Easy Mexican Paper Flower Tutorial – Hispanic Heritage Month

A friend helped to create this Mexican paper flower tutorial for Day of the Dead celebrations and Hispanic Heritage Month, but really, paper flowers not hard to make at all. They and Papel Picado (tissue paper cutout banner) are ubiquitous across Latin America as decorations for any festive occasion.  For Day of the Dead you might choose to recreate the “flower of the dead”, a marigold,  after learning how to in our Mexican paper FLower Tutorial or simply create colorful flowers to decorate your home as an ofrenda.

Paper Flowers are easy to make and so beautiful. We used them to decorate Alina’s third birthday festivities and to learn about Mexican Day of the Dead last year. Since I’ve been crazy busy lately, I asked a few friends to help me out with this Paper Flower tutorial. This post has been sitting in draft for a long time and they finally got it to see the light of day! Thanks so much, ladies!

How to make crepe Paper Flowers – Step by step

You’ll need…

tissue paper in any colors

scissors

green pipe cleaners

• You’ll start by cutting out the tissue paper into perfect squares according to the size paper flower you want to make and lay between 3 and 6 sheets squarely on top of one another
• Next you’ll fold the paper accordion style from one end to the other
• When your paper is completely folded cut a piece of pipe cleaner and wrap it around the Center of your accordion folded rectangle to secure the center.
• Lift the paper up separate sheets and twist slightly from the center to create more natural “petals” .  Adjust until you are satisfied with the look.
• Use the remaining pipe cleaner to create a stem so you can bundle your flowers or you could simply attach them in a garland fashion with string .

Fun Day of the Dead Crafts

Paper flowers are great craft projects for the Day of The Dead, Noche Buena or even a birthday party. You can make your paper flowers any color or size .  You can bedazzle them or stiffen the paper with specialty sprays you can find at any craft store to keep them looking beautiful longer ( or try aerosol hairspray or starch)  I hope you have fun whenever you and your children decide to craft festive paper flowers.