Paper Rosie Hair Pin Tutorial

I just love the idea of whipping up a bunch of cute hair flowers for my friends for no reason at all, just because it makes them smile!  I created this super fun and easy tutorial for the lovely folks over at Crafty Ideas Weekly so you can surprise your friends, party guests or fellow soccer moms with a pretty handmade bloom to brighten their day too. I learned to make these fun little flowers from my mom when I was a little girl and now I'm sharing it with you. Think of all the lovely cardstock papers you could use to make these beauties fit any occasion!

Supplies -

 4x4 inch square cardstock

1.5x3 inch patterned green cardstock

bobby pin

glue gun

Matte acrylic spray sealer (I used Krylon,my favorite)

 

1- gather material

2 - draw a spiral on 4x4 carstock and draw 2 leaf shapes on green cardstock

3 - cut out along lines of spiral starting at the outside point and cut out leaves

4 - begin to tightly roll the spiral working from outside in

5 - keep spiral help tight

6 - let it go to see it uncoil ever so slightly to a natural rose (this always feels like magic for some reason)

7 - hot glue the little nub (it was the very center of your spiral) down to the rolled flower and hold in place for a few seconds

8 - slide bobby pin on to one leaf then place it on top ofthe second leaf and glue to the flower

                                       

Spray the entire paper flower and leaves with the sealer let dry 15 minutes and spray again.  This makes the bloom waterproof and allows you to wear it again and again. 

So sweet!

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Vintage Blooms for a Summer Party...

I am constantly trying to come up with new ways to combine vintage treasures into my fabric flower designs.  Sometimes I use vintage fabrics and vintage rhinestones in my blooms and recently I've been lucky enough to come across some fabulous vintage plastic flowers. I created some pretty fabric flowers with tulle and chiffon then added layers of these vintage flower finds as their centers. These little beauties are so fun and the colors are just perfect for a summer party. I am planning on having a few folks over for the Memorial Day weekend and I will be wearing some of these new flowers as I'm sipping Strawberry Lemonade (or a margarita) in the backyard!

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Paper Flower Earrings

I have several amazing friends that I just adore.  Some of them are super organized while others are a bit more spontaneous shall we say.  One of my quirky spontaeous girlies called me with a fun last minute challenge.  She called at 3:30pm and said she needed 25 party favors for a bridal shower she was throwing the next day (in her defense her original favors weren't delivered on time).  And her budget was "as little as possible please"!  The bride to be is a journalist and loves roses...

Using paper (inspired by her journalist background), pearls and a tiny bit of felt I created these sweet paper rose earrings in all sorts of summer pastel colors matching the theme of the shower.  I sealed them so they are stiff and waterproof and can be worn again and again.  Apparently they were a huge hit and everyone loved them.  Yay :)

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My obsession with faux china continues...

  I am a bit odd, I'm okay with that.  Can I go make some broken china jewelry with real broken china...well sure.  Do I feel the need to continue my quest to recreate broken china in other materials instead...yes, yes I do. 
  My latest necklace is an uneven chunk of white polymer clay that I flattened with a glass, hand stamped, baked then colored with markers and sealed with utee for a glass like finish.  I feel satisfied now...and I love the way it hangs on my neck!  Try it, it's fun!

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Tutorial - Faux Broken China Necklace

I love to come up with out of the box recreations of things I love...my latest creation is a lighter funky alternative to broken china jewelry.  Made with shrink plastic, stamps, ink, markers and utee. This necklace looks fabulous and is fun to make!

Supplies- White shrinky dink paper (sanded), pretty floral stamp, permanent markers, utee (or clear embossing powder, 1/8 hole punch, chain and jumprings.

Let's begin!

step 1 - use a semi dark ink to ink your stamp

step 2 - press down onto sanded shrinky dink paper

step 3 - begin coloring the stamped image lightly with permanent markers

step 4 - cut out a section to resemble a broken piece of china.  remember to cut your piece approx 3 times larger than you'd like your pendant.  this one is 3.75 inches long

step 5 - using your 1/8 hole punch put two holes on either side of your shrink paper (for the jumprings)

step 6 - place in 350 * oven bake until it shrinks 2-4 minutes (or what ever directions your paper says to bake)

See how bright the colors become!

 ALERT!  Amazing techinique you can you for so many things

step 7 - sprinkle the entire pendant with a decent layer of utee or clear embossing powder

*notice how it's covered up to the ends to prevent dripping over in the oven.  place back in 350 degree oven and watch it.  you'll see it bubble up get clumpy weird then smooth out like glass...take it out when it's smooth. (be careful it's ridiculously hot until it cools and hardens...like 2 minutes)

 

see...smooth and pretty

  Step 8  - Attach jumprings and chain of your choice and voila...fabulous faux china necklace!

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Giveaway Time! - Shabby Chic Rose Tutorial

I'm excited to have my first tutorial for sale in my etsy shop!  Follow my blog and leave a comment here telling me what you would do with these lovely shabby chic roses and I will randomly pick a winner to recieve the new tutorial PDF!

I will also keep posting free new tutorials on my blog for fun stuff I love to make too :)  Up next, Faux Broken China Jewelry...look for the "how to" soon!

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Not your mama's shrinky dinks!

Okay, once again I've found the need to act like a kid again.  But man, look at what happened...Retro Cool Shrinky Dink Jewelry.  I am loving this fun way to create something girly while still playing with my kids!
Just goes to show you how simple fun from the past can be reinvented!

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