Amazingly Realistic Paper Succulent Wreath Tutorial

Want to make this amazingly realistic
Paper Succulent Wreath?
Our tutorial has 4 paper succulent varieties
you attach to a wooden hoop.

 

Succulents are popular in home décor right now.

I haven’t had very good luck growing them, but I love seeing successful succulent arrangements.

Given my obviously missing succulent-growing gene, I thought we needed to create something that fits our comfort zone.

Here at kimenink we’re all about paper,

so we started wondering if we could make paper succulents that look realistic.

Realistic enough to use them on a spring wreath I’d want to display publicly in my home.

Here in the desert we don’t have very many actual spring flowers, so succulents seem more natural.

And so we did some researching and came up with this paper succulent wreath tutorial.

 

 

Paper Succulent Wreath Tutorial

What you need:

• 2 shades of green cardstock and 2 or 3 shades of green printer paper
• 10″ wooden embroidery hoop
• deep red/purple paint, paintbrush
• glue, scissors
• Foam mounting tape or pop dots
• Printable files

 

How to do it:

1. Download the printable files. Scoot down to the bottom of the page, fill in the handy, dandy form, and you’ll get the patterns.
   Fill in the form and get the patterns.
2. Trace the shapes onto your green cardstock.
3. From here on each succulent has its own directions.

 

Paper Echeveria Succulent 

1. Print the Echeveria Succulent pattern.
2. Cut out all the paper pieces.
3. Paint the centers with the red/purple paint, diffusing from the center. Darken the outer edges with a darker green paint, or a darker green ink pad.
4. Curl the outer edges of the layers. See curling directions in this post.
5. Begin with the largest cut, and add a piece of foam mounting tape in the center. This will help separate the layers, giving the finished plant a more realistic look.
6. Stack all the layers, mounting tape between each layer.

 

 

 

Paper Aeonium Succulent wannabe

1. With the same pattern as the Echeveria, print the outlines on light lime green paper.
2. Paint the tips of the petals with the red/purple paint. Paint on both sides this time, because when you curl the petals, you can see both sides.
3. Repeat steps 3 and 4 above.

 

 

 

 

Faux Kalanchoe Filler Stems

1. Print and cut 5 sets (2 to 3 leaf curves per stem) of the kalanchoe leaf pattern.
2. Darken the edges of some leaves with the paint.
3. Slit the leaves from the bottom to about 2/3 of the way to the top. Overlap and glue.
4. Roll a “stem” from a piece of green printer paper. Roll on an angle like a paper straw. Glue the ends and cut to varying lengths, from 3″ to 4″.
5. Begin gluing leaves at the “top” of your stem, winding down around the stem. Add 2 or 3 leaf strips around each stem, leaving some stem to allow you to tuck and glue the kalanchoe among the other succulents on the hoop.

   

 

 

Tillandsia Air Plant hack

1. Cut green printer paper in a 2.5″ x 7″ rectangle.
2. Snip “grass” blades into the rectangle all along the 7″ length, to about 1/4″ from the other end. Your blades will be about 2″ long.
3. Curl each blade, some more than others.
4. Roll up tightly along the solid strip, and glue the end.

 

 

 

 

Finish the Paper Succulent Wreath

1. You’ll attach the paper succulents over the metal clasp of the hoop.
2. Cut a couple of oval-ish pieces of green cardstock for background behind the paper succulents.
3. Glue one piece below the hoop, and one on top.
4. Arrange the paper succulents in a pleasing design and glue.

 

 

We’d love to hear if you try our
paper succulent wreath tutorial.

Until next time,

Kim & Dorothy