Paper Wreath

They call me Mello Cello.  Well, actually they don't as my musical abilities are quite lacking.  However, Mello Cello is the name of one of the pieces of music from Albert's Album of 14 Modern Waltzes, a book I used to make this paper wreath.

The wreath also features pieces from Chappell's Song and Dance Album when I ran out of paper.  These songs came with ukulele accompaniment.  Both books were originally 2'6, and I got them for 50 cents each at the Save the Children book sale last year.  That's not quite true.  My Dad was going to the book sale and I sent him on mission to find old sheet music, which he did, and he bought a whole pile and generously donated them to the paperbakesew cause.  Dads are so good like that.

Wreath-making is time consuming, but ultimately very satisfying.  I started with a 15cm foam ring from Spotlight, and covered it with small pieces of modern waltzes.  I cut pages of sheet music into 4cm squares.  I put some glue on the bottom of each square and then rolled each side into the centre so it looked like a double cinnamon quill.

I then started glueing each 'quill' to the bottom of the wreath and slowly built up layers around the ring.  It was a tedious process as I kept running out of quills and had to keep cutting more and more paper and using more and more glue.  The paper was also quite fragile and would rip and tear if I wasn't careful (or even when I was careful), which led to more cutting and glueing.  I have to admit there was a moment when I felt like frisbeeing the wreath across the room. However, I overcame my frustration and continued glueing until there was no more room on the ring. To finish off, I glued some quills around inside the centre of the ring.

I then neatened the back of the wreath with some washi tape (I am always looking for an excuse to use it!) and then glued a ribbon to the back. For extra strength, I pinned the edges of the ribbon into the foam.

The photos don't really do the wreath justice as it has texture and character, history and interest.  This post doesn't really do the wreath justice either as, in spite of my earlier comments, it made me very happy to give new life to a discarded book of sheet music.

Kittens and such

During the 1977-78 Christmas holidays, I went to on a family holiday to Sydney.  We did all the sights, the Bridge, the Opera House, the Rocks....and all the child-friendly places that poor Mum had to take us to, like Taronga Zoo and Luna Park.  At Luna Park, I went on the Big Dipper after my brother bet me 20 cents I couldn't do it.  Never one to knock back a challenge or money for that matter, I did it and Mum, the trooper that she is, came with me.  I spent the whole time with my face buried in her arm screaming "I want to get off".  We all needed a little sit down after that.

Seeing Star Wars was another highlight.  The movie completely blew our minds, and my brother and I immediately had to go searching for merch.  Which leads me to Tom Kitten.  We went to the David Jones toy department looking for R2D2s and C3POs, when I happened upon a kit for making Beatrix Potter figurines out of plaster.  As I am a cat person, I bought Tom Kitten. I am also a Jeremy Fisher person but my pocket money did not extend that far. When I got back home, I made up young Tom and painted him in his traditional colours.

As you can see, he is a little worse for wear as he's had a few moves over the years.  He now sits safely in a cupboard at my parent's house with my other childhood treasures.  Looking at him now, I notice he has crazy eyes. I hate to think what I would have done to Peter Rabbit.  A realistic case of myxomatosis, I suspect.

And why am I mentioning Tom in 2013?  Well, I was at the Post Office the other day and discovered that Australia Post has issued a 60 cent stamp to commemorate the 110 year anniversary of Peter Rabbit.  The stamp comes in a special folder with other stamps of Beatrix Potter characters.  These other stamps do not have a value and can't be used on actual letters.  However, they are soooooo cute and I just had to have them.  Unfortunately, I can't reproduce them here as they are subject to copyright.  However, check them out at the Australia Post website.  Tom looks a little startled in his portrait, so perhaps the eyes I painted do reflect the original.

Tissue Paper Flowers

My childhood home was a 1930's Californian bungalow in the heart of suburban Perth. I loved that house. I loved the bay window and the marigolds my Mum used to painstakingly plant in front of it every year. I loved the verandah, the lead light windows and doors, the high ceilings and the wooden window sills. But I especially liked the front garden, with its fifty year old camellia trees, heritage rose garden, huge blue hydrangea (which I used to call the cabbage bush), and array of azaleas. As a child, this garden was my supermarket. I used to collect dropped flowers to make colourful 'salads', which I served with soil steaks. I cooked these steaks in an old, battered frypan my Dad had found, and on a little white wooden stove made by Dad. My kitchen was the side of the house. It was a dark, narrow, damp space with a little path going from the front to the back of the house. I would spend hours down 'the side' cooking up a storm. It was my space.

Over the past few weeks, I have been transported back to that garden by making tissue paper flowers. These large flowers remind me of hydrangeas because they are so cabbage-like.

To make the large flowers, you need tissue paper, floral wire stems (one 18 gauge wire for the main stem, and two 22 gauge wires for the leaves), floral tape, craft glue, narrow binding tape (ironed flat),and opaque Japanese paper tape. I am using two types of tissue paper to create a variegated flower.

First cut six 8 inch by 12 inch sheets of tissue paper.  I am using inches as my cutting mat is in inches and it is just easier that way.

You fold the tissue paper up concertina style, in folds of one inch.

Cut the edges into a round shape as this makes the petals nice and round.

Bend the 18 gauge floral wire around the folded paper and twist to secure. How far you bend will obviously determine the length of the stem.

Carefully unfold each layer of paper.  I say carefully as tissue paper rips easily so you need to be light of touch.

Make the leaves by cutting a leaf shape.  Glue the 22 gauge wire along the length of the leaf and place the other leaf on top.  Repeat.

Place the leaves into position on the main stem and twist the wire along the entire length.

Cover the stem with floral tape.

As I am paranoid about sharp edges, I also cover the stem in binding tape, paying particular attention to the bottom where I fold over a little pocket. I usually use a narrow, black binding tape but, as I had run out, I've used a thick white binding tape which works just as well.  Glue the binding tape to the top of the stem, wind around, and then glue to bottom. You only need to glue the top and bottom as the sticky floral tape keeps the rest of the tape in place.

I then cover the stem with Japanese paper tape to complete the 'paper' look of the flower.

Once you know how to make these flowers, you can use them in so many ways.  I made this posy of small flowers for a friend using tissue paper from an old dress pattern.

You can also make stemless flowers to decorate gifts.  Just fix the centre of the flower with some twine.  For this gift, I made a large and small flower, again using tissue paper from an old dress pattern, to create a cake-like effect.

I always get a little nostalgic when I make things, which is why I like doing it so much.

The Ancient Art of Tea Dyeing

Every morning before I wash my tea cup out at work, I look at the tea stains on the bottom and sides and wonder what the numerous cups of tea I have during the day are doing to my internal organs.  Dying them a nice shade of light brown, I suspect.  I'm not too worried though as I come from a long line of tea drinkers who all lived to ripe old ages.  And they liked cups of tea with a side of cholesterol so my future looks OK.

This week I decided to combine my love for tea with my love of doilies through the ancient art of tea dyeing. I experimented with ivory and white paper doilies, and also threw in some paper gift tags to see what would happen.

Tea dyeing involves tea bags, water and copious amounts of paper towels.  You take some tea bags and place them in a large container.  I used six teabags in a non-stick roasting pan.  I filled it with about one litre of boiling water.  In one batch, I stewed the teabags for about 5 minutes and took them out before putting the doilies in.  In the other batch, I left the teabags in.  Don't be afraid to layer the doilies in the pan - I put in 15.  Also tap the doilies lightly to remove any air bubbles caught underneath otherwise you will end up with tiny white circles on the finished product.

Leave the doilies to soak for 2-3 hours, and then carefully remove them with tongs.  I say carefully as the edges of the doilies are quite delicate and can tear.  Put the wet doilies on paper towel to dry.  In a Perth summer the doilies take about an hour to dry.  However, the gift tags need to dry overnight.

Now to the end result.  The batch with the teabags left in were darker and patchy in colour.  On some, the edge marks of the tea bags were visible, which adds an interesting effect, especially on the gift tags.  The batch without the teabags left in were lighter and more evenly coloured so if you are a perfectionist, this is the method for you.  Also, the darker the original product, the darker the result so the ivory doilies and the manila gift tags were significantly darker than their white counterparts.

Once dry, iron the doilies and gift tags on a high setting.  The gift tags refused to play nicely and were still curling up at the edges so I put them under some heavy books overnight to flatten out.  

Tea dyeing gives a nice vintage effect, and doilies dyed in this way complement vintagey styles of gift wrap.  I really like the doily flowers (a how to is covered in my 25 November 2012 post) as they add height and texture.

Elegant Christmas Wrapping

On one of my pre-ankle Christmas shopping expeditions, I found these silver heart Christmas decorations. 

As soon as I saw them, I knew they needed a Christmas wrapping moment.  That moment came when I teamed them with some white and brown patterned gift wrap, white curling ribbon and some pearl bead bling I cut off a Christmas sprig.

A simple brown gift tag completes the look.

Simple Christmas Cards

I rolled my ankle on Friday.  Not great when one is in the throes of Christmas preparations.  However, the upside of immobility was that I was able to finalise my Christmas day menu, choose my Christmas wrapping theme (tune in later this week for the reveal), and make my Christmas cards.  I don't know if it was the pain talking, but I decided to go with a very simple card this year.

As you know, I went a little crazy with butterflies this year and my enthusiasm heightened to new levels after I bought a butterfly punch.  What I didn't mention at the time is that I bought a few other punches as well. Since then, my punch collection has been growing about as fast as my washi tape collection.  Um, anyhoo, in the original purchase, which I like to call the "foundation" purchase, I bought a couple of circle punches (1.5 inches and 2.25 inches), which are ideal for making Christmas baubles.  

I chose some Scandinavian-esque Christmas paper from yet another collection.

I cut two circles with the larger punch and one circle with the smaller punch, and glued them to the cards.

I cut some "clasps" for each of the baubles out of the same paper and glued them on.

Using a metallic silver pen, I then drew a "string" for each of the baubles. Very simple, so Christmas.

To my friends who are reading this, you are about to receive this card in the post.  Act surprised.

Paper butterflies #3 with Doilies

I hate it when work gets in the way of the rest of my life.  However, after a short hiatus, I'm back and just in time for Christmas too.  But before I start focusing on Christmas, I have one last paper butterfly hurrah for 2012...but this time with doilies!

I had two gifts to wrap.  I started with some beautiful green patterned tissue paper, which I covered with thick clear cellophane.  I decorated each gift with an ivory ribbon tied in a simple bow.  The ribbon has a thin grey stripe on the edges which added a nice contrast to the green. Using my trusty butterfly punch, I punched out two butterflies from green card, which I then glued to each bow.

As there were two gifts, I needed a carry bag, and this is where the doilies came in.  I glued a large white paper doilie to the centre of the bag, and added a doilie flower.  Making doilie flowers is my new favourite thing to do and I now have a pile of them on my kitchen table.  To make the flower, I used five small white paper doilies.  I inserted a paper fastener in the middle and then folded, scrunched and twisted each doilie until it resembled a flower.

I glued the flower onto the doilie in the centre and then glued on two green butterflies in as au natural pose as possible.

The result is very feminine, but not too over the top.

Gift wrapping with flowers

I have pastry hands, not origami hands, and this is partly because I have difficulty following instructions for origami.  I seem to get to the half way point in any paper folding activity when things start to go awry.  I have the same issue with instructions for any kind of electrical equipment.  It is all gobbledygook to me.  Fortunately, I have a brother who understands these things and provides tech support for my entire family.  Unfortunately, I don't know an origami master who I can call on. I really like origami and have a beautiful book on how to make origami flowers.  I haven't managed to complete one yet and am starting to develop origami related fear.  However, I have managed to stop this becoming any worse by discovering how to make a really simple flower of a non-origami nature.

Start by choosing a selection of double-sided scrapbooking paper in complementary colours.  You can make the leaves using the same paper, but if green leaves are more your thing, you'll need a sheet of green paper too. You'll also need some floral wire stems and craft glue.

Cut a square of paper, about 13 x 13 cm.

Either draw a spiral in pencil on the paper or, trust yourself, and start cutting.  It doesn't have to be even.  Nature isn't.

Roll the paper up until you reach the centre and then let the paper unravel in your hand.  It should now resemble a ranunculus.

Glue a floral stem onto the back of the flower.

Cut out a leaf shape and glue it over the top of the stem.  I used a lilly pilly leaf as a template.

Make a whole bunch.....

....and place it on a present for your Mum.