Red-Headed Wild Flower - Kitchen Chair

This is one of the chairs that go with my younger sister Val's kitchen table.  She is moving into a fantastic new place soon, and I am her interior decorator.  

I am so lucky that I have a sister who's basically my muse, who completely indulges my creations.  Ever since I can remember, she's been the one to bounce an idea or a joke off of, and she's basically the intended audience for any and everything I create.  I am extremely lucky in that she has let me complete freedom with her new apartment. She gives me the materials, be it old furniture or home decor from college, or a new table and chairs she got for $50 on Craigslist.  She didn't even know I was going to make her chair into a little slice of adorable, but she knew that whatever I did, she'd like it.  I could totally fuglify her new space, and she trusts me to give her something she'll like.  Now that's support.  In turn, I made her something. :)

For tons more pictures, including Before/After

Ava by Melody Ross Decoupage Lettering

I usually go to Michael's because it's bigger and closer to my school (and often go on my conference period), but the other day I stepped into Hobby Lobby on my way home, and I was so excited to see that they carried several different styles of wooden and chipboard wall letters, probably at least twice what Michael's had.  And for cheaper.  These are by The Paper Studio, and were 40% off their original low price of $1.77/letter (actually, for some reason a couple of the letters were $1.97... perhaps like on Wheel of Fortune some letters are worth more than others?

I used spray adhesive and my lovely new precision craft knife to cover these in the paper I absolutely fell. In. Love. With.  This gorgeous array of blue, green, and yellow is the Ava Collection by Melody Ross.

More Photos after the jump.

That's me!

3-Layer Paper Flowers

I got a little bit obsessed with these.  There is just so many different gorgeous combinations of paper and shapes.  I love it.

Step-By-Step Instructions with Photos after the jump.

First, choose your 3 papers, and cut into
3 squares of descending size.

The next step is to fold your flowers.  Lining up the edges of the square when you fold is not what is important.  What is important is to get smooth, even folds to make the flower as symmetrical as possible.  Don't worry about the edges of the paper being ragged or not matching up - you will end up cutting off the uneven edges anyway.

Now fold your squares.  Fold in half once.

Then fold in half again, making a square.

Fold in half once more, diagonally.

Then (holding the folded corner), cut a rounded
"petal" from the rough edge.

You can cut the petals to be squared, rounded, or pointy-tipped.  You can even give them fringe if you'd like.  Change up how you cut the flowers. That mixes it up even more.

Unfold, and voila!  A flower!

Decorative brads.

Layer the 3 flower parts, push a brad through the
center of each one, and fold back the tabs.
You're finished!

Tons of gorgeous 3-Layer Paper Flowers and the bulletin board they decorated here.

Paper Flower Birthday Card

These paper flowers are SO SIMPLE to make.  I'm a smitten kitten.  I made this card on the fly for my cousin's birthday, and it literally took me 5 minutes.

I picked 3 papers from a coordinating 5"x7" stack, and a blank card that matched.  Then I cut the papers into descending squares, and made the flower using the instructions from here.  Last, using regular old Elmer's, I glued the biggest layer to the card, then nestled the two smaller flowers, gluing in between each.  (I only put a dot of glue in the center of each layer so the petals lift up off the page a little bit, giving the card some dimension).  The final touch is a button for the center of the flower - any random button will do.  

More Pictures:

Be Like the Flower - Bulletin Board

Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.

I saw a kids flower craft kit at Walmart, and from what I could tell, the flowers were made from 3 differing sized circles cut as flowers.  I chose a bunch of coordinating papers from my big pad (the same paper from this post), and cut it into 3 different sized squares using the big paper cutter in the teachers' workroom, and then I folded the squares three times (in half vertically, then in half again horizontally, then on the diagonal) and easily cut off the rough edge in a petal shape. Paper Flower Instructions here.  This is exactly how I did the snowflakes too, but this was much easier because the flower edges have less detail.

I used push pins as the flower centers, and you can use decorative brads if you are making loose flowers or putting a flower on a card.  This took almost no time to construct, and I can use the flowers later for another purpose!  I'm thinking of letting people take one if they want one or letting students take one to give to their favorite teacher.