Pan Pastels are a great way to make your paper flowers look more realistic. It's amazing the difference adding just a little bit can make.

You'll need a tool to apply it with, make up sponges work great and are cheap and easy to get hold of! You'll need one sponge per pastel colour. Or you can buy specific artists brushes called Sofft Tools to use with them too.

Pan Pastels can be expensive, but they last for a VERY long time. So choose your colours wisely to make sure you get the most use out of them (greens, browns and pinks/purples give alot of versatility.)

These are the colours I currently have in my collection:

• Yellow Ochre (also called Yellow Oxide)
• Burnt Sienna
• Magenta Shade
• Magenta Extra Dark
• Bright Yellow Green
• Bright Yellow Green Extra Dark

Alcohol inks are a great and relatively inexpensive way to dye your crepe paper.

You can add shading and gradients to make your paper blooms look more realistic, or you can completely change the colour of the paper so that it's no longer a standard off the shelf shade.

Althought the bottles are small, they last a long time.

You'll also need some isopropyl alchohol to mix it with, which is available from most pharmacies or grocery stores. I also recommend a mop brush (large fluffy artists paint brush) to apply it with, and a jar or pot to mix in (I use an old jam jar/mason jar.)

These are the colours I currently have in my collection:

• Honeycomb
• Sunset Orange
• Ginger
• Latte
• Caramel
• Salmon
• Shell Pink
• Raspberry
• Red Pepper
• Lime Green
• Rainforest Green
• Stonewashed
• Cool Peri
• Amethyst
• Purple Twilight
• Indigo

Note - If you're in the US, it's cheaper to shop direct from Ranger here.

I love to add a layer of Mod Podge to most of my leaves, the extra layer of glossiness makes them look much more realistic, and also helps to make them a bit more durable too.

Depending which crepe paper you use, sometimes the colour can fade if your paper flowers are displayed in direct sunlight. (Pro tip, German heavyweight crepe is colour fast and so doesn't fade as easily!)

If you're using another paper, particularly the Italian, it's best to spray your paper flowers with a layer of UV Protector spray to help reduce the fading.

It can also be helpful to use a layer of UV spray if you've added alot of colour to your paper, such as pan pastels or alcohol inks. Even if you're using the German crepe, the additional materials you add are not necessarily colour fast too.

If you plan to make a large number of flowers, or even just some of the more intricate petals, a Cricut Maker is a game changer.

To be able to use the Cricut Maker for paper flowers, you need to stretch out the paper to 90-100% first, so it's not the best fit for every flower, but certainly for something like hydrangeas or eucalyptus foliage, it works incredibly well!

If the Cricut is a good fit for a particular flower, I've added it as a template option, so you can download the SVG file to use with the Cricut.

You will need a rotary blade (a knife blade wont work with crepe paper).

I like to use the strong grip mat (purple). You could also use the fabric grip mat (pink).

I also have the basic tool set. I use the scraper tool to make sure my paper is fully stuck to the mat, and the spatula to help lift my petals or leaves off without damaging them.

TIP - You could also use a credit card in place of the scraper tool.

The best thing about using a Cricut Maker to make paper flowers, is that it frees you up to work on other parts of the paper flower while your machine is doing all of the tricky cutting for you! It's also slightly quicker than cutting by hand (even if you just sit and watch it! Trust me I tested it, video on my YouTube channel!)

Using a Cricut Maker is also helpful if you suffer from repetitive strain injury or carpal tunnel when using scissors.

Acrylic paints are a great way of getting a wider range of colours for your paper flowers. You can use them to colour wash the entire sheet of paper, to add gradients, and just small details - all of which add up to a much more realistic looking paper flower.

It's worth getting a set of artists brushes with several different sizes too.

I also find it really helpful to have a stay wet paint palette, so that I don't have to keep remixing paint each time I work. This is the palette that I have.

Watercolours are another great way to make your paper flowers look more realistic. These paints tend to dry with a more varied colour, rather than just a flat solid colour, which is much more life-life. You can also add some really nice details, such as at the edge of your petals with them.

Look for a set of artists brushes that is designed specifically for watercolours to help you blend the paint more easily.

There's a big difference between the pencil crayons you used as a kid and Prismacolor Pencils! They have a soft core rather than traditional lead pencils, so the pigment is incredible. They're easy to blend, and are also lightfast so they wont fade. They can be pricey, so look out for sales, but it's definitely an investment that is worth making!

Another option for adding details to your paper flowers is to use alcohol markers. Copic markers are by far the best available, but can be very expensive, so to begin with look for a starter set and then upgrade when you feel ready.