Centre Pieces: Paper Flowers

One of my favorite things about paper flowers is that they never die! You can have them in any color you like, they don't need any water, and you never have to think about refreshing your table when guests come over. So handy!

For my wedding I was not particularly worried about the flowers wilting before the reception started. I decided to have paper flowers for two reasons. First off, when I learned how expensive flowers are I was not willing to spend that much! Also, and more importantly I love making everything by hand, and love the look of paper flowers, how cool is it to know that the Bride made EVERYTHING on the table!

Materials:

Paper. Heavier than copy paper, but not as heavy as card stock (I used 67lb paper)

Chopsticks (the cheap wooden ones from take-out)

Green Paint

Liquid Glue

Scissors

Paintbrush

What I did:

First, please note, that I based my flowers off This tutorial, but made some changes.

Cut out petals in approximately the same shape as the picture to the right. Cut some smaller, some more oblong, some larger, ect. Each flower will need approximately 10-14 petals. Feel free to fold the paper in half to cut out two at a time.

Next crumple up, and un-crumple all of the petals, so that when they are open again they are wrinkled.

The wrinkles of the petals allows them to look a bit more realistic, less like paper and a bit more like silk. It gives them some texture.

Paint the chopsticks green. Be sure to paint the whole chopstick because the top will likely be showing like in the picture below.

Place a small line of glue at the base (flat side) of one petal. You will be working from the centre of the flower to the outside, so the first petal you choose should be one that you want in the centre. 

Wrap the bottom of the petal(with the glue) around the chopstick(the fat end). depending on what type of flower you are going for will determine what angle you wrap the flower. I wrapped the petal around at about 40 degrees so that it was not too tight looking. 

Glue and wrap two more petals around the chopstick so that the three petals are evenly dispersed around the top of the chopstick forming the centre of the flower. 

Continue adding petals in the "windows" of the previous petals until you are satisfied with the size of your flower. With every subsequent layer increase the angle that you attach petal.

Once you have used up all your petals, or are satisfied with the number of petals stop adding more. Bend the petals out from the centre or at their tops so that they offer a more realistic look.

Finished!

Rustic Cabin: Stool and side table

I don't know if its because I'm Canadian, British Columbian, or if its just me, but there is something fantastic about that deep in the woods Cabin. The kind where the owner says, my grandfather built this cabin and everything in it from the trees on the property. Then you cook the fish you just caught for dinner over a wood burning stove. That to me, sounds delightful!

I have a friend with a cabin like the one I am describing. Its near Egan Lake in BC, which is 1.5 hours to the closest town of under 2000 residents. Its really in the boonies! My friends dad built the entire house, and all the furniture inside. Its probably close to 500 sqft which is very squishy in -15 C  with 8 other people inside...But I love it so much! Unfortunately I can't find a good picture of that cabin, so I will have to update this post next time I go up there.

That being said I made some wooden stools that are very log cabin-esk.

Materials:

Large log stump

Skinny log stump

Sand paper (palm sander if available)

Large circular saw or chainsaw

spray varnish

3 Dowel Screw

What I did:

I started with two big log stumps and two skinny stumps from the pile in our back yard. You can get your from anywhere, I often see free fire wood on craigslist.

Brush off the sides with a coarse broom to get rid of any groseness and any loose bark. Then sand the top and bottom to remove any slime and to level out the surface.

Varnish all sides. I used spray varnish because it was much quicker and easier to get in the cracks. Trust me on this one, when I discovered varnish came in a spray can...my life was very simplified!

Next cut three even pieces from the smaller log. Keep in mind that a chair is about 19" tall. I wanted mine 21" for a bit of a higher stool so we cut the feet to be 3" tall.

Clean up and varnish the feet the same way as the main stool. Use the dowel screws to screw the legs into the side you choose to be on the bottom. Dowel screws are also revolutionary. If you have never used them before. Grip the middle with a pliers while you twist it into the foot. Only twist 1/3 of the way into the foot. Then flip it over and twist it into the stump using the foot as your handle. Once the stump side is tight the foot side will tighten up as well.

If you want a side table or a hard top stool thats it your done!

Pillow Tutorial coming soon...

Bridesmaid bouquets: Paper Flowers

I think, after a year break it is time to start posting about wedding crafts. Since crafting is my hobby anyhow, having a DIY wedding was not only the obvious choice, but was no extra work. I simply replaced my personal crafting time with my wedding crafts. These crafts were more redundant than previously, but I had a bit more motivation to work hard, so it balanced out in the end.

Materials:

Light colored Paper about 1 page/2 flowers (anything less heavy than cardstock, but more heavy than copy paper will do). I used cream

Dark colored Cardstock Paper (I actually used the paper kids make school projects on because it was the only navy paper I could find). The heavier the better

Floral Wire

Hot glue or white glue (I used both)

Scissors

Pliers (or just a pencil will do)

What I did:

I actually followed This tutorial on the Elli blog and made a few of my own variations. She called them roses, but I chose them because I thought they looked like poppies which is what I was going for. 

Cut out TONS of petals in the shape of the picture to the right.. Cut them free hand because you do not want them to all be the same. Vary width, height, and shape if you like. I folded my paper in half and cut two petals at one time. Cut three small slits in the bottom just like the black lines on the picture. Fold the sides over the middle and glue them in place (this is later referred to as the platform). The petal should start to form a curvichure when you do this. I used white glue for this so there was no bump. 

Once the glue on the petals has dried it is time to start to put them together. Start with 3 or 4 of your smaller petals. Arrange them in a circle and use white glue to glue the platforms together one on top of another. Use another 5-4 of your larger petals and glue their platforms underneath. Make sure to stager the petals when you arrange the outer ones so that they are between the inner petals. Continue adding petals staggered to the outside until you are pleased. I used about 6-10 petals/ flower depending on the shape and size.

Next cut 1.5" and 2.5" diameter circles out of the dark paper. Cut slits in the circles from the outside edge to the centre as thin as you can go (mine were about 2mm).  The slits should go 3/4 of the way to the centre. so there is a small uncut spot in the middle. Curl the slits around a pencil or chopstick so they resemble a small bowl. Finally glue the smaller one inside the bigger one. This will be the centre of your flower.

Twist the top of your floral wire 1-2 times around your pliers or pencil and fold that section over so that it creates a platform. Hot glue the flower petals onto the platform. Then use hot glue to place the centre piece inside the newly assembled flower. Finally cut a small cloud shape out of your lighter paper (the same as the petals). Poke a hole in the centre with the floral wire and slide it up the floral wire and hot glue it onto the very bottom to cover up the floral wire platform. 

Ta Da! Beautiful flowers that never wilt!