Before we get started, I just want to say that I most certainly did NOT invent this method of making paper flowers. I came across a few tutorials on the web which produced beautiful results. But many of them were either too time consuming or too tedious, or both. So in the end I came up with my own method that used the basics of these other tutorials and cut out what I felt were unnecessary steps.
If you know me at all, you know that I'm impatient and am always looking for the fastest way to get a project done. Hopefully you'll find this tutorial easy to follow and results in fantastic paper peonies!
A note about dyeing the flowers:
For my "dye" I used regular old craft paint, watered way down and mixed really well. It worked wonderfully. You could also experiment with food coloring. I used food coloring for my yellow simply because I wanted to see how it looked and it worked really well also.
I haven't tried this yet, but I think "double dipping" the flowers would look pretty neat, too. Dye them one color, allow them to dry, then dip just the very tips into a darker shade to add more depth. Could be cool!