Are you ready for some flower making the easy way? You are? Good! Because I’m going to show you how you can quickly and simply turn paper napkins into super pretty flower decorations. Ideal for summer decor, weddings, cute girlie rooms!
I’ve wanted to try flower making for a while and when I came across a tutorial on Pinterest, I thought it would be the perfect project for summer. Cue obligatory trip to Hobbycraft where I bought basically all the tissue paper and crepe paper. Yes, OK I may have gone a little overboard.
Well it turns out that I didn’t actually need any of the many (many!) types of paper I purchased. There’s a much simpler way and I’m a sucker when it comes to making life easier.
Paper napkins are the key to quick and simple flower making. No need to even cut the paper to size because the napkins already are – perfect! I tried with the tissue paper and crepe paper too, just in case they looked much better. But I actually prefer the look and texture of the napkins too. Score.
Let’s do this…
Napkin flower making tutorial
You will need:
- Paper napkins
- Scissors
- Wire
- String
- Polystyrene wreath
- Wide ribbon
1# Unfold your napkin and lay it out vertically.
2# Starting at the base begin to fold the napkin concertina style in sections around 2cm wide.
3# Cut a section of wire around 8cm long and bend it over the centre of the folded napkin, so it holds the folds together and then twist the ends of the wire around each other.
4# Cut each end of the napkin either rounded or pointed depending on the petal effect you want and fan out the napkin on each side.
5# Now start to carefully tease the layers of the napkin upwards, in the opposite direction to the wire. Each layer should split into three very thin sheets, so you should have six layers of ‘petals’ on each side in total. Once all the layers a separated, fluff the flower up and you’re good to go.
You can wrap the wires of several flowers together to make a bunch and pop them in a pot or vase.
Or make a garland by wrapping the wire around some string.
To make the wreath, I wrapped a polystyrene wreath in wide ribbon, tied on some string so I could hang it and then attached the flowers by tucking the wire into the ribbon. Cute, huh?
To make the pink edging on the cream coloured flowers, I used a pink sharpie to colour after cutting the ends of the napkin in to a rounded shape.
Want so more DIY inspiration? Check out my projects here!
Now what the heck am I going to do with all the tissue paper and crepe paper? Let me know in the comments!
Pin for later?
Anne Marie
May 30, 2017 at 10:30 pmI love it Caroline! I will definitely give a garland a go, I’m sure my daughter will like it too 🙂
Caroline
May 31, 2017 at 11:44 amYes, try it! It would look so pretty in your daughters room. x
Marta Hutt
June 1, 2017 at 7:32 amThis is so pretty and seems like a perfect thing to try with kids on half term 😉 This will be perfect for a Summer Mad Hatter’s Tea Party! Hope mine will come out as pretty 🙂
Caroline
June 1, 2017 at 10:33 amYes, perfect for half term! I love the sound of a mad hatter’s tea party, have a fab time. ?
Laura - Dear Bear and Beany
June 8, 2017 at 1:56 pmThese are brilliant! So colourful and vibrant. I can’t believe how easy they look to do, but how perfect and pretty they are to look at. So many wonderful ways to use them too, the garland would look great in our garden for the girls birthday this summer. Thank you for joining us at #CraftyCorner
Caroline
June 9, 2017 at 12:58 pmYes, the garland is ideal for inexpensive summer party decor!
Briony
June 9, 2017 at 2:27 pmLove this! I am so making that wreath. Eeek. Getting excited just thinking about it #craftycorner
Caroline
June 10, 2017 at 11:54 amAh thanks Briony! If you do give it a try I’d love to see the end result.
yvonne
June 24, 2017 at 9:59 amWow, can I just say these look fantastic! So bright and colourful, I am really impressed. Will need to try this out. Thanks for joining us on #craftycorner x
Caroline
June 26, 2017 at 3:48 pmThank you Yvonne. Bright colours are prefect for summer!
Sarah
September 2, 2017 at 10:27 pmOh my gosh, you made these?!! They are SO beautiful! I’ve tried so many times to make tissue paper flowers, and I just can’t do it! I’m jealous, these are gorgeous! #MakeItLinky
Caroline
September 5, 2017 at 2:27 pmOh thank you ? I promise these are really easy though!
Kate
September 6, 2017 at 2:05 pmThese are brilliant! I didn’t know they were so easy to make either. Your step by step photos are really easy to follow. I think my daughters would enjoy making these with me. Thanks for linking up! #MakeItLinky