Hawaiian Hibiscus Paper Flowers Template

We are vacationing in Hawaii soon so I was inspired to design this paper hibiscus flower.

I actually ended up designing 2 Hawaiian flower templates each with a slightly different stamen.

These little paper flowers are so simple to make and add a tropical feel for any craft or decor project.

I didn’t quite have time to make enough to create a leis but I did manage to add them to a cute card perfect for any occasion.

This one was super straight forward on the Cricut. I just had to make a good template that would give a nice 3d effect to the flower.

While the petals are simple enough to cut by hand, the stamen pieces are a little bit more intricate and I would highly recommend cutting it with a cutting machine.

Materials for DIY Paper Hibiscus Flowers

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Bright Colored Cardstock – I like using medium weight (65lbs) cardstock with colored centers for paper flowers. I highly recommend the non-textured cardstock especially if you are cutting it with a cutting machine. The textured cardstock tends to fray easily and falls apart for more intricate designs. Here are some of my favorite brands:

Recollection Assorted Starter Pack – Basic assorted colors, great starter pack, perfect weight for most papercraft projects
Metallic Shimmer Assorted Set from Amazon – This set is a little lighter in weight but the colors are beautiful in 3D
Cardstock Warehouse Brand on Amazon – I love the quality of all the matte colored cardstock with Cardstock Warehouse. It is my go-to brand for individual matte colors that I might need
Stardream Metallics Line – For paper crafts, the Stardream line is the go to for a metallic shimmer finish. It is the perfect sheen to make any project pop. The core is also colored is which hard to find for metallic paper.
Assorted Pink Set from Paper Paper – This is a must-have for paper flower makers. The variety is perfect to create a bouquet.
Assorted Purple Set from Paper Paper – This is another must-have for paper flower makers. I love the variety of finishes in this pack.
Metallic Variety Set from Paper Paper – I don’t know any avid paper crafter that doesn’t use Stardream metallics line of shimmer paper. It is the only metallic cardstock line that I know of that has such variety and has colored cores.

Tacky Glue – Or a glue gun.

Cutting Machine – I use a Cricut. Check out my recommendations for Cricut machines and accessories for beginners for more info.

Template – This Hawaiian hibiscus flower template is free in both SVG and printable PDF formats in my resource library.

Tutorial for DIY Hawaiian Paper Flower

Step 1: Cut out the hibiscus template

I cut my templates out using the Cricut cutting machine. I like to use fresh blue mats for this kind of projects. They are easier to clean up and have enough grip for this design.

If you must use textured cardstock, I would recommend using a standard grip mat. The textured cardstock tends to slide around a bit on the lighter grip mats.

Step 2: Glue the tab at the end of the petals strip to the end

I have 2 designs in the templates set. If you are just using the flat 5 petal designs, you can go ahead and skip this step.

Step 3: Attached the hibiscus stamen

Dip the edges of the centerpiece on a dot of glue and place in the center of the flower

Depending on the end projects, Sometimes I curl the petals with a scraper. If you don’t have a scraper, you can always just use a credit card or any type of straight edge.