Tissue Paper Flowers

I'm jumping straight into paper flower making mode for my sister's wedding and I'm starting off slow with these easy tissue paper flowers. These would be great to use as aisle markers (in a larger form), cupcake toppers, or even filling in volume in a centerpiece or bouquet. They have some big bonus rewards in that they are easy enough even children could help make them by the boatload, and they come in a huge variety of colors (you are only limited by the colors of tissue paper you can find). Here is a great online shop with tons of colors you can choose from if you are without a nice party supply shop nearby. These flowers also have a variety of looks depending on how you trim your edges.

Aside from possible wedding decor, these would be great to use at a birthday party, or just to brighten up your home any old day of the week.

To make these tissue paper flowers all you will need is:

Tissue paper in your desired color
A pair of scissors
Floral wire


Start by cutting your tissue paper to size. For these small flowers, I used 4 sheets of tissue paper cut to 4"x5". Stack them on top of each other, and fold like an accordion as pictured below.

Next, find the middle of your accordion folded paper (it's easiest to just fold your paper in half again, you won't see any fold lines in your finished product). Using a piece of floral wire about 6 or 7 inches long (also folded in half) secure your paper by twisting the wire around the center of your paper like so:

I find it is easiest to work with these in a variety of ways if I leave a longer wire stem. So I twist the remainder of my wire all the way down. You can cover this with floral tape later of you wish.

Now, you get to decide what kind of edge your flower petals will have. A soft, rounded edge will give you a rounder finished flower. A sharp, triangular cut, will give you something spikier, almost like a sea urchin. You can also use pinking shears or other decorative scissors before you fold your paper to get a more subtle edge. I chose a rounded edge for this tutorial.

To make poofing out your flower petals easier, I recommend fanning out your flower before you begin, like so:

Now, all you have to do is gently pull up on each layer of tissue paper and fluff as necessary to achieve a finished look. Be careful not to tear your paper, but don't worry if you get a little snag here or there. These flowers are particularly forgiving.

Continue separating and fluffing each layer of tissue until you are done. If you want a fuller flower, feel free to use more layered sheets. You can also do multiple colors. If you want the middle of your flower to be white, make sure you have a white sheet of tissue on top of your paper pile before you fold, tie etc.

Here is my finished flower:

It can now be used as I see fit! These would even make a cute hair accessory for my nieces!