Paper Flower Easter Wreath for a Door or Wall

A paper flower Easter wreath is one of the lightest decorations you can hang: a flat ring, a few dozen cardstock blossoms and some leaves. Because it weighs so little, it stays up on a removable adhesive hook, which makes it as useful on an interior wall or above a mantel as on a door.

The flowers are deliberately simple. One five-petal shape, cut in three sizes and curled, gives all the variety the wreath needs once the blossoms overlap.

Materials and the base ring

Use cardstock of about 65 lb (176 gsm) for the flowers. It curls without cracking and holds its shape; thinner paper droops and heavier card is hard to curl. Three flower colors plus one green is plenty, for example blush, cream and soft yellow with sage leaves.

For the base you have two choices:

• Cardboard ring. Trace a dinner plate and a smaller bowl onto corrugated cardboard to make a ring about 12 in (30 cm) across and 2 in (5 cm) wide. Cutting it out with a craft knife is a job for an adult, on a cutting mat.
• Flat wire ring. A flat wire wreath frame of the same size is sturdier. Wrap it in strips of paper or ribbon first so the flowers have a surface to grip.

If you would prefer a base that takes stems and greenery as well, the grapevine Easter wreath tutorial compares the other options.

How many flowers to cut

For a 12 in (30 cm) ring, these numbers cover the surface with comfortable overlap. Cut a few spares in each size.

Draw one five-petal flower with rounded petals that meet at a small center, cut it from scrap card, and use it as a template. Reduce it on a copier or redraw it for the two smaller sizes. A cutting machine speeds this up, but scissors are fine: stack two sheets and cut both at once.

Shape a single blossom

Every blossom on the wreath is built the same way, from two layers and a center.

1. Cut one flower and one flower a size smaller in the same color or a close shade.
2. Curl each petal upward by pulling it gently between your thumb and a pencil, working from the center out to the tip.
3. Press the center of each flower with a fingertip so the petals cup slightly.
4. Glue the smaller layer inside the larger one, turning it so its petals sit between the petals below.
5. Punch or cut a circle about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) across in a contrasting color and glue it in the middle as a button center.

The smallest flowers can stay as a single layer with a center. Vary the curl a little from flower to flower; some tightly cupped and some nearly flat looks more natural than a uniform set. For flowers with stems, such as tulips and daffodils for a jar, see the paper spring flowers tutorial.

Cut and crease the leaves

Fold a strip of green cardstock in half and cut a half-leaf shape against the fold, pointed at one end and rounded at the other. Unfold it and leave the center crease visible. Pinch the rounded end and add a dot of glue to hold the pinch, which makes the leaf lift off the ring instead of lying flat.

Attach the flowers to the ring

Lay everything out dry before gluing anything. Work on a flat table with the ring in front of you.

1. Fix a hanging loop of ribbon or twine to the back of the ring first, while it still lies flat.
2. Space the large flowers around the ring, alternating slightly toward the inner and outer edge so they do not form a neat row.
3. Fill between them with medium flowers, letting each one overlap its neighbor by about a quarter of its width.
4. Tuck small flowers into the remaining gaps and over the edges of the ring until no cardboard shows from the front.
5. Slide leaves under the outer and inner flowers in pairs, pointing outward.

Glue only the flat center of each flower so the curled petals stay free. Tacky glue gives you time to adjust; hot glue grips at once and is useful for the overlapping top layer, though a glue gun is a tool for adults. The guide to glue for Easter crafts explains which adhesive suits paper on card and paper on wire.

Where to hang it

Paper does not tolerate damp. Rain, mist and even humid air soften cardstock, flatten the curls and can make colors run, so this wreath belongs indoors or on a door under a deep covered porch. Strong direct sun fades colored paper over a few weeks, so a wall away from a bright window keeps it fresher.

Because the wreath is so light, a removable adhesive hook is usually enough; check the weight rating on the pack. On a door that opens often, add a small piece of removable mounting putty behind the bottom of the ring to stop it from swinging.

Storing it for next spring

Lay the wreath face up in a shallow box slightly larger than the ring, with tissue paper crumpled loosely around the edges and nothing stacked on top. Keep the box somewhere dry. If a few petals flatten in storage, curl them again over a pencil, and replace any faded flowers with the spares you cut.