How to Make Paper Lavender Flowers

Spring is on the way, and with the whacky winter we have had, I am ready for bright colors, sunshine and flowers. So, I have taken to making paper flowers. And I thought I would start off by learning how to make paper lavender flowers, as they look so beautiful.

So let’s jump in!

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Supplies needed to make paper lavender flowers

The supplies for this project are pretty simple but to keep things organized, here is what we need to make paper lavender flowers:

Cardstock – Lavender is purple, so you want to use purple cardstock. It can be a dark shade, a light shade, or a combination. You can even use a completely different color if you prefer. I use Recollections brand cardstock – you can get some here.
Glue – You have several options for glue, but you need glue. So here are your choices, and some notes to consider when picking the correct glue
- Craft glue – I use Barely Art Craft Glue – you can get it here – I find this works great with paper crafts and dries quickly. I used this to make paper lavender flowers, and it worked well. My only warning is that you have to hold the flower petals in place for a few moments while the glue dries to make sure it all stays together afterwards.
- Hot glue – I use my glue gun and hot glue sticks – I found that this helped with a dab of glue at the top to hold the paper in place, and then a small dab of glue at the end to finish off the flower. The only warning I have about using hot glue for this activity is that you will need to squish the paper around the glue, so you may burn yourself if you are not careful.
- Double-sided tape – I know this isn’t glue, but you can also use clear double-sided tape. This allows you to avoid glue, but I find over time, tape likes to release around the bottom edge, so you may need to reinforce it with glue.
Flower Stems – I use green metal flower stems. You can buy these at your local dollar store or craft store, but you can also get a set here. Something to keep in mind the thinner the stem, the harder it will be to roll. For these paper flowers, I recommend a thicker stem, such as this one.
Scissors/paper cutter – For this craft, I didn’t use my Cricut. I just used scissors and a paper cutter.
Scoring pen – This is to help fold your paper, but any hard edge will work.
Straight edge or a Ruler – to make a straight line for your scoring me.

Now that we have all our supplies ready, it is time to start making these paper lavender flowers!

With all our supplies in hand, it is time to make these beautiful flowers!

Cutting the Lavender petals

To make paper flowers, we need to make petals! For this project, I opted not to use my Cricut, because I was feeling too lazy to sit and design something. So, I did the following:

Using my paper cutter and an 8.5″ x 11″ purple piece of cardstock, I cut a 1.5″ wide strip of paper. I cut these 1.5″ strips lengthwise down the paper so they would be 11″ long. I then cut the remainder of the paper, so I had several strips of paper cut.

cutting paper for lavender paper flowers

My next step was to add a score line in the middle of each 1.5″ strip. Simply taking my ruler and scoring pen, I ran a line through the center of the 1.5″ strip (at about 0.75″) down the length of the paper. If the line is not perfectly straight, that is ok. That will give your flower some character. Next, fold the paper strip in half along the score line.

Now for the fun part – we cut little strips into the paper! All you have to do is cut about 3/4 of the way through the width of the paper, at about 1/8″ apart with scissors. Proceed to cut the whole way down the length of the paper. You do not need to measure the distance. Simply eyeball it and keep cutting. Do this with all of your 1.5″ strips.

Assembling your Paper flower

When it comes to assembling these paper lavender flowers, there are a few things that we can to do make them pop. So, bear with me. This is just a simple thing, but it will make a difference to your final flowers.

In my flowers, I cut out 2 different shades of purple. A dark and a light. For each metal stem, I have planned to make a slightly different variation of the flower. I did the following:

Just dark purple
Just light purple
Dark purple with light purple inside
Light purple with dark purple inside.

The flowers that are one color do not need any prep before we assemble them to the stem. The two-color flowers need to be glued together. I ran a small bead of glue along the inside fold of the outer color and placed the inner color inside. You do not need to glue them, but helps to keep them in place in the next step.

I did a few different variations of gluing the petals onto the stem. So here are your options:

Use craft glue –Run a bead of glue along the bottom (uncut) edge of the purple petals. Then, slowly roll the petals around the stem at about a 45-degree angle until the petal paper ends. Once you reach the end, hold the petal in place until the glue dries.
Hot glue – drop a bead of glue at the top of the petals. Then, slowly roll the petals around the stem at about a 45-degree angle until the petal paper ends. Once you reach the end, apply another dab of hot glue to the end of the petals and hold it against the stem.
Using double-sided clear tape – apply the tape along the bottom (uncut) edge of the purple petals. Then, slowly roll the petals around the stem at about a 45-degree angle until the petal paper ends. Once you reach the end, you may be required to add a drop of glue to the petal if your tape does not hold well.

I found that using hot glue worked best, and with the craft glue and the tape, I needed to add a drop of hot glue at the end of the petals to keep the petals in place.

Optional – add green leaves to the flower stem

If you want the bottom of your lavender to look finished, you can add a piece of green paper to the bottom of the petals. This will hide the bottom edge of the petals. But this is not required.

Display your flowers

Once your flowers are done, you can put them into a vase so they are displayed, or give them as a gift or any way you would like to display them!

And there you have it! Your Paper Lavender Flower are done!

Things I Learned Along the way while making paper lavender flowers

As with every craft, I have learned something new this time. Or, maybe not new, but rather, something I remembered I learned before and thought it was worth sharing again. So, here are my big takeaways from this craft:

Cutting 10-20 pieces of cardstock a bunch of times with scissors is rather painful on your hand. By the time I was done cutting all the notches in the main paper strip, my pointer finger was purple and had a nice indent from my scissors.
My design relies on using a folded strip of paper. The intention of this was to provide more little petals within the flower. However, doing this would sometimes cause the paper to buckle and fold weirdly around the stem. Using a single piece of cardstock or two separate sheets produces a smoother result around the stem. Keep in mind you will not see the base of the paper on the stem until the last row, so it is not a deal breaker.
Stem size matters – in the past, I have used thicker flower stems. But the dollar store by my house did not have any in stock, so I opted to buy some on Amazon. It is always hard to tell what you are going to get, and I ended up getting a much thinner stem than I have worked with before. Although it did the job, I found that the thinner stem made it harder to roll the paper around, but sometimes it also resulted in ripping the paper while it was being rolled.
When cutting the petals, there were a few times when I cut all the way through. These pieces were still salvageable. I simply glued them inside another piece.

Frequently Asked Questions about Paper lavender Flowers

What is the best paper to use when making paper lavender flowers:

I find that using 65-80lb cardstock works best. The thicker the paper, the harder it is to roll.

Ideas for incorporating different materials into paper lavender flowers?

My very first attempt at making a lavender flower was actually made with foam paper. I just happened to have some out for some reason. So, I gave it a try, and it turned out great. So, cardstock is not your only option.

I did find that making this particular flower, foam paper was much easier to work with. Although the supply I have has fewer shades and colors to work with.

How to add fragrance to paper lavender flowers?

If you want your paper flowers to have a scent and seem more real, there are a few things that you can do to make them more life-like.

You can lightly spray your flowers with some lavender essential oils. This will provide a nice subtle smell, so long as you don’t overdo the spraying.
You can tuck a small packet of dried lavender into the vase you are displaying the lavender in.

Creative ways to display paper lavender flowers?

All of my flowers end up in a vase. Since I have been making several different types, I have been keeping all of my flowers in separate vases.

However, there are many other options for these flowers:

These purple flowers add a wonderful accent color to any flower arrangement, so including them with other flowers always looks wonderful.
You can use these flowers as a gift box topper. You can adorn a gift with these flowers on top included with the ribbon, or attached to a card.
Since these flowers use metal stems, the stems can be bent and put into decorative wreaths.
These flowers can be added to centerpieces on your table or mantle.
They can be framed in a shadow box to make a beautiful picture.

Tips for making paper lavender flowers look more realistic?

In nature, although things often look perfect and symmetric, that is not always the case. These little imperfections are what make them beautiful. So, when something goes wrong, it is not the end of the world. Some things I did that added a bit more lifelike characteristics to the flowers:

Some flowers had longer stems than others.
Some flowers had longer flower portions than others.
I used 2 different shades of purple.
- Some flowers were dark purple,
- Some flowers were light purple and
- Some flowers were a combination of light and dark purple. Even simply switching the way the paper is lined up will make a difference. Light purple on the outside and purple on the inside, versus dark paper on the outside and light paper on the inside.

All these little variations will add a more lifelike look to your flowers.