Decor DIY: How to make large paper pansies

What kind of crafts do you like to make?

I admit that I’m not a very crafty person.  But I knew that I wanted to make paper flowers for my daughter’s first birthday party.  I gravitated toward a theme of flowers (DIY magnolias were also part of the mix).  Perhaps it was something about a theme about blooming and growing.  Or maybe it was also because it was easy decor that I could later save and put into her room.

I wanted to create something meaningful, but simple and was inspired by these contrasting colored pansies.

The shape is simple, full and bold.  I decided to make a variation on a pansy because these would all be wall ornaments and would need a little more dimension that isn’t typically in a pansy (i.e. there is usually no long visible stamen or center).  Thus these pseudo pansies have fluffy faux stamen to add a little texture and also to cover the glued parts in the center.
I used them as part of the backdrop for my daughter’s party and was pretty happy with them.  I’m putting them on a flower wall for my daughter’s room as well!

Gather these materials:

• Cardstock in the petal color of your choice
• Scissors
• Pencil and eraser
• Strong glue/glue gun
• Tissue paper (optional for fluffy stamen)
• Marker for drawing center lines

These are the steps I took to create these giant pansies:

1. Draw a single petal on the cardstock(s).  A free form petal is fine, but you can also out the first petal and use it as a stencil for subsequent petals.

a. Note that petals should be quite wide.  My petals were about 11″ wide and 10″ tall.

b. Leave a base of about 1.5″-2″ so it is easy to attach at the center.  I made the petals in the contrasting color a little bigger.

2. Cut 5-6 petals out (usually 3-4 in one color and 1-2 in the other color).  Curl petals but rolling them lengthwise towards the center.
3. Gather all petals and place them for glueing together.  Place a petal on top of another petal at about a 45 degree angle from the right corner.  Glue the intersection.

4. Continue with all petals.

5. Draw center lines if you are doing this.

6. [Optional for faux stamen] Take a strip of crepe paper (maybe 12″) and fold it lengthwise.  Cut parallel 1/2″ cuts across the entire strip.  Roll crepe paper into a circle shape.

7. Glue crepe paper to center and/or draw veins in the center of the flower.  The veining looks like random tree branches and comes in various heights with one branch maybe having one or two twigs attached to it.

8. Arrange and re-curl petals as needed.

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