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:

• 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 brush
• 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.

3. Crease the Paper

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

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.)

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

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

Then, enjoy your lovely card!

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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!