Crate Petite: Ready, Set, Confetti! - Rebecca Luminarias

This post features two of my very favorites--tiny things & confetti! Ever since the whole confetti craze began, I've been making my own little glassine envelopes filled with shiny, glittery goodies--and because they look so cute on mini cards, I gathered up my Oh Darling collection and made a whole bunch of them!

I made three sets of cards, each with a packet of confetti playing a major role. For this first set, I used small glassine bags (2 7/8" x 1 3/4") and filled each one with white and gold sequins, plus some iridescent white tinsel glitter. (There's a quick tutorial coming up later in the post!) These envelopes are horizontal so I kept that orientation on each of the cards.

The larger pieces of Oh Darling Ephemera were the bases for the cards in this set. The saturated pink, yellow, and turquoise hues in Oh Darling make for bright and cheery greetings, while the addition of confetti makes the cards festive! The pocket in the piece below was just the right size for the "Hello" card, cut from "What a Doll" patterned paper. Then I trimmed the title of the paper and used it as the tiny sentiment on the pink flower card (2 photos above).

Up next is a set of traditional folded cards--but they're still small, at 3" x 4", which is the size of the pre-made Oh Darling Journaling Cards. When it comes to minis, I typically make them in coordinating sets, as I've done here. Sometimes it happens on purpose; sometimes it happens because an idea for one card leads to a similar idea for another. That also happened here--with this entire project, in fact. I'm not a quick crafter, by any means. I putter and fuss and try all kinds of different embellishments and placements before it's "just right". I wish I was a quick crafter--I'd love to be able to just pull a handful of pieces out and make something in ten minutes, but that rarely happens for me; I'm (painfully) slow!

Once I finally had the general theme and sketch for this set, though, the trio came together nicely. They don't match exactly, but have enough of the same elements to coordinate...a journaling card, a rectangular piece for a pop of color, the confetti, a butterfly, another pop of color from the ribbon bow, and a tiny tag stamped with a bitty message from the Styleboard Roller Stamp.

{Tip: The bows easily pull off of the Oh Darling garland in tact--no untying/retying necessary!}

I've seen so many cute confetti packets out there, and I think most of us probably have preferences as to what we like best. I'll show you how I made my fold over pockets, like the ones I used on this trio.

First, gather your goods...there's something about glassine bags that makes me swoon--I don't know if it's the crinkly sound they make when you open them, the soft transparency of them, or the fact that they come in tiny sizes, making them just about as adorable as they can possibly be. For whatever reason, glassine bags/envelopes are what I like to put my confetti mix into.

Next, ANYTHING minuscule! For these projects today, I used sequins, beads, tinsel glitter, and tiny wood hearts--and I do mean itty-bitty.

Don't fill your envelope too full. Most of the time, I like the stuff inside to move around a little, so I don't pack them to the brim. For the fold overs, though, there isn't much room left (after the fold) for movement, so less really is better.

Close the flap just as you normally would on the back of the envelope. 1/3 from the top, fold the envelope itself the opposite way. Including the flap, it'll be a small accordion fold.

Stitch your folded piece to the envelope and you have a cute pocket...

...for a lovely butterfly

Although I adore confetti packets and tiny things, it was sometimes challenging figuring out how to incorporate the confetti onto the mini card since there's not a lot of room and I didn't want it to look silly and oversized. It's nice to put it in the center of the card, but sometimes you can feel "trapped" when your whole project is centered. What was great about the journaling cards was that they had focal points outside of the middle so I could place my ensemble in the center without it looking too uninteresting :]

And just for something a bit different, my last set makes the card a part of the confetti packet itself.

This simply embellished card looks pretty fun sitting in a larger glassine envelope (3" x 4.5"), along with a few sequins and wood hearts floating around, shaking things up. On the outside, these adorable bow clothespins keep the envelope closed while adding bright color and a similar confetti-look from the white polka dots.

Lastly, I put a bit of confetti fun in the bottom of this envelope (3 1/8" x 5 1/2") and stitched it closed. There's enough room left for a mini card (2 1/2" x 4") in the top portion. The card, again, is minimally decorated, with the sentiments both adhered to the outside of the envelope.