The Struggle
You see a set of beautiful, handmade paper flowers on Pinterest, perhaps, and you wonder how they were made. This often spurs me to try to re-create what I’ve seen online or in a catalog.
If you love paper flowers as much as I do, it is hard not to want to make your own! And there are so many different types and methods. Some are layered paper flowers, some are rolled flowers, some are giant flowers! Some use cardstock; others use crepe paper.
Trying to create these flowers without any guidance can be a bit daunting. I wanted to share my love of paper flowers with you AND ease the frustration of trying to figure it out on your own.
Once you understand how to make these simple flowers, I think you will use them in many projects!
The Solution – Craft Layered Paper Flowers Yourself!
If you have never tried to make paper flowers yourself, then this post is for you! I know people who want to make them, but just don’t know where to start. Is this you?
I created a basic tutorial to help you on your paper flower journey! I also created three SVGs of layered flowers that you can use to get started. You can find it all in my Maker Library. (Psst! – It’s free to join).
I am also committed to creating videos to accompany my tutorials, so you can watch this one below. I had some problems with it (newbie, remember?). Namely, the screen recording of the steps in Cricut Design Space was HUGE, and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. If you are familiar with Design Space, I don’t think you will have any problems, but if you have questions, please contact me. I will try to help. The assembly part of the video is fine. Check it out below.
How to Craft Layered Paper Flowers
Be sure to grab your free copy of the step-by-step tutorial (it’s item #6 in the Maker Library) with screenshots and photos from my Maker Library.
First, gather your supplies. What I like about this project is that you don’t need a lot of supplies. Here is the list of materials and tools that I used.
For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links which means I may make a commission, but it won’t cost you any more.
- 3 Layered Flowers SVGs from Maker Library
- Cutting Machine such as a Cricut Maker (affiliate link)
- Cutting Mats and Weeding Tools (affiliate links)
- Tweezers
- Cardstock, various colors, lightweight (65 lbs) (affiliate link)
- Shaping tools (e.g., scraper, fondant tools, pencil) (affiliate link)
- Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks (affiliate link)
SVGs
The SVGs are simple designs. Two of the flowers have two layers each, plus a center. The other SVG is based on real rose petals that I scanned and traced. It has three layers plus a center.
I designed two different types of centers for the layered paper flowers. The centers can be used singly or doubled up. You can also mix the two centers together for a different look.
To begin, download the file from my Maker Library, and then upload them into Cricut Design Space or other cutting software.
(I also included a PDF of the layered paper flower designs in case you do not want an SVG. This is helpful for those without a cutting machine. You would cut the designs out with scissors and use them as a template.)
Design Space
Once you have the SVGs uploaded into Design Space and inserted into a new project, you can play around with the size of the flowers and the colors. You don’t have to stick with my sizes or colors.
If you decide to resize the flowers, do not ungroup the individual flowers.
Tip: It is easier to resize and keep all the elements in the correct proportion if you do it while they are grouped.
Next, follow the instructions for cutting out the designs. Remember to check your paper size. In the video, I demonstrate how to make 4 copies. Design Space automatically assumes that you are using 12 x 12 paper, but if you are using 8.5 x 11, then you will end up with additional mats to cut.
Then you will remove the cuts from the mats and weed. Weeding is fairly simple for this project except for one of the centers – the one with the knobs on the ends. Here’s the mess I made just trying to get them off the mat.
Keeping it real by sharing some of my pitfalls, so you could learn from them, too. I am sure you have more patience than me and won’t have this problem!
Shaping of Layered Paper Flowers
The next step involves shaping the petals and centers. I used a shaping tool similar to a scraper and fondant (yes, like the ones for cake icing) tools to help me shape the paper flowers. You don’t need these exact tools, though. If you have a Cricut scraper or a pair of scissors, you can use that rather than the Fiskars scraper, I use.
If you don’t have fondant tools, you can use anything with a round-ish end, including the eraser end of a pencil.
Shaping the layered paper flower petals with these tools gives the petals more dimension and helps to make them look much more realistic.
Use the scraper tool to curl the petals forward and backward. The technique is the same one you use to curl ribbon when wrapping a gift.
Use the fondant tools or pencil eraser to create ‘cup’ shapes in the center of the petals and in the flower centers (stamen and pistils) themselves.
Assembly
Finally, it is time to put all the pieces together. This is one of the easiest projects to assemble! Once you have all your petal layers and centers shaped, you will use your hot glue gun between the layers and centers. Just a dot of glue will do it!
Simple Layered Paper Flowers
That’s all there is to creating easy, realistic paper flowers. Once you get the hang of making these flowers, you will see lots of ways to use them.
Now that you know how to make the flowers, my next post will be about using them to create a specific project. Be sure to check back so you can make the project with us.
Remember to grab the step-by-step tutorial with photos and the SVGs (or PDF patterns) in my Maker Library.
You can watch the video by clicking on it above or by watching it on my YouTube channel, Payne and Simple Makes.
