Are you looking for a super sweet crepe paper roses tutorial? We’ll we’ve got one! Actually, two – I want to show you how you can make big and little roses. The big ones are great to stick in vases and dress up your home and the smaller ones would be really spiffy in a garland, wreath, or other arrangement.
These will be the kind that you can enjoy looking at year-round, they won’t need water, they won’t wilt or turn brown eventually (and they won’t have thorns, either!😁 )
You can make them conventional colors, like red and pink, or go a little more varied with yellow, white, peach, or blue… It’s all here.
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🌹 Roses are universally viewed as symbols of beauty; even the dried petals get a second life!
Materials List
Quick Links (Click ahead!)
Want to join in? Great! This is what you’ll need:
Some crepe paper – there is light and heavy weights (or you could use streamers, too!)
a pair of pliers
Craft scissors
Some crafting glue (Aleene’s Tacky Glue is good for this)
Some floral wire or some that is a good thickness (like 18 gauge)
Heavy Crepe Paper, English Garden Color SchemeFloral Tools Wire Cutter Stem Wire 22 – 26 Gauge
Premium Crepe Paper Rolls – Shades of Pink
Easy Way to Make Roses From Crepe Paper Streamers
This tutorial is perfect for you if you want to keep things simple! I had a real forehead-slapping moment when I first saw this on video. These roses will look very close to the real thing and all you need is some rolls of the very same crepe paper streamers used for parties and other festivities, some scissors and glue.
All you have to do is take your roll and get the end piece and make a tight roll on the end like this: A few turns should do it.
Then take the streamer and fold it over as you wrap it around the small roll. Keep going like this as often as you want, each time folding the streamer end over, to get the natural look of the petals. In real life, rose petals sometimes look curled and folded.
Practice makes perfect! My first few were not as neat as they could be – so I did have to go back and re-wrap a few times. Also, be sure to hold the budding rose tightly and pinch it at the base a little, so it doesn’t unravel.
Once it’s as big as you want cut off the streamer end and add a dab of glue to secure it. You can make a whole lot of these to use for a garland or wreath. Or if you want to fill a vase with them, you can stick a piece of floral wire into the bud (floral wire is very sharp so it can pierce it easily) Just be sure to take some pliers and twist a little knot on the ends.
How to Make Large Crepe Paper Roses
This approach is a little more advanced than the one above, and it’s ideal if you want to make one or two single roses for decorative purposes. You will need some templates that represent the petals to do this.
I watched an amazing course on Bluprint that was all about making flowers out of paper; it included downloadable templates for the petals and leaves! As a subscriber those are a nice bonus 😊. Here I have cut out all my petal templates for this project, and am good to go!
First task is to create the inner piece of the flower (it’s commonly known as a “stamen”) I’m no florist, but if you look at flowers close up in real life, you know they have that dark center that the petals radiate from.
Take a piece of your crepe paper, and cut it into a rectangle shape like this, about 5″ in length….and gently stretch it…crepe paper is flexible, and made to be stretched a little.
Now fold it in half and take your scissors and cut a layer of fringe along one half up to the line where you creased it. It should look like this.
I ended up using a marker to color this part a slightly darker color. Get your glue and dab a tiny bit going on the edge of the piece in the non-fringed area. Take your wire stem piece and start wrapping the fringed piece, beginning with the glued edge, just twirl it around until it gets to the end. The fringey part should be sticking out like this.
Now if you have any yellow crepe paper here’s a neat trick. Cut a few strips off the edge into tiny confetti sized pieces and just let them fall into the paper plate.
Squirt some glue into the plate and dip the fringey end of the budding stem into t eh glue and then dip into the yellow confetti – this is a great way to add a little real-life detail.
Set it somewhere it will stick up so it can dry, now we’re going to tackle the petals. To make them more realistic, you need to have different size petals in multiple rows.
Have you ever seen a real rose up close, you notice it has light areas and dark areas naturally occurring? That’s what we want to go for.
If you become a subscriber of Bluprint’s community of amazing craft courses, including this one, not only will you get access to the helpful templates, BUT you’ll also get 15% off kits and materials too!
I’m beginning with the template for the first petal and I need to cut 9 of them. To save time, get a long strip of paper and fold it in thirds lengthwise, and then fold it down the middle.
Cut a half petal shape around the folded crease so when it’s opened, you get a petal shape. Kind of like when you make snowflakes out of paper by folding it and cutting different shapes.
Once you have got all the petals cut dab glue on the middle crease of the petal and attach it to the stem right around the fringe area. Repeat with the other petals.
Pro Tip: As you build up the layers of petals, try to increase the petal size by a little bit more with each layer.
Creating the Stem
Now we’re going to craft the leaves…three or four that flank the rose on the underside. I used triangular skinny green paper pieces to create these. Glue them on last.
To tackle the long stem, take some green crepe paper and cut into long strips. Dab a little glue on one side, and then attach to the underside where the leaves went. Spin the rose in one hand while you hold the paper strand in the other, so the paper will cover it evenly.
Glue off the end piece….Last thing we need to do, after letting the glue dry, is some finishing touches.
Add the Finishing Touches
The petals of your newly made crepe paper roses may be a tad stiff, so we’re going to do a little tweaking of the petals to make them look more natural.
You can use a pencil or chopstick; wrap the petals and leaves under to give them a naturally curled look.
This vase of mine is kind of dainty looking, so I thought two roses was just right, Only thing I wish they had was a sweet fragrance…LOL. ❤️️ I also think I should have colored over the pink paper a little bit darker shade so it would blend in better with the red part- I think I may be able to do so, after assembling them; though it may be a little tricky.
Hope you enjoy!🌹A great craft idea for spring bouquets, Valentine’s day, etc. Follow which of these methods you think you will enjoy the most…I think the first way is easier, but you’ll need to make more of them to get a nice “bunch”…I definitely like how realistic they look!
Which of these styles do YOU like the most? Drop me a line in the comments…your thoughts are always welcome.
What a cute idea! This would be so fun to do for spring!
It is fun! Definitely enjoyed the first approach better with the streamer rolls…Now i just need to buy some more wire as I have a few “buds” I need to add stems to 🙂
What a great idea. Looks so cute. Can’t wait to make this.
I used to make crepe paper roses when I was younger. Mine weren’t as pretty though.