Easy Paper Peony Flower Tutorial

I love peonies in general but I do not love making paper peony. They take forever and use a lot of crepe paper. The paper peony is not for a beginner.

So I challenged myself to make one better suited for beginners. A super easy one that doesn’t take an hour to make.

Good news for all paper flower newbies, this paper peony takes only 5 minute and I made 2 types!

The first one uses crepe paper and individual petals.

The second one is intended for cutting machines and can be made with cardstock paper.

Materials for Easy DIY Paper Peony

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Crepe Paper – Its seems everyone buys the Lia Griffith crepe paper. Its pretty good and you can get it from Amazon.

Cardstock – I like to use medium weight cardstock with colored cores. Here are some of my favorite brands:

Glue – I use tacky glue but a glue gun works too. I also use tape too but if you only want to get one adhesive out, glue works.

Paper clips – not absolutely necessary but helps hold the piece in place

Template – Both sets of paper peony templates are available in SVG and Printable formats for free in my resource library.

Tutorial for Easy Crepe Paper Peony

Step 1: Prepare the cutouts

I like to fold the crepe paper accordion style for 3 layers (which makes for 6 petals). I make 2 petals strips using template 1 and 2. I then make the individual petals with template 3 in the same method.

Step 2: Start rolling the Template 1 petal strip

I like to add a little frill tissue strip in at the core but this is optional. Secure the end of the strip in place with tape or glue.

Step 3: Stretch the middle of each petal.

Step 4: Pre-stetch the middle of each petal for the template 2 petal strip

Step 5: Start wrapping the template 2 petal strip around the base.

Step 6: Glue the base of the petal to create a 3D effect

This is wear I like to clip with a paper clip to hold it in place to dry. It doesn’t take long but it helps for a few minutes.

Step 7: Stretch the middle of each petal

Step 8: Glue each petals around the rolled based.

Be sure to off set the petals. I like to use a hair band at the end to hold it in place while the glue is drying.

How to Assemble Cardstock Paper Peony

Step 1: Cut out the templates

I like to use the light grip blue mat for this project. It makes clean up a little faster.

Step 2: Curl the petals

I use a scraper device but a credit card or scissors work as well.

Step 3: Start gluing the petal strips together in a loop

Step 4: Glue the smallest single piece cutout into a bulb

Step 5: Glue the bulb to the next largest cutout

I like to glue it to the base and then glue each petal overlapping each other.

Step 6: Continue gluing each layer working towards the largest piece

Step 7: Glue the optional outer most petals

I’ve also included some optional single petals for the last loop of petals. This is intended for you to have a little more positional control on where each petal goes.