I adapted one of my watercolor flower templates into this water lily paper flower.
This paper flower is made with cardstock and so easy to assemble. As with most paper flowers, I don’t intend on this looking like an exact replica of a water lily.
I remember seeing them on vacation in Southeast Asia a long time ago. They are so vibrant in color and so perfectly formed, it almost looks fake.
I guess making them in the paper form isn’t that far off.
Although, if you want to be more accurate, the flower doesn’t sit on the lily pad, its comes up from the water in stems. Oh well.
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Materials for Water Lotus Paper Flower
Cardstock – I use medium weight paper for this which is about 65lbs. Here are some of my favorite brands:
- Assorted Starter Pack – Basic assorted colors, great starter pack, perfect weight for most papercraft projects
- Cricut Joy Insert Card Packs – You don’t have to use these with the Cricut Joy, they are nice material kids for cardmaking.
- 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
- Poptone Assorted Variety Pack – This is the perfect peppy assortment of colors of heavy cardstock. It’s a heavy cardstock assortment with colors I actually use frequently for cardmaking.
- Seasonal Assorted Variety Pack – This is a slight variation on the Poptone assortment and has a quite few neutrals that complement almost any accent color.
- 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.
Glue – I like using Tacky Glue for paper flowers but a hot glue gun also works.
Cutting Machine – I use a Cricut. Check out my recommendations for Cricut machines and accessories for beginners for more info.
Template – I’ve included my water lily pattern in both printable and SVG formats for free in my resource library.
How to Assemble the Paper Lotus Flower
Step 1: Cut the petals out from the template
I like to use the light grip mat to make it easier for clean up. The standard grip works for this design as well.
Step 2: Curl the petals
I like using a scraper tool I got with some transfer tape. You can also just use a credit card if you don’t have a scraper.
Step 3: Stack and glue the layers
I like to go from the biggest 3 petal pair to the smallest 6 petal layer. I just add a dab of glue in the center.
Be sure to offset the petals.
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