Category Archives: Petaloo

Look Out World! Here Come the Graduates!

Look Out World: Here Come the Graduates Vintage Style Card with Gift Card Pocket

Hello, Friends! It’s June, and all across the US, young men and women are donning caps and gowns, marching solemnly across the stage, turning their tassels, and grasping their diplomas. Look out World! With this momentous occasion in mind, Petaloo is spending the coming week celebrating Dads & Grads! I dug into one of my favorite retired Graphic 45 collections to create this colorful graduation card with a hidden gift card pocket.

I just love this sentiment from Graphic 45’s retired Come Away With Me Collection. This soft and feminine 6″ x 6″ top fold card gets loads of gorgeous texture, color and dimension from these Penny Lane Sea Green Mini Wild Roses.

My bow cluster is created with Peony Delicate Stitched Satin, burlap string and 2 of the larger Mini Wild Roses. These come 7 to a pack, so I had enough left over to add as embellishments on the ends of luggage tags.

I don’t know about you, but I just love this combination of dots, stripes and florals!

Look Out World Hidden Gift Card Pocket

Although this looks like any other ordinary top fold card, if you remove that teeny tiny brown binder clip on top of the focal image….

…you’ll find a hidden gift card pocket inside. How fun is that? Here’s how to make it:

First, mat the focal image on a piece of brown cardstock that measures 4.25″ tall x 8.5″ long.
Next, score the paper on the long side at 3 1/8″ then again at 6.25″. You will have a 2.25″ piece on the right hand side of the scored paper.
Now, crease on all the score lines and fold the paper strip so that the small piece is on the inside.
Then, line the inside of the panel with designer paper.
Now, glue a contrasting pattern to the small flap and punch a thumb hole with a circle punch.
Next, use 1/8″ Scor-Tape on the top and bottom edge of the short piece.
Remove the liner and press in place. There’s your pocket!
Add a Pocket & Tag to the left hand side.
Now glue the focal image to the front “cover.”
Then add the chipboard piece to the lower left hand corner.
Finally, place adhesive in the center of the gift card holder and glue onto the card.

A Peek Inside

Turn a postcard into a pocket by gluing just the sides and bottom edges to the card. Fill the pocket with 2 tags cut from the 12×12 collection. These are great for holding small photos of the graduate. Photos of the graduation ceremony would also fit nicely into this pocket.

You could also write words of wisdom onto the tags for a real personal touch.

The bottom half of the card is decorated with more pretty papers. Then I created a little folio, tied it with ribbon and added it to the card. This is a great spot to tuck in senior pictures or other special memories from the happy day.

A Fond Farewell

The other reason I chose a travel themed collection for this card is a little bit sad. This is my last post as a member of the Petaloo Design Team. As you know, Petaloo is now owned by Floracraft, and the parent company has decided to close down the Petaloo blog and disband the design team.

Life is a journey with lots of destinations along the way. A little more than 2 years ago, I literally danced for joy when Cheryl, the owner of Petaloo, asked me to guest design for a month. At the end of the month, she asked me if I would like to stay on as a permanent designer. Would I? You betcha!

It has been such an honor to design with gorgeous Petaloo flowers, stick pins, and trims for the past 2+ years. Cheryl has been a dream to work for: supportive, kind and generous. My Petaloo teammates have been a joy to work with and I’ve been blessed to forge some friendships that will endure even after this gig is over.

You will continue to be able to purchase Petaloo flowers in retail shops and online in stores such as Scrapbook.com, JoAnn’s, and A Cherry on Top. Thank you so much for being on the journey with me.

All good things must come to an end, and I exit with a heart that is filled with gratitude for the wonderful experience I’ve had designing for Petaloo. As the sentiment on the post card in my project says, “The Best is Yet to Be!”

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope I’ve shared some tips and tricks that you can use in your own crafty adventures. If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Cheerio,

kathy

Summer Parties: Gifts for the Hostess With the Mostest

Summer Parties with Petaloo and Maja Design

Hello, Friends! Summer is upon us, and I’m sure we will find ourselves enjoying summer parties somewhere along the way. To help get us ready, Petaloo has teamed up with Maja Design in a special Product Spotlight week focusing on summer parties. I have some really fun ideas for hostess gifts to share with you today, so let’s get started!

Wining and Dining with Paper Pretties and Petaloo Posies

Wine is a natural choice for a hostess gift at all your summer parties. Why not dress up your gift of wine with a pretty bottle hanger tag, ribbon, and flowers? Or, if wine is not your “thing” create a special little folio style card that can do double duty as home decor. This lovely vintage card contains a mini photo album and a sweet little notebook for your favorite hostess.

Mixed Media Wine Bottle Tag

These Maja Design papers are so thick and heavy that they really stand up to distressing and inking. I chose images from one of the cut apart pages and sponged them randomly with Broken China Distress Oxide Ink to bring out more blue tones.

Gorgeous Penny Lane Flowers in various shades of blue, seam binding ribbon, silver metallic string, a vintage style key, a painted butterfly and Wendy Vecchi bricks complete the design. Once the wine is gone, the bottle would make a really pretty piece of home decor, too.

A Shabby Chic Folio for Capturing Memories from Summer Parties

Sticking with my blue and brown color palette, next I created this lovely little shabby chic folio. By adding a 1/2″ spine to a 5″ x 7″ card base, I was able to transform a simple thank you card into a lovely gift.

Don’t you just love these soft, vintage patterns and images?

This tiny silver spoon is one of the treasures I found while out junkin’ with my husband. I dressed it up a little by adding a flower, ribbon and a miniature key onto the handle of the spoon.

I fell in love with this vintage photo of a mom and her children out riding bikes. What could be more perfect for summer?

The inside of the card is where the real party is going on! Look at all these lovely goodies stuffed into the pockets!

I love to create little folios where photos from a dinner party, birthday party or summer party can be preserved. This side pocket is just the right spot to tuck in such a folio.

A stamped image is distressed with inks, then mounted onto gorgeous Maja Design papers.

You can fit four 4″ x 5.75″ photos in this pretty little folio.

There’s a double pocket on the bottom of the card. I stamped this thank you sentiment onto one of the pretty journal cards from the paper collection, then tucked it in between the paper layers.

And I made a lovely little notebook that fits inside the pocket. Oh my, but these papers are dreamy!

This was my first time working with Maja Design papers, and I have to say, I’m hooked! They are such a high quality paper, the colors are gloriously vintage and the patterns are divine! Thanks, Maja Design for sharing your beautiful product with the design team at Petaloo by Floracraft.

Would you like to win a prize pack of gorgeous Maja Design papers and Petaloo flowers? Then be sure to pop on over to the Petaloo blog and leave a comment so you can be entered to win!

If you’d like to find where Maja Design papers are available in your area, please click HERE.

Thanks so much for joining me today. You’ll find a supply list and product links below.

Cheerio,

kathy

Supply List and Product Links

Petaloo Penny Lane Mixed Blossoms x 8 Robin Egg Blue 1836-056

Forgetmenots x16 Robin Egg Blue 1837-056

Mini Daisy Petites x 40 Robin Egg Blue 1839-056

Maja Design Vintage Summer Basics

Maja Design Vintage Spring Basics

Maja Design Vintage Autumn Basics

Bee Yourself Honeybee Greeting Card

BEE Yourself Honeybee Greeting Card with Petaloo Posies and G45 Nature Sketchbook

Hello, Friends! I have such a fun, cheery card to share with you today! This Bee Yourself Honeybee Greeting card just bursts with happy colors, beautiful papers and bodacious blooms.

I’m in love with Petaloo International’s gorgeous Botanica Blooms. They look so lifelike you can almost smell their sweet bouquet when you use them on a project. Combine these beautiful blooms with Graphic 45 Nature Sketchbook paper and a digital image from Polly’s Paper Studio, and you can color me happy, happy, happy!

This is my standard 5″ x 7″ top fold card made on a kraft cardstock base. To deepen the color of the Botanica Blooms I gave them a couple spritzes of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist. I did the same with the sweet little Ivory Canvas Sunflower on top of my ribbon cluster.

Inside, I’ve added all sorts of wonderful goodies.

Herbal Tea and a Honeystick go perfectly with this themed card.

And why not tuck in a sweet tag and fun little tags to complete the ensemble?

I hope this BEE Yourself Honeybee Greeting card added some sunshine to your day. If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Wishing you a honey of a day!

Cheerio,

kathy

Sew Much Love Folio Video Tour

Getting Ready for Mother’s Day with Petaloo : Sew Much Love Folio Video Tour with Tips

Hello, Friends! My head is absolutely refusing to believe that it’s already May! And you know what that means: Mother’s Day is right around the corner. I’m getting ready for the “big day” with a little help from Petaloo and Kaisercraft. I think you’re going to enjoy my Sew Much Love Folio Video Tour. It’s loaded with vintage goodness!

Making these little folios is completely addictive. For this 5″ x 7″ folio, I adapted a tutorial that you can find HERE. It’s the same basic design, but this time I added in a side pocket page.

Friendship is Sewn with Love and Stitched with Kindness: the story behind the project

(Yes…this is a personal story. Feel free to skip ahead and look at the pretty pictures!)

Since both my precious mom and my mother in law are now residing in Heaven, I use Mother’s Day as a way to reach out to other special women in my life. This year, I made this vintage style sewing themed folio for a dear friend from high school.

Karen and I shared a lot of common interests despite the fact that she was on the math/science track and I was on the writing/Language/Literature trail. We were in marching band together, worked on the school newspaper and were co-editors of our high school yearbook. Karen was precise, logical and methodical. I was free-spirited, fueled by inspiration and spontaneous. Somehow, that combination worked!

We remained friends after graduation, but then lost track of one another after marriage. But thanks to the magic of Facebook, I was able to find her a couple years ago, and our reunion was as sweet and refreshing as our friendship had always been.

About a week ago, I received a surprise package in the mail. Karen, who is a master quilter (check out her blog HERE and you will see what I am talking about!) made me a quilt! She remembered how much I love the lilacs back in Vermont during the springtime, so she titled it “Lilacs in the Spring.” I confess…I got all choked up when I saw this gorgeous quilt. And that is why Karen is my Mother’s Day gift recipient this year.

Sew Much Love Video Tour on YouTube

It’s hard to capture this very interactive folio with still photos, so I’ve created a short YouTube video tour for you. I also share some fun tips that you can use in your own crafting adventures.

A Few Details

Pockets are fun way to add an interactive element to any project. For the front of this cover, I created a dimensional pocket and then filled it with a pretty tag and a hand stamped vintage style button card. (I’ll share links to all the products below.)

Add ribbon, small charms and buttons to the spine for even more fun.

Velvet pansies add wonderful texture to the pages.

Folios and photo mounts are held together with a decorative belly band.

A slit pocket inside a larger pocket is a great place to tuck small tickets and tags.

I tucked little vintage treasures everywhere throughout the folio.

And the Mademoiselle papers from Kaisercraft carry the sewing theme beautifully!

I added a simple waterfall feature for photos.

And managed to sneak in one more little pocket filled with a vintage button card.

Smaller pockets are decorated and filled with tags.

A handmade gift is the very best way I know of to say I love you. So get out your scissors, glue, pretty papers and beautiful Petaloo posies and make something special for mom.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

Supply List:

Petaloo International
Other Products
- Kaisercraft Mademoiselle Paper Collection
- Mademoiselle Collectibles
- Pale Pink Cardstock
- Soft Green Cardstock
- Seam Binding Ribbon (Custom dyed with Tattered Rose, Vintage Velvet, Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage Distress Inks)
- Scissor charms

Love Warms Every Nest Springtime Vignette

Love Warms Every Nest Springtime Vignette for Petaloo International

Hello, Friends! Don’t you just love springtime? One of my favorite things about this lovely season is the return of all the little songbirds. Birds will build a nest in the oddest spots. Last year, a pair of bluebirds built their nest in our neighbor’s mailbox, and all anxiously anticipated the arrival of those baby birds. Thinking about this inspired me to make this Love Warms Every Nest Springtime Vignette for Petaloo International.

Lovebirds Nesting in a Rusty Wagon

I’ve been saving this little metal wagon for just the right project. After treating it with Prima Rust Paste, it was filled with a bed of Spanish Moss. Then I added this cute little bird nest. Next I painted some miniature eggs with Distress Oxide Ink and added them to the nest. Then I had the best time creating a garden full of pretty Petaloo flowers in shades of purple, green and white.

Love Warms Every Nest: Building the Base

Earlier this year, I happened across a fabulous clearance sale at Michael’s where I found this chunky 4″ x 4″ canvas which was perfect for the base of my vignette. I covered it with a green floral print from Graphic 45’s Place in Time Deluxe Collector’s Edition. Then I wrapped it with these lovely bird feathers. Next, the top was covered with more Spanish Moss and more pretty flowers and butterflies.

The chipboard tag is attached to a mini chalkboard that is in turn attached to a clothespin. This way, I can just clip the tag onto the side of the wagon and it stands all on its own. The tag is from Graphic 45’s A Place in Time Deluxe Collector’s Edition.