Introduction: Papercraft Stargazer Lily Bouquet

Cut flowers are lovely, but they can be quite expensive and do not last for very long. With paper flowers, there is no wilting or water, and they last for a very long time. Creating this bouquet will take some time, but the result is worth the effort.

To make this bouquet, you will need:

glue
I use regular white glue. You can use school glue, but it will take longer to dry.

scissors
I use a combination of scissors and a craft knife, changing tools depending on the size and shape of the part I am cutting.

round toothpicks
These are for shaping. A large needle or a very fine skewer would also work.

paper
I use regular printer paper for the majority of this, but I prefer card stock for the vase. If you do not have card stock, regular paper will work, but you may need to glue two sheets together.

color printer
The flowers will not look right at all if you do this in black and white.

scoring tool
You can use a dead ball point pen, but I use an embossing tool I bought at a local scrapbooking store.

straight edge
A ruler works well, but can be a bit awkward due to length. I prefer an old plastic card like a club card; they are stiff enough to work with, but short enough to not get in the way. Using one of each, swapping out depending on need is best.

files
Download the .pdf below.

Step 1: Fluted Vase

This vase is the perfect size for the bouquet pictured. It is best made from card stock, but can also be made from plain or colored paper.

Print pages 15 through 21.

Cut out all of the pieces by cutting on all of the solid lines. You may want to pencil the item number on the tabs so that it is easier to keep track of which piece is which.

Score all of the dotted lines and fold them. Dotted lines should be mountain folded while the dash-dot-dash lines should be valley folded. A mountain fold is one where the paper is folded away from the line to make a "mountain," and the valley fold is the opposite. In picture 001, the piece on the right has a series of mountain folds, and the piece on the left has valley folds.

When gluing the tabs, always put the glue on the side of the piece with the printed lines, as shown in picture 002.

Glue the tabbed end of 2a to the non-tabbed end of 2b. Glue the tabbed end of 2b to the non-tabbed end of 2c. Glue the tabbed end of 2c to the non-tabbed end of 2a. (picture 004)

Glue the tabbed end of 3a to the non-tabbed end of 3b, and the tabbed end of 3b to the non-tabbed end of 3a.

Glue the tabbed end of 4a to the non-tabbed end of 4b, and the tabbed end of 4b to the non-tabbed end of 4a.

Glue all of the tiny tabs in the inside of pieces 5a and 5b, then glue the larger inside tabs(picture 002).
Glue 5a and 5b together.

Glue the inner tabs of 1 to the wider end of 4ab. (picture 005)

Glue The outer tabs of 1 to the wider end of 2abc. (picture 006) If you have long tweezers, they can help in pressing the pieces together without bending the paper.

Glue the remaining tabs on 2abc to the narrower part of 5ab. (picture 007)

Glue 5ab to 3ab in the same way, then glue 3ab to 6, completing the vase.

Step 2: Stargazer Lily

I chose stargazer lilies because the bright pink on satin white is lovely; it's no wonder that butterflies are attracted to them.

Print pages 8 through 12 to create one lily.

Cut out all of the pieces.

Cut 8 out in blocks so that you can fold them in half and glue them so that there is yellow on both sides (picture 008), then cut out the curvy stem.

Glue the petals together by attaching 1 to 1b, 2 to 2b, and so on. This will give you three narrow petals and three wide petals.

Cut out 7 and curl the ends toward the center with the red on the outside using a toothpick, then glue 8 in between the curls. (picture 009) Make 5 of these.

Create the stem by rolling 9 around a toothpick starting at the narrowest point and ending in a way that leaves you with a solid green straw. Glue the loose edge down. (picture 011)

Glue all 5 of the stamens (7+8) into one end of the stem, angling them slightly so that they are spaced out (picture 010 and 014). You may need to trim them a bit to get them to the correct length of approximately two and a half inches.

Cut a small slit in the non-pointed end of each petal. (picture 012)

Wrap the petals around a cylinder such as a round pencil to create curves in the petals. (picture 013)

Glue a wide petal just below the stamens, wrapping the two little tabs around the stem. The side of the petal that goes toward the stem is the one with the single yellow-green highlight, and the side away from the stem has the yellow-green bursting highlight. (picture 014)

Glue the next wide petal on in the same way, but glue its tabs over the tabs of the previous petal. Place it one third of the way around the stem from the first petal. (picture 015)

Glue the third wide petal into place so that the three petals are evenly spaced. (picture 016)

Glue the three narrow petals below the wide ones in the same way, but offset them so that when you look down into the center of the flower, the petals alternate thin/thick/thin. (picture 017)

Cover the white side of 11 with glue, then place the shortest side on the stem, covering the tabs of the petals. Wrap 11 around the stem, covering all of the tabs and smoothing the transition between bloom and stem. (picture 018)

Glue 10 to 10b to make the leaves.

Put glue on the white tab and place the leaf on the stem with the white tab touching it. (picture 019)

Wrap the two sides around the stem to adhere the leaf to the stem. (picture 020)

Vary the number and spacing of the leaves on each flower to give them a more organic look.

Step 3: Pink Gerbera Daisy

Pink gerbera daisies are, in my mind, a happy flower. The bright pink is innocent and the yellow center is sunny and cheerful.

Print pages 3 through 5 and cut out all of the pieces. be sure to cut out the circle in the center of 4. (picture 021) Do not cut apart the half-circles of 3. Instead, leave a small section of paper so that you can fold it over and glue it. (picture 022)

Make a cone out of 3 by gluing the tab to the white side of the other end of the straight edge. (picture 023)

Create the stem using the same method described in the lily step.

Cut slits in the pointed end of the cone so that the stem will just barely fit into it. (picture 024)

Hold the end of the stem against a table and push the cone down to touch the table, making the open end of the cone and the stem  level. Glue the cone in place at the tabs. (picture 025)

Wrap 6 around the joint between the stem and cone using the same method used to cover the petal tabs in the lily instructions. (picture 026)

Glue the white side of the petals to the white side of 4, aligning the circles in the center. (picture 027)

Using your scoring tool, create slightly curving lines down the length of every petal. (picture 028)

Cut out the petals, but leave the white circle. curl the petals around a cylinder to give them a slight curve away from the scored side.

Dip the cone end of the stem in glue so that there is glue on the stem end and the cone edges.

Place one set of petals score-side down on the table, then center the stem/cone over the circle in the center of the petals. (picture 029)

I suggest letting this dry before adding more petals.

Glue the next set of petals over the first, offsetting them so that the petals do not cover each other completely. Repeat this so that there are four layers of petals. (picture 030)

Fold 2 on the line that runs the length in the red section. Glue inside the fold. Fold along the point where the red meets the white. snip all of the tiny lines in the red section, then curl them around a toothpick opposite the fold. Clip the white section into little triangles, being careful not to cut through and break the strip. (picture 031)

Glue 2 to the outer edge of the circle inside the petals. Glue this so that the triangles point inward and the tiny curls point outward. Trim off the excess so that you have a circle. (picture 032)

Glue 1 in the very center, covering the little triangles of 2. You may need to trim 1 slightly to get it to fit, depending on how you arranged 2. (picture 033)

Step 4: Snowstorm Bacopa

Bacopa is a sort of creeping plant that comes in a variety of colors. I picked white to help balance out all of the white from the other two flowers.

Print pages 1 and 2.

Place a long straight-edge against the tiny tab on the leaves and score it. (picture 034)

Fold this in half and glue the sheets together. Only glue the half of the leaf opposite the little tab so that the leaf can be opened. Cut out the leaves and crease the center of the leaf half way down.(picture 035)

Cut out the two long strips and glue them together at the tab. Place a toothpick at a forty-five degree angle at on corner of the white side of the strip, leaving the strip angled out to the upper right. Roll the strip up, gluing intermittently, and make a tube for the stem. (picture 045)

Trim the wider end of the stem so that the overall length is between ten and twelve inches. Pull the toothpick out.

Cut out and glue together the branch pieces, leaving about half an inch open at the flat end.

Glue the open section of the branches to the upper third of the stem, wrapping them around it. Angle the branches toward the narrow end (top) of the stem. (picture 037)

Glue one leaf over each of the little branching sections of the branches. (picture 038, 039)

Once you have all of the leaves in place, trip the connection point to make it smooth.

Glue the tab on the yellow triangle to the white side of the opposite edge to make a very thin cone. Cut slits in the pointed end so that it can be opened like a bird beak. (picture 040)

Cut five slits on the lines in the center of the little flowers, then bend the resulting triangles outward. (picture 041)

Using a toothpick, curl the arms of the little yellow stars so that they are yellow on the outside and curl into the white part. (picture 042)

Put glue in the open end of the cone, then tuck the tiny triangles on the flowers inside the cone. Put a drop of glue on the center of the flower. Place the curled star white side down over the drop of glue, then poke it part way into the flower/cone with a toothpick. (picture 043)

Glue the pointed end of the completed flower onto random points on the branches and stem. (picture 044)

Step 5: Baby Blue Eucalyptus

This is a juvenile blue eucalyptus, rather than eucalyptus that is the color baby blue; just to clarify.

Print pages 6 and 7.

Cut out 7 and 7b, then glue them together and make a stem as described in the Bacopa section.

Glue the white side of the guitar pick shaped pieces to the white side of the big green blocks and cut them out to make the leaves. I set this up this way so that you only have to cut out each individual leaf once. (picture 046)

If you leave the pointed end of the leaves unglued, you can trim off the loose part that is unlined to make attaching the leaves to the stem a little easier. This is not necessary, but it is helpful. (picture 047)

Cut a cross in the leaf that centers on the light circle but only extends out to the pointed edge. Fold the two smaller triangles toward the unlined side. (picture 047)

Cut out piece 6, fold it in half, and glue it to make a quarter circle. This will be a bit longer on one straight side than the other. Using a toothpick, roll 6 into a vague spiraling cone. (picture 048)

Glue 6 into the tip of the stem. This is the new, furled leaf. (picture 049)

Apply glue to the tabs of one 5 and wrap the flaps around the stem. Make sure that 5 is touching the edge of the furled leaf. Place the other 5 on the stem the same way, right underneath the previous 5. Skip down half an inch and attach 4 the same way. Keep doing this with gradually larger leaves until you run out. (picture 50)

Step 6: Salal Branches

Salal is a kind of shrub with flattish leaves. Aside from being rather pretty and making a nice canvas for flowers, salal is nice in that it lets me say, "shrub." "shrub." I love that word, but I digress.

Print pages 13 and 14. Cut out all of the pieces.

Glue the brown strips together to make the stem in the same fashion as the bacopa and eucalyptus stems.

Glue 1c, 2c, 3c, and 4c to the white sides of 1, 2, 3, and 4. Glue those pieces to 1b, 2b, 3b, and 4b, leaving the glue off of the brown tabs and about a quarter of an inch of the green leaf part. (picture 051)

Score each leaf along all of the printed veins and then add a few extras between them. (picture 052)

Curl the tip of each leaf by wrapping it around a pencil or other similar cylindrical item. (picture 053)

Bend the leaf in slightly along the center vein. (picture 054)

Glue the pointed end of the stem inside the leaf. Wrapping one of the tabs around the stem, then wrap the other over that. (picture 055, 056)

Attach the other leaves to the stem at an angle. Wrap the tabs in the same way as the first leaf. (picture 057)

If you are making a lot of these, vary the lengths of the stems some, and place the leaves differently on each one. Also vary the number of leaves.

Step 7: Arranging

You can make as many of these items as you want and use them in different ways. A single lily in a bud vase, a few lilies and some salal wrapped in tissue paper, or the arrangement below. It all depends on what you want.

For this arrangement, you need to make

1 fluted vase
8 lilies
6 daisies
8 bacopa
8 eucalyptus
10 salal

Crumple up three or four pieces of paper and put them in the bottom of the vase so that there is something to brace the stems.

Place six salal around the edge of the vase at an angle. (picture 058)

Place four eucalyptus between the salal. (picture 059)

Place four bacopa in the vase alternating with the eucalyptus. (picture 060)

Put the rest of the salal in the vase with less of an angle than before. (picture 061)

Add the remaining eucalyptus and bacopa to the new layer in the same way as before. (picture 062, 063)

Evenly space the daisies throughout the arrangment. (picture 064)

Finally, add the lilies. Add them evenly, being careful not to tear the leaves.

Step 8: Notes and Thanks

Special thanks to Katie and Joe for helping me cut things out.

Thanks to Joe for help with the photos.

No thanks to the rotten kitty who kept trying to eat all my pieces. Good thing the glue is nontoxic. Not sure about the toner, though.


Notes:

I attempted to match the colors of the actual plants, but differences in printers and monitors may make the colors come out a bit different. This should not detract from the flowers.

To avoid using too much glue, I suggest pouring some into a bowl and then applying it with a toothpick. In most cases with papercraft, a little glue can go a long way and a lot of glue can make the project soggy.

Papercraft is made so much simpler with tweezers. I have a bunch in different shapes and sizes. You can get the relatively inexpensively from http://www.harborfreight.com/

Allowing parts to dry before affixing more parts to them will help keep them from bending.

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