Making paper flowers is fun and easy way to brighten up a room. The vibrant colors of paper flowers invigorate a space, offering refreshing accents (say, in an all-white kitchen), and their organic shapes soften the hard edges of furniture and countertops within a room. Best of all, while real flowers inevitably droop and wilt (even with these strategies that make cut flowers last longer in a vase), your tissue paper tulips and paper roses never will.
Read on for plenty of inspiration and instruction to help you get started making flowers from paper at home.
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Peony perfection
Who can resist the bushy blooms of a peony? (Here's how to grow a live peony.) Though the season for this Instagram classic may be short, you can enjoy their pretty petals year-round when they are made from extra fine crepe paper. Find a stock of paper in your favorite peony pastel—like honeysuckle, chiffon, or blush—and follow this tutorial from DIY-savvy Lia Griffith. It takes about 50 petals of various sizes, but her site has all of the templates to get started.
Can't get enough greenery? Check out this woman who traded her roommate for almost 700 houseplants!
Tricolor tulips
Even more striking than the usual red or yellow tulip is a parrot tulip with variegated coloring and petals that practically flutter open. An expert with an extensive collection of paper flower tutorials, The House that Lars Built breaks down this bouquet’s instructions into simpler terms, yet again! Visit the site for more photos and templates. Once you get the hang of it, you can even repeat with different colors and without striping for a wider variety of spring blooms.
Related: 3 Essential Tips For Growing Tulips
Alluring anemone
Delicate anemone flowers can handle more playful arrangements—everywhere from vases to hairstyles—when they’re made from durable materials like thin wool felt and faux leather. The secret to achieving the precision of their uniquely shaped petals: the Silhouette CAMEO cutting tool equipped with a fabric-specific blade. Once you’ve cut out the pieces according to her template, follow the lead of DIYer behind Delia Creates and you can easily make your forever bloom into a barrette with a little extra glue.
Looking for low-maintenance plants instead? Give this list of hardy houseplants a look, too, and you may just find the perfect plant for your window sill.
Eternal spring hyacinth
Fill vases with slender stalks of hyacinth flowers made from construction paper and cardstock to create spring vibes indoors any time of year. Fashioning the clusters of tiny flowers may appear time-consuming, but it follows a painless process similar to quilling paper. The crafty blogger behind One Little Project mastered cutting and curling the flowers for a stem in five minutes flat—and, with her detailed instructions and some practice, you can, too!
Related: 30 Flowers You Should Always Grow Side-by-Side
Easiest ever succulent
If you've ever accidentally over-watered a succulent, you'll appreciate a truly no-kill variety that takes out the guesswork. These made from Craftberry Bush’s template and cardstock feature painted-on details to bring the paper creation to life. Though it may be easy to mistake this potted plant for the real thing, resist the urge to mist altogether! These paper succulents are perfect for setting and forgetting.
See below for how to make easy succulent planters with upcycled junk you already have around the house:
Lovely and larger-than-life rose
As if roses weren’t already romantic, these oversized crepe paper versions come together using 7-inch (or larger!) heart-shaped petals. Head to Studio DIY for step-by-step instructions and sanity-saving tips for the assembly. Why stop at just one, when you have the opportunity to make the best—and certainly the biggest—dozen roses ever seen?
Related: How To Grow Roses That Are The Envy Of Your Neighborhood
Radiant ranunculus
The ranunculus, a unique garden variety, often rivals the rose as a favorite pick for vases due to its simple step and very full, bright bud. And now, you can make one that always look freshly cut! Mimic its soft, spiraling petals by meticulously wrapping and overlapping raindrop-shaped tissue paper—or, as YouTube DIYer DreamyPosy demonstrates, coffee filters—until you you've completed its wide, round head. Once attached to a stem, simply brush on watercolor paint to color however you like.
Related: How To Make A Stunning Bouquet In 5 Minutes
Make a wish dandelion
The whimsical white fuzz at the end of a yellow dandelion’s life may normally make for a messy bouquet, with its seeds ready to blow away. Not so with this craft project from Homemade Ginger. Made from cut halves of Q-tips punched into a small styrofoam ball, these flowers are fun for all ages to craft and easy to customize in colors beyond just a realistic white.
