Pink and Main Paper Cactus Plant

How about a No Water/ No Kill paper cactus plant? This tutorial uses Pink and Main hot air balloon dies to make a garden for a plant lover with out a green thumb. Follow the tutorial below to assemble your own Paper Cactus Plant.

 All of my cacti are made using a set of concentric hot air balloon cutting dies from Pink and Main. After cutting out a variety of green, blue, and yellow balloons, I arranged and grouped them until they resembled cactus plants.

 The Prickly Pear Cactus assembles from the top down.
Adhere two small balloons, color side out.
Adhere small balloons to edge of medium balloon.

Top with a second medium balloon, color side out.
Use a white gel pen to add prickles.

 When your prickly pear is the right height cut a slit in the stem.

Adhere two more large balloons, color side out.

Cut a slit from the top of the balloon down to the center. 

Join slits to assemble the base of the cactus.

The Barrel Cactus is made by adhering two sets of small balloons, color side out.
Cut a slit in one pair from the top down and in the second from the stem up as shown. Remove stem of balloons with stem slit. Slide balloons together. 

 To make the main body of the barrel cactus cut four large balloons.
Trim off the sides so the balloon resembles an oblong.

Adhere small, assembled balloons to edge of oblong.
Top with a second oblong, color side out. Cut a slit from the stem up toward the center.

Adhere another set of small balloons and oblongs and cut a slit from the top down to the center.

Slide slits together, adjust as necessary.

 The Spiral Cactus is made from 8 large balloons.
Fold each balloon in half, length wise.

Adhere the right half of one balloon to the left half of another balloon.
Repeat this process till all 8 balloons are joined.

 The container is cut from printed cardboard.
I used the entire sheet of cardboard so had to measure and cut carefully. The photo below shows the details. Blue lines are cut through with a craft knife.

Cardboard is made of three layers. The orange lines of each piece are cut through the printed side and middle layer, but the back piece is left intact as shown in the second square below. This process leaves flaps of heavy paper that can be glued onto the adjoining piece to connect the sides. The bottom of the flower pot is the rectangle piece with 1" flaps and 4" center section. To cover all my scribbles I cut strips of the brown paper and glued them along the inside, top of the flower pot.

 The soil is basically a shelf of cardboard, covered with brown cardstock. The trick is to be certain the bottom and three sides of the pot are solid before adding the shelf. The shelf is held in place by the sloping sides of the pot. They don't allow the shelf to slide down.

Use the remaining piece of  4" x 6" cardboard for the shelf.
Make 1/4" flaps on either end so that the solid central piece is 4"x 5.5".
Cut a piece of brown cardstock 7.5" by 5.5". Score a 1" flap at each end of the brown cardstock. Adhere the cardboard shelf to the back of the brown cardstock, placing the flaps together.
With a craft knife, cut an X in the shelf where each plant will be placed.
Adhere the color side of the flaps to the flower pot sides, positioning shelf approximately 1/2" from the top.
Add cactus plants. Glue remaining side to flower pot. A bamboo skewer may be slid between the soil shelf and pot side to press the final flap onto the adjoining side.

This Cactus Container Garden looks great from any angle, but why stop with one? Plant yourself a garden of paper pretties that will never need watering and will ALWAYS brighten you day.

Craft On!
~Charity Hotrum~