Julianne made a wonderful spring and summer display for our sales floor with tissue paper flowers. They were so easy we thought you might want to try them if you’re looking for a fun, summer project to do for yourself, or with your kids.
Here’s the step-by-step how-to:
You’ll need scissors; tape; a piece of thin wire; glue (we used hot-glue); and of course, tissue paper in various colors. To do one flower, you’ll only need two sheets of tissue paper in differing colors. The size of our tissue paper is about 23 by 17 inches. You can use paper that’s bigger or smaller, but I put the measurements in here to give you a better idea of what to expect as you go along.
Step 1 – Folding the Paper: Take your first sheet of paper (the one that will be the petals) and fold it in half lengthwise, and then width-wise, as shown in the pictures below. You’ll have an 11 by 9 inch rectangle.
Step 2 – Scalloping the Edge: This is how Julianne formed the round shape of the petals. With your scissors you’ll scallop the edge of the paper you just folded on one side only – the long, loose side (don’t cut on the fold.) This is your creative project, so feel free to change up the shape of the petals in any way you like. You can make them sharper, or more angular.
When you open the sheet of paper, it should look like this:
Step 3: Making the Flower: In both hands, grab the paper on each side of the un-scalloped edge, and inching your fingers forward, gather it towards the center of the paper.
Step 4: Securing the Center: Hold the gathered paper in the center with one hand, and with the other, wrap your wire around the center to secure the gathering effect. Then fold the gathered edges towards each other to form the head of a flower.
Step 5- Securing the petals: To secure the edges and form a continuous flower head, tape the paper where the folded edges meet. Tape beneath the flower so you don’t see the tape from the top.
Your flowers, so far, should look like this:
Step 6- The Center: To do the center of your flowers, grab your next sheet of paper. Fold it length-wise twice (until it is about 4 inches in width.) Then, fold it down the middle width-wise – twice. You’ll have a rectangle about 5 by 6 inches.
Step 7 – Forming the Center: On the side of your rectangle that is NOT all folded, cut strips down the length of your rectangle, stopping a couple of inches from the bottom. (Don’t worry if you cut the side with the folds. The effect will be a little different, but that’s okay. No flower is exactly alike.)
Step 8 – The Center Strips: Grabbing the uncut side of the rectangle, fold it twice so that the strips gather together.
It should look like this:
Step 9 – Putting it all Together: – Glue bottom of center and stick it into the middle of your flower.
The final Step: Fluff out the petals and the center.
And here is the finished product:
Have fun!
Dandelions Flowers & Gifts 