How to make a poinsettia wreath

Welcome visitors and show off your crafty skills with this fabulous paper poinsettia wreath!

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Published: May 1, 2024 at 9:34 am

Learn how to make a poinsettia wreath with our easy step-by-step tutorial by Clare Buswell. While poinsettia's are strongly associated with Christmas, with a little bit of creativity you can use this fabulous paper wreath all year round.

Experiment with the colours of your flowers or try using some glitter card for a sparkly finish. You can even replace the berries with a variety of gems, pearls or your favourite embellishments.

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Once you know how to make a poinsettia wreath, take a look at our brilliant papercraft tutorials, including how to make paper or how to make a stencil.

Top tips for making a poinsettia paper wreath:

  • Wrapping the polystyrene wreath with ribbon gives a lovely luxurious finish, but you could cover the wreath with a couple of layers of coloured acrylic paint instead if you prefer.
  • To save time, trace all of the templates onto a thick piece of card before you start. Cut out the shapes and use them to draw around. You’ll find that this is a much faster method than transferring from the original designs every single time.
  • When glueing the petal layers together, leave enough time for each layer to dry before adding the next one. This will ensure you get a strong, secure bond and the petals stay put.
  • If you don’t have a hot glue gun, you can use strong craft glue to attach the poinsettias and holly sprigs to the wreath.

Sticky business

A good quality glue gun is an essential for many papercraft projects. Take a look at our best glue gun guide for expert advice.


How to make a poinsettia wreath

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You will need:

  • Poinsettia wreath template
  • Polystyrene ring, 22cm
  • Red berries
  • Ribbon
  • Dressmaking pins
  • Coloured card
  • Hot glue gun
  • Piercing tool
  • Embossing tools
  • Foam mat
  • Ruler

Step 1

Pin one end of a spool of green ribbon to the back of the polystyrene ring and wrap the ribbon around the ring, securing with pins as you go.

Once covered, pin a loop of green ribbon to the top of the wreath.

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Step 2

Transfer the poinsettia petal templates onto pieces of red and green card.

For each flower, you will need one large green layer, two large red layers, one medium red layer and one small red layer. Cut out carefully.

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Step 3

Use a ruler and a small embossing tool to make score lines in the centre of each layer of petals, as shown.

Place each layer onto a foam mat and press into the centre of the petals with a large embossing tool to shape.

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Step 4

Assemble the red layers for one flower together, offsetting the petals on each layer, as shown.

Glue the large green layer to the bottom of the flower.

Repeat this step to create five perfect poinsettias for your wreath.

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Step 5

Glue 20mm circles of pale green card to the centre of each poinsettia.

Cut a fringe along one edge of five 155 x 20mm strips of pale green card. Roll and glue the ends.

Push out fringing and attach to the centre of each poinsettia using a glue gun or other strong glue. 

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Step 6

Use the holly leaves template to cut out 10 holly leaves from a piece of green card.

Carefully score and fold lines down the centre of each holly leaf. Next, score diagonal lines on either side of the centre line, as shown.

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Step 7

Attach two holly leaves together and pierce a hole at the bottom.

Twist the wire stems of three red berries together, push the end through the hole in the leaves and secure on the reverse.

Repeat to make five holly sprigs.

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Step 8

Position the poinsettia flowers evenly around the wreath and use a hot glue gun to secure each one in place.

Next, attach the holly sprigs so that they fill the gaps between the poinsettias, as shown, to finish.

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Voila – Your paper poinsettia wreath is now complete!

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Add variety to your paper poinsettia wreath with colour

If you're making this wreath at Christmas time, then of course you'll want to stick to the classic colours. But for the rest of the year, a little bit of creativity with colour can completely transform this fabulous paper poinsettia wreath.

Make your flowers in different shades of complimentary colours, or go wild and mix up bold bright shades. Choose shades of orange and brown for an autumnal wreath, or sunny shades of white and yellow for spring. 

Discover more paper flower patterns

Another way to customise your wreath is to mix up different flowers, and you'll find plenty to inspire you in our library of paper flower patterns on Gathered.

paper flower patterns