Origami flowers are beautiful, long-lasting, and enjoyable to make. Try creating some origami flowers to decorate an important gift, brighten a room on a winter's day, or cheer up a friend. Once you have the basics down, you are on your way to making many lovely origami flowers.

1. Search the internet to find many different origami paper flower design instructions
2. Practice on scrap paper until you master a technique and can use origami or more expensive paper.
3. You can smooth out a piece of paper with a warm iron (but don't touch the iron to the foil) if you make a mistake.
4. If you like, spray your flower with a flower-based scent such as rose or lily to make your origami flower even more appealing.
5. When working with expensive or delicate paper, make sure your hands are free of lotions or oils that may stain the paper.

• Origami Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper together to form intricate 3D designs: the word derives its meaning from the Japanese words "ori" (to fold) and "kami" (paper)]. http://www.origami-resource-center.com/ Japanese people take pride in creating beautiful wrappers or envelopes for special gifts, and you can implement this concept into your own gift-wrapping. There are many different origami designs you can make, and you are sure to find a design for your favorite flower.http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Make_Origami Try making some origami flowers to jazz up a wrapped gift, bring to someone who is ill or decorate a room on a bleak day.

• Origami calls for few supplies: a simple piece of paper can be sufficient for producing a work of art. However, there are many types of paper designed specifically for origami. Art and specialty stores will carry origami paper. Experiment with different types until you find one that you like!

1. The fragile colored paper that is often used in origami is called "kami" which is simply the Japanese word for "paper".http://www.langorigami.com/info/paper/paper.php4
2. Foil paper, which has a metallic sheen on one side, is also popular for origami.http://www.langorigami.com/info/paper/metallic_papers.php4
3. Washi paper (handmade paper) is specially made paper for origami.http://www.origami-resource-center.com/origami-paper.html
4. There are other types of origami paper available, but bear in mind that you can experiement with plain paper, dollar bills, printer paper and other forms of scrap paper until you have the technique down.

• Below is a list of many different folds and links to diagrams about them.

1. Valley Fold: Fold the paper back onto itself towards you.Origami for Everyone: Basic Folds You are turning it on itself so that any color or design is being covered up.Joost Langeveld: Basic Origami
2. Mountain Fold: Fold the paper back on itself so that any color or design appears on both sides.The Art of Origami: Introduction and Basic Folds
3. Reverse Fold: The paper is folded into a point, and then the point is folded down.Paper-Crafts.org: Basic Origami Folds.
4. Rabbit Ear Fold: Lay the paper down and make it form a diamond shape instead of a square. Make two folds in the top part of the diamond, leaving the bottom part unfolded.Origami for Everyone: Basic Folds
5. Pleat: Pleating in origami is just like pleating cloth.Peter Budai: Fold Types
6. Petal Fold: This is a more complex fold that is essential for shaping flower petals.Jasper's Homepage: Folding Diagrams for the Petal Folds
7. Prayer Fold: This is an essential fold for making the famous origami "water bomb", a shell of paper that can be filled with water and thrown at people!Jasper's Homepage: Folding Diagrams for the Prayer Fold

• Origami is best described in pictures, not in words. This How to Make Origami Flowers page is dedicated to explaining some of the basic steps for some of the flower patterns and providing you with links to other websites which offer diagrams for various origami flower patterns. While the basic concept for each flower pattern is often the same, different websites offer different ideas and tricks to create the desired results. Make sure to look at all the links for inspiration on how to make roses, lilies and other wonderful flowers!

• This is a neat bar trick and fun to whip up on the spur of the moment. Just about any paper napkin will work for this trick:

1. Take a paper or cloth napkin and lay it out in front of you.
2. Make a valley fold in the napkin.Bartendermagic.com: Napkin Rose
3. Wrap the right end of the napkin around your fingers to form the rose petals.Charlie's Creative Comedy: Napkin Rose
4. Twist off the petals to form the head of the rose.
5. Tightly twist the stem together, leaving the two other corners of the napkin free to form leaves.

• An origami lily is a particularly beautiful origami pattern.Origami Instructions: Origami Lily You will need to master the petal fold and create a waterbomb base for this particular pattern.

1. Create a waterbomb base.Origami Fun: Origami Lily
2. Fold the center points into a star.
3. Fold back the star points to create the petals and open the lily up.

• Nothing says "spring" quite like the sight of vibrant tulips. With two sheets of paper, you can create lovely origami tulips no matter what season it is.Origami Instructions: Origami Tulip Select a green sheet of paper for the stem and whatever color you want for the blossom. Because there are several ways to fold an origami tulip, below are links to several sites giving you variances on the design.
  • Martin's Origami: Tulip
  • Origami Fun: Origami Tulip Instructions
  • Nick Robinson: Origami Tulip

• Once you have mastered making simple origami flowers such as roses, you are ready to tackle a more challenging design. Daffodils are more complex origami pattern, but the end results are splendid.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqVOH9SAQfA&ehttp://www.origami4you.com/daf.htmlhttp://www25.brinkster.com/waldentoons/origami/daffodil.htm

• These are just some of the many lovely origami flowers you can make with a few sheets of paper, some instructions and a bit of creativity. Master the basic folds and search around your house for some interesting paper; you'll soon be on your way to creating unique origami flowers to decorate gifts or making long-lasting flower arrangements.