We are catching up with Mike Benson of Carte Fini. Carte Fini is based on San Diego, California and it is an online distributor of Cartotecnica Rossi Italian crepe paper and ships worldwide.

 Mike chatted with us on Paper Talk way back when we first started this podcast, on Episode 2. You can read and hear more about Mike on Episode 2: Friends of TPFC - Chatting With the Crepe Paper King.

 Carte Fini has been a generous sponsor and collaborator of our workshops. In addition to sponsoring the 2019 Masterclass in Monroe, Washington, Mike also attended our Toronto Workshop in September 2019.

 Both of us were lucky recipients of a sample package of the 90 g Italian crepe paper and we were one of the first few to have tested the paper. We are incredibly thrilled to see that it's now available for purchase on Carte Fini's online store.

Today, we talk to Mike about our love for the 90 g and Carte Fini adding Design Master...

Alicia's floral creation:

Other florists' creations:

 Garden Party Flowers

Hazel Landscape and Design

Leah Erikson

Lora Bloom

Ondine

Seattle Floral Design

Smashing Petals

...

When Quynh went to Florabundance Design Days in January 2020, she met the lovely Teresa Schafer of Alexandra Farms. Alexandra Farms is the largest grower of garden roses in the world. Located in Bogotá, Colombia, the farm grows 60 varieties of those fragrant garden roses that florists (and we!) covet. Teresa is the Communications Manager at Alexandra Farms and an expert at garden roses. We were thrilled when Teresa agreed to talk to us about all things garden roses and to learn more about her company

 We are also excited to announce that we will be working with Alexandra Farms on a collaboration later this year! We cannot wait to get Alexandra Farms garden roses in our (and in our students’) hands!

Let’s first get to know Teresa and Alexandra Farms a bit:

1. Tell us about Alexandra Farms.

Alexandra Farms is a boutique grower specializing in nostalgic, romantic fresh cut garden roses. Our farm is located in the incredibly fertile savannah of...

Farren Celeste is a paper flower company that offers templates for paper goods. Farren Haygood is the artist and face behind Farren Celeste. She is currently based in The Netherlands, but she is originally from the US. After moving to a country where she had no family and did not know the language, she had to reinvent herself and establish a new form of income. She found solace in making her own paper flower cardstock templates, and began selling them on her Etsy site in August 2019. Since then, her business has grown significantly.

In this podcast, she shares with us her secrets to success, from how to use social media to your advantage to how to earn passive and evergreen income to the pros/cons of using Etsy to sell.

During the podcast, you might hear a new voice…a baby’s! That’s Cillian, our baby intern, and Jessie’s new baby. You might hear him on some of these episodes as he tries out his voice at podcasting!

First, let’s get to know a...

We first took notice of the minimally styled paper flowers of Yang Liu in her blue phase. This blue phase turned out to be her artistic collaboration with Anna Chedid at the VSCO studio. Influenced by her Chinese heritage, her dual Canadian-American nationalities, and her current hometown of San Francisco, Yang’s work strives to sit somewhere between dreams and reality. Her paper flowers are showcased in a consistently clean and modern way. She does not shy away from creating various types of botanical objects, from dahlias to pear branches to dumpling boxes.

Listen to Yang as she shares her love for paper flowers.

1. Who is Yang Liu? 

I was born in Shanghai (hence my Instagram name, @shanghai.1984). I am currently a dual Canadian-American citizen residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Besides flowers and paper art, I also love having tea with friends!

2. How did you get started making paper flowers? What drew you to this art form?

I first came...