The best papers to use for paper flowers: The neutral shades edition 2025 UPDATE

"What paper do you use?"

It is the most common question I get since I started this craft,

To answer simply, I use 65-67 lbs (176 gsm) cardstock.

But honestly, the answer here as to what paper you can use is endless. So I figured I'll break it into color schemes that I often use. For the first part of this series, I will give the links to the papers I used (or papers I mostly use) for my neutral paper flower wall.

This paper flower wall is composed of

White

For the longest time, I've been using Michael's Recollections white cardstock

• White pack from Michael's Recollection (Choose white)

  • The cost of Michael's cardstock has been inflating throughout the years. They were selling it for $2 when I first started 5 years ago. Now it's already almost $7 a pack. So if you will be using it a lot, I suggest getting their Pro pack. It's 50% less.

• Neenah white cardstock

  • This is a much cheaper version at $13+ for a pack of 300 sheets. I bought and use this pack; however, this particular pack is a bit on the warm white side. Most especially when you form a rose, the bud will be a bit on the "cream" side. Unlike Michael's where it's really white, with no touch of ivory or cream. So if that wouldn't be a problem, then again, this is a much cheaper version.

Cream

• Springhill Digital's Cream cardstock (2025 UPDATE)

  • My most favorite of all time. This pack used to be $6 to $7 per pack of 250 sheets back in '20-'23. But we all know what happened a few years later (Inflation, tarrifs, etc). So now it's around $24/pack. I know crazyyyy. My favorite thing about Springhill Digital cardstocks though, is that they don't fade or oversaturate through time, or even with exposure to sunlight, unlike Michael's recollection cardstocks (Geesh, they really do).

It's seriously hands down to Springhill Digital's pack for creams, however if you want other options:

• Michael's recollection Cream pack. Also available in Pack of 12's (Pro)

  • But again, a little warning with Michael's Recollection cardstock, they oversaturate through time, like instead of fading, it becomes more colored, basically, it changes color a bit.

Tan (UPDATE 2025)

• Springhill Digital's Tan cardstock. I really love the color of this cardstock. It used to be $12 back in the day; unfortunately, thanks to inflation and tariffs, it's now $27+/ pack. One thing I want to warn you, though, in my experience, this listing was just Neenah's Tan cardstock in disguise. That was what I received when I purchased the SD listing. It's close, but the Neenah one is a bit darker than SD.

  
  

and

Gold

Honestly, my gold paper flowers are Springhill Digital's Cream cardstock I spray painted with gold paint. I just go over to Walmart for the Spray Paint. I'd say that's cheaper than buying it online. I mentioned this in one of my Instagram posts— I also mostly use this technique (spray paint) for metallic colors because I find this way cheaper. Metallic papers are usually pricier.

But if you'd like to work straight with Metalic papers, here're my recommendations:

• Micheal's shimmer cardstock- I prefer this kind rather than the foil ones because besides the foil ones are thinner, they are also just one-sided (the other side is white). This one (shimmer) is also available in Pro packs.

• PaperPapers.com's FAV gold shimmer- I've tried this and I've liked this so far. It's available in Packs of 50s and 200s. And take note, this is text-weight paper. Meaning, it's thinner, but honestly, I still use text-weight paper for large flowers.

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