Easy Ways of Making Crepe Paper Flowers

Making crepe paper flowers may bring back memories of kindergarten or elementary art class but really, there is no more inexpensive and simple way to add color and decoration to your baby shower party area. You can make the crepe paper flowers in many different sizes from outrageous to delicate, and in many different colors as well.

You don't need too much equipment for this, just crepe or tissue paper in the colors that you like, plain and decorative edged scissors, and twist ties or covered floral wire. You could also add some green floral tape and artificial foliage to this, if you think it necessary.

Cut the paper into the desired lengths (twelve inches long makes a blossom about nine inches wide) and stack the colors that you like one on top of the other. Fold the paper accordion style, with each fold about an inch or so wide. Fold the paper in half as if you were making a fan and cut a v-shape at the folded side. Pass the floral wire over the 'v' and twist the wire together to both secure and form the stem of the flower.

Fan out the sheets of crepe paper to form the flowers. Separate the layers to make a really fluffy, poofy flower. The shorter the sheets of paper are, the stiffer the flower will be. You can fluff up the layers to make them more natural looking.

The flowers can be varied by layering the colors that you use. For example, the papers can be layered in red, red-orange, orange, dark yellow and light yellow. After they are folded and secured, the center of the flower will be yellow and the colors get gradually deeper until they reach the last, red layer.

The edges can also be shaped a bit to vary. The corners of the rectangle can simply be deadened with a plain scissor or the edges can be made more fancy with the decorative edged scissors.

The edges can also be “pulled” a bit to ruffle the petals. This is done by simply holding the crepe paper in your hands and using your thumbs, stretching the crepe paper to the left and right to make it a little looser than the other parts of the flower. This will give your crepe paper flower a mature, blowsy, look.

To add some foliage to the flowers, start be covering the base of the flower with green floral tape before you fluff out the folds. Gradually turn the twisted wires and roll the tape over, overlapping the ends. At points on the stem, attach some of the leaves by taping their stems to the main stem with the floral wire. Continue covering the wire stem until it reaches the end.

If the flowers get a bit crushed during transport, you can reshape and refresh them by exposing them to a clothes steamer or a steam iron. It will erase any wrinkles or errant folds and allow you to shape them as they were originally.