Crepe Paper Sarah Peonies

Peonies are a very special flower to me. They seriously make my heart smile. They have a short bloom cycle that starts in late spring and ends in early summer, so you really have to appreciate the fleeting season! Sarah peony blooms in particular are bursting with gorgeous petals, just like our delicate Juliet roses. The downside of paper flowers is that they cannot capture the incredible fragrance that these beautiful flowers have. But the upside is that you can have paper flowers around regardless of the season! If you are longing for peony season and can’t wait until it rolls around next year, I would definitely recommend making a bunch or two to keep around the house. And it goes without saying that crepe paper peonies also make for perfect wedding flowers!

Tools

Cricut Maker or Silhouette Cameo 4 (recommended)
Craft Scissors
Pinking Shears
Low-Temp Hot Glue Gun
Needle-Nose Pliers/Wire Cutters

Materials

Lia Griffith Extra Fine Crepe Paper – Honeysuckle, Chiffon, Juniper
Floral Tape — Fern & Moss
18-Gauge Green Paper Covered Wire

Instructions

Our crepe paper peonies have about 50 petals in total. There are four different sizes of petals included in each bloom, which adds to the voluminous variation. Step 1 for making these gorgeous flowers – choose your materials! We made our leaves with Juniper, and wrapped the floral wire with our green floral tape. Our photos feature blooms in Honeysuckle, but peonies would also be stunning in Blush, Coral, Chiffon or any other light color of extra fine crepe. You will also need a bit of the buttery Chiffon color for the centers of the peonies. Print the PDF template below and cut out each piece to use as a guide for cutting your petals. I like to stack the crepe so that I can cut 6-8 petals at a time. Follow our step-by-step photo tutorial as you craft your crepe paper peonies. Members can also print the downloadable instructions with the template! Browse our other crepe paper flowers for inspiration to use this fabulous material, and stay tuned for my new crepe paper garden roses and dahlias. I’d love to hear about any paper flower projects that you would like to see on the site, and please don’t hesitate to share your project photos with me on Instagram using #MadeWithLia. Head to our membership page to start crafting with us – everyone can use some crepe paper peonies in their lives! ~ Lia

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48 Comments

Kim Ruebenson February 28, 2022 at 7:03pm

A question about when I get to the 16 petals (petals B & C), am I aiming for two rotations of 8 petals?

Reply
1. Lia Griffith February 28, 2022 at 8:01pm
  
  Yes, that is correct. It should give you a lot of overlap.
  
  Reply
Darlene Clevenger February 5, 2021 at 3:27pm

The pattern for the leaves is not on the template.

Reply
1. Lia February 8, 2021 at 11:44am
  
  Thanks for letting us know! The pattern has been updated with the leaf pattern.
  
  Reply
Gillian Garayt December 19, 2019 at 5:20pm

Hello, I am not able to view the cut lines of the template when I print it, only the words come out on the page. I have tried some different settings but they all come out the same. Any help would be appreciated, I’d love to try and make this. Thanks!

Reply
1. Lia December 27, 2019 at 10:30am
  
  Hi Gillian,
  
  We would recommend printing out our patterns in black and white for maximum contrast.
  
  Reply
  1. Gillian Garayt December 28, 2019 at 6:38pm
    
    Hi, thank you for your reply. I am using black and white, unfortunately the only thing that prints is the writing. I haven’t had any problems with any of he templates that are originally in black and white. Has anyone else had this problem?
    
    Reply
    1. Lia January 2, 2020 at 8:23am
      
      Hi Gillian,
      
      We have updated this template to be in black and white, I hope this solves your printing issue.
      
      Reply
      1. Gillian Garayt January 7, 2020 at 2:15pm
        
        Thank you!
NANETTE Armstrong August 9, 2019 at 6:40pm

New to the Maker, but not so new to paper flowers. Downloaded the SVG and printed it out on my maker and the biggest petals are a little over an inch tall and about a half inch wide. Shouldn’t I just be able to download the SVG and insert it into the Design Space? Not sure what I am doing wrong here. Any help would be greatly appreciated?

Reply
1. Lia August 12, 2019 at 10:23am
  
  We are having trouble with our SVG files not importing to the correct size in Design Space 🙁 We have reached out to Cricut multiple times and hope it is resolved soon! In the meantime, the largest petals should be 3.5″ high.
  
  Reply
Jennifer V. August 18, 2018 at 6:44pm

Hello, thanks for the instructions! I have noticed that no one seems to tell approximately how many petals to cut per flower. I was wanting to know so that I know about how much paper to buy. can you help?

Reply
1. Lia August 19, 2018 at 7:21am
  
  Hi! The post mentions that each long roll of crepe will make enough petals for 3.5 flowers. The PDF download lists the exact number you’ll need to cut for each petal 🙂
  
  Reply
Maria Gimenez Ubeda July 24, 2018 at 3:26am

Hi, I’m new to this and I have a cricut maker. When I open the svg the sizes seem massive. Do they are correct or it’s design space that changes it?thanks

Reply
1. Lia July 24, 2018 at 7:40am
  
  Hi Maria! The SVG should be uploading at the correct size. Are you viewing it at 100%?
  
  Reply
Diem Le February 18, 2018 at 4:54pm

These flowers look gorgeous! Would you happen to have SVG file?

Thank you!!
Diem

Reply
1. Lia February 27, 2018 at 9:36am
  
  Yes, I just added the SVG file 🙂
  
  Reply
Amanda Parkins December 12, 2017 at 7:26pm

Really love how mine turned out! Thank you for a great tutorial and great crepe paper! People say they look like the real thing.

Reply
1. Lia December 13, 2017 at 7:07am
  
  Yay! I’m so happy to hear this 🙂
  
  Reply
Vanessa May 8, 2017 at 7:17am

Love the look of these peonies! Lia, I’m having trouble achieving the overall shape of the bloom. I’ve made 3 so far and they all turn out a bit blown open (like a rose on its way out). I’m using your templates and extra fine crepe, cupping the middles of the petals, but am unsure of where to attach underneath. The tutorial says more than it illustrates. Is there a video available showing the peony being made? I don’t know if I’m cupping in the exact right spot or attaching in the right spot to achieve that just opened, still a lil tight blossom.

Reply
1. Lia May 8, 2017 at 9:08pm
  
  Hi Vanessa! I have a few videos for you to check out:
  https://liagriffith.com/craft-school/course/basic-crepe-paper-flowers/crepe-paper-flower-head-wreath/
  https://liagriffith.com/craft-school/course/basic-crepe-paper-flowers/how-to-make-a-simple-crepe-paper-flower/
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Xwr-WhVgM (this one is a bit older but the technique may be helpful!)
  
  Reply
  1. Patricia Hipple March 4, 2019 at 7:40pm
    
    I’m having the same problem. It’s flared out not cupped. Don know what I did wrong.
    
    Reply
    1. Lia March 5, 2019 at 8:55am
      
      Hi Patricia! Are you part of our Facebook group? If so, you can post a photo there to get feedback from us and our members. If not, can you send a photo to hello@liagriffith.com so we can understand the problem better. Thanks!
      
      Reply
Marilyn White April 10, 2017 at 3:25pm

Hi there!! I’m wondering if this and any of the other crepe paper templates would work if enlarged to make larger or giant versions? I am making a paper flower wall for a Photo Booth back drop for my May wedding and LOVE the look of the crepe paper, but don’t know that I will have the time to make hundreds of smaller flowers, not to mention I think the larger sizes could help to make it look a bit more whimsical. 😉 If you have any tips or anything, I would love to hear them!! Thanks!!!

Reply
1. Lia April 11, 2017 at 9:25am
  
  Congrats on your upcoming wedding! We haven’t designed any jumbo crepe flower templates just yet. You can certainly try any of the flower templates enlarged– maybe the anemone? Floristic or double-sided crepe would work great to keep the structure. Adding wire in the petal helps, see this post: https://liagriffith.com/giant-paper-tulip-bulb/. And if you want to mix in other papers, we have a post on tissue and kraft paper flowers 🙂 https://liagriffith.com/make-jumbo-kraft-paper-flowers/, https://liagriffith.com/jumbo-tissue-paper-flowers/
  
  Reply
  1. Marilyn White April 11, 2017 at 10:46am
    
    Thanks so much! I’ll definitely check those out!!
    
    Reply
2. Christina Winstanley April 25, 2017 at 3:02am
  
  I am wanting to do this too! I am just wondering about how to go about making sure the stem is thick enough to take the weight of the bloom
  
  Reply
cynthia mccusker February 15, 2017 at 11:45am

Again, another pdf done in color which I can’t copy because I only have a black cartridge. Please use black. It prints darker as your pdfs come out light in general. I’m going to have to trace the pattern by laying tracing paper over my laptop screen and copy these peonies carefully. Please comment. Thank you. You’re new extra fine crepe is fantastic!!

Reply
1. Lia February 15, 2017 at 1:19pm
  
  Cynthia, most printers should default to printing in black ink even if it’s a color print. You could try adjusting the settings on your printer to see if it can print darker. On my inkjet, I have the option to print “Best” which makes everything much darker. We haven’t received similar comments on the print quality of PDFs before so I’m sorry to hear of your trouble!
  
  Reply
Candice Lane January 22, 2017 at 1:30pm

There wasn’t a leaf template included in the PDF. What is the one pictured in the first photo on this page? Also, my peony came out just beautiful, but it is not as cupped-looking as yours. Mine is more open. Did I stretch the petals too much and did you glue the petals more together than I may have?

Reply
1. Lia January 23, 2017 at 8:30am
  
  Thank you for pointing that out! It’s the same leaf from the Juliet rose, but I updated the PDF template 🙂 You may have stretched the petals too much– you only want to stretch the center of the petal lightly and not too much side to side or top to bottom. You can certainly use more glue if you need to 🙂
  
  Reply
  1. Candice Lane January 23, 2017 at 12:28pm
    
    Thank you for the updated template. My peony still looks really pretty, but next time I will try to not stretch too much.
    
    Reply
    1. Lia January 24, 2017 at 9:06am
      
      One of the many reasons I love crepe paper is that it’s pretty forgiving! 🙂
      
      Reply
Alana January 9, 2017 at 3:50pm

Hello! Love all your gorgeous tutorials! Hands down the best ones I’ve found, and I plan to use them again and again in the future! Out of curiosity, how many flowers would you say you get out of your rolls of crepe paper on average, if you mix and match the different types of flowers?

Thanks! 🙂

Reply
1. Lia January 10, 2017 at 8:41am
  
  Thank you so much! 🙂 The regular extra fine crepe paper rolls are 19.6″ x 78.7″, so you could get quite a few flowers depending on a) the complexity of the bloom (for example, the juliet rose has LOTS of petals vs. the anemone that only has a few), and b) how close you cut the petals together and can eliminate waste.
  
  Reply
Michelle October 19, 2016 at 1:48pm

I’m interested in how you store crepe paper flowers. I’m making them for my daughter’s wedding in the spring, but want to keep them looking “fresh” and not wilt due to humidity.

Reply
1. Lia November 1, 2016 at 8:34am
  
  Hi Michelle! I’ve stored my flowers in large plastic tubs that have kept well here in my attic in Portland.
  
  Reply
Sue Keida September 23, 2016 at 5:23pm

Hi Lia, I made some of these with your paper and they look wonderful!! They are the most realistic peonies I’ve found. Thank you so much for the endless fun I’m having! Will send you pics soon of all my blooms. I’m on a roll 🙂
Thanks again

Reply
1. Lia September 28, 2016 at 8:59am
  
  Yes please send photos!! Thanks Sue 🙂
  
  Reply
Alyssa Malone September 8, 2016 at 7:57am

I love these.

Curious, any word on the Amazon store? I’ve been saving up my credit card rewards to use on your crepe paper when it becomes available. 🙂

Reply
1. Lia September 9, 2016 at 9:24am
  
  Hi Alyssa! We do have some stock available on Amazon– we are only selling the 10-pack, metallic 3-pack, and floral tapes there. The rest is available on our Shop site. We hope to have more available on Amazon in the near future!
  
  Reply
Deirdre September 8, 2016 at 2:56am

Beautiful. Agree about the scent as I grew Peonys in my garden some years ago.
Thank you for showing how to do them.

Reply
JaneEllen September 7, 2016 at 11:12pm

Oh my, such breath taking gorgeous peonies made with your special crepe paper. I will order some to make these so can have some pretty flowers all year long. Love color you used to make these.
Read post about your craft kits at JoAnns so will be going soon to see what they have at our store.
Noticed tonight have missed some great looking projects, need to catch up.

Reply
1. Lia September 9, 2016 at 9:25am
  
  Thank you! Let us know what you find if you visit JoAnns 🙂
  
  Reply
janet September 7, 2016 at 5:44pm

Hi Lia and team, these are extraordinary and so realistic looking! Hope to get cracking soon with my lovely new crepe papers 🙂

Reply
1. Lia September 9, 2016 at 9:25am
  
  🙂
  
  Reply
Susan Bonn September 7, 2016 at 5:12pm

Lia
These are lovely. Can’t wait to make them– with your really great, stretchy fine crepe!!!
Susan

Reply
1. Lia September 9, 2016 at 9:26am
  
  Yay! 🙂
  
  Reply