Paper Cherry Blossoms
Create your own cherry blossoms or sakura flowers by folding and cutting paper in a few easy steps. Arrange the flowers on a dried branch for a lovely spring décor.
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
- White or pink paper (square origami paper or Letter size paper)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Dried branch (optional)
STEPS
1Choose the paper size.
White or pink Letter size paper (8½" x 11") or any square piece of paper can be used to make paper cherry blossoms.
a.) Letter size paper - cut the paper into 4 equal sections for larger flowers or 16 equal sections for smaller flowers. Each section makes one flower.
b.) Square paper - cut paper into 3" or 4" squares or use square origami paper (e.g. 4" or 2 ¾"). Each square makes one flower.
To make a square from any rectangular paper, you can follow these easy steps for making a paper square.
2Make the first fold.
Except for Step 3, the rest of the steps are the same for the paper square and the Letter size paper.
The first step is to fold the paper up in half.
3Mark the point "X".
"X" is the point along the paper's left edge that defines the succeeding folds.
a.) Letter size paper - "X" is the midpoint on the left edge. This can easily be marked by folding the paper in half and creasing the paper lightly at the folded left corner. Unfold.
b.) Square paper - "X" is the one-third point from the top of the left edge. You can either estimate the location or measure it with a ruler.
4Make the second fold.
Fold the bottom right corner up towards "X".
5Make the third fold.
Fold the bottom left corner over the right edge.
6Make the fourth fold.
Fold the top right corner over the left edge.
7Cut an arc.
Cut an arc starting from the right edge going up towards the left. You can draw the arc before cutting, if you like.
The position of the arc defines the size of the flower. The closer it is to the bottom, the smaller the flower will be.
For comparison, this is how the folded paper square looks like after doing all the steps above.
8Cut a slit at the tip.
Cut a diagonal slit at the tip of the shape. We've shaded the section to be cut, just for illustration.
9Cut a small semi-circle.
Cut a small half-circle or half-oval shape along the paper's longest straight side. Try to keep the cut-out close to the bottom tip of the shape.
11Make more flowers.
Make several paper cherry blossoms. Glue them on a dried branch, if you like.
The flowers on this branch are all around 2 inches in diameter. They were made using Letter size paper divided into 16 equal sections.
