You know me – I love poppies, and this is not the first poppy project I have offered you here, but this one is very easy! A bunch of these tissue paper poppies will take less than half an afternoon and will easily satisfy your ANZAC day decorating needs.
Let’s start with the paper
Here the most important thing is the paper. You need tissue paper! You know how gentle and fragile the poppy petals look, don’t you? Tissue paper is amazing material for this as it is thin and smooth and easy to crease – perfect to represent the very specific feeling of the poppy flower.
Of course, you can use also red office printer paper. The structure is not perfect, but – this is important! – if you want to create poppies, which will be in contact with your clothes, it is better to use this! Tissue paper will very easily dye your skin and clothes, especially the red one!
Also very important! You can buy white tissue paper and then colour it with acrylic paint. Probably this is the best way since you’ll be using the best paper and the acrylic paint won’t fade or stain anything else. But in the beginning, I said this is a fast and easy project, so you decide what to do – it depends on the time, ideas and materials you have available.
Let’s make the petals!
Fold the sheet of the tissue paper as shown. The size of the square will give you the size of the flower. If you need bigger flowers, make the rectangle bigger. If you want smaller, even tiny ones, fold more.
Then cut circles as shown. It is not necessary for these to be perfect, don’t worry! Remember the poppy flower! Every imperfection (within reason) will give your flowers a more realistic look.
Then squish the petals to make them crumbled. The easiest way is to do it as shown, in the hole between your fingers.
See how it happens?
Then twist the paper gently to make more crunching…
This is the result you have to look for:
To create one poppy flower, I suggest using 3 layers of petals. Of course, you can make it with only one, or more than 3, but 3 is the best. The 3 layers will support each other, and give the flower sufficient volume. More layers will make it too busy and it will look more like a Carnation or even a Peony…
Meanwhile – some extra ideas
If you have extra time, you can make the petals more realistic. Wet them with water, while they are still twisted and dry them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. But be very careful – as I said, the industrial coloured tissue paper with running colours can make a big mess!
See the colour difference:
The other idea is less messy. If you have a box cover or a not very deep box (as this old iPhone box in my case, you know, I am collecting not only notebooks, but also boxes), you can use it as a frame. Create wall art with poppies!
Let’s make the poppy heads
If you have any scrapbook poppy paper dies, use them to make the “heart” of the flowers.
But if you don’t have special poppy ones, you can use all the other stamen or small flower ones. Do you remember my article about Capsule craft collection? If you don’t want to have a cluttered craft space, learn how to repurpose different instruments. It is really fun!
See how my poppies look with poppy and non-poppy “hearts”.
Then cut some leaves and glue them between the petals as shown.
And your poppies are ready!
You can also glue on the bottom a brooch needle and use them on the ANZAC day. Just don’t forget what I said about the colour of the tissue paper! If you plan to make brooches, better colour white tissue with acrylic paint or use red copier paper!
And let’s make the whole poppy flower!
Using a simple kitchen sponge and a thick needle, make a hole in the middle of the black poppy heart.
Twist as shown the ends of a floral wire or a simple thicker wire, which you probably have at home.
Then thread the wire through the poppy head.
If you decide to work with wire, you will probably need some pliers: from the bottom – to cut, to twist and to flatten the twist end.
Then, with some green paper and glue or with sticky florist’s ribbon, cover the wire. This will not only fix the flower head but will also make the poppy stem more realistic.
And that’s it! Your poppy flowers are ready!
I wish you a great, mindful ANZAC day and some wonderful minutes crafting!
Stay safe and create! ♥
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If you like paper flowers, why not to see this article about How to make Iceland poppies… More detailed instructions – in my Etsy shop:
If you are looking for printable Poppy designs, check this Poppy printable pack:
