The common buttercup is actually part of the ranunculus flower family but looks nothing like their other multiple petal layered cousin.

I guess if you look closely at the stamen of the buttercup, it looks like a bunch of underdeveloped petals so, from that perspective, I could see a connection.

I mostly just want to wanted to do another project in this flower family so I probably spelling the word “ranunculus” over and over and again because I can’t seem to remember the sequence of n’s and u’s for the life of me.

My son is learning sight words in school right now and I get frustrated at him because he can’t seem to remember the simplest of words. I probably should be too hard on him given my spelling abilities have regressed to a second-grade level with all this auto-correct and grammar checks in every device I use. (You’ll have to excuse all the grammatical errors in my tutorials, I’m just mostly too tired to prioritize this above just getting the article out. I will eventually get around to correcting everything.)

But I digress…

Back to buttercups. This paper flower was incredibly easy to make, you really can’t mess it up. It’s simple but quite cute, just like the real thing.

*this article contains affiliate links for your convenience, see full disclosures here

Materials for Paper Buttercup

Cardstock – I used a medium weight (65lb) cardstock for this project. Here are some of my favorite brands:

• Assorted Starter Pack – Basic assorted colors, great starter pack, perfect weight for most papercraft projects
• Cricut Joy Insert Card Packs – You don’t have to use these with the Cricut Joy, they are nice material kids for cardmaking.
• Cardstock Warehouse Brand on Amazon – I love the quality of all the matte-colored cardstock with Cardstock Warehouse. It is my go-to brand for individual matte colors that I might need
• Poptone Assorted Variety Pack – This is the perfect peppy assortment of colors of heavy cardstock. It’s a heavy cardstock assortment with colors I actually use frequently for cardmaking.
• Seasonal Assorted Variety Pack – This is a slight variation on the Poptone assortment and has a quite few neutrals that complement almost any accent color.
• Stardream Metallics Line – For paper crafts, the Stardream line is the go-to for a metallic shimmer finish. It is the perfect sheen to make any project pop. The core is also colored is which hard to find for metallic paper.

Cutting Machine – I use a Cricut. Check out my recommendations for Cricut machines and accessories for beginners for more info.

Template – This buttercup template is available in both SVG and printable format for free in my resource library.

Get access to all my project templates and printables.

Join my templates and tutorials newletter and get access to 100+ FREE SVG cut files and printable templates starting with this one.

Yes, please!

Unsubscribe at any time.

How to assemble a paper buttercup

Step 1: Cut all the petals and layers from the template

I used my Cricut with the blue light grip mat for this project.

The default template makes a flower that is about 3 inches wide which I know is way bigger than the real thing but I injured my thumb the other day and had trouble making it smaller. You will have to resize it for a smaller more realistic flower.

Step 2: Curl the petals

For the individual petals, I just rolled the out edge inward with a pen. I then curled the base with a scraper.

For the stamen layers, I used a scraper to curl the outer edges. Be sure to hold base of the petal firm as you are doing this or you risk pulling the petal off altogether.

Step 3: Glue the petals in place

I included an octagon shape for a reference base to keep the petals aligned.

After gluing the petals, I just glue each stamen layer on top of each other.

Related Articles:

All rolled paper flowers

Paper Daisies

DIY Paper Gardenia