How To Make A Paper Fan And Create A Flower Fan Card

Summer is coming; sometimes, you want an easy craft project to make with kids. Or you want a simple concept to add to your crafting skills. This super easy tutorial will take you through how to make a paper fan and upscale these easy DIY paper fans into a gorgeous card.

Of course, there are many uses for these fans: cards, banners, scrapbooking pages; the list goes on! But today I will look at making the fan as a fan summer craft for kids or an easy but beautiful card.

How To Make A Paper Fan

You Will Need

For The Fan

• 2 x 3.5 squares of double-sided coloured of patterned scrapbook paper or craft paper. Not too thick as it makes it hard to fold and bend.
• Scissors
• String
• Glue gun or craft glue
• 2 Lolly sticks or craft sticks
• Cricut Maker and card mat if you want to cut your squares with a scalloped edge.

For The Card

• Blank card and envelope or cardstock to make your greeting card.
• Washi tape
• Card stock for centre circle ( could be cut on a Cricut, with a stamp or by hand)
• Happy Birthday decal ( I cut mine with vinyl on my Cricut), but you could also use a sticker decal or stamp.
• Stick on mini pearls in a corresponding colour
• Large, strong sticky pads
• Glue gun

How To Make A Paper Fan With Lolly Sticks

Start by cutting two squares out of your pieces of paper. I cut mine 3.5 inches x 3.5 inches with a scalloped edge on my Cricut Maker. However, you can make your fan any size without the lolly sticks. A large fan is great for party decorations, this would look great, made in all different sizes, with a larger fan and lots of smaller fans in a display. 

If you would like to use my template, click and save the image below and upload it to design space following these instructions.

Start by folding your two square pieces of paper accordion style into 1cm folds. However, if you have a scalloped edge, be sure to keep this in the outside edges as you fold. Once folded, press down on your fan shape to secure the folds; you can use a ruler for this.

Now, glue together both squares with strong glue and hold them together until you are confident the glue is dry. Once dry, tie the centre tightly to create a bow shape. Then, once the string is secure, tease two of the edges together and glue them to secure them; this will start to form your fan shape.

Next, when the glue is dry, glue lolly sticks to the remaining two edges and allow it to dry, forming your fan handles. This will give you a cute paper fan; you can stop here!

This is a great summer craft for decorations, banners and crafting with kids. However, if you want to learn how to make a paper fan card, then read on.

How To Make An Origami Fan Flower Card

Put your fan to one side, and use the washi tape to create a border on your blank card. I chose a plain natural tape, although you could go bolder and brighter; anything goes here.

Once your order is in place, stick strong double-sided sticky pads to the back side of your fan and secure it to the card.

Then, either cut out the centre portion and message on your cutting machine. Or use a stamp and punch to create a centre. You could even make a smaller fan with tissue paper.

I used permanent vinyl to make a happy birthday decal, which I transferred to my card. However, you can also use stick-on decals if you don’t have a cutting machine.

To finish off, the card is decorated with mini pearls; these add such a pretty 3D effect to the card. Cardmaking can be as easy or difficult as you want it to be, it’s all about being creative and personalising your creation.

Also please do pop over to Instagram, and give me a follow and if you make a project, tag me! I love seeing everyone else’s makes and chatting crafting. I could do that all day!