I have begun my first craft project for the holidays- making paper flowers. I came up with the idea after visiting some sweet little markets a while back where I came across some elaborate paper flowers that inspired me to make my own. And so after a little bit of research, a trip to the craft store and abit of trial and error, I have created my first bunch of paper carnations. Turns out they are so simple to make and the outcome is really effective!

They have been the perfect gift to take to peoples houses during the christmas period and everyone I have given them to has absolutely loved them, little do they know how easy they are to make! It has also got me on the lookout for cute vases and jars I can put them in, and once the technique is mastered (which doesn’t take long at all) I have begun experimenting with fun and unique printed crepe paper:

Materials:
Tissue Paper
Scissors
Green Floral Wire (Should be able to purchase from any good Craft store)

Steps:
Depending on what size flower you want, fold the tissue paper enough times so that you can trace a circle your desired size onto it. I found anywhere between 5-10cm gives quite a realistic flower size, but feel free to experiment with the different sizes.

It’s easiest if you find something cylindrical to trace around for the shape of the flower. Holding the layers of tissue paper together, begin to cut out the circle, being so thin, you should be able to cut out at least 40 or so folds of the tissue paper at a time.

When they are cut out, remove the amount of circles you want for your flower, I found about 8-10 circles made a nice full flower. Hold these circles together and make a hole just off from the centre of the circle and push the floral wire through this hole. Push it through further enough that you can fold it over and push it back through making a second hole. Tie the wire tightly around itself at the base of the flower.

To make the petals, work on each petal individually, starting at the top of the bunch. Take this petal and bunch it towards the centre. Do this randomly and there is no need to make it neat at all. Make sure to just be working on the base part, trying not to touch too much of the ‘petal’.

Repeat this with all the other petals, working on each individually and try scrunching each one differently as to make the flower look really full and not all bunching the same way.

So once all the circles have been scrunched you should find yourself with a lovely carnation:

Don’t worry if your first one doesn’t look perfect. It takes a few goes to get the hang of the scrunching technique, once you’ve got it though you can have lots of fun experimenting with all different sizes, papers and styles.

I hope you have fun making these little sweeties and I’d love to hear how you go 🙂

Below are a few more flowers I’ve made- just to give you an idea of the different papers you can have fun with!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I would be so happy to hear from you in the comments 🙂 !!