Paper Peonies in Bloom: Craft an Imperial Garden at Home

What could be better than a bouquet of fresh peonies on your kitchen table? A bouquet of paper peony flowers that will look vibrant year-round — plus, you won’t need to shake the ants out when you bring them inside!

Follow this easy guide to making your own beautiful blooms at home in less than 15 minutes. Watch the video and follow along with the instructions below.

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut the tissue paper into squares. Make the yellow squares smaller than the pink squares as these will form the stamen of the flower. We used sheets that were 25x25 cm and 13x13 cm. The larger your pink squares are, the larger your finished peony will be. Try experimenting with different sizes! 

Step 2: Stack 7 layers of pink tissue paper and 3 sheets of yellow tissue paper. Fold the squares into thin accordion pleats with the yellow tissue paper on top of the pink tissue paper. Don’t worry about making these folds symmetrical! 

Step 3: Wrap a green pipe cleaner around the centre of the folded tissue paper. This will be your stem, so make it as long or short as you’d like. Using the scissors, shape the ends of the folded tissue paper into a rounded or slightly pointed tip. 

Step 4: With the yellow tissue paper facing upward, gently fan out the accordion pleats and separate the tissue paper layers. Try to “fluff” the petals as close to the centre as possible to avoid tearing the tissue paper. If you accidentally rip some petals though, don’t despair! Rips and tears are easily hidden in the layers of petals with some strategic arranging. 

Now that you’ve finished your first paper peony bloom, you can experiment with more colour combinations and petal shapes. Replace the smaller yellow sheets with the same colour as your tissue paper petals for a “golden circle” or “anemone” variation. Try using two different petal colours for added depth, or cutting the petals into a sharper point to create more peony varieties. 

Happy crafting!