I made a lotus flower design for this paper lotus tutorial that includes both the template for lotus flower SVG petals and a printable watercolor version.
I’ve been on a watercolor kick and painted a bunch of petals with the intention of making paper flowers with them. I thought this pink one suited the lotus flower.
I made two templates for this paper flower. One that is just the PDF and SVG cut file that has the petal layers in place.
I’ve also included a transparent PNG of the petals for those with cutting machines and want to preserve the watercolor effect and the raw edges of the petal.
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Materials for DIY Lotus Flower
Cardstock – I used cardstock for the base. It is also possible to make the flower out of cardstock. Here are some of my favorite cardstock brands that I use frequently:
- 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.
Vellum or Tracing Paper – I printed the watercolor petals on transparent paper to create a translucent petal. This is the vellum paper I got from Amazon.
Template – I’ve included both the lotus flower template printable watercolor petals and lotus flower template PDF and SVG cut files for free in my resource library.
Paper Lotus Tutorial
Step 1: Print and cut the lotus petal template.
A few things to note on this step. If you are printing on vellum, leave it to dry for at least 5 minutes or else you risk smearing the ink.
To upload a transparent PNG (the watercolor petal) in Cricut Design Space, be sure to use the “Complex” then “Save as a Print and Cut” options to preserve the details. Also, if your machine is having a hard time picking up the border, try shading your machine or turning off the lights in the room.
Step 2: Curl the lotus petals
I like using a scraper or credit card if that is more convenient.
Step 3: Glue the petals on
I included a base reference template. I like gluing the petals on individually because it gives more control on the symmetry.
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