Paint chip greeting cards | Chica and Jo Like most of you, I’m sure, I tend to go through a lot of paint chips when trying to decide on a color to paint a room. And when the project is done, I toss the paint chips into a box I keep in my craft room. They are the perfect “I’ll use these one day” items, right? Well I stumbled upon the box a few days ago and realized just how many I’d collected over the years. Oh the memories this pile brings back! No matter how I got this collection, I knew it was time to finally do something with them. Can you believe those were made from plain white cardstock and boring old paint chips? First I cut some ordinary 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock in half crosswise, then folded it. For the square mosaic design, I grabbed a bunch of smoky blue paint chips and cut them into 1 inch squares. For the green card, I cut all my green paint chips into strips of random widths. For the orange card, I took the same strip idea but turned it on an angle. I spent a lot of time on the final card.
How to make gift bags from newspaper When I bought something at a store recently, the clerk handed me my purchase in a bag made from a newspaper. I liked it very much and had to make some more—thus today's DIY recycled newspaper project: gift bags made from the Wall Street Journal. You can vary the dimensions, of course, but here's what I used to create a bag that's 5" tall, 4.5" wide, and 3" deep. Stack two sheets of newspaper on top of each other. Cut out a rectangle that's 15.5" wide and 8.25" tall. Fold a flap 1.25" down from the top. Cut two pieces of cardstock or chipboard to 4.25" x 1", then glue them on the widest two panels just under the top fold. Put glue on the outside of the 0.5" tab and bring the left-most panel over to form the body of the bag, aligning the cut edge of the panel with the folded edge of the flap. Upend the bag so the 2" flap is now up. Put glue on both flaps and fold them inward to form the bottom of the bag.
Split Family Faces Cousins: Justine, 29, & Ulric, 29 How much do you and your family members really look alike? Quebec, Canada-based graphic designer and photographer Ulric Collette has created a shockingly cool project where he's exploring the genetic similarities between different members of the same family. By splitting their faces in half and then splicing them together, he creates interesting new people that are sometimes quite normal looking and other times far from it. (Did you notice that Ulric, the photographer, is one-half of some of these pairings? Update 1: We got in touch with Ulric to ask him a few questions about this really intriguing series (that just happened to go viral). Update 2: What happened after Split Family Faces went viral? Mother/Daughter: Francine, 56 & Catherine, 23 Sisters: Catherine, 23 & Veronica, 29 Daughter/Mother: Veronica, 29 & Francine, 56 Sister/Brother: Karine, Dany & XX years, 25 years Brothers, Christopher, 30 & Ulric, 29 Father/Son: Laval, 56 & Vincent, 29
How About Orange Here's a look at our upstairs guest bathroom. Last night I covered an accent wall with removable wallpaper. I love it! This bathroom has a peculiar layout. You walk in past the shower stall on the right, and when you hit the sink, you turn right to get to the toilet. Which is under a lovely arch at the end of a passage that is almost long enough to feel like a hallway. The kind folks at Walls Need Love sent the product to review. Like the Sunburst wallpaper I designed last year, this paper is essentially a giant self-adhesive wall decal, and it's easily to peel off and reposition. I measured the wall and cut a length of paper that would leave a little extra overhang at the bottom. After a couple tries I had it, and then it was just a matter of peeling off the backing paper gradually while smoothing down the paper with the tool provided. I cut another piece to place next to the first panel, overlapping the seam by a quarter inch to match the pattern.
The Coffee Filter Rose Tutorial The Coffee Filter Rose Tutorial Supplies:Coffee Filters, preferable cone shaped filters. I couldn't find any so I used regular ones.Floral Wire, I used 22 gauge.Floral TapeScissorsAwl or NeedlePaintbrushesWater Color PaintWater for paintDowel or something to curl petals Step 1:Cut petal shapes in a range of sizesCut wire long enough for the stem of the roseCut strips of floral tape 1-2'' long until you are sick of cutting (you'll need quite a few of these) Step 2:Bend the tip of wire at approximately 1/2'' Step 3:Roll one of your smallest petals. Step 4:Pierce the rolled petal with your awl or needle Step 5:Push the wire through the hole in the first petal. Bend the wire down so it is flat. Step 6:Wrap the petal and stem with a strip of floral tape. Step 7:Form into petal shape Pinch the petal at the base to form a slightly convex shape. You'll do this for all the petals of the rose. Step 8: Add more petals using strips of floral tape in a spiral with petal slightly overlapping.
untitled this perfect-for-summer project comes from brenna berger at paper + ink. she documents her amazingly clever custom invitation designs on her blog, so when it comes to paper it’s no surprise that she’s full of ideas. i love the simple, modern feel of these, and the fact that they cost next to nothing to make. on an semi-related note, i recently decided to have a movie marathon of all corporate “must make it big in nyc” movies from the eighties (wall street, secret of my success, working girl…you get the drift), but now i am definitely not going to start it until i have some paper and a thumbtack ready:) thanks, brenna! -kate CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump! materials: 1. paper (preferably cotton) 2. thumbtack 3. pony bead and hot glue (optional) 4. scrap cardboard (at least as big as your paper) 5. tape 6. image of choice (some options are available here) 5. cut to size and you are done!
fabric flower brooch tutorial « Happy Serendipity happy wednesday everyone. today i have a beautiful flower brooch tutorial to show you. it looks easy but it takes a bit of time and passion and patience but the outcome is really really nice. you need: 8 fabric squares (mine are 4×4 cm), a felt circle (this has a 4 cm diameter), thread and hot glue. fold the squares into a triangle. then fold the outer corners to the middle. it should look like this. sew the corner together and you’ll get 8 little “blossoms”. with a bit of hot glue on the felt circle i attached coordinating fabric so it would match with the blossoms. with the hot glue i attached all 8 blossoms onto the felt circle. and because the center doesn’t look so nice a red button was placed in the middle. it takes patience and a bit of time to get this right. but i love this little flower. it looks so nice. have fun making some flowers for yourself. xoxo
How To Build A Fireball You Can Hold Video Fabulous Flowers - Klutz Book Giveaway! ***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Scroll down to see who won!*** I'm a longtime fan of Klutz books for kids... the projects are appealing, directions are clear, and the supplies, always top notch. Klutz says, ""Let your creativity bloom with this book of can’t-go-wrong instructions for life-sized, dimensional, paper blossoms inspired by our favorite flowers: roses, daisies, daffodils, hibiscus, zinnias, cosmos, poppies, and larkspur. "As always, Klutz has packaged the book with everything you need to get started: 20 pages of ready-to-punch-out paper petals, sparkly flower centers, wrapped wire stems, glue, and of course, the custom winding tool - enough stuff to make bunches of flowers." Watch a quick videoclip here that shows some of the flower types. Anne Akers Johnson, author of quite a few Klutz titles, has written clear instructions for a variety of well-known flowers. So share this book with a child you love or keep it for yourself! P.S.
Under The Table and Dreaming: DIY Faux Curled Rosewood Wreath {Made From... I have seen various versions of Faux Rosewood Wreaths in just about every store and catalog for the upcoming season; most with a price tag running upwards of $40 or more. Some are crafted of paper and other of real wood shavings. Last year I made a few rolled flower gift toppers from recycled book pages and they remind me so much of the curled wood roses I thought they would make a good substitute. Materials Needed:Foam Wreath FormRecycled Book PagesLots of Hot GlueRibbon to Hang The full step by step tutorial I posted last year can be found {here}.Basically you layer three book pages together and draw a spiral circle. Starting with the outside of the spiral, roll the paper inward to create the flower shape. Give the wreath form a light coat of white {or light color} spray paint to help camouflage any see-through spaces. It seriously takes quite a few roses to fill the entire wreath, however I think the finished project has such a unique look. {Simply Lovely}