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  • Welcome to TPK! This is your first of 2 free articles. For unlimited access to tutorials and articles, join TPK Premium for less than the cost of a latte.

    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso

    March 17, 2022

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    Birthday Cards, Floral Illustration Tutorials, Greeting Card Tutorials, Guest Post, Mother’s Day Cards, Thank You Cards, Tutorials, Watercolor

    In today’s tutorial, artist Phyllis Macaluso will show you how to make a gorgeous floral trifold card. If you’ve been wanting to learn how to use a wedge brush, you’ll especially love this project!

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    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso

    When Phyllis Macaluso sets out to make out a card, she always comes up with something interactive and beautiful. Take the trifold card in that you’ll learn how to make in today’s tutorial: it’s the paper version of a bouquet! Interactive and gorgeous. Today, Phyllis will walk you through how to make this card through a series of instructions, photos, and a free printable.

    1. Gather Your Supplies

    You’ll need a small collection of supplies in order to create this trifold card; they are listed below with links:

    Supplies for Tiered Trifold Floral Card

    • 8.5″ x 11″ (~21.6 cm x 28 cm) piece of watercolor paper
    • Pencil + eraser
    • Ruler
    • Scissors
    • Bone folder
    • Watercolor palette of your choice + a wedge (aka “triangular”) brush (affiliate link)
    • Optional: pointed pen + ink to write a greeting
    • Phyllis’ project handout

    2. Divide + Cut Your Watercolor Paper

    First, orient your watercolor paper horizontally. Then, use your pencil and your ruler to divide the page into three equal parts. Next, draw a diagonal line that runs about 2″ (5 cm) from the top of the left side of the page to about 5″ (12.7 cm) from the bottom of the right side of the page. Cut along that diagonal line.

    Cut Watercolor Paper
    Your diagonal measurements don’t need to be exact! The numbers I’ve given you are just an estimate.

    3. Crease the Paper

    Now, use a bone folder to crease the watercolor paper like an accordion, as shown:

    Floral Tiered Trifold Card
    Making one crease that goes in and one crease that goes out helps the card’s parts to nest nicely into one another.

    4. Paint Flowers

    Now, use your pencil and a compass to draw half circles along the top of each third of the card. (If you don’t have a compass, you can free-hand draw the circles.)

    Making a draft for a floral tiered greeting card

    Then, use your wedge brush and the instructions on pages 5-6 in Phyllis’ handout to paint gorgeous floral bundles!

    Painting florals with a wedge brush
    Use your circular guidelines as guide to contour your flowers. (It’s okay to go a little bit past the circles, but not too far!) Again, instructions for drawing these flowers can be found in Phyllis’ handout.

    Keep on painting until the top half of your three sections are full of flowers.

    Florals on a trifold card

    Important: Make sure you paint florals on both sides of the card! Otherwise, when you fold the card up, one panel won’t have florals on it.

    5. Cut

    Now, use your scissors to cut the top of the card in an irregular pattern that echoes the contours of your florals and leaves.

    Cutting Out the Floral Cards

    Once you finish cutting, your card will look something like this:

    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso

    6. Fold!

    Now, fold the three sections of your card neatly together, and secure the card with a piece of twine and a tag, if desired. Use a pointed pen to write the greeting of your choice on the tag!

    Phyllis is modeling one of TPK’s “Pretty in Pink” Brause EF66 obliques in the photo. Feel free to use your favorite pointed pen to write on the tag — perhaps in green watercolor calligraphy to match the card’s foliage!

    Modification Note

    If you’re in a bit of a hurry and you don’t want to paint flowers on both sides of your card, there’s a shortcut you can take. Grab the piece of paper you cut at a diagonal from the top of your paper in step 2, and paint flowers on one side of it. Then, cut out the flowers.

    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso

    Next, glue the flowers onto the card. Alternate the direction that the flowers face to ensure that all of your pretty florals are visible when the card is closed.

    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso

    Then, enjoy your lovely card!

    Staggered Floral Trifold Card Tutorial by Phyllis Macaluso
    The two cards shown without twine in this photo were created using the cut and glue method. The card in the foreground features flowers that are painted on both sides.

    This floral trifold card is a versatile piece that you could use for virtually any occasion. It would make a great birthday card, an elegant way to say “thank you”, or, if you’re thinking ahead, a lovely Mother’s Day card. You can do like Phyllis and make several at once so they’re on deck when you need a quick and pretty greeting card solution! Just write out a greeting on the tag, stick your card in a #10 envelope, and you’re all set.

    Thanks very much to Phyllis for coming up with such a gorgeous tutorial, and thank you for reading! Have a lovely and creative weekend!

    Warmly,

    If you liked this tutorial, you can view Phyllis Macaluso’s other TPK tutorials here. If you’re on Instagram, you can follow Phyllis at @fpmmac.

    *This post contains affiliate links to Amazon

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Hi, I’m Lindsey Bugbee, the illustrator, calligrapher, and author behind The Postman’s Knock (TPK). Since 2012, the TPK Blog has been a vibrant creative space filled with tutorials and lessons on modern calligraphy, hand lettering, and illustration. After publishing The Calligraphy Book, I wanted to elevate the quality of content even further—so I launched TPK Premium. You can join here to receive access to some of the internet’s best creative inspiration and project tutorials.

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4 responses

  1. Florette Avatar
    Florette
    July 7, 2023

    This looks amazing! Great job!

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  2. Jill Avatar
    Jill
    May 24, 2022

    These are beautiful and I can’t wait to give it a try!!

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  3. Katie Avatar
    Katie
    April 2, 2022

    This is so beautiful and amazing!! I’d love to try it for some upcoming birthdays and Mother’s Day.

    Is there a way to get similar results with the florals WITHOUT using a wedge brush? I have a bunch of brushes but not that one (yet) and there isn’t enough time to order one to make the cards. Off the wall question, I know, but really curious. 🙂

    Thank you for the tutorial and everything else you do!

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  4. Loan Avatar
    Loan
    March 19, 2022

    I love everything by Phyllis,; she is so talented. Thank you for this gorgeous tutorial.

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Loved chatting with @sdionbakerdesign and @greenle Loved chatting with @sdionbakerdesign and @greenleafblue last Friday! Samantha is exactly as thoughtful and creative as you’d imagine from her Draw Your… books — and this answer to Jennifer’s question says it all. ✨ Just have fun and make art!

☕ Want to watch/listen to the whole conversation? Head over to the TPK Blog to hit play on the recording! (Link in bio, then navigate to “Blog”.)

#artistchat #artist #samanthadionbaker #greenleafandblueberry #thepostmansknock #arttalk #creativity #sketchbooking #sketchbook #artadvice
My seven-year-old and I have officially entered th My seven-year-old and I have officially entered the @edward.gorey.house envelope art contest! 🎃 My design leans a bit more macabre, while my son’s is, well, gory. (Venus flytraps are apparently no joke.) Visit the TPK Blog to see my process — I love to start with a Procreate draft and take it from there. 

This is a great little contest, and, while it runs through December, it’s *especially* fun to work on this time of year. 👻 My kid and I both thoroughly enjoyed making our masterpieces! If you find yourself with some time in the next couple of months, make your own envelope ... there will be more than one winner! 🥇

#edwardgorey #envelopeart #mailart #kidsart #halloweenart #halloweenmail #envelope #snailmail #snailmailrevolution
Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course! ✍️ In Lesson 3, you’ll find over three hours of instruction to get you extremely comfortable using the straight calligraphy pen. If you want to learn pointed pen calligraphy, *join us*! TPK Premium members have the exclusive and incredible opportunity to take this detailed course for $5/month. Link in bio for details!

#calligraphy #moderncalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphytips
Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beaut Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beautiful leaves inside ✨. You can find a tutorial over how to make this stunning bookmark in “The Calligraphy Book”. (Confession time: I don’t actually use this bookmark as a bookmark. It ended up being too pretty to be hiding inside a book! 🙈 Instead, I display it on my bulletin board.)

#bookmark #decoratedbookmark #autumnleaves #pointedpen #finetec #colirofinetec #metallicwatercolor
Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 Good Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 

Good news: whichever one you like best, you can learn how to create it in “Spellbound Strokes”, TPK’s Halloween 2025 worksheet set! The worksheet is available on the TPK site as of an hour ago. In it, you’ll learn how to create these fabulous Halloween-themed motifs ... and get plenty of calligraphy practice under your belt in the process. ✍️

For the worksheet link, see my stories today (10/9), or shoot me a DM. Happy Halloween, and enjoy!

#halloweencalligraphy #pointedpenpractice #pointedpen #dippen #halloweenart #macbeth
This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to wri This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to write. 🧘‍♀️ DM me for a link to a (free!) worksheet that teaches you how to write this loopy, modern quote. ✍️

#moderncalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphy #handwritten #writingcalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #calligraphyvideo #tseliotquote
🎃 Halloween, TPK-style. ✍️ You can find ins 🎃 Halloween, TPK-style. ✍️ You can find instructions for making all of these project (and more!) on the TPK Blog and in TPK’s Halloween-themed worksheets. 🔗 Link in bio, then search for “Halloween” or just browse the Blog and Catalog!

#halloweencalligraphy #halloweenart #calligraphyprojects #halloweencraft #eleganthalloween
🤭 We’re ridiculous. Here’s the story: every 🤭 We’re ridiculous. Here’s the story: every month, @greenleafblue and I host a live creative coffee chat over Zoom for TPK Premium and G&B Patreon members — and we always include a giveaway. This time, we switched it up and picked the winner with a trivia question we made up on the fly. You can see how that went here!

✨ Watch the full chat on the TPK Blog (link in bio → “Blog”).

✨ Join us for the next coffee chat on October 17th by signing up for TPK Premium! I’m thrilled to announce that @sdionbakerdesign will be our special guest. (Her Patreon members can join, too!) And yes, there will be a giveaway. 🎁

👯‍♀️ Fun fact: Jess and I met as roommates studying art history in Paris + Florence way before The Postman’s Knock or Greenleaf & Blueberry existed. Over the years, we’ve nicknamed ourselves Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, Lucy and Ethel… you get the idea. That familiarity definitely comes through in our chats.

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