Category Archives: diy

Today, my sister Olivia Lane is here to share a tutorial on making the paper flowers that she designed for her wedding, recently seen on Green Wedding Shoes! Take it away, Liv!

To begin, this is not a project for the apprehensive crafter, it does take time and some practice to perfect, but the results are quite lovely. For the purposes of this tutorial I have just used plain white paper because it is easier to see what is happening with the detailed folding and cutting. I created these flowers (using vintage music paper that I collected at garage sales) to use as an original element in our wedding and always encourage creativity and originality when approaching projects, so feel free to use different papers and different shaped templates to create a look that is truly your own. Best of luck in your crafting endeavors!

Supplies:
1 Sheet (per flower) Decorative Paper (a medium weight works best, I used vintage sheet music originally)
Glue (Elmer’s glue, or something that dries clear)
Wire
Scissors
Straight Razor
Pencil
Pen (thin for petal shaping, a thin paintbrush would also work)
Template (I free-handed mine on heavy cardstock, the shape can be as creative as you want as long as the template has six petals; the size of the template will determine your flower size. For this tutorial, my template was three inches wide.)

Trace the template onto the paper using pencil, making sure to fit as many as possible onto each sheet.

Each flower requires three separate template shapes, and every part of these three shapes will be used, so make sure to save all the components after completing the next step.

Fold each of the papers in half three times so that it creates the segments as seen above {the symmetry of these folds is not as important as getting all the folds on the same side of the paper). When the mirror folding is complete, the flower should naturally collapse in on itself.

Using a straightedge razor, make the following cuts. On the first flower cut from the center to one edge, as seen on the left, and repeat the process on the next two flowers but take one petal out of the second flower, and two petals out of the third flower.

Next, place one petal on top of the other and secure with some glue. Repeat this same process on the two remaining large segments.

Using a thin pen wrap all flower edges around and hold for a couple seconds to create the petal look. Next, pinch the single petal cutout at the bottom and roll the edges inward to create the center of the flower.

Take the double petal cutout and overlap one edge and glue, using the pen, manipulate the petals to create a ruffled effect. Finally, snip the bottoms of the layers off so that they will nestle inside each other when stacked.

Fill each layer with a small dollop of glue, and nestle inside each other until the flower shape is complete. Allow a drying time of about five minutes before proceeding.

Using the wire clippers cut a 10-inch piece of wire, twist a loop in the middle (to hold it in place when threaded through the flower) and gently push both ends through the center of the flower. By this time the glue should have softened the flower enough to push it right through, if not, use a thick needle to create a guide hole. Once wired, the flower should be allowed to dry overnight.

With a little practice your finished product should look like this. My suggestion at this point is to bring your flowers to your floral designer and talk about incorporating them into the final look. These are time consuming so if you are planning on using very many, I suggest starting on them well in advance. 

Thank you for sharing, Olivia! Olivia is a grad student at Princeton University, and she and her husband Josh Berman are writing about newlywed life and their new home in New Jersey on their blog, JoshandOlivia.com.

Happy Weekend!