Easy Tissue Paper Flowers - Perfect for Mothers Day!

Hi and welcome to Craft-in Chaos, everything is chaos so lets just craft. This is a video and blog series where each week I show you how to make a fun, easy and cheap craft!

This week we will be making tissue paper flowers, these are a perfect gift for any occasion (Mother’s day is coming up!) and they brighten up any space but these flowers won’t die.

In this blog I will be going over the two different methods that I used, the first method is the balling up bobbly method. That method is the one I showcase in the video, personally I think it's got more detail and is easier. The second method is a scrunching method, this creates a bigger flower head with more texture. The method itself is still easy, just slightly more time consuming.

Materials:

• Tissue Paper

• Glue - I use Tacky Glue but regular PVA will work too

• Cardboard - Any card/ cardboard will work, I got mine from an old amazon box.

• Newspaper

• Low Tack Tape

Tools:

• Scissors

• Pencil

Instructions: 

1. Preparation

Once we’ve gathered the materials, we’re going to prep them. For the tissue paper you will need to choose the colours that you want for the flowers. I went for a simple two coloured flower then a more complicated 4 colour one. The only colour I'd advise against is using green as we are gonna need that for the stem and leaves.  For each of the colours you want to use you need to cut the tissue paper into 1 inch squares. 

2. Flower Heads

For the flower I did two different designs, one with fewer large round petals like a buttercup. The other was more like a daisy with more, longer straighter petals. These drawings don't need to be perfect flower representations, as nature is often slightly wonky and unique. You will also need to draw out a basic leaf shape. If you are having trouble with the flower shapes or leaves then I have a free template that you can download here:

Free Tissue Paper Flower Template!

Once these are drawn on the cardboard then cut them out, we then need a second cardboard cut out of the same flower shape, the easiest way is to draw around the cut out so they match. 

You don't need to have a second leaf shape, so for each flower you are going to make you will need:

X2 flower head templates in cardboard

X1 leaf template in cardboard

3. Method 1- Bobbly Flowers 

Now we have the cardboard all cut out we can start gluing the tissue paper down. For this method we will be rolling each little square of tissue paper into small balls, they don't need to be perfect or particularly tight, just scrunched into an oval shape enough that they hold their shape. 

Then glue a section of the flower, for example as I alternated the colours of the petals I would glue about half the petal to work on, then moving across the flower as I worked. 

Placing the little tissue paper balls on the cardboard you'll need to start at the edge and push them up together, there should be no little gaps between the tissue paper. This is what gives it the bobbly texture. 

Working your way over the flower you can still move and adjust as you work to fill any gaps, using this method you can easily change colours and create patterns with the tissue paper, it does however take slightly longer. 

Once you have covered ONE side on a flower head, you will need to cover the second flower head. However these will need to match so place them together so that you can mark the pattern you're continuing. If they don't match then we could get into issues later so just double check before continuing. 

Once you have covered ONE side on each of the matching flower heads you can let them dry. 

I also covered the leaves in this method as I found it easier for the leaf detail that I wanted to achieve. You will need to do BOTH sides of the leaf though. 

4. Method 2 - Scrunchie Flower

The second method is very simple and faster than the first, you want to apply the glue to a small section of the flower head working from the inside out. Then taking a square of tissue paper, scrunch/fold it over the end of a pencil and put it on to the cardboard, the first few might be tricky as they have nothing else to grab on too. Then just keep going scrunching over a pencil and pushing it on to the cardboard. You will want to get them quite tight together so they stay poking upright, I found it works best if you work in sections so that you can have clean lines of colour change. This method will give a larger fuller flower head when it's completely filled, it might take slightly longer to dry as each piece of tissue paper has a smaller area of adherence to the cardboard compared to the bobbly method. Once you have covered ONE side on each of the matching flower heads you can let them dry. If you want to make a matching leaf using this method, you can follow the same process as the flower. If you are going to do a central leaf vein, start with that first as it will be easier to work from that to the outer side of the leaf. 

5. Making the stem

Whilst all those leaves and flowers are drying, it's time to make the stems. For these we’re going to need the newspaper sheets and glue. 

Take one half sheet and lay it out flat, then starting at one corner roll the newspaper tightly diagonally towards the other corner. If you're having trouble with keeping the tension then you can always roll it around a pencil. 

Just before the end of the newspaper glue a line parallel to the rolled newspaper, then finish the roll smoothing the end over the area you just glued, this will smooth out the glue and seal the paper straw.  (if you used a pencil now is the time to take it out). 

Cut the straw in half so that you should have a straight end and a tapered end, this half will now be one stem. 

To decorate/colour the stem it's really easy! Taking some green tissue paper, cut a long strip about the length of a sheet of A4 paper. Then starting at the tapered end glue the length of tissue paper diagonally away from the length of the stem. Now wrap the tissue paper tightly down the stem’s length, this will naturally overlap because of the angle we attached it at. Keep wrapping until you get to the end of the stem. At the bottom fold the tissue paper over the cut end gluing down the excess. If you have any flaps of tissue paper, take  a little bit of glue on your finger and smooth it over the tissue paper, this will just smooth anything down. Let the stem dry for about an hour. 

6. Glue the flower heads together on the stem 

Now everything is dry we get to put them together. Put a flower head face down on the table, this should have the cardboard back facing you, apply glue all over the back of the head. Then lay the tapered end of the stem about half way into the flower, you need a decent amount of the stem in the flower so that it will stand up correctly. Then making sure the petals match up, place the second flower head on the first one sandwiching the stem between the two. 

Let that dry for about an hour.

7. Edging the flowers 

Once those flower heads have dried enough to be secure we can finish the flower heads and leaves. First we will do the flower heads, so taking the same colours you’ve used, roll the tissue paper into balls/tubes. We are going to be gluing these along the edge of the cardboard so that it hides any gaps and cardboard from where we’ve attached the pieces together. Take extra care when manoeuvring around the stem as it can be quite fragile if its tube gets flattened.  

Once the flower heads are done we can do exactly the same thing to the leaves, but we will need to leave a section of the leaves without the edging, as that's how we attach the stem.

8. Attaching the Leaves.

To attach the leaves we need the bare edge of the leaf, this is where it will sit along the stem. Placing them on a flat surface, apply glue to the leaf’s edge and push the two pieces together. You should be able to see the line of glue where it touches the stem. Over that join we can put some of the balled up tissue paper from the edging, this not only hides the join but it also strengthens. 

To help secure this area whilst it dries I recommend using some low tack tape, this is a specific tape that is not very sticky, for example washi tape or masking tape. If you don't have any of this tape, please do not use regular sticky tape as when we remove it, it will do more damage to the tissue paper which we don’t want after all this work!

To use the low tack tape wrap the stem and leaf with the tape so that it holds it together. 

Flip the whole thing over and cover the join to the stem with more tissue paper. Tape this side as well then let the whole thing dry for at least 4 hours. 

9. Finished Flowers

Once the flowers are dried we can carefully remove the low tack tape, check everything is fixed and secure, then we’re done!

Congratulations you have made a tissue paper flower! I really love the way that mine turned out, and I hope you love yours just as much! They’re something so simple and yet it immediately makes you smile, whilst these can be made for fun and any occasion, they’re a perfect gift you can give to your loved ones this mothers day as a flower that can be around all year long as it won’t die! 

If you did create any tissue paper flowers or any of the crafts I would love to see them! Please send it to me on Instagram, email or facebook @/worldofthoodles