Please welcome, Jessie Chui of Crafted to Bloom. She is my guest blogger for this month!

Jessie Chui is a self-taught artist, educator, entrepreneur, lawyer, the author of Paper Flower Art, Create Beautifully Realistic Floral Arrangements (GMC Publications, 2019) and co-founder of Paper Talk, Paper Flower Education, and the Paper Talk Podcast. After a 7-year legal career, she shifted her focus to raise her son and pursue her creativity. Her paper floral art quickly drew the attention of The Paper Place a retail paper store in Toronto, Ontario, and she began to teach workshops there. With this encouragement, she formally established her art studio Crafted to Bloom in 2016. Her work has been featured on 100 Layer Cake, Green Wedding Shoes, Lia Griffith’s Artist Interview Series, WedLuxe, Holt Renfrew’s Holiday Magazine, Breathe Magazine, and the Botanical Brouhaha podcast, to name a few. In...

When you mention crepe paper, most people outside of our paper flower world think of party streamers or tissue paper. If you’ve been a paper florist for any amount of time, you know that crepe paper comes in a staggering array of options that the general public is unaware of. The structure and intricacy you can coax out of crepe is incredible and truly an art form.

Crepe paper has been around since the late 19th century, and inventive crafters like ourselves have been making beautiful art from crepe for just as long. Now, our paper flower industry is growing like crazy, and it’s easier than ever to find buy crepe from around the world in many different varieties.

But with so many options, you may feel overwhelmed by which crepe to choose—but not anymore.

I’m here to share the crepe knowledge I’ve gleaned from years of being a paper florist and educator, all in one easy to read post. By the end, you’ll learn everything you need to know about...

We’re so excited to welcome Mike Benson as a guest contributor to The Posey Box blog! He is the founder of Carte Fini, my absolute favorite place to buy Italian crepe paper. Without further ado, Mike Benson: 

“So what do you do?".... if you’re like me, and you live in America (fun fact; citizens of other countries seem confounded by this obligatory party-query. LOL), the people we meet for the first time invariably ask you this question. For me, I answer with a certain pride while I steady myself for their all-too common “huh?”...“I import crepe paper from Italy and sell through my online store, Carte Fini” ... “ohh-kayyy???”

And so it goes, but I understand. For the uninitiated, the term “crepe paper” is not in their vernacular. My explanation for them begins with attempting to describe the basic product as they may have encountered it as a child in school. “That stretchy paper used for crafts”, I...

Crepe is the base of our craft. You can’t make paper flowers without the paper! Now, you’re clicking around this blog, so you probably already know that crepe comes in a wide array of weights, ranging from extremely delicate to fairly sturdy. But whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or expert paper florist, understanding the differences in paper helps you know which paper to use for which project. So today, we’re diving into Italian 180 gsm crepe paper.

Italian crepe comes in different weights, and 180 gsm is referred to as “heavy weight” for a reason. As the thickest crepe, it’s sturdy and will hold its final shape very well. Just try to tear it. You’ll have to use some muscle! It can be stretched much farther than more delicate crepes, meaning you can deeply cup petals—an important trait to achieving a realistic look for certain kinds of flowers. 

That durability does come with some drawbacks, of course. You...