I love planning all aspects of a party (hello food!) but one area I truly enjoy is decor. Now decor can add up super fast (HOW much for those cake stands?!) therefore I try to throw in some homemade options when possible to keep the cost down. One of my fav items to make for a party are tissue flowers!

They are easy to make, cost effective and can be themed to any colour! Technically they can also be purchased but I have seen the Martha Stewart packages at Micheal’s and for 3 measly flowers it was $14.00! Now I love Martha (she has a lot of my money and bookshelf space) but I cannot fathom spending that much money on tissue paper! Especially on something so easy to make yourself.

Tissue flowers work well as table decor, party backdrops, hanging features, wall decor etc….so many different things! As I mentioned above you can customize their colours, shapes, sizes etc. to help fit your requirements.

JMS TIP – Be creative! I have added the flowers as decor on a diaper cake, made hair accessories with them and strung them all together into one large banner. Think outside the box where you can utilize them!

STEPS TO MAKING TISSUE FLOWERS:

1. Purchase tissue paper in the colours coordinating with your theme. I purchased a pack of tissue paper which comes standard on my end with 20 sheets. Depending on what sizes you prefer this would make about 2 large ones or 1 large and a few small/medium.

2. Lay out the tissue paper on a flat surface and stack 8-10 pieces together. The tissue paper should measure around 50 cm x 66 cm. This size will make a large tissue flower. For a smaller size you only need about 6 pieces stacked together.

3. Starting at the bottom fold the paper about 1 1/2 inches up. Turn the whole square over and do the same on that end. Keep folding in this accordion style until you are left with one long strip.

4. Find the middle (or fold in half to check) and tie a ribbon around the area to secure the folds. Use a long ribbon as this will allow you to hang the flower if required.

5. Once you have everything tied together, focus on cutting the ends. Depending on how you cut the edges determines how your flower will look. I choose to round the ends but you can leave them pointy or zig zag them. This will all change the shape of the overall flower. Also depending on how much length you cut off will determine how big the slower will be in diameter. For smaller flowers I cut off an extra 1-3 inches before I round the edges.

6. Now comes the most frustrating part……I mean fun part! Slowly start pulling the tissue paper apart from each other. It will look a little crazy and it may rip but stick to it. You can’t tell what it will look like until the end but it always turns out! Try to go as slow as possible and take your time as you separate the layers.

7. Fluff up the puff and you are done! Viola! If you end up not needing to hang the flower you can cut off the string you added or tie is up and hide it in the middle of the flower.

Have you tried making tissue paper flowers for decor?
What’s your favourite DIY decor hack?