Hello, Friends! Is it really time for our Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio? Well, the calendar says it is, so here we come with the next folio in this year-long Make & Take Tuesday series. This April Folio features daisies, one of the most cheerful flowers of the field. The cheerful/joyful theme of this month’s folio is perfect for springtime.
We will follow the same basic construction format that we’ve used in the January–March folios. But you know me…I don’t like to do the same thing over and over again, so there are a few subtle changes in this month’s folio. I’m always looking for ways to improve the basic design.
A Peek Inside
This month’s “guest star” is a selection of papers and ephemera from Kaisercraft Flower Shoppe collection. What a lovely surprise to see how well these two collections work together! If you don’t have Flower Shoppe in your stash, just substitute another collection! I do talk a bit in the video tutorial about my process for picking papers from other collections to go with the G45 papers.
See how well everything flows together? I’ll share a full walk through in the video tutorial.
Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio Tutorial on YouTube
Instead of breaking the tutorial into two parts, I decided to publish it as one BIG video. So grab a cuppa and a snack, grab a notebook and a pencil and let’s get this week’s Make & Take Tuesday rolling!
Button Farm Club Life Captured 2nd Quarter Kit Reveal: April, May, June
Hello, Friends! Can you believe it’s time for my Button Farm Club Life Captured 2nd Quarter Kit Reveal? April, May and June of 2023 may seem far away at the end of February, but we all know they’ll be here before we turn around twice. So let’s get these fun folios ready to capture all the special occasions and events that are coming our way!
If you missed out on the January-March folios, no worries! Laura at The Button Farm Club tells me they still have open stock for this project, and they can get you signed up in a jiffy! So if you’d like to get in on the fun of making these quick, easy and fabulous folios for 2023, you can sign up HERE.
April Showers
April ushers in beautiful spring weather, Easter and Passover celebrations, and lots of fun outdoor adventures. This 6 1/4″ x 8 1/4″ flap style folio has loads of room to document special moments. It also makes a great monthly planner!
Look at all the room inside this cheery folio. My favorite thing about this folio design is how quick and easy it is to create. Let’s face it: life is busy, and sometimes simple is the way to go.
This great big pull out folio feature provides ample room for photos…or even recipes! Each monthly folio has this great feature in it.
May Flowers
How much do we love these chipboard frames? I teach you a few of my sneaky tricks for altering them in the video tutorial. I
Beautiful May flowers and fluttering butterflies are everywhere in this sweet folio. You can see the fun surprise I built in to this folio when you watch the video reveal.
Joyous June
June is such a wonderful month! The days get longer and warmer, summer vacation beckons, graduation ceremonies commence, and Father’s Day is celebrated. So much good stuff!
I teach you some fun flower layering techniques, show you how to create an adorable banner with your leftover bits and bobs, and provide lots of great basic papercrafting tips in this tutorial.
Wait til you see what’s hidden behind the pull out folio this month!
Life Captured 2nd Quarter Kit Reveal on YouTube
If you’d like to see more of these folios, please join me over on my YouTube channel. I’ll also walk you through all the wonderful supplies that come in this kit.
What Comes in My Kit?
I’m always amazed at how much “good stuff” Laura and I manage to cram into these kits. This month is no exception. Here’s what comes in your kit:
2 sheets April Life Captured 12×12 designer paper
2 sheets May Life Captured 12×12 designer paper
1 sheet June Life Captured 12×12 designer paper
6 sheets 6×8 Life Captured Designer paper
3 Life Captured Chipboard Frames
Selected Life Captured Ephemera Bits
7 sheets 12×12 Color Vibe Cardstock
6 sheets 12×12 Simple Stories Designer paper
Package of Color Vibe Spring Flower Bits
Simple Stories Page Pieces
3 metal charms (umbrella, enamel rainbow, enamel daisy)
2 yards black and white Baker’s Twine
6 colorful buttons
3 mini binder clips
Full-color Basic Written Guide
Access to step by step video tutorials with Kathy Clement
The price for all of this is only $49.99. I don’t know if you’ve been to the craft store lately, but it’s hard to get that much bang for your buck!
If you’re already subscribed to the Life Captured Quarterly Kit Club, your kit will ship out to you automatically, so there’s no need to order.
Do you want to get in on the fun? Then sign up HERE, and ask Laura about the 1st Quarter Kits.
Previews of Coming Attractions!
So what’s on the docket for Button Farm Club Kits? Well, in March, we’ll be making some gorgeous cards with Ciao Bella Sparrow Hill. Oh, my…what a kit!
Then in April, we’ll be making a really fun mini album! I’ll be sharing more about that soon.
So lots and lots of good things to look forward to, my friends! It is always a joy for me to share these kits with you.
If you have ideas for future kits or collections that you’d love to see me work into a kit, please share those ideas with me in the comment section below.
I have a fun tutorial planned for our Throwback Thursday this week, and a wedding recap, so stay tuned!
My Mind’s Eye Gingham Foundry Upcycled Waterfall Folio Tutorial with Reneabouquets
Hello, Friends! It’s Throwback Thursday and I’m here to share this My Mind’s Eye Gingham Foundry Upcycled Waterfall Folio Tutorial with you. Do you have a well-loved paper collection that is down to just a few small pieces and a pile of little scraps? Well, this post has some great ideas to help you turn them into a really sweet waterfall folio.
I actually used the product packaging from the 6″ x 8 1/2″ paper pad to make the cover for this sweet creation. It already had a scored 1/4″ spine, and the cardstock cover was really sturdy. Rather than toss it in the recycle bin, I decided to give it a new life with pretty spring papers and a gorgeous Beautiful Board Parasol from Reneabouquets.
The twine-wrapped spine has a sweet dangle cluster with an umbrella charm, Reneabouquets Trinket Fairy Globe, and an enamel daisy charm. The ribbon closure is Smoke Blue Taffeta ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon. It is a perfect color match for the blue in the spine, but the camera makes it look bright blue. It is not.
Simple Design with Sweet Surprises
I love the simple design of this folio. The left hand side is a nice slash pocket with photo mats and a journaling card. A lateral waterfall feature on the right has room for 16 photos. Each section of the waterfall measures 4 1/4″ x 5 3/4″, so you can fit pretty good sized photos in there. A magnetic closure keeps everything neat and tidy.
We had to get creative with our scraps, my friends! So we used the bits and bobs to make our own designer paper! Every other page in the waterfall is a simple gray mat dressed up with a little washi tape border. You could easily put this folio together in an afternoon, so it’s a great design to have in your tool box for those occasions when you need a really quick gift.
Gingham Foundry Upcycled Waterfall Folio Tutorial on YouTube
Now let’s get down to the good stuff! You can see the entire folio and learn how to make it over on my YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy!
Now I need to go pack my suitcase and shift gears into Mother of the Bride mode! I have a heart full of happy right now, and I will have lots of fun stuff to share with you when I get back.
You can find a linked supply list below this post.
Part 2 Flower Market March Folio Tutorial: Finishing the Inside of the Folio
Hello, Friends! I’m back with the Part 2 Flower Market March Folio Tutorial , just as I promised. We created the folio base together on Tuesday in THIS post. Today we’re going to finish up the inside of this lovely folio. Here’s a quick peek at what we’ll be working on.
Get ready for a great crafty adventure! There are lots and lots of fun flips, flaps, pockets and creative ideas in your future. This folio design is slightly different from the January and February folios. Variety is the spice of life, right? I will probably work small changes into the design each month just to keep things interesting, and to keep myself from getting bored.
Part 2 Flower Market Folio Tutorial on YouTube
So, if you’re ready to get your craft on, please enjoy this video tutorial.
You will find a linked supply list below this post.
Graphic 45 Flower Market March Folio Tutorial Part 1 for Make & Take Tuesday
Hello, Friends! Don’t panic…but it’s already time to share my Graphic 45 Flower Market March Folio Tutorial Part 1. March? Yes, March! Time and tide wait for no man, so I wanted to get this tutorial out to you so you can have it made before the calendar page turns. This is the 2nd installment in our year-long 2023 calendar project. If you missed the January/February folios, you can find them HERE.
Just look at these gorgeous daffodils! It may be hard to believe right now, but soon we will see those golden heads popping up from the soil and brightening the landscape. They are Spring’s cheeriest bloom, in my opinion.
Our tutorial this week will focus on creating the folio base and designing the cover. I made a few improvements to the design this month, and I feel the folio base is even better than before. The second installment of this tutorial will be available in our Throwback Thursday post this week. So you can get your base and cover made today and tomorrow, then be ready for the interior on Thursday.
A Peek Inside
Here’s a sneak peek to whet your appetite. Flower Market is a gorgeous collection, but somewhat limited, in my opinion. With just one patterned paper and just one cut apart page, it begs to be filled out with other patterns. So once again, I searched through the Closet of Inspiration and Delight looking for papers that would flow well with the base collection.
If you look closely at the floral pattern, you will spy small touches of purple. I decided to add purple and yellow/gold patterns from a few different paper collections to fill out the pages of this folio. You can find out what I used in the supply list below.
Now, if you don’t have these papers, don’t panic! Look through your stash and I bet you will find papers that will work just as well, Pay attention to color palettes and patterns. I tried to avoid strong seasonal patterns and stuck to more generic themes when choosing my papers. I really like the way this folio turned out. It feels like springtime on paper!
Graphic 45 Flower Market March Folio Tutorial on YouTube
If you’d like to see a full preview of the folio, learn how to build the improved folio base, and design the cover with me, then I hope you’ll enjoy Part 1 of this tutorial.
Remember, I’ll be back on Thursday with the remainder of the tutorial. I also have a cheery country fresh card to share with you tomorrow. So lots of good things to look forward to!
