🌸 Crepe Paper Flowers 🌸 Beauty That Lasts Just About Forever

These are two of my favorite flower making books. I also found large sheets of crepe paper at a local grocery store called Lidl but you can find lots of sources listed in the back of the books. There are different types of crepe paper. Some flowers call for florist grade, 1 ply , 2 ply or 3 ply. I am using 1 ply for all my flowers because that is what I already had. Someday I will try to get other types to give you a comparison on how it differs in making your flowers.

Some books have templates for tracing and some have both tracing templates and a link to print of patterns. I used the link from the Paper to Petal book to print the majority of the patterns.

This was my inspiration picture. I tried to select colors from my craft paints that I thought were similar. But, in the instructions in the book they give you exact colors if you want to go out and buy the exact colors used in the picture.

First I used a spray bottle with diluted watercolor in it but I wanted to test some other methods too. When you see my finished crepe paper, you will realize that I may have gotten carried away.

I really enjoyed using a water brush on the crepe paper. I decided that there really isn't any way to mess this step up. No matter what it looks like, it looks awesome once the petal is cut, shaped and assembled. The more random the paint looks, the more natural it appears on the petal.

I used a small amount of paper clay covered in tissue paper for the middle, some crepe paper cut fringe to go around the center and wrapped the wire stem with gold florist tape.

Here is a close up of it wrapped with yellow tissue paper.

My paper was such a mess in the end but it doesn’t matter. At the end, I even folded the paper accordion-style to cut multiples at a time too and I think they turned out great. You can cut a lot of crepe paper at one time, that is awesome!

With your thumb and fingers, crepe paper can be pulled and cupped to make the petals look more real. I plan to do a video because it is hard to show this from pictures. In this picture, I have cupped the petals on the plate and the one in my hand is still flat.

This picture I hope shows that no matter how messy you think your tissue paper is, once it becomes a petal, it looks fine.

To the ends of the fringe, I added glue and glitter. I tried to short cut it with gold glitter glue but I wasn’t sure I was going to be happy with it so I sprinkle real glitter on top.

For my second flower, I ordered the tiny pip or stamen pieces from Amazon because I wasn't loving my handmade stamen. I think I bought the package that has around 1,344 pieces for $7. This will be a lifetime supply for me but I feel that it really adds to the flower. Just a fun alternative.

Here is how the package of stamen arrives. These work pretty well but I wish the string was longer. But that might just be a personal preference type of thing.

Stay tuned for more on how to make tissue paper flowers in different varieties, I have a ton of crepe paper and stamens to use up. I am thinking of fun bouquets for Easter and Mother’s Day.

I think they came out pretty close to the inspiration picture. I am so glad Rebecca Thuss and Patrick Farrell shared how to create these beautiful blooms. I have to also commend them on their creative layouts. I could flip through the pages again and again because as I turn each page, I find new flowers to enjoy each time. Looking at colorful flowers in creative layouts is a great way to relax after a stressful day or quite often, I page through while having my morning coffee. It begins my day with colorful floral thoughts.