Large Paper Flower DIY

This tutorial has been on my list of things to post about since the beginning of this blog.  A year and a half has gone by, and I’ve never gotten around to it.  Why is it that some things in life take us forever to get to?  These flowers have probably brought me the most emails from readers, wondering how I made them, and while I did my best to respond per email, I’m glad to be giving you all a clear tutorial.

I knew I wanted a grouping of paper flowers for Milly’s first birthday, but several hours searching for a great tutorial online came up short.  So I kind of figured my own thing out.  At first I was hand-drawing the petals, but eventually I came up with a pattern in Photoshop and printed the different sizes out on an engineering printer – saving a lot of time and creating consistency.

So, without further adieu, here is how to make these large paper flowers.

You’ll need the patterns, scissors, some sort of craft glue, a pencil and if you want to color the flowers: spray paints.

I have four different sizes available, and I love the mix of all four.  But, if you’re wanting to create these on your printer at home, the small size flower is available in an 8.5×11″ sheet.  All of the other flowers need to be printed on an engineer printer due to their size.

After you’ve printed the petals you’ll want to cut them out.  You will notice the lines are very faint, but I did this intentionally, in case you want to leave the flowers white.  You need three petal pieces to create one flower, so keep that in mind when you print.

Next take the petal pieces and fold them across the faint lines.

Pick up one petal piece – this will be the base of the flower.

Fold one petal in half and glue together.

Then glue that half petal to the back of one of it’s neighboring petals.  Your piece should appear to have five petals now.

Take another petal piece and cut out one petal.

Take the bigger section and overlap the outside petals, creating a four petal piece.

Take your final petal piece and cut out a two petal section.

Glue together the remaining petals to create a three petal piece and and then secure the two petal piece by slighting overlapping the petals.

Now use a pencil to roll all of the ends under, creating a more realistic petal.

You should now have a piece with five petals, one with four petals, another with three petals, a two petal piece and then a single petal.

Cut the base tips off all of the pieces except the single petal.  This will allow the pieces to nestle in with each other a bit better.

Take the five petal and place some glue inside.  Insert the four petal.

Do the same for the three, two and finally the single petal.

Once the glue is dry, you can paint them if you’d like.  When I was preparing these for Milly’s party, I knew I wanted colors but only had access to a black and white engineer printer, so I had to get a bit creative.  I wanted the flowers to have depth and I found the best way to create that was with several colors of spray paint.  Begin by giving the flowers a light coating of one color of paint.  After that has dried, go back in and hit the outer areas of the flowers with a different tone.  On the birthday flowers, I used a watermelon and a strawberry color, but for these I used a light pink and a burgundy (both found at Michaels).  Be sure to be have a light touch, it’s best to slowly add more or you get drips.

Once the paint has dried you’re ready to create a grouping.  For Milly’s birthday I bought a huge piece of foam board from Hobby Lobby and pinned and hot glued the flowers to the board.  Then I leaned the board on the back of the table.  If you’re wanting to hang the flowers, consider gluing them to a big piece of paper or fabric, as that would be easier to attach to the wall.  They would also look beautiful on a buffet table, nestled together and between dishes.