If you've ever flipped through a glossy magazine or a cookbook full of food photography and thought this paper is too beautiful to throw away, this tutorial is for you. In it, I show how to turn magazine pages and colorful printed paper into handmade paper flowers — the kind you can tuck into junk journal pockets, glue onto tags, or use to dress up a gift. No special materials required, and every flower turns out a little different, which is exactly the point.
What we cover
This tutorial walks through the full process of making paper flowers from upcycled magazine pages — choosing the right paper, drawing and cutting petals (freehand and with a cereal-box template), assembling the flower on a punched circle base, adding dotted details, and embellishing the center with bling and ribbon trim. At the end, I show several ways to use finished flowers in junk journals and on gifts.
What you'll learn
How to choose the right magazine pages for petals — thicker, more colorful pages hold their shape best. Recipe books and food photography magazines are particularly good for this; the colors are vivid and the paper has some weight to it. Flimsy pages don't hold up well once glued, so feel the paper before you commit to cutting.
How to prepare pages with optional color and texture — if your pages feel a bit flat or monochrome, a quick splash of white paint, a hit of orange or black, or a brush of kids' glitter paint can bring them to life before you draw a single petal. Totally optional, but it adds dimension to the finished flower.
How to draw and cut petals, including:
- Freehand with a thick Sharpie — produces petals that are irregular and naturally flower-like, with a visible black border that I actually love once they're assembled
- Using a cereal-box template — trace and cut for more uniform petals; useful if you want a tidier, more symmetrical flower
- Cutting multiple sizes from one template set, so you can vary the scale of your flowers to suit the project
Why fitting as many petals as possible onto one page before cutting matters — it saves material and means you can batch-cut a whole session's worth of petals in one go, ideally while watching TV.
How to punch or cut a circle base — this small circle, punched from any spare piece of paper or card, is what holds the whole flower together. I used to cut mine by hand before I owned a circle punch, and it works perfectly fine — no one looks at the back.
How to build the flower by layering petals onto the base, including:
- Placing the tip of each petal at the center of the circle and overlapping as you go around
- Adjusting petal count to petal width — narrower petals need around nine per flower, wider petals work well with around seven
- Using a quick-drying glue to speed up the build so you can move on to embellishing without waiting
How to rearrange petals before the glue fully sets — once all petals are down, take a moment to even them out while there's still a little give. This is when a slightly lopsided flower becomes a lovely one.
How to add dotted details to petals — I use cotton buds (nasal swabs) or anything with a small round tip dipped in paint to dot around the petal edges. It's a small thing that makes a big difference to the finished look.
How to embellish flower centers, including:
- Rhinestone bling pieces glued to the center
- A small doily or circle of blingy mesh trim layered underneath the center piece
- A brad pushed through to hold layered pieces together and show at the back
- Glitter paint applied before assembly so the surface catches light
Ways to use finished flowers in your projects, including:
- Glued directly onto a junk journal page as a focal embellishment
- Tucked into a pocket as a little loose treasure
- Placed on the cover of an art journal or filled book
- Used as a tag topper
- Slipped into or glued onto a gift wrapping
- Layered onto a glassine bag as part of a tuck spot or journaling spot
Tips & gotchas
Thicker paper makes better petals. Flimsy magazine pages — the kind that feel almost tissue-thin — won't hold their shape once glued into a flower. When I'm browsing for pages to use, I give them a quick feel. Recipe books and glossy editorial magazines tend to have the weight you want.
Batch your cutting. Rather than cutting petals one flower at a time, draw as many petals as you can fit onto a single page, then cut the whole lot at once. Keep a bag of loose cut petals ready to go, and you can mix and match colors and patterns when you start assembling. Cutting is genuinely a great TV activity — it requires just enough attention to be satisfying without needing you to focus.
Petal width changes how many you need. It sounds obvious once you know it, but I've made flowers that looked thin and sorry because I used wide-petal counts for narrow petals. If they're slender, go for nine; if they're broad, seven is about right. Adjust by eye as you go.
Rearrange before the glue grabs. Once all petals are placed, don't just leave it. Give each petal a nudge so they're sitting evenly around the circle before everything locks in place.
Quick-drying glue makes the build faster and less frustrating. Standard white school glue works, but you'll be waiting between steps. Switching to a glue that sets quickly means you can move straight through the assembly and into embellishing.
You don't need a circle punch. I made flowers for years without one. A hand-cut circle works just as well — it's hidden under the petals and no one will ever see it.
A flower on a tag changes the whole feel of it. One tucked into a journal pocket becomes a little discovery for whoever opens it. They're small enough to feel like an accent but substantial enough to anchor a whole page. And because every flower is made from different paper, no two ever look the same.
