DIY Paper Flower Bouquet With Free Printable! (2024)

Enjoy Paper Crafting? Do an easy paper flower craft with me! I supply free flower printables to print then cut out + a Step-by-Step tutorial to craft a one-of-a-kind DIY paper flower bouquet!

The Making of a Paper Flower Bouquet Craft

In my wildest dreams, I want to use my drawing abilities to do nothing more than inspire good creative fun.

The biggest roadblock to my dream was that I had no idea what I was doing!

I am happy to say, I started! Although this is my first attempt at building a step-by-step paper craft from start to finish and plopping it out here in my new internet home, I am pleased with myself!

*carrie pats herself on the back* I hope you enjoy my whimsical paper flower printables and give making the bouquet or invent your own creative project using them!

Why Whimsical Flowers?

Because I'm weird?

Haha to be real though, my goal was to make some “different” paper flowers that could be made with a cricut, but also , so I set out to dream up some printable flower illustrations that were happy and whimsical enough to make someone smile (even in April of 2020!)

This paper flower bouquet in a tin can vase is what I came up with and I love it!

A paper flower bouquet that not only has that unique vibe I was going for, but enough charm and whimsy to make someone smile… Mission (half) accomplished.

Terms of Use

HOW TO MAKE A DIY PAPER FLOWER BOUQUET

Estimated Cost: Under $5

Time to Complete: An Hour+

Occasion: Mother's Day, Friendship Day, Get Well

Note: Minus my cutting time I put this DIY paper craft together in under an hour, but It may take you a bit longer.

It is up to you if you add optional creative touches like glitter, use a glue that has a longer dry time, run into any issues with printing or even if you don't have spring-loaded scissors!

Supplies NEEDED TO MAKE THE PAPER FLOWER BOUQUET:

• Flowers Printable File
• Color Printer
• TIN CAN – any vessel to hold the flowers.
• Wooden Skewers – paper straws would also work.
• 5×11 White Card Stock
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun + Sticks
• Tacky Craft Glue

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:

• Cricut Cutting Machine
• Silhouette Cutting Machine
• Crayola Model magic -clay from the dollar store works too!
• A paper or plastic straw, anything to make a small hole.

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS | STEP BY STEP

1. DOWNLOAD PAPER FLOWERS BOUQUET PRINTABLE

Once you click to download to your hard drive, you will find the PDF it within the chosen folder (downloads) on your hard drive, open it up and send it to your printer to print.

2. PRINT FLOWER IMAGES ON CARD STOCK

Now that you have your PDF sent to the print screen

Make sure you have selected the right print settings for the paper you have chosen and the quality you would like.

My personal preference for card stock is the matte photo paper setting + high quality, but for my first test, I printed them on medium quality, and it looks GOOD, just a little less vibrant than when I print with the high quality setting.

WHAT DO I DO IF MY PRINTER WONT PRINT ON CARD STOCK?

Have no fear! Some printers have issues with the feed mechanism that feeds in the thicker paper stock. I used to have a printer like that SO, I have a solution.

Print on regular paper, a matte photo paper or a matte brochure paper and use a glue stick or even spray adhesive to stick your printed paper image onto a more rigid backing paper.

Use what you have and make it work.

3. COLLECT YOUR PAPER CRAFTING SUPPLIES

Before I start any craft project, I like to know that I have all of the supplies or even the substitutions for the ‘recommended items' so it doesn't end up in my half-finished project graveyard.

Yeah, I'm not afraid to admit that is a thing, are you really a true creative if you don't have one too?

PS. See the supplies list above to make sure you have everything you need

4. CUT OUT YOUR IMAGES

The cutting out is going to take up a good bit of time. Even though cut out your images is self-explanatory, here are some TIPS to make it easier:

HAVE A GOOD PAIR OF SCISSORS

Spring Loaded scissors are a good investment if you plan on cutting a lot I the near future. They aren't necessary but helpfulYou can still create the project without them though, you may need to take breaks between cuttings.

USE A PAPER TRIMMER OR CRAFT KNIFE FIRST

If you have a big paper trimmer handy use it! Otherwise, just a ruler and a craft knife! Trimming everything up first makes cutting much quicker for the long straight cuts. Also, slice the edges off, so you are left with less extra paper to move around.

PREPARE IN ADVANCE

If you have everything ­printed out in advance, you can do what I like to do, trim all of the excess paper off the edges and make the long straight cuts at your crafting spot, then when it is evening, take it with you to watch TV!

USE PRINT AND CUT WITH YOUR CRICUT OR SILHOUETTE CUTTING MACHINE!

If you know how to use the print and cut feature in your software, you can use your Cricut or Silhouette cutting machines to cut out these printable designs

The silhouette or Cricut software will find the solid outer back line and trace around it.

5. MAKE YOUR RECYCLED TIN CAN VASE

Here is where you have an option, you don’t have to make a tin can vase and glue the borders to the can. You can indeed use a different container!

You can even use a glass vase from the thrift store, painted up pretty. It just needs to be a vessel to hold your floral arrangement, take creative license here if you want!

To make my ‘vase’ I used a tin can of green beans!

Once it’s empty, wash with soap, rinse with vinegar & dry well.

I don't think you will want to gift a paper flower bouquet if they smell like whatever was in the recycled tin can, but if you do, go for it! LOL Mmmm Beefaroni scented flowers?

GLUE THE PAPER STRIPS TO THE TIN CAN

So, here is where you use the paper strips sheet!

Wrap the paper strips around the can in any way you want. If it is a small tin can, the strips will fit. If not, improvise or print two copies of that printable page….

For mine, I also added a couple pieces of ribbon and lace to give it a more tactile, hand-made feel. It's optional! You could also add some glitter glue or some gemstones to give it a more BOHEMIAN whimsical look!

NOTE: After putting all my flowers together, I had to take some time to revisit my can vase. Something was needed to hold the wooden skewers, this is an optional step, you could also use rice in the bottom of your can.

See what i did next….

Positioning The Flowers | I CAME UP WITH A SOLUTION!

To me, coming up with solutions when something doesn't work out like I think it will is the best part of crafting.

So, it turns out, all of those years watching Martha Stewart when I was younger, finally paid off! The images of Martha using floral frogs for her floral arrangements popped in my brain.

I could make a ‘floral frog' to position my flowers!

I grabbed the Crayola Model Magic -but you could easily substitute any air-dry clay here

I rolled out the clay with the rolling pin I picked up from the second-hand store and cut the clay to the size of the can. Model magic shrinks a little when it dries.

Punch as many holes as you can fit within .25 inches from the edge of the clay circle with a paper or plastic straw, use the wooden skewer to widen the holes a bit before it dries.

And there you have it, a little floral frog disk using Crayola model magic! 😉 Insert this disk into the can and hot glue it to the sides of the can.

The final is not pictured here because well, I am new at this tutorial thing and that is one image that I forgot to take. You can see it in the images of the finished bouquet if you really look though!

6. ASSEMBLE THE PAPER FLOWERS

Attach Petals to the back of the paper flowers.

When I first started my bouquet, I thought I needed to double the paper on both the front and the back of the skewer and that was just not needed, after the first couple flowers, i just proceeded with SINGLE SIDED flowers and leaves.

The process is straight forward for the flowers, you can take creative license when applying the paper flowers and leaves to the skewers! .

THE PETALS

You can choose to use the individual petals page or leave them off completely, you can space them out however you like! They brought more life to the flowers!

TIP: I tried to afix the petals with hot glue first but found that tacky craft glue was a better option to position the petals.

THE BUTTERFLY

You can indeed glue the butterfly to a skewer, but optionally if you have some thin craft wire or pipe cleaner, twist it around a pencil to make it curl, then hot glue the butterfly to the wire or pipe cleaner!

7. ASSEMBLING THE BOUQUET

Now is time to put everything together and arrange it in the can!

You could have been doing this as you went, just to make sure of the placement of the leaves, but you will be able to finagle it around until it fits no matter how you do it!

TADA, That's It! I hope you enjoyed this Tutorial

Let me know what you think! How did I do?

Did you make the floral bouquet, or did you use the printable flowers to create something completely different?

I would enjoy hearing your feedback here in the comments.