Making flowers from punched shapes is my favorite way to use my punches. One company even makes punch sets specific for flower making. You’ll need more than just a few punched shapes, but the extra work is worth it.
Steps
1. Flat.
The simplest way to use punch flowers is to just use them flat on your card, art journal, wall art or other crafted item. Here are a few ideas to get your experimentation started.
- Small flowers randomly placed for a background
- Grouped flowers with drawn stems with a ribbon tying the bouquet
- Drawn grass edge on bottom edge with random flowers
- Pot or jar with flowers coming out of the top
By using single punched, flat flowers, you can make cards for mailing through the post office.
2. Layer.
Layering flowers of different-sized shapes is another way to use punched flowers. We can move beyond the flat items in the step above. Here’s some ideas for more experimentation.
- Nested flowers with the same shape, but different sizes
- Nested flowers with varying color and patterned papers
- Large flower with a circle photo center, used flat or placed on a “stem” to make a gift bouquet
- Large flower with a circle center with sayings or words
3. Fold.
Folded flowers from paper is another way to make flowers. If you fold a flower from a piece of origami paper, you can use a punch to make a smaller square to start from, resulting in a smaller flower that you can put on cards, tags and more. You can also punch items for the center of your flowers or as a base. Experiment with folding and punches.
Three-Dimensional Flowers
4. McGill.
While McGill doesn’t produce as many punches specific for flowers anymore, they have more instructions and videos online at their site and others. Their paper flowers are designed to look like the actual flowers they replicate. Review a few of their videos to familiarize yourself with the process.
5. Flowers.
Collect your flower punches. These are any that look like flowers or petals. Punch samples so you can see how they look. Mix and match them to see how the shapes work together. You might want to create a sheet with the punched shapes for your reference.
6. Others.
You’ll notice that items other than flower punches are used to make flowers. Look for other punches you can use for punched flowers. Here are some to look for:
- Leaves
- Petals
- Snowflakes
- Standard shapes (circles, hearts, etc.)
- Sunbursts
- Twigs or sticks
7. Mold.
You will want to mold your flowers. This means adjusting the paper from a flat shape to something dimensional. You can do this by using a ball stylus. They come in a variety of sizes. The size adjusts the amount of curl you’ll have to the paper. You can draw lines with your stylus and the paper will curl along the line. You can also do circles on the center of your shape, making it “cup.” These are only two ways to adjust the punched shape. Check out videos and practice molding your individual pieces.
8. Mat.
You need a mat to work on when molding your punched shapes. You can purchase an official mat, but when teaching others, it’s quite expensive to purchase one for each participant. Instead, I recommend an old foam mousepad or a thick piece of fun foam. Experiment and see what you like to work with best.
9. Cut.
Some pieces may require that you make cuts. For example, I frequently cut the starbursts so that the edges are more fringed when I’m using them for the center of a flower. Use small, precise scissors for this step. You can also cut into a larger shape and roll it around your tweezers to get a smaller “center” for a flower. Experiment with cutting punched shapes to change them even more.
10. Assemble.
Before gluing anything down, assemble the pieces first to make sure you like the look. You can tweak your pieces at this point if you want a little more curl on the petals or leaves. Using tweezers and a needle tool can help with final assembly. Assemble the pieces you’ve created into a flower.
11. Freeform.
Once you’ve seen how these flowers are officially put together, you can create your own flowers with the knowledge and skills you’ve gained. You can expand into different types of scrapbooking paper to add even more variety. If you find a flower you really like, make yourself a cheat sheet with the punched shapes, how you molded them and what the final flower looks like.
12. Collect.
As you experiment with making punched flowers, you may want to start a couple collections. I like to collect the completed flowers I don’t need for a project. I always make a few extra in case I drop or damage a couple while I’m working. I put the extras into a box so if I need to whip up a quick card, I can just attach a flower to a blank one. Also, if I partially punch a sheet, I’ll finish punching the sheet and collect the random pieces into a box. I use those to create unique flowers as well. Would you be interested in collecting these yourself?
Badge and Supplement Files
Member Level
- 0EP_B_BPG_PunchF_2in_12up_MS1_larajla — generic badge printable
- 0EP_BLIST_PunchF_MS1_larajla — badge items per membership level
- 0EP_BSET0_PunchF_MS1_larajla —badge set and related badges
- 0EP_SUPP0_PunchF_Journal_MS1_larajla — badge journal
- 0EP_SUPP0_PunchF_Planner_MS1_larajla — badge planner
- 0EP_SUPPL_PunchF_MS1_larajla — supplements currently available per membership level
Supplement Fun
- N/A
Sites to Explore
- damasklove.com/easy-paper-punch-flowers
- anamericaninsicily.com/how-to-make-beautiful-flowers-using-craft-punches
- www.papercraftcentral.com/how-to-make-paper-flowers.html
- www.crystalbox.jp/archives/1822 (Japanese, but images are great.)
- mcgillinc.blogspot.com/p/paper-blossoms-how-tos.html
- mcgillinc.blogspot.com/p/how-to-videos.html
- www.pinterest.com/errkaywa/mcgill-paper-blossoms
- www.pinterest.com/lindalpb/paper-flowers-using-punches-and-dies
- www.pinterest.com/sassysangels/paper-punch-art
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