Easy Marigold Paper Flower + free ready to cut templates

Another paper Marigold? Why not! They are beautiful and lovely decorations for many different occasions. The project I am offering you today is easy, it can be used in scrapbook projects or greeting cards, for gift wrapping or as a single decoration.

It is really so easy to make this marigold flower. I made it while we are travelling and staying in an Airbnb home. I found all the materials in the nearest stationary supply shop – didn’t even need a craft shop. So, it is worth a try, isn’t it?

If you are patient enough, or using Cricut or have little helpers, you can create a lot of cute marigold posies as memory gifts or home decoration pieces.

What you will need to make this marigold flower

1. Good quality watercolour paper. I chose a wood pulp 180 g pad and think it was the perfect choice. One A4 size sheet will be enough to make two marigold paper flowers if you are careful with the space between the elements.
2. Colour markers in yellow, orange, red and two shades of green. I used alcohol-based markers, because they grabbed my eyes in the shop ?. You can also use acrylic or watercolour or pastels or crayons, but markers are what most homes already have. Choose what you feel comfortable to work with and what will give you strong bright colours.
3. Wire. I can say, that in this project I found a great new material for making paper flowers – the Twist Ties for flowers. I didn’t find the florist’s wire I am normally using, so in the garden tool section of the local hardware store, my eyes were caught by these stem ties. And, I can say they work absolutely amazing! They are soft enough, but also strong and they are flat, which makes them very easy to glue between two layers of paper.
4. Craft glue or PVA glue.
5. Scissors with sharp tips. Also, a thick needle, but I didn’t have one, so I used the scissor’s tips for making holes.
6. Pencil although I used a pen. I was sure I had a pencil in my luggage, but I couldn’t find it and, rather than an un-necessary drive to go and buy one I used a pen. However, I suggest using a pencil, because, as you can see later in the photos, the pen’s ink left little dark spots on my petals.
7.  A sheet of cooking paper as a working mat – to save the surfaces you are working on.
8. Another great find – a pack of colourful party streamers. I always using crepe paper to wrap the stems of my flowers and plants. But in a city you don’t know well and with restricted time to drive around and to look for craft materials you have to be creative. So, I can tell you – these streamers are great for wrapping stems, especially if you want smooth stems and especially if you are making small flowers.

Draw the Marigold petals…

First draw your petal layers like those shown. You will use these as templates to create the Marigold flower and you will need 4 different sizes. In the small photo in the top left, you can see their relative sizes.

If you don’t have time to draw them yourself, here are my free templates, which are also Cricut friendly.

Cut your templates and use these to outline the petals you will use for the flower. Use the same paper for the templates as for the petals and, eventually, the leaves too.  It is a bit of work, because you will need: from the biggest template – 4 petal pieces; from the next size – 3 petal pieces; from the smaller – two pieces and from the smallest – one piece.

Also, draw lines for the petals towards the centre, as shown and define the centre with a small dot. Later this dot will show where to place the hole.

Draw the Marigold leaves…

You will not need special templates for them. First, they are very easy to draw and second, you will need only 1-2 types. Which – again – are very easy to draw.

First make the main “construction” as shown:

Then fill out the leaves around the main stem strokes.

Colour the leaves and give them extra shades with a darker green marker.

Again – if you don’t have time to draw them yourself, here are my free ready to cut templates, which are again, Cricut friendly.

Using the smallest petal template outline the single bottom leaves, extend the lines to sharp points and colour it as shown.

Colouring and cutting is a meditation

After all the drawing, colour the petal layers as shown – the yellow is outside, the orange is inside, and the red is only a few strokes to give more depth to the petal layers.

In case you are not working with dry pencils or crayons, I suggest waiting until the paper fully dries before going on. Wait even if you are working with alcohol-based markers because they also make the paper wet. If you start cutting damp paper, it is very possible to tear some of the pieces and to have to start from the beginning again. When you’re sure the paper is dry, cut out the petal and leaf shapes.

In case you don’t have time to colour the petals and the leaves or just don’t feel like, here is the link to my Etsy shop with ready to cut elements. You can also use them for the Cricut’s Print Then Cut option:

Here is something very important if you are making the project only by hand: After cutting, you will have to colour the back of the leaves:

But it is not necessary to colour the back of the petals. Especially if you are working with markers, the paint will go thru the paper and will create nice shades, which will add extra volume to the finished flower.

Shaping the marigold petals

First, make a hole in the middle of every petal element except the smallest (D) petal. (I used the scissor’s tips because I did not have a needle. Which again shows how easy and beginner friendly is this Marigold project.)

Then press between your fingers every little petal of every petal element, as shown below. This is very important:

Here you can see the difference between the pressed and un-pressed petals:

When all the petals are shaped, group them again by size and prepare one of your wire pieces (twist ties):

Assembling the paper Marigold flower

Start with the biggest petal elements and thread the first one on the wire. Then put a drop of glue in the centre as shown:

Thread the next one from the biggest elements (size A) and position its petals in between the petals of the previous one:

Thread all the petal elements on the same way going from the biggest (A) through the smaller (B) and then the next smaller (C) ones.

When you put the last C-element on, bend the top of the wire piece over and glue it in one of the petals. The bend area should not be longer than the petal it is glued on. Actually, it is better to be shorter – about ½ of the petal length. Then put glue on centre of the back side of the smallest petal (D).

Glue the petal (D) on the top of the last C-element. Be sure that the wire piece is not visible. If needed, put a small drop of glue on the wire and fully glue the corresponding (D) petal on the top.

Then gently slide the whole collection of petal elements up the stem.

Then thread on, glue and press on the bottom the singular little green leaves element.

And – tadaaaa! Here is the Marigold flower head!

The Marigold stem, leaves and finishing touches

To secure the flower head and to make the Marigold flower look very realistic, you first have to wrap the wire piece with crepe paper strips (about 2 cm wide) and drops of glue. The thinner the paper – the smaller the drops of glue should be and the lighter the crepe paper stretching too.

Owing to the flower’s shape it will be difficult to start wrapping from the very top, but it is very important to have a good thick wrap there, so, start wrapping about 1-2 cm lower and after 3-5 circumferences, gently slide it up to the bottom of the green leaves element and press.

Then keep wrapping down the stem to the bottom of the wire piece.

When all the wire is wrapped put glue on one side of one the separate leaf elements and glue it to the side of the wrapped stem. Then do another on the opposite side of the stem. Hold for few seconds until the glue sticks well.

Then wrap again using the stretched crepe paper strips and glue to secure the leaves in place.

This way you can add more leaf elements to make it look like a real Marigold.

And that’s it! Your paper Marigold flower is ready!

With more patience and good helpers, you can create beautiful Marigold flower decorations, which will last a long-long time! Hm, I am thinking about a door wreath with Marigolds!

If you have no time for cutting and colouring or have no helpers, check my ready to use Cricut Print Then Cut files.

They will save you tons of time and will make accomplishing a big Marigold project a lot easier!

Enjoy your craft time!

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