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Make Crepe Paper Mushrooms

I wanted something special as a centerpiece for my kitchen table that wasn’t flowers, but was really interesting. I had the idea of creating something to place inside of a removable wood bowl. It’s our only table so anything that goes on top needs to be able to come off for meal times.  I wanted to make crepe paper mushrooms in wood bowl centerpiece with a long mango wood bowl I bought a few years ago. I loved the idea of filling it with sweet and delicate mushrooms. Almost like someone cut out a section of the forest floor and placed it inside of a single moment in time in a diorama type woodland display which I’ll show you how I put together in the next post.

Crepe paper mushrooms in moss

These delicate paper mushrooms are easy to make and use common supplies. To create the mushrooms you’ll need:

Supplies to make paper mushrooms

Party crepe paper in white and tan (or other color of choice. If you can only find white, no worries, because they can be painted with watercolor paint later.

Skinny wood dowel rods or skewers

White craft glue

Scissors

Watercolor paints and a brush

White cardstock

Floral Foam

To make paper mushrooms tops start with drawing circles of different sizes on the cardstock

Trace a circle and cut out with scissors

Cut the cardstock in various size circles, then cut a small slit into the center.

Cut a slit in the center of the circle

Slide one of the edges of the slit over the other edge and use white craft glue to secure the ends together to create a loose cone shape.

Apply glue to the edge and glue together

I like to sit and make a lot of these are one time before moving onto the next step. Once the cone is dry, apply white craft glue with a brush (or your finger) to the top of the cone. Take a small length of tan crepe paper and place the edge long ways onto the top.

brush glue on top of the mushroom cap

Gather the crepe paper at the top of the cone and move around the bottom, gathering the crepe paper at the top so that it’s tight at the tip and fans out around the bottom. Cut off any excess and glue the edges down underneath. Let dry.

apply crepe paper to the mushroom cap

Brush excess glue on the top to seal any loose crepe paper ends.

Brush glue on the top of the crepe paper

While the tops are drying it’s time to make the stems of the mushrooms with a little paper frill on them

Cut skewers or dowel rods to size. I try to make sure the length of the base of the mushroom is proportional to the top. Apply white craft glue to the length of the wood piece and wrap white crepe paper in a spiral pattern all of the way to the bottom and apply white craft glue to adhere.

Wrap crepe paper around stick on a diagonal

Fold over a section of white crepe paper about 2 inches long. Apply glue to the folded edge of the crepe paper and a little to the stem and gather the crepe paper around the base of the paper covered wood about 1/3-2/3 of the way up. This creates a cute little frill or skirt on the base of the mushroom

Wrap folded crepe paper
Wrap crepe paper around the stem

There’s a trick to make a paper mushroom where the tops look like they are placed in a natural way

Attach the mushroom cap to the stem

Once the top of the mushroom and bottom are dry, it’s time to put them together. I found the easiest way to do it was to use a block of dry floral foam to put my bottom mushroom stem into to hold it in place, then add a few drops of glue on the inside point of the mushroom cone and stick them together with the cone balancing on the stem. This gives a way more natural look when drying.

Brush watercolor paint on the crepe paper mushroom cap

Once all of my paper mushrooms were assembled and dry, I used a little bit of brown and black watercolor paint to add some aging and texture to my mushroom tops. I think this little touch is what brings them to life!

Place mushroom into the moss

I love how natural and organic the crepe paper mushrooms look! You can see how I assembled them to create a woodland centerpiece here.

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