Etsy

Just FYI, we are slowly (yes, very slowly) getting our Etsy shop built up. We welcome custom orders too. So if you see something you like, but need it to be a little different, just ask and we will see what we can do. We specialize in papercrafting, and fabric flowers with a vintage flair. This is a photo of one of our recent listings :)

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Cherry Blossom Paperie May Newsletter!

Wow, Mother’s Day, Graduation, Weddings…May is such a busy, but fun month! We are so excited to share our news with you and are looking forward to our summer activities!

May 24th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

May 25th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

June 7, 14, 21, 28: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of June! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

July 5, 12, 19, 26: 6-10 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of July! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

Saturday, June 16^th: Altered Book Class! Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, painted, collaged, stamped, cut and/or torn.  It is “relaxed” art.  You don’t need to be an expert to create pages that you’ll love. One more chance for those of you that weren’t able to come before, and a time for those who have come before (and aren’t finished) to work on their books and get more ideas! $20.00. No class charge for those that have already taken the class. 2:00-4:00pm

It’s been a while since we’ve had a guest artist/crafter featured in our newsletter, so I’m excited to have this to share with you from Jessica Wyckoff! Jessica makes the tutus and tutu bags we sell in the shop and many of the hair bows, flowers, headbands, flip flops, hats, and necklaces. Here is her storyJ:

“I started making hair bows after trying to find reasonably priced, yet cute hair accessories for my daughter. I took the leap and ordered some ribbon and finally got started on making my own. After about a month I got the hang of it and have enjoyed it since. I love working with different styles of ribbon, and fabric and tulle! It's been a little over a year since I have started and I still am learning new techniques and styles and am always looking forward to my next project! My daughter is clearly my inspiration and participates in picking out what she likes and how she wants to put her bows together. I would definitely say that this so far has been a very positive and fun experience for me!”

Excited for summer parties and celebrations? We are! We have a video DIY tutorial for you this month on making tissue poms to decorate for almost any occasion. We sell various colors of tissue paper in the shop and can order in almost any color. If you don’t want to make them yourself, we will custom make them for you, but please get your order in in plenty of time as we currently have 80 to make! Prices vary based on size and type of tissue paper, but our extra large tissue poms are usually around $2.75. Here is the link to the video we made on how to make them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvaKIOoGRKM&feature=g-upl

We wish a belated Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, we wish a blessed future to all graduates, and a special thanks to everyone for being such awesome customers! We are so blessed and encouraged by you and your creativity!

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Mother's Day Gift Guide

Here are a few of our picks from the shop for Mother's Day gifts, some for all price ranges. 

Handmade chipboard sign with a great quote for moms! Wooster and Prince list pad, emery boards, and pocket mirror. Papaya journal.

Pretty Peter Pauper Press pen. Vintage Laundry sign/ironing board, perfect place to hang a collection of vintage aprons! Vintage pearl necklace with fabric flower.

Springy Iota tote. Black Hills Gold rose ring, currently 25% off! Cricut machine, currently 50% off!
Hope you enjoyed our picks and we hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day...mom's are the best!

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Window Display

Here are a few snapshots of our windows. And yes, the glare is terrible so it's hard to see what is going on. Sorry about that!

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Vintage Wallpaper

I'm in love with this vintage wallpaper.

It's so perfectly me. The light teal/minty color with bronze accents, the retro design with a little Asian influence. Yep, even has cherry blossoms on it. Mom found it at an auction, one of her best finds ever (in my opinion:)). I can't wait to make stuff with it. But it's going to be one of those things that I have to force myself to use and not hoard. It's going to be one of those things that I want to wait until I find the perfect project for it, but consider it as an option for almost every project until I do. I even briefly considered wallpapering a wall in my house with it just so I could stare at it every day. But I don't want to risk getting sick of it. So it will live in our supplies at the shop until it can be used for that perfect thing.

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Window Display Sneak Peek

Looks like a mess right now, but I think its going to be super cute. I'm also really excited about a table/desk that is going into one of the windows. Here is a sneak peek of it:

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April Newsletter

Spring is here! And that means….flowers! We have a fun paper flower wreath DIY featured, but first, all our exciting news:

Thanks so much to the ladies who attended the Altered Book Class on April 10th, you guys did awesome! 

April 21st: Intro to Scrapbooking Class! Been thinking about starting a scrapbook, but just don’t know where to begin? We will introduce some tools and techniques and finish one page layout. Please bring 1-3 photos that you want to use. $20.00 (paper trimmer, adhesive, paper, and embellishments included) 2:00-4:00pm

April 26^th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

April 27^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

May 3^rd: Spool of Kindness Class! Altered art wooden spools with messages/greetings wrapped around and held in place with an enclosure. Perfect way to brighten a day! $15.00, all materials included. 7:00-9:00pm

*We are not scheduling a repeat class for the month of May, but if you are interested in one of the classes we have had in the past and know of 2-5 others interested, please let us know and we will schedule a class for your group.

Our featured project this month is a springy paper wreath with paper roses on it. Start with an extruded (rounded edges) styrofoam wreath in whatever size you like. Rip out quite a few book pages from an old book that is not valuable to you (can be found at a thrift store or garage sale). Begin ripping the pages in small strips lengthwise so that you have long but skinny strips (the wider the strips, the more your pages will wrinkle). Using PPA glue, brush glue on the back of a strip of paper and wrap it around the wreath. Keep tearing strips of pages and gluing until you have covered the entire wreath. Wait for an hour for it to dry thoroughly. Then brush PPA over the top of the entire paper-covered wreath. Let it dry. While it is drying, make your paper roses. I made some from cardstock and some from book pages (cardstock is easier, as the book pages rip easily). These are the paper roses I demonstrated at the library and have posted a youtube video on facebook and the blog on how to make them if you prefer to watch it done. Cut a circle out of the paper (about 4-6 inches) and beginning on one side cut a spiral shape into the circle, leaving a small circle (1-2 inches) in the center of your spiral. Next, begin rolling the tail of your spiral in until you reach the middle. Let it go. After it loosens to your desired size, put a dot of PVA glue on the circle in the middle glue the rest of the rolled rose to it. Make as many roses as you want on your wreath. Wrap ribbon or paper raffia around your wreath gluing it in place. Attach your paper roses sticking decorative stick pins through the center of the rose into the wreath. Attach ribbon or lace around the top of your wreath to hang it with. Enjoy your spring wreath! (PPA, PVA, cardstock, and paper raffia are available at the store)

P.S. Watch for great Mother’s Day/Graduation sales coming up and our facebook contest!

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Paper Rose Tutorial

There are tons of beautiful paper flowers out there and I see more and more everyday on Pinterest! They are such a beautiful, yet affordable way to decorate with flowers. I've done complex folded origami ones and crepe paper ones that require a lot of gluing and cutting, so what I like best about the roses we show you how to make here is that they are super simple and still look beautiful. Enjoy!

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March Newsletter and list of Classes

It’s so gorgeous outside, almost feels like summer instead of spring… And spring doesn’t even start for another week, we’ve been so lucky! And we’re lucky to be able to share all of our spring news with you!

March 22^nd: Keepsake Box Class! Create a beautiful keepsake box for little treasures and mementos that can be kept on display. $25.00, materials provided, but you may want to bring some of your keepsakes to use as a reference for the theme of your box. 7:00-9:00pm

March 24th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces (mainly soft gel). $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small) 2:00-4:00pm

March 29^th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

March 30^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

March 31^st: Friends of the Library Demonstration on making paper flowers! At Valentine Public Library, 10:00am.

April 10^th: Altered Book Class! $20.00. Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, stamped, painted, collaged, and cut and/or torn. 7:00-9:00pm

April 21^st: Intro to Scrapbooking Class! Been thinking about starting a scrapbook, but just don’t know where to begin? We will introduce some tools and techniques and finish one page layout. Please bring 1-3 photos that you want to use. $20.00 (paper trimmer, adhesive, paper, and embellishments included) 2:00-4:00pm

To bring a little spring inside, our featured project this month is a succulent book planter. We first saw the idea on greenweddingshoes.com and realized that it was the same concept as the Altered Book Frame we had a class on last year. Start with an old hardcover book that is 2 or 3 inches thick that you are ok with cutting up. If you want book pages showing instead of the inside cover, open a few pages before you draw the rectangle that you will cut out. Measure and draw pencil lines with a ruler to create a rectangle in the center of the page, leaving about an inch to 1 and ½ inches around the edges. Take a craft knife and begin cutting along your line. You will cut through about 5 or 6 pages at a time. Continue cutting (this will take a while!) until you are about a ¼ inch from the back cover. Then place a cutting mat between your last page and the cover so that you don’t end up cutting through the back cover. Cut through the rest of your pages. Next, you will wire the pages together so that they lay flat and are more solid. To do this, pull back a few of the pages on top and drill through the rest of the pages. Drill 2 holes about 1 inch apart on three sides of the book (6 small holes total). Run thin wire down through one hole and up through the one next to it and twist the wire together on top. Do this with each of the three sides. Then using PPA glue or mod podge (we recommend PPA), glue down the back page to the back cover and glue the few pages without holes over the rest of the wired together pages so that you can't see the wire. Seal the inside of your hollowed out space with glue too. When that dries, line the space with plastic wrap. Sprinkle a few pebbles in the bottom. Next, fill your space with cactus or succulent soil. Poke some succulents in the soil and fill in any extra space with moss. Because there is no drainage, and succulents do not need much water, you will only need to very infrequently water it with an ounce of water. We have these two planters for sale in the shop:

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Keepsake Box

So excited about our Keepsake Box Class on March 22nd! There are so many things you can do with these boxes! I used Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic papers, Graphic 45's altered art box and metal tag, and a Tim Holtz curio knob and glass vial. Such a fun project! I'm imagining so many other possibilities with different papers: baby keepsake boxes, gifts for bridesmades like this one, a place to keep and display all your sweet little antique findings like vintage hankies, and so much more!Tweet