Paper Flowers

Hello Whimsy friends!

While in college I LOVED buying flowers to brighten up my room and house. But seeing how they were so expensive (especially on a college student budget) I googled paper flowers. I settled on the  Kusudama Flower because it looked pretty easy! So here I want to give you the tutorial. 

I used some cream colored notebook paper I had left over in some used school spirals. You can use scrapbook paper, newspaper, magazines, etc. The thicker the paper however, the harder it will be to make clean crisp folds. You want to make sure to make all your folds very crisp, running your nail or folding file across each fold. 

Step 1: Cut paper into squares. I use different sizes to create a range of flower sizes. The sizes I use: 8x8, 6x6, 3x3. You really can use any size! 

 Step 2: Fold square in half, corner to corner.

Step 3: Bring right corner up to meet the top corner. 

Step 3: Repeat with left corner, to create a little diamond.

Step 4: Then take one of the flaps and fold that in half. So you'll bring the edge that meets in the middle to the outer edge. 

Step 4: Repeat with left side.

Step 5: Now you will open the folded flap, opening it and then pressing it flat. 

Step 5 continued

Step 5 continued

Step 5: Repeat with the left side.

Step 6: Fold the tops of the flattened flaps down. 

Step 7: Then fold that piece in half. 

Step 7: Repeat with left side. 

Step 8: Pull the two sides together and tape. (Or you can glue them together, whichever you prefer. Taping is so much easier, plus it will be hidden so that I why I prefer using tape.) 

Now you have one petal! 

Step 9: Repeat all of the above steps 5 times to get 5 petals. 

Step 10: Glue all petals together on the sides. I use hot glue because it is quick and holds them together the best. 

Woohoo! Now to admire your beautiful flower! It's ok if it takes a couple tries, you'll get the hang of it and soon enough have an entire bouquet worth! 

I wanted to put them in a bottle/vase so I glued the pieces around a skinny wooden dowel rod.  

(As shown below).

These were glued around the dowel rode, so they stood straight up, but then I wanted some to face outward so I just put a steam of glue on the side of the flower and glued them this way. 

(As seen below). 

And voila! You have a beautiful bouquet of paper flowers! Cheap, easy to maintain ;), and they never die! I hope that you enjoy your flowers as much as I have!  My new project is to create a garland by stringing the flowers along cute twine. Look for that project soon. 

Many blessings, and happy crafting!