I suggest using something metal to keep it away. FYI, hot glue doesn’t stick well to metal so that you can peel it right off.

Using the color-coordinated paper from a single book, my flowers are all different but still go together well.

Rather than making each flower the same size, I stopped when it seemed right.

This means mine are all different sizes, but even as a motley crew, they all go together perfectly!

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.