What’s your favorite holiday flower? Today we’re showing you how to make a crepe paper version of a Christmas cactus. This way, you can enjoy it in full bloom for longer than just a few weeks! Follow our tutorial below to make your own version for the holiday season. Another great one to craft alongside this one is our crepe paper poinsettia.

Make Your Own Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus is the perfect plant to craft during fall or winter. We made our crepe paper Christmas cactus with traditional red flowers. But you could make your own version with pink, orange, yellow, or white flowers.

We crafted our crepe paper Christmas cactus to look just like the real thing—with flattened leaf-like stems that hang downwards and bright, colorful flowers.For the flowers, we used our extra fine crepe paper and for the stems we used our double-sided crepe paper. We also used art markers and Panpastels to color our petals and stamen.

Since you are only painting one side of the crepe paper with a light coat of Mod Podge, it’s fine to cut this on a cutting machine (on your Cricut Maker, use the Denim setting with the rotary blade). Place the crepe paper on the mat with the Mod Podge facing up.

If you make this Christmas cactus or one of our other holiday projects, we’d love to see it! Make sure to share your DIY creations with us using the hashtag #MadeWithLia. We may just repost it on our social pages or in our weekly email.

This content uses links from which we may earn a commission. Disclosure.

Tools

Materials

Lia Griffith Extra Fine Crepe Paper in Cherry (from Enchanted Garden Collection) and Linen (from Secret Garden Collection)
Lia Griffith Double Sided Crepe Paper in Ferns + Moss
Art Markers — Blick Studio Markers in Canary Yellow (014) and Magenta (077)
PanPastel® Artist Pastel – Magenta 430.5
Floral Wire – 24-Gauge Paper Covered Green
Tacky Glue or Art Glitter Glue
Mod Podge – Matte

Instructions

1. Gather tools and materials.
Using a paint brush, paint 4 sheets of 12×10” double sided green crepe paper with Mod Podge.
Cut the crepe paper according to template notes using scissors or a cutting machine.
Use tacky glue to attach the small piece of white crepe to the tip of a wire.

Full tutorial available for members. Join here.

Like This DIY Project?

Excited to make more crafts for the holidays? Make sure to browse our Thanksgiving projects as well as our Christmas crafts. If you’re just a fan of cacti plants in general, we have some other fun cactus crafts on our site, too.

To make this project and many more, become a member! As a member, you get access to all of our SVG cut files, PDF templates, and step-by-step instructions to make your own paper flowers, home décor, and more.

For video tutorials, stop by our YouTube channel. And for more DIY inspiration, follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Happy crafting! ~ Lia and team

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20 Comments

Bernedina Schouten October 10, 2021 at 2:12pm

I was with a computer for a while. I had down loaded the file and had read the instructions. Just got up and running again only to find I should a put Mod Podge on one side. I applied it to both and they have dried for around a week. Since my circut machine died at the same time I am scared to damage it. Will having podge on both sides matter?

Reply
1. Lia Griffith October 11, 2021 at 7:29am
  
  It should not matter if you are using a rotary blade.
  
  Reply
Kate Cronin July 1, 2021 at 4:32pm

I assume you apply the mod podge to the double-sided crepe paper before you cut it on the Cricut. Is this true? Also, if I was to cut the mod-podged treated double-sided crepe paper, what setting would you recommend for the Cricut Maker?

Reply
1. Lia Griffith July 2, 2021 at 9:14am
  
  Since you are only painting one side of the crepe paper with a light coat of Mod Podge, it’s fine to cut this on the Cricut (Denim setting with the rotary blade). Place the crepe paper on the mat with the Mod Podge facing up.
  
  Reply
Kate Cronin June 30, 2021 at 8:30pm

How many sheets of the double sided crepe paper do you need to make 30 stems?

Reply
1. Lia July 1, 2021 at 11:56am
  
  Hi Kate,
  You will need about 3 12×9.8 sheets of double sided crepe paper to make 30 stems. You should have plenty of crepe paper in one sleeve of double sided to make this plant with 30 stems!
  
  Reply
Kate Cronin June 30, 2021 at 8:29pm

I am just to make this. This will be the first time I try one of your patterns without the aid of a video. So, I am wondering how you arranged the 30 stems you used to fill the pot in the example you posted.
Thanks, Kate

Reply
1. Lia July 1, 2021 at 12:01pm
  
  Hi, Kate
  
  To arrange the stems you can place some floral foam into your pot and push each stem wire into the foam to arrange, or you can use floral tape to hold the base of each stem together and then push it into the foam as one thick stem. There is a good example of this method in the Xanadu Plant photo tutorial linked here https://liagriffith.com/frosted-paper-xanadu-plant/
  
  Reply
Becky Moermond January 4, 2021 at 1:49pm

Are both sides of the green paper painted with mod pudge, or just one?

Reply
1. Lia Griffith January 4, 2021 at 7:41pm
  
  Both sides but you will want to let the first side dry completely before painting the mod podge on side 2.
  
  Reply
Marilyn E Gruba July 29, 2020 at 4:30pm

I am a member and all of a sudden I can not print

anything after my “password”. My computer won’t let me go any further.
I hope you understand me.
This is going on for a few weeks and I don’t know how to fix it.
Thank you
Marilyn Gruba (marilyngruba@aol.com

Reply
1. Lia July 31, 2020 at 9:51am
  
  Hi Marilyn, can you email us with more details so we can help? hello@liagriffith.com
  
  Reply
Shirley Anglin November 3, 2019 at 3:32am

I just purchased the paper I need to make the Christmas Cactus. What kind of pot did you use?

Thanks, Shirley

Reply
1. Lia November 6, 2019 at 10:21pm
  
  Hi Shirley,
  
  We used a small cement pot and spray painted it copper! 🙂
  
  Reply
  1. Shirley Anglin November 13, 2019 at 3:26am
    
    I am going to make this as a gift. I will need to ship it. Can I use a paper mache pot? If I use a cement pot the shipping will be a lot more. Any ideas what I can put in bottom of pot to keep it from falling over?
    
    Thanks Shirley
    
    Reply
    1. Lia November 14, 2019 at 10:12am
      
      Hi Shirley,
      
      We would recommend gluing a few river rocks or coins in the bottom of the pot to weigh it down! 🙂
      
      Reply
SHUBHRA BARTHWAL November 4, 2018 at 2:00am

Hi I live in India. How can I become a member? Can you tell me the cost of membership in indian rupees.

Reply
1. Lia November 5, 2018 at 8:28am
  
  We’d love you to join us! You can see our membership options here: https://liagriffith.com/membership/
  
  Reply
Diane Potter October 28, 2018 at 6:21pm

I can’t wait to make this! Can you give me an idea of how many stems from each size are in your sample?

Reply
1. Lia October 30, 2018 at 11:37am
  
  We put in about 30 stems to fill the pot we chose 🙂
  
  Reply