Paper Flower Mobile

Hello all, I hope you had a great weekend!  I had a pretty busy weekend, planning, preping and throwing a bridal shower for my sister, but I still managed to put this lovely mobile together!  I got the idea from t does wool.  I thought the flowers were so lovely, I had to figure out some project to use them in so I decided put together this little mobile to hang….somewhere.  I’m not sure where I will put it yet.

What you will need:

• newspaper, cut into 2″ squares (you will need 20 to make 4 flowers)
• thick yarn or twine
• an interesting stick or a dowel

Construct 4 flowers.  I used this tutorial, which is very good, so I will not duplicate it.  The tutorial says to glue the flower petals, but I used double sided tape instead because I didn’t want to wait for the glue to dry.  The tape worked very well.

Cut several pieces of twine/yarn varying in size from 10″-18″.  You will use four of these to attach the flowers, and the others will hang down without flowers (the twine without flowers is optional…I decided not to use them, but I think if I did it again I would use them).  Take four different lengths of twine and thread one through the center of each of the flowers.  Tie a knot on one end of the twine (the end that is on the “front” side of the flower) leaving 1.5″ hanging.

Gather the ends of all the twine.  You should have 4 that have flowers attached and several that do not.  Tie them in a knot around the string.  Trim the ends if you would like, or leave them hanging.

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One Crafty Family

Today I’ve decided to show you that I’m not the only crafty one in my household.  Look at what Mike made for me for our anniversary yesterday!  Isn’t he talented?  On the inside he made a little coupon that can be pulled out to redeem my gift!

Mike and I both have an inability to wait to give each other their presents.  I think when we find a perfect gift, we want to see the joy on the other person’s face when they see it.  We usually end up exchanging gifts the night before a big event because we just can’t wait any longer.  It is the same with Christmas…in the days leading up to it, we slowly begin to open the small gifts from each other, once a night until we get our last big present on Christmas.  Its very fun.

Back to the card…can you believe this envelope that he made?  He cut out the paper and then stitched the sides with thread to close them up.  Lovely!

I know that this is a little unrelated, but I have a quick question for you all…have you ever made your own face wash/lotion?  I have had a terrible time moving out to Colorado, which has a much different climate from where I grew up.  I can’t seem to find a good lotion or face wash that mosturize my skin enough.  Do any of you have any suggestions?  I found this awesome site, and I was thinking about giving some of the recipes a try.  I’ll let you know how they turn out!

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Save-the-Dates, Continuing the Saga

A second attempt at stamps for my sister’s save-the-dates…(hmm.  I’m sensing a theme…).  Anyways, the first save-the-date stamp was not as sucessful as I had hoped.  I had trouble with both the stamp itself and the ink.  Well, after searching for about a week I finally found some ink that I could use.  It is a full pad, instead of the tiny one I had before, with actual ink, instead of some chalk stuff, and it is the right color.  Yay!!

I also found my craft knife (also after about a week of searching), so I attempted to cut the stamp a second time.  I definately think this stamp turned out better than the first.  I was very careful to avoid having pin holes around the image by cutting a little wider than before.  There are definately less rough edges, though there are still a few.

On the one hand I sort of like the rough edges because it doesn’t look too perfect.  On the other hand, I am not sure I want to keep them because it doesn’t look perfect enough.  I  think there is a fine line here, and I’m not sure which side of it I am on.  What do you think?  Do the rough edges add character, or does it just look messy??

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Wedding Save-the-Dates

My sister got engaged and is planning a wedding for September!  I have been delegated as invitation designer, so I have been working on this alot over the past few weeks.  I think I have said before…my sister’s favorite color is purple, so naturally, that is going to be a principle color for her wedding.

I have really been getting into this block printing thing, and thought it might be a cool idea to make a stamp and hand print the design on the paper instead of having it printed by machine.

The design is ready, and last night I made a first attempt at printing on paper.  Sadly, it did not turn out as I had hoped.  It might be partially due to the fact that I have lost my craft knife (sadness!), or that the ink pad I got is about as big as my thumb…probably a bit of both.  The ink is very uneven, and I doubt that I will be able to finish 85 of these babies with only my tiny pad of ink.  Also, I had to use scissors, which made some funky little detailing along the heads of the birds.  I think I am going to have to start from scratch.  Maybe get a new ink pad and another craft knife.  Or maybe I’ll carve the image out of a rubber block instead…I don’t know.

Do any of you have any tips for me??

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“I ~Heart~ U” Box

Here is my next installment of Valentine’s Day crafts.  I came up with this little project at work, where I have quite a few small empty paperclip boxes.  On a slow day, I decided to try covering one with some colorful old catalog pages.

I think this box would be a cute way to wrap a very small gift, like jewelry, or as a sort-of “card” on its own.  You could even tie some ribbon around it to make it look more like a gift.

What you will need:

• a all box (I re-purposed an old paperclip box)
• an old magazine
• a pen or pencil
• masking tape
• glue
• scissors

Take apart the box so that it lays flat.  If it is glued together in any places, carefully take that apart as well. 

Measure the 6 sides of the box, trace onto paper, and cut out (you should have 6 rectangles).  Another option is to trace all the sides of the box while it is still put together.  These will be glued to the inside of the box later.  Choose the piece of paper you would like to use and lay the flattened box on top (inside facing down).  Trace around the box, giving an extra 1/8″ all the way around (see picture), and cut out. 

Turn the box around (inside facing up), with the newly cut paper behind it.  Using the masking tape, fold the paper edges over the box and secure.  Repeat this around the whole box.  Re-assemble the box.  If it was glued anywhere, use some glue or masking tape to re-attach it. 

Take the 6 rectangles you made earlier and tape (with rolled pieces of masking tape) or glue to the inside of the box. 

Cut out an “I” a heart and a “U” from your magazine.  Make sure the colors contrast those in the inside of the box.  Glue to the bottom of the box.

 Other Valentine’s Day Crafts:

Stitched “Love” Valentine by yours truly

Lovebirds Card by The Long Thread

A Valentine Giftby Nini Makes

Fused Plastic Valentine by My Recycled Bags

Be sure to check out this week’s installment of Almost Lost Domestic Arts by Domestic Cents.  Its on purposeful menu planning and grocery shopping.  I especially like her idea of having meal cards!

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Stitched “Love” Valentine

With February officially hear, it is time to begin the Valentine’s day crafting!  This first one is a hand-stitched card with a clean, simple look.  It is very easy to create, and is easy to do with scraps you have around the house.

What you will need:

• 2 sheets of contrasting cardstock paper
• embroidery thread
• needle
• pencil
• ruler

Starting with the sheet of paper you would like to use as the main part of the folding card, measure a rectangle 5″x8″.  Cut out and fold in half.

With the other sheet of paper, measure a rectangle 4″x3″.  Cut out.

Using a pencil, sketch the design you would like to have on the smaller piece of paper. 

Using the needle, poke holes in the paper along the sketch, going from the front to the back…these will be where your stitches go.  Erase the pencil marks.

Starting on one end of the sketch, weave the thread in a running stitch.  Secure each end of the thread with glue to make sure it does not come out.

Glue this piece of paper onto the folded cardstock.  Write a message inside and give it to your sweetheart!

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