How to Make Paper Plants

These paper plants are SO fun and will never die! Faux plants can be costly, and this DIY decor idea is a budget friendly way to spruce up any room. Such a cool and creative option for adding some cute leafy pals to your space, without needing a super green thumb!

After taking a deep dive on How to Make a Paper Daisy and my first ever post How to Make Crepe Paper Poppies, I’ve fallen in love with paper crafts. I’ve gotten so much practice with flowers, and wanted to try my hand at making some paper plants. There are SO MANY varieties to choose from and you never have to worry about watering or getting them enough sun!

Since I used my Cricut Explore 3 to cut the leaves, the process was so much faster! Once I downloaded a template, I was ready to rock, and all I had to do was choose the perfect shade of green paper for the project. If you don’t have a cutting machine, don’t worry! You can always print, trace and cut out your shapes by hand. The end result will be just as beautiful.

This easy to follow tutorial will take you through each step, and show you 2 different versions that you can make yourself. It’s not as hard as it looks, and the whole process is really addictive!

Check out my video on how to make Paper Plants:

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NOTE: Scroll down for the step-by-step photo tutorial.

Looking for even more DIY flower and plant ideas? Here are a few you might want to check out!

How to Make a Paper Daisy

DIY Crepe Paper Poppies

30 of the BEST DIY Flower and Plant Tutorials

The full printable list of instructions is available at the end of this post, but here’s a list of affiliate links that will take you to products on Amazon, Etsy and Cricut that are similar to the supplies I used.

Version 1: Monstera inspired Paper Plants

This paper plant requires some green cardstock, some faux moss, hot and tacky glue as well as two gauges of floral wire. A pair of wire cutters will also come in handy half way through!

Cutting the Leaves

To make this as easy as possible, I purchased a tropical leaf SVG file from Mini Studio Design on Etsy to use with my Cricut in Cricut Design Space. Buying an SVG bundle is extremely cheap (less than $3 in most cases) and it helps your projects to look a bit more polished. Not to mention, it cuts your time in half!

If you don’t have a Cricut, you can still buy the SVG and print out the PDF version of some of the simpler designs, trace them onto cardstock and cut them out yourself. OR draw your own leaf designs and cut those out instead! You can use a detail pen knife for the more intricate cuts – just be careful!

Remove the leaves using a weeding tool. (I used a standard grip mat for this project.)

Assembling the Leaves (single stem)

For this plant I cut a total of 30 leaves – 10 large and 20 small. In other words, you’ll need 2 leaves to make 1 finished leaf: one for the front and one for the back for a total of 15 finished monstera leaves (5 large and 10 small). Having two different sizes makes the plant look a little more realistic (at least in my opinion.)

At the end of the day, you can cut as many or as few leaves as you want and make them any size, the measurements below are just a guideline.

Grab two leaves of the same size. Place them on the table so they are mirror images of each other. Grab some floral wire. For this plant I used two different gauges: an 18 gauge and a much thinner 26 gauge. I used the 18 gauge wire as the main stem.

Depending on the pattern/design of the leaf, you might need to slightly bend the wire so it’s not obvious through the cut-out holes. Add a generous amount of hot glue along the top of the wire and press it down, in the centre of one of the leaves.

In addition to hot glue, a quick-dry tacky glue is perfect for this project. It doesn’t dry right away and gives you a little time to play around and adjust your layers.

Once the hot glue is dry, add multiple dollops of tacky glue around the leaf, with a focus on getting some on each tip so it stays together.

Take the second leaf, and line it up on top of the glued leaf so it matches exactly. Press it down, sandwiching the stem between the two, and hold it for a few seconds until the tacky glue has set.

Your first leaf is complete!

Assembling the Leaves (double stem)

Make a few single leaf stems like the one above, then add a few with a second stem. Here’s how: grab one of the 26 gauge wires and cut it in half with a pair of wire cutters.

Grab another set of leaves. Lay them out as mirror images again.

Using hot glue, secure the top of one of the wire halves to one of the leaves.

Once dry, add several dollops of tacky glue around the leaf, making sure to hit the tips so it stays together.

Press the second leaf on top of the glue, matching it exactly. Press down and hold it until the glue has set.

Take the 26 gauge wire and wrap the bottom around the 18 gauge, about half way down.

Give both stems a little bend, and there you go – a double leaf stem! It gives a little more variation and helps to add more volume and different heights to the plant. Super helpful when arranging and styling!

Repeat these steps and make the remaining leaves. You can decide how many single and double stems you want to make.

Assembling the Plant

Grab a cute planter and a piece of foam. You can use actual floral foam OR you can measure your planter to see if a foam sphere from the dollar store will fit. I found one there, and cut it in half with a coping saw, then spray painted it green so it would blend in.

Stuff the foam into the bottom of your planter. I placed mine flat side up, and added a few small pieces of stick-tack to the bottom so it wouldn’t move around.

Add some faux moss onto the surface of the foam. I found this bright chartreuse coloured moss and love the contrast it gives against the leaves.

The final step is pressing the stems down through the moss, into the foam then styling your paper plant! You’ll want to slightly bend the stems so the leaves have some arch just like a real plant would have.

Moving in a circle, place one stem at time, adjusting as you go. Add all the stems, until you’re happy with the placement. I like to add more of the larger leaves along the bottom and use the smaller ones to fill in the top.

Your monstera plant is complete! It’s pretty awesome isn’t it?!

After I realized how easy these were to make, I immediately made another one using a different leaf template. I’ve had this cheetah planter for a while and had never done anything with it. I figured this was the perfect time to use it and I love how it turned out!

Your monstera needs a buddy! Try your hand at making this paper begonia too!

Version 2: Begonia inspired Paper Plants

You’ll need a good pair of scissors, tacky and hot glue as well as a pencil and some floral wire. A cute plant pot, foam and some faux moss will be the finishing touches once your leaves are complete!

After seeing these leaves cut-out, I decided to use two colours of cardstock: dark green and fuchsia.

Once again, I used my Cricut to cut the leaves. The SVG bundle I bought had a bunch of options to choose from!

Cutting the Leaves

For this plant I cut a total of 40 leaves – 16 large and 24 small. In other words, you’ll need 2 leaves to make 1 finished leaf: one for the front and one for the back for a total of 8 large and 12 small finished leaves.

At the end of the day, you can cut as many or as few leaves as you want and make them any size, the measurements below are just a guideline.

Once your Cricut has finished cutting, use a weeding tool to remove them from the mat. (I used a standard grip mat for this project.)

Assembling the Leaves

Since the inside of each leaf is cut out, I thought it would be nice to add a little pizazz, and add a layer of bright fuchsia in between the top and bottom pieces. To do this, simply trace one of the leaves onto a piece of pink cardstock. Just trace around it, you don’t need to trace the veining on the inside.

Cut it out. You don’t have to be super precise. In fact, you can cut it a little smaller, since it just has to fill the empty space in the centre. Line the pink up with the top leaf to make sure it fits, and fills the inside. Trim if necessary. Once you’re happy with the shape, use it as a template, go back and trace/cut the rest of the pink pieces you’ll need.

A quick-dry tacky glue is perfect for this project. It doesn’t dry right away and gives you a little time to play around and adjust your layers.

Add tiny dollops of glue around the back of the top leaf.

Add the pink piece on top of the glue, then flip it over so you can see the front. Adjust the green leaf so the empty middle is filled by the pink and it doesn’t stick out on the sides. If it does, just trim it with a pair of scissors.

Grab the bottom leaf (make sure it’s facing the same way as the top one) and add a few more dollops of tacky glue. Line it up with the top leaf and adjust it until it lines up perfectly. Your first leaf is complete! Repeat this process with all of the remaining pairs.

Adding the Stems

When all the paper leaves are glued and ready to go, it’s time to add the wire stems!

This is just a personal preference, but I like my paper plants to have varying sizes. 2-3 different sizes of leaves as well as two different thicknesses of stems or floral wire. I feel like it makes them a little more realistic. As always, you can totally modify or copy any of these steps as you go along!

For this plant I used two different gauges of floral wire. I used an 18 gauge for the large leaves and a very thin, 26 gauge wire for the smaller ones.

Since the 26 gauge wire is so thin, you’ll need to fold it in half and twist the bottom to give it more strength. It will be really hard to push into the foam without this step. Alternatively, you can use a thicker wire and just skip this step all together. I was just working with what I had on hand!

The next step is hot gluing the wire to the back of the leaf. Simply, draw a thin line of hot glue along the spine of the leaf and press the wire stem down on top. Hold it for a few seconds and let it dry.

Glue the 18 gauge in the exact same way, just omit the folding and twisting part!

Once dry, flip it back to the front side and gently fold the leaf in half, to give it a little more life!

Assembling the Plant

Once all the leaves have stems, it’s time to assemble your plant! The step you’ve been waiting for!

Stuff your foam into the bottom of your planter. I placed mine flat side up, and added a few small pieces of stick-tack to the bottom so it wouldn’t move around.

Add some faux moss onto the surface of the foam. I found this bright, chartreuse coloured moss and love how it adds some contrast against the pink and dark green leaves.

The final and step is pressing the stems down into the foam and styling your paper plant! You’ll want to slightly bend the stems so the leaves have some arch just like a real plant would have.

One by one, bend and then press the stems into the foam, arranging as you go. Move in a circle, laying the larger leaves closer to the bottom and filling in the gaps with the smaller leaves as needed.

Add all the stems and style each leaf until you’re happy with the shape! The wires make it so easy to make small and large adjustments. In other words, don’t be afraid to really get in there and move things around.

Your begonia inspired plant is complete!

How cute is this?! It looks surprisingly realistic considering it’s made of paper. I’m seriously in love with these plants! I made one for each of my bedside tables.