Erin Fox
Mother’s Day traditionally falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent and so it arrives even earlier this year on March 6. Gifting a simple bouquet of brightly coloured flowers will certainly please mum on Mother’s Day. Go the extra mile and instead of picking them or buying them, make them yourself.
Present your mum, your granny or your favourite aunty with everlasting flowers in these 3D paper tulips. Patterned paper is always huge fun to work with but you can use plain card instead if you prefer.
For the tulips you will need a glue stick, scissors, patterned paper, wooden skewer, green floral tape or green ribbon.
For each tulip head you will need three petals.
Create the petal template on the back of some card. Match the tulips to the same size as real tulips. Each petal should have a wide base and three points. Fold the card, draw half of the petal shape onto it and cut out, taking care not to snip the fold. This will ensure that each petal sticks together evenly when you make the flower.
Trace around the petal onto the patterned paper. Cut out and repeat until you have three petals. Next take the wooden skewer and wrap it in the floral tape or green ribbon. With the glue stick, cover one of the petals in glue and stick the stem into the middle of this.
Trim edges
Fold each remaing petal in half and then unfold. Add the second tulip petal to half of the petal attached to the stem, leaving the other half free. Add the third petal, once again attaching it to half of petal number two and petal number one. Pinch each petal to ensure that the glue holds and they all stick together and then leave to dry. If the petals haven’t stuck together perfectly, you can trim the edges to match them up.
Once they have dried, tie them up with a ribbon or place inside a jug or a vase for Mother’s Day.
Make a larger petal template to create a giant 3D tulip Mother’s Day card. Write your greeting on one of the petals before gluing everything together. For a thicker stem, wrap three wooden skewers together with the floral tape. Use PVA glue to attach a thicker stem to the petals as this will hold better.