Inside: An inexpensive DIY tutorial for making all kinds of giant paper flowers; great for seasonal decor, birthday parties, weddings and photo backdrops!
You know when you’re a kid and you think that being an adult is going to be so great because you’ll eat chocolate for breakfast and stay up late and roller skate down the halls and do whatever you want? Why do we lose that sense of wonder? Like really. Why?
When I was a girl, I always wanted a giant flower bed, like a bed full of ENORMOUS flowers just like in Munchkin Land in The Wizard of Oz. With all the changes and pressures of social media and ‘being a blogger’ and what that’s supposed to mean, I’ve found I’m reconnecting back with who I am and what I really want to reflect – and you know what I want to reflect? That Erin who wanted an enormous flower bed. Because I AM an adult and I own my house and if I want giant flowers, I will have giant flowers – RIGHT?? So today, I’m showing you how I took some simple card stock and a few evenings and made a Giant Paper Flower Wall in the living room. JUST BECAUSE.
Supplies for Giant Paper Flowers
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- 8.5″x11″ card stock in colours of choice (I used white and shades of pink)
- glue gun
- scissors
- double sided tape
Other options for Giant Paper Flower Walls
Apparently, there’s such a thing as a giant paper flower kit that you can buy on Etsy. Some of them are stunning and deluxe and made of really fancy crepe papers and the like. If you are doing one of these flower walls for a backdrop for wedding photos or something, I really think you should look at those pro kits first. They are spendy, but they could give you better ideas for materials to use to make your flowers look a little more high end.
Mine are really basic and I did this just for the fun and frivolity of it. I wanted something completely outlandish for decor to help break up the monotony of winter. Giant flowers can be hygge right? I think so 🙂
By the way, I just remembered that in the fog of maternity leave, I did another adorable pink flower project, but with felt. (Blogger problems when you do projects and then completely forget! Anyway, same principle, different medium.) You can see my felt flower magnet post here. 
How to Make a Giant 3D Paper Flowers
I was going to use my Silhouette Cameo to do all the cutting, but quickly realized that it didn’t save me any time given the size of the flowers. It was a lot easier to trace my template and just cut out three petals at a time with plain craft scissors. (I did use my Silhouette to make these much smaller paper flowers on my wood shim wreath.)
About that template, I made mine up by hand. BUT, I scanned it for you and turned it into a useable digital file, so you can craft you own flowers! Just pop your email address in the widget just by the supply list and you’ll get seven templates via email.
To make the basic flower, you’ll want to start with the outer layer of petals first. Trace and cut out five of the largest size template. 
Then cut a 3/4″ (or so) slit in the base of each petal. Using a magic marker or a cylindric object, curl your petal around it to create some shape and definition. Put a dab of glue on one slide of the slit and pull the other side over, creating a bit of a bubble or a pocket at the bottom of the petal. 
You’ll notice when you do this that your petal goes from flat to having form and shape. Do this for each of the first five. Then glue each of the bases of the petals together, trying to space them somewhat evenly. You’ll now have the bottom of your bloom! 
Then repeat this same process with the medium template and decrease the number of petals. I went from five down to three. I did another flower (the pink and white one) that was six, four, three – it really just depends on how layered you want it to look.
The point is to make sure you are folding over the bases of the petals each time to create the texture you want – otherwise your paper flower wall will just look like paper on a wall. 
How to make the middle of the flower
This is sorta fun because you can do so many different things to finish off a paper flower. My three faves are to create a textured ‘stamen’ by cutting a strip of coordinating paper and then turning it into a fringe that you roll up and glue down.
One trick is to roll it up and then stick it through the middle of the bloom and secure it on the back of the flower. This will make your flower look a little more balanced from the front. But really, just have fun with the centre.
For the really small flowers, I used only four medium sized petals and then just cut an asymmetrical shape and glued it down for the centre. Easy peasy.
So fun right?
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