We’ve been around the block with DIY blooms, so we know that paper flowers can be serious business — concerts, summer festivals, warm weather weddings and the list goes on. Making a beautiful paper flower is easier than it may look, so we wanted to create a beginner-friendly guide to help our budding makers out there. Use our Paper Flower Crown Kit and start making!
This is a DIY best done with buds (ha!.. get it?), so grab a few friends and a mimosa or two and we’ll walk you through this intro to the world of paper flower arts. We used one *must-know technique* to make every flower and leaf on these crowns. I know, it’s crazy — but keep reading and we’ll show you how!
Materials:
– Heavy Crepe Paper
– Floral Tape
– Floral Wire
– Wire Cutters
Additional Tools:
– Glue Gun
– Glue Sticks
– Scissors
– Pencil
– Paper Plate
Instructions:
1. Wrap floral wire around your head twice to make a loose-fitting crown.
2. Cut with your wire cutter and twist the loose ends around the circle.
3. Cut a 6-inch length of wire, fold in half and twist around itself.
4. Tightly wrap the wire stem in floral tape.
5. Cut out flower petals with scissors.
6. Curl petals lengthwise by tightly wrapping around a pencil.
7. Place a dot of hot glue onto wire stem and stick on first petal.
8. Continue gluing on 5 more petals, working around in a circle.
9. Wrap floral tape around the base of the flower and down the stem.
10. Curl back flower petals using a round pencil.
11. Repeat this process to make more flowers and leaves.
12. Twist flower stems around wire circle to form your crown.
13. Wrap floral tape all the way around wire circle to cover all exposed wire.
Grab your main materials (pictured left, and included in our kit!) and a few household craft supplies (pictured right) and let’s get started.
First, unravel enough wire to go around your head twice and cut with wire cutters.
How to Make Wire Crown + Stems
Twist the loose ends around the rest of the wire circle to secure. Double check that this circle sits nicely on your head, and set aside.
Now that you’ve made the base of your crown, its time to start making flowers! Cut about a 6-inch length of wire using your wire cutters.
Fold wire in half and twist the ends around each other, forming a stem with a small loop at the top.
Tightly wrap the small loop and the rest of the stem in floral tape. Note that the tape only sticks to itself, so make sure to tightly overlap tape-on-tape the whole way down.
Pro tip: this goes much faster if you hold the tape away from the stem at a diagonal, and twist the stem with your fingers to wrap it up. Cut off excess tape with scissors and wrap the end around.
Ain’t nobody got time for individually cut flower petals. Accordion fold about 1 1/2 inches of crepe paper over itself a couple of times, fold in half and cut through multiple layers at once.
How to Make Paper Flowers + Leaves
Cut out this rounded flower petal shape with a small point at the top, making sure to cut through all the layers on all sides so that the petals are unattached. We made these petals about 2 inches tall by 1 1/2 inches wide, but any size will work.
While your petals are still in a neat stack, tightly wrap them around a pencil lengthwise and curl them all at once. Note that the grain of the crepe paper (those thin little lines) should run parallel to the pencil.
Place a small drop of hot glue onto your stem, about 1 inch from the top.
Let glue cool down for two seconds and then stick on your first flower petal. Pinch that first petal around your stem, and continue glueing on five more petals, working around the stem in a circle.
Once all six petals are glued on, wrap floral tape around the base of your flower and down the stem. It helps to pinch the tape just underneath the flower so that you can wrap it tight enough to stick.
Your flower may look a little cone-like at this point, so its time to shape those petals! Curl petals outward by wrapping around a pencil, and curl one or two petals inward for variety and a more natural look.
Ta-da! Look at that big beautiful bloom! Once you’ve mastered this, the rest is easy.
We cut the petals of these orange flowers smaller than the pink ones, at about 1 1/4 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches tall, to give the final crown some variety and depth. But the process is just the same!
And these leafy greens? Same process, but instead of six petals, just add on two or three.
These bright green guys are just smaller versions of their dark green friends. Simple enough!
Put on some good tunes and repeat this process until you have a nice assortment of flowers and leaves. We found that five of each color is enough to make a crown that goes 2/3 of the way around, leaving some space to pin down and style in your hair.
The crown on the left uses five of each color. The middle crown uses two large blooms, three small and 16 leaves. And for a classic, full circle crown (pictured right), we used eight large flowers, 12 small and 15 leaves.
How to Build a Flower Crown
Position your flowers and leaves around your wire circle, highlighting your favorites up front, and framing with leaves along the way.
Now carefully pull out the wire circle from underneath, keeping your arrangement fairly intact.
Start twisting the stems of your flowers and leaves around the wire circle, overlapping them so that they sit nicely tucked together.
Keep building up your crown, minding your Thrillers (large statement flowers), Fillers (small flowers to bulk it up), and Spillers (greenery that shoots out to frame the whole thing).
Wondering what the heck we’re talking about? Check out our Flower Arranging 101 online class to really ramp up your arrangement game!
Once you’ve added all the flowers and leaves you’d like, seal the deal with floral tape by tightly wrapping it around the entire circle.
Yes, that includes in and amongst those flowers! Bend leaves and flowers upward by the stem to reach tricky areas underneath and cover all exposed wire.
Now that you’ve man-handled these flowers a bit, take some time to reposition them and re-curl a few petals here and there. It’s amazing how well this crepe paper holds up!
Get up close and personal and check out those vibrant colors. Fiery pink and orange vs. deep violet and lavender – which will you choose?
Maddie’s looking pretty in pink and ready to frolic in a damn meadow!
And Kelly’s giving off some serious sultry vibes in violet.
Remember, our kit comes with enough materials to make TWO flower crowns in your favorite color combo. And yes, that includes mess-ups!
So grab your fab bestie..
…or your furry one ;)
And have a ball!