DIY Potted Paper Cactus

I have a confession. I want very badly to be a plant lady, but the plants are telling me another story. I do have one plant that is showing me some mercy or maybe it’s just pity? But other than that? Let’s just say we’ve been through a few live ones and I got the message loud and clear. Cue in this little DIY Potted Paper Cactus that I made for my desk. Low maintenance and cute. It can also be part of a sweet gift to a fellow not-so-green thumb. Or make these for place settings – they are small enough to fit on a plate. Are you in? Read on the for how-to! 

DIY Potted Paper Cactus: Materials

• Silhouette Studio (there is a free version!)
• Silhouette cutting machine
• Cactus in a pot design on the Silhouette Design Store
• Colored and patterned cardstock (I got my pattern at Creative Market then printed it on cardstock)
• Optional – paper flower
• Glue

*This post contains affiliate links for products that I use and love!

DIY Potted Paper Cactus: Instructions

1. Download and open your cactus in a pot design in Silhouette Studio
2. Instead of print and cut, I used my own patterned paper and colored cardstock – if you plan to do the same, load your green cardstock
3. Place your cactus leaves in the print/cut area
4. Send to cut using cardstock settings
5. Now load your patterned cardstock
6. Replace you cactus leaves with the pot shape
7. Send to cut using cardstock settings
8. Finally load your pink cardstock and repeat for the flower using cardstock settings
9. Fold the tabs along dashed lines, apply glue to the tabs and assemble

If you don’t have your silhouette cutting machine yet, no problem! You can use the free Silhouette Studio version software, then send to your printer and cut them out by hand. Want to use your own colored cardstock instead of the pre-set colors? Then set the shapes’ colors to blank, and set the line thickness to anything above 0 so that you can see where to cut when they print.

And that’s it! Will you keep yours for your desk or give as a gift? Tell me in the comments below!

Looking for some more inspiration? Take a look at my other Silhouette projects.