DIY Paper Flower Supplies: Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Realistic Blooms

Tools to Cut Your Paper Petals

Cutting paper flower petals is a major aspect of crafting these beauties. There are some particular tools I recommend to get the cut just right.

Using A Cutting Machine For Paper Flowers

Cricut Cutting Machine: Maybe you are someone like me who really loves this paper flower thing, then you are definitely going to want to invest in a cutting machine – this is a must-have on my paper flower supplies list!

I personally use and HIGHLY recommend Cricut machines. Not only can the machine help you make stunning paper blooms, but it opens up a new world of craft possibilities!

Using a cutting machine to make paper flowers also gives you make freedom to create different sizes by scaling the SVG files in software like Design Space.

If you aren’t sure which Cricut machine is a good fit for you, I can help with that too. Get a full comparison of the Explore and Maker machines here!

Likewise, you can check out other cutting machine brands such as Silhouette, Scan N Cut, etc.

Cutting Paper Flowers by Hand With Scissors

Scissors: For simplistic flower petal shapes and a patient hand, cutting with scissors and using printable PDF files is a great way to get started with easily making paper flowers. Even though I usually use my Cricut cutting machine, it is necessary to have a good pair of craft scissors in your workspace at all times.

Fringe Scissors (a.k.a herb scissors): Every time I show off these fringe scissors in a video, everyone wants to know where to find them! Most often, I use these scissors for detailed flower centers. These are commonly known as herb scissors and can be found on Amazon or even in grocery stores.

Pinking Shears: Some of the best techniques are ones that you invent! This is a little trick to adding texture to the edges of your flower centers. I like to use this trick most often with my pompom center! Using the pinking sheers creates a pointed edge rather than a boxy one, and therefore, it looks more natural.

Detail Scissors: I didn’t use to use detail scissors, but after picking up a pair, I realized how useful they are! Use these for correcting small cuts or adding intricate details.

Flower Punches: In this step, I also like to throw in flower punches and flower die cuts because if you are making these paper flowers by hand, there will be times when the center of small flowers is just too intricate to cut by hand. In that case, swap the flower center for a flower punch to save your hands and time!

How to Curl and Shape Petals For Paper Flowers

Curling a paper flower petal is what makes the entire flower come to life. From a flat 2D piece of paper to a 3D blooming beauty jumping out at you, curling and shaping techniques are very key!

Wood Dowel: The first option I use most often is a thin wood dowel. Using a wood dowel is very effective in curling petals at angles. I usually opt for 1/4 – 1/2-inch wood dowels.

Paper Blooms Shaping Mat and Tool Set: This is my absolute FAVORITE way to shape petals! The Paper Blooms shaping mat and toolset lets you cup petals, curl petals, add ridges and veins, and overall take your flowers to the next level!

Cricut Scraper: The last way I shape my petals or leaves is with a paper craft scraper tool. Since I use a Cricut machine, I love the Cricut scraper. This tool gives you the ability to curl crisp curves on leaves and petals quickly.

Quilling Tool: Quilling tools are perfect for helping you roll rosette flowers together in a flash! Take a peek at how I roll my flowers with these quilling tools on Instagram.

I also recently discovered this Flowtool, which is great for rolling rosettes easily!

Distress Inks and Oxide: How To Add Color To Petals

If you really want to make your paper flowers look life-like, consider adding some ink to the edges or centers. This step takes a little more time but is well worth the results!

Stamp Ink: Using ink to distress my flower petals is usually my go-to option. There are so many great inks out there, but I highly recommend Tim Holtz Ink and Color Box!

Pan Pastels: Pan pastels are a more recent discovery of mine. I love how easy it is to blend colors with the pastels. If blending is what you are after, then pan pastels are for you!

Paint/Pens: Never underestimate the power of the pen! Pen and paints are a great option for dressing up any paper flower petal. Watercolors are the best for painting petals! Whether you want to free-hand some designs or have your Cricut draw some details onto a leaf, at some point, be sure to give it a try.

Brushes and Ink Daubers: My favorite ways to apply the distress inks/oxides and pan pastels is with an ink blending brush and finger daubers. And you will love this glass craft board for blending and experimenting with your colors! You’ll be amazed at how much lifelike detail can be added with the shading and depth effects from inks and oxides!

The image below was a shared photo inside my Facebook group from a Grandmother who had her grandkids color the petals, and then she built a flower out of it! Such an original idea and so beautiful!

The Best Glue For Paper Flowers

There are quite a few other necessary supplies for paper flower making. Let’s cover those next!

Glue Gun: Of course, we will need something to hold all those petals together! I always opt to use a glue gun because it holds well and dries quickly, which is exactly what you are looking for when you are making paper flowers!

It can be ideal to have both a larger and mini glue gun on hand for working with both giant and small paper flowers. My favorite brand is Surebonder, and you want to opt for a high temp hot glue gun.

And to protect those fingers, check out these finger protectors!

Bearly Art Glue: Occasionally, there will be a paper type that hot glue may not agree with – this happens to me every once and a while with glitter or metallic paper.

In that case, I love to use the Bearly Art brand! Their glue dries clear and relatively quickly. This is also great if you are making flowers with kids or anyone you don’t want working with hot glue.

Supplies for stemming paper flowers

Wire for Stemming: When it comes to stemming a paper flower, arranging them on a wreath, or in bouquets, you need a reliable floral wire for your blooms.

I have always been happy using 18-gauge wire. It is strong enough that your flower won’t droop and flexible enough that you can bend it as needed. In some cases, you may need a thinner wire for more delicate blooms or paper leaves. In that case, I recommend a 22 gauge wire.

You may also need to have some needlenose pliers and wire clippers on hand. I like this plier and clipper set here.

Floral Tape: To cover your wire with a more finished look, opt for floral tape in a variety of colors.

Cotton Spun Balls and Wood Beads: I love to find objects that I can use to build petals onto. Using these cotton spun balls, and wood beads are perfect for detailed centers for flowers. I also have used 8-12mm pearls as stoppers on wires or to create small center stamen like this poinsettia here.

Supplies For Hanging Giant Paper Flowers

With giant paper flowers, you need to think about how you will hang them. Big flowers are assembled with large petals and then a base. The base provides the perfect area for attaching a means to hang the flowers. Read my full resource on hanging giant flowers here.

Here are a couple of quick highlights for mounting large flowers onto a wall.

Command Strips: Sticky command strips or velcro command strips work great for sticking large paper flowers to a wall and are usually my first choice since they are damage free.

Mounting Tape: Mounting tape is just like command strips but heavier duty and something you want to use for more permanent use.

Paper Flower Supplies – Arrangements and Bouquets

In addition to the supplies above, there are some other items that you may want for creating paper flower arrangements, bouquets, corsages, etc.

Pins: Pins are important when it comes to creating corsages and boutonnieres. To pin a boutonniere on lapels, I like to use straight pins like these here.

If you are working with a corsage, you may want the option of a flat back pin that can be glued onto the back of your flowers and pinned directly onto a dress.

Slap Bands: Okay, I know half of you are thinking, did she just say slap bands? Yes, slap bands – that’s not a typo.

Slap bands work amazingly well for wrist corsages! This idea came to me when I was playing around with slap bands to hold my vinyl rolls together (an extra bonus idea for you!).

You can find inexpensive slap bands that can be wrapped in ribbon to dress them up and then glue your flowers right on top!

Ribbon: Where there are paper flowers, there is ribbon! I LOVE to play with ribbon in my pictures and arrangements. I have one favorite source, Anastasia Marie Shop, for specialty ribbons that really stands out.

Styling Bouquets and Arrangements

Foam Ball: We touched on foam and cotton spun balls above, but you also may need larger foam balls when building a bouquet! I like to use an 8-10 inch foam ball for my bouquets, but I have gone up to 12-inch options for a bigger look. I always cut my foam balls in half for a more natural look.

In addition to foam balls, you may also want foam circles to stack inside vases or planters. This will help you arrange stems with support.

Wreath Base: Creating wreaths with paper flowers is really fun. There are some different options for bases to build upon. The first option I like to use is a foam circle base.

As an alternative, you can also use a natural vine wreath or even embroidery hoops!

Vases: If you are building arrangements, you will need vases. Vases can be found at home goods stores and craft stores, but I also love and have bought several of these minimalist vases. Etsy also has some amazing vase options as well.

Vase Fillers: Vase fillers help your flowers stay stable and upright in your arrangements. Fillers can get expensive, but I have found a few cheap alternatives.

First, when you need to just fill space, I recommend using foam beads (the kind you use for homemade slime) as vase fillers! This is a very economical option. You can also use some stone fillers.

For more help with floral arrangements, check out my cascading paper flower bouquet tutorial and my holiday table arrangement design!