Paper is one of the simplest and most easily available materials you can use for crafting. With just a few sheets and a little imagination, you can turn something plain into something beautiful. So today, we’re taking that creativity a step further by making 3D paper flowers and arranging them inside a frame. This beautiful, handmade artwork will showcase your creativity and bring life to a lifeless canvas.

Things you need:

1. Coloured papers of your choice, I used yellow and orange
2. One black paper sheet
3. Scissors
4. A pencil or a skewer
5. Gluestick
6. Ruler
7. Hot glue
8. Pieces of cardboard
9. Green thread or yarn (optional)
10. Black paint

Directions:

1. The size of the flower depends on the size of the paper you cut. I used a piece that was 4 inches wide and 6 inches long to make flowers from orange and yellow paper. If you want a smaller flower, reduce the overall size, eg, 4 inches wide and 5 inches long. This will give you a smaller flower. The longer the paper, the bigger the flower will be. The width also affects how dense the accordion folds are. If you want more folds, you will need to cut the paper wider; see pictures 2 and 3.

2. Make accordion folds in the paper. Cut both ends into a triangle shape, then fold the strip in the middle; pictures 4 and 5.

3. Use hot glue to secure the centre fold and gently open it out to form a flower shape, picture 6.

4. From the black paper, cut about five or six strips, each 3 inches wide and 7 inches long, to make the reeds, picture 7.

5. Using a skewer or pencil, roll each paper strip tightly around it to form a reed. Carefully slide it off and secure the opening with a glue stick. Press it flat with a ruler, pictures 8 and 9.

6. Take a piece of cardboard, either in strips or cut into a frame shape and paint it black. Black works best because it makes the colours of your flowers stand out; picture 10.

7. Stick the flowers onto the flattened reeds with hot glue. Curve the reeds, then arrange and glue them in different places on the frame, picture 11.

8. Cut green yarn into small scraps and glue them around the base of the flowers, outside the frame, to give it a more natural look.

You can either hang it with a string loop attached to its back or make a cardboard stand and place it on a desk.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 28th, 2026