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Paper Poinsettia Garland
These pretty poinsettias are so easy to make, you can whip up a few strands of garland in one evening! When making these flower decorations, you’ll want to use a paper that is heavier than regular copy paper. We used 65lb cardstock, but don’t go any heavier than that, otherwise you’ll have trouble stapling. This tutorial shows you how to make flowers in 2 sizes, but you can easily make adjustments to make a wide variety of sizes.
Supplies & Tools:
- Red cardstock, assorted shades (Construction paper is okay, too.)
- Green cardstock
- Red glitter cardstock
- Cutting mat
- Metal ruler
- X-Acto
- Stapler
- Fishing line
- Quick drying glue (We prefer to use Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive because it dries in under a minute!)
- Circle punches: 1" and 1.5"
Directions:
- Cut red and green paper into 1" wide strips.
- For large flowers, cut along the long side of the red paper.
- For small flowers, cut along the short side of the red paper.
- Cut the green paper along the short side of the paper.
- Take 5–7 red strips and fold in half.
- For large flower, use 7 long strips.
- For small flowers, use 5 short strips.
- Stack the folded strips together and press the folded sides to get a crisp fold.
- Make sure the stapler is on a firm surface and insert the cut ends into the stapler. Press down to staple. It’s a little tricky to get the staple to go through all the layers of paper, so we find that it helps if you put your weight into the stapler. You may need to staple from both sides of the stack. It’s okay if it’s not pretty, as you won’t see the staples when the flower is complete.
- On one side of the staple, fold 2–3 strips over. Repeat for the other side of the staple.
- Begin stapling the sides of the petals together. This will open the petals so that it looks like a flower.
- Staple one green strip in between one pair of petals. This will be used to connect the flowers together.
- Continue stapling the petals together.
- Repeat steps 2–6 to make another flower, and then follow steps 10–11 to attach each additional flower.
- As you begin stapling the petals of the second flower, insert the green strip (from the previous flower) between one pair of petals.
- Insert and staple another green strip between the petals across from the original green strip. This green strip is to attach the next flower.
- To make the flower’s center, use the circle punches to cut circles from glitter cardstock. Glue the circle over the center of the flower. When you’ve finished adding circles to each flower, flip the garland over and repeat for the other side.
- For small flowers, punch 1" circles
- For large flowers, punch 1.5" circles.
- Repeat steps to make as many flowers as desired. Some ideas:
- For hanging in a doorway, combine 1 large with 1 small flower on either side.
- For floral garland, alternate sizes and shades/colors of flowers and make it as long as you like.
- To hang the garland, string a piece of fishing line through a petal on either side of the garland. Use fishing line to hang the garland wherever you like.
Elfy Hints:
- If your glitter cardstock is white on the back, cut out circles from red cardstock and glue to the back of the glitter circles. Then glue glitter circles to the flowers. This will make the garland look more cohesive.
- Stick thumb tacks or push pins in the door frame where it meets the wall. This will secure the garland and leave inconspicuous holes.
