Introduction: Cardboard Cactus Garden

The Cardboard Cactus Garden is a decorative piece that is a perfect addition for your home indoor or outdoor.

Step 1: Drawing and Cutting First Two Cacti

For the top cacti, draw and cut out your desired size and shape.

Step 2: Painting Regular Cacti

Then, after you glue the pieces together, paint them your desired color. We used green spray paint.

Step 3: Making the Flower Pot

To start constructing the flower pot, cut out four rectangles and one square from a large piece of cardboard.

Step 4:

Next, glue the two top cacti you made and glue them to the top of the flower pot

Step 5: Bigger Flower Pot

Then, you make the second bigger flower pot. The reason you need to make two is for more support of the top two cacti. The first flower pot is not seen because it is inside the larger one.

Step 6: Christmas Cactus

Then, to add the Christmas cactus, cut out your desired amount of ovals. Next, cut slits on each side to make it look more realistic.

Step 7:

Glue the oval pieces together in separate strips and glue those pieces around the pot.

Step 8: Small Flowers

For the small flowers on the Christmas cactus, take small circular pieces and cut slits all the way around it. Then, after you make your desired amount of small flowers, glue them on the Christmas Cactus.

Step 9: Large Flowers

For the larger flowers, you need to take larger pieces of cardboard and bend them with your fingers to create the shape of a petal. Then, glue those pieces together in the shape of a flower. Once you create the flowers, glue them on the two large cacti on the top and also glue them on the flower pot so it looks like they are growing out of it.

Step 10: Support System and Grass

For a support system, we stacked several pieces of the cardboard on top of each other. Then, using the scraps of cardboard we had left, we covered part of the support system with strands of grass. The grass also adds more detail to the whole piece.

Step 11: Extra Decorations

To really get the outdoor feel of this cactus, we added a few animals that might be around it naturally in the wild. We added a snail, a Coral Snake, and a dragonfly, all made out of small pieces of cardboard. Also, using scraps, we added thorns on the top two cacti.

Step 12: Painting and Detail

Lastly, to finish off making your Christmas Cactus, paint the whole structure with the colors of your choosing. We used different different shades of green to add more detail because that was the main color we used. We also chose very bright and vibrant colors for the flowers so they would stand out against the dark greens.

Cardboard Contest 2017

Participated in the
Cardboard Contest 2017