Easy Paper Flowers | Beginners Start with this FREE Template
Paper flowers are gorgeous but if you are new to creating them, the templates and SVG files can be overwhelming. Start with this free easy paper flower template to begin your paper crafting journey!
You can find a few flower templates listed in my Community SVG files but for this tutorial you will want to download the “fall flower” template. Its a four layered flower SVG file that has a simple center. If you are a paper flower novice, I promise this will be easy peasy. They took me less than 5 minutes to assemble and the result is beautiful and elegant. They are great for cake toppers, cards, and wall decor.
Materials Needed for Your Easy Paper Flowers
There truly aren’t many tools and materials needed for these flowers, which makes them even better! You can honestly make them with just paper and glue but here are my suggestions:
- Cricut, Silhouette or other cutting machine
- Card stock paper – I suggest a 65-80 pound weight for your paper. I like using Printworks DIY.
- Glue – I am using craft glue by Bearly Arts (you can use code DINOMAMA for 10% off your order). Their glue dries quickly and is clear so I love using it for flowers but you can also use hot glue if it’s what you prefer.
- I am going to be using a bone tool – one of my favorite tools to have for paper crafting – however you can also use a popsicle stick or even just your fingers.
- Optional: I ended up putting a single sequin right in the center of my flower but this was just my preference, you can leave it out as well.
Thats it! Truly only two items needed to create these (plus the template) so let’s get started!!
Cricut Design Space Set Up
First you need to make sure you have downloaded and saved the free SVG file to your computer or iPad. Next, we can upload the file into Cricut Design Space to see the layers. The file is going to upload around 7 inches by 7 inches. I start by resizing. For these I suggest 3-4 inches but you can make them as big or small as you like. I went with three inches for my pink flowers.
Now you’re also going to see that each layer is a different color. I changed all my layers to the same color but you can mix and match however you please. I also made my center black. These flowers are only five layers, two larger and two smaller plus the center. Just make sure after cutting that you keep the proper pieces together. Duplicate as you need to make more than one!
I cut my flowers on medium card stock and fast mode. This is a personal preference and when I am making a lot of flowers, I like them to be cut out quickly. Keep in mind, these settings may not work for you if your blade isn’t sharp or if your paper is thicker.
Assembling the Easy Paper Flowers
I am not making it up when I say these are easy. You can even fold and curl multiple layers at once so that you can assemble them even faster.
I start by folding the petals in towards the center. This just gives a slight slant up in the petals so they look like they have a little volume.
Next, I pinch the center. You can do this with your fingers, grab the petal on each side between your thumb and pointer finger. Then fold but do not crease. This works best if you’re doing more than one layer at once. You can also place your bone tool down the middle of the petal and fold around it to avoid a sharp crease. We want it to have a U shaped bend not a fold. I work my way around and do this to each petal.
Then you want to curl the edge of the peal out. I use the tip of my bone tool to give a slight curve down away from the center. You want to do this on both sides of the petals so that they make a wave. Once you have all your petals shaped in this way, we can start building.
This is beyond easy – you will layer the petals larger on the bottom. You will take the two large pieces and cross them so the petals on top are in between the petals on the bottom. Because we shaped the petals with that wave and bent them in towards the center, they should have height between each layer.
Then we add one of the smaller layers – this will be the same direction as the very bottom piece, then turn the top piece, and glue that on as well.
As for the center, you can glue it down completely, or you can pull the triangles up slightly. I placed my sequin in the center for a little bling but again this is totally optional. I suggest pulling the centers up slightly before gluing down or making sure you only glue around the edge if you want to add those heightened pieces in the middle. Once they are glued down, they will be very difficult to undo. You don’t want to do this work to have centers you hate!
That is it! Simple, easy paper flowers perfect for Cricut beginners. These can be used in so many different crafts, the color combos are endless, and they are a great start on your paper flower journey.
If you are ready to tackle more paper flowers – check out my rainbow rose or my halloween daisy tutorials – you will be a master paper flower artist in no time! These also include free paper flower SVG files for commercial use! Check out my full commercial use license here.
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