Scrapbook Paper Flowers

I was totally inspired by Cally at Cally’s Creations for this next project. When I saw her post about the 3D flowers, I knew I wanted to create some of my own. Following her basic guidelines, I put my own spin on these, and it resulted in some fabulous decorations for both my walls and curtains!

You’ll need:

• Paper – scrapbooking, tissue, card stock, construction, printer, etc
• rhinestones
• glue
• scissors
• small or medium safety pins (if you want to hang them on curtains)

Basically, you want to cut out concentric circles of differing sizes and glue them together in the middle. Callie used adorable brass fasteners (split pins) with flowers to join hers together, but I used some glue and a plastic rhinestone to finish mine. I also found I didn’t have the patience to cut out more than three layers for each flower, so I didn’t!

The only rules I had for these flowers were that they be comprised of purple and teal layers to match my living room. I actually didn’t even pay attention to the hues and whether they went with each other, and the colors still look fantastic together. I used both plain and patterned scrap-booking paper, as well as some patterned tissue paper I had leftover from my garlands.

If you’re going to do more than 3 petal layers, I’d recommend making your outside circle larger to start with. I think mine averaged around 3″ in circumference, but I didn’t measure. To more precisely cut out circles you can fold paper in half and then cut out a half-circle, but I liked the organic, imperfect shapes I managed to freehand with the scissors. I then crinkled some of the paper, per Cally’s instruction, to give it more texture.

As you can already see, I added my own flare to some of the flowers by cutting out triangles to form separate “petals.” This is easily done by folding your flower in half, and snipping two small lines to make a triangle. Remove the cut paper.

While I wanted some wall decorations for my walls (I used painter’s tape to apply it), I also wanted to put some up on my curtains, so I got the idea to glue a safety pin to the backs of some flowers. This was really easy to do – just make sure that you don’t glue down the side of the pin that opens! I took about a one inch strip of scrap-booking paper, placed the pin in the middle, then added 2 dabs of glue – one on either side. (As my kindergarten teacher taught me, a little dab’ll do ya.) Then I placed the strip onto the back of one of the flowers. Let it dry, and voila!

These came out awesome, and I’m already planning to repurpose them by combining them into some bigger art project. I’ll post the updates whenever that happens. For now, check out some of my gorgeous results!

And here, you can see the safety pin idea totally worked! (They’re still hanging on my curtains because they compliment the dining room so well.)

Have you done a project like this one? How did it turn out?

Paper Pom-Pom Garlands

I’ve been accused of random things in my life, but most often I’m lambasted for downplaying my creativity. I’ve been told that when I shrug off something that I’ve created as no big deal, it’s bizarre to other people, because not everyone’s brains work like mine. (Though to me, it wasn’t a big deal!) I think this is part of why I decided to start this blog – to show off a bit of my artwork. Don’t get me wrong, I know I have a knack for the colorful and crafty, but I have difficulty understanding how to walk the line between acknowledging my talent vs. being an unbearable braggart. (Aren’t I amazing?)

So apparently, when I casually told my mother I’d created some decorations for my birthday party, she didn’t understand that I’d handmade these garlands, as well as some other adorable adornments for my living room. I’d seen decorations like these at a party store, and had bought them on a previous occasion, but as with most things artsy, I thought, “I can make that.” So I did.

Do you remember making flowers out of tissue paper as a kid? I’m not talking the detailed flowers I learned to make using stencils from a kit my mom got me in college (does she know me or what?), but rather the accordion-folded tissue paper squares that you fluff out and attach to a pipe cleaner to make a flower… If not, that’ll be another demo for another day I applied the same principal here – stack a bunch of papers, fold them accordion style, then fan and fluff them so you have nice pretty puffs strung together on embroidery floss (in this case).

You’ll need:

• tissue paper
• scissors
• embroidery floss or any kind of string

Start off by cutting your tissue paper to whatever sized rectangles you like. I folded and cut my sheets of tissue paper in half as many times as I could until my rectangles were about 5×7. With different colors, because I do love diversity, I made my rectangles smaller – about 3×5. I didn’t measure these, so don’t stress over it. You just want all your rectangles of the same color for the same pom pom to be roughly the same size.

I decided that 12 was the magic number to where there weren’t too many sheets of paper to contend with, but enough that when you separated them it would still appear full. I stacked 12 sheets on top of one another, kind of a pain to count individual pieces of tissue paper since it’s so fine, but I wanted to remain consistent.

Start folding the paper from the narrower end, as pictured below. For my larger pom poms, I made a fold roughly every inch. For the smaller ones, I made the folds closer together. If you don’t know how to do an accordion fold, you start by folding the paper up by about an inch, flip the paper over so the fold is facing downward, and fold back by the same amount, flip paper over again, and so on. When you’re done, your folds should line up, and the paper should look like an accordion, or a fan.

Once you’ve finished folding, take whatever string you’re using, and tie a double knot in the center of your fan. You’ll want the knot to be pretty tight, but a little wiggle room is fine, and will make it a bit easier to loosen the pages from each other when you fan them out. I spaced my fans about 6 inches from each other. When you separate the paper to make your pom poms, they’ll appear closer together.

Then take a break and look over to make sure your cat isn’t doing anything weird.

Nothing unusual here...

Puffing out your pom poms is more time consuming than you’d think, since it’s also a delicate process. The time to do this is not half an hour before your guests come, just as an FYI. Starting from the outside, gently separate each layer of tissue paper, one at a time. You have 12 sheets, so you’ll want to pull 6 towards the top, and the others towards the bottom to create a bowl-shaped poof. Then separate the pages on the other side.

This doesn’t have to be done perfectly – but the more you separate the layers, the more poof you’ll have! Also, the sturdier your tissue paper, the easier this will be. If the paper rips, don’t sweat it – when it’s all puffed out you won’t even notice. This is a very forgiving project.

Then string your garlands wherever you want! I had this one hanging from a curtain rod, and another strung over my sliding door. I love the texture they added! Also, in case you’re wondering, I did, in fact, match the garlands (and other decorations) to the colors of my apartment. My entire apartment is actually that brightly colored, but the decor will be another topic for another day.

These easy decorations can brighten up any home, even if there isn’t a special occasion. You might even consider making larger pom poms and hanging them vertically from the ceiling. I’d love to see pictures if you do!

Pop-Up Cards

No matter how old I get, I’m still using the same techniques and making the same projects I was making as a kid. One of these everlasting projects began on the day I figured out how to make a pop-up birthday card. I remember the teacher and classroom, but can’t remember what the lesson was, although it involved cutting into a piece of paper to make shapes (namely a rectangle) appear to pop off the page. I remember putting it together in my young mind that I now had the key to making those super awesome pop-up cards I’d previously only seen in stores.

Below is a tutorial on how to make a basic pop-up card, as I first discovered in elementary school. I started each of those cards with 3 sheets of printer paper, markers, scissors, and clear tape. I’ve come a long way since then – discovering construction paper, then marbleized construction paper, and now scrap-booking paper.

What you’ll need for a basic card:

• 3 sheets of white printer paper
• Markers (or colored pencils, or crayons)
• clear tape
• scissors

Starting with one sheet of paper (hopefully not gnawed by cats like mine), fold it in half like a hamburger. This will be the fold for your card. Feel free to cut the paper smaller to make a smaller card, but keep in mind the pop-up part takes up some of your message writing space as is, so you mightn’t want to go too small.

Bend your paper again so it’s now in quarters. Be careful not to fold and crease the paper, you’re only doing this so you can make symmetrical cuts on both sides of your paper. Depending on how big you want your pop-up piece to be, make a cut about 1.5 inches high and about 1 inch from the center fold.

Unbend the paper back to its original half fold. Bend the flap you created upwards and crease the paper. Flip the paper over and fold the same way in the other direction.

Then, pop your rectangular platform through the inside of the card. (The side with the crease facing inward.)

Now it’s time to create some decorations! Using markers (that aren’t running out of ink…) draw whatever designs you want to pop-up inside your card. I have opted for a personal favorite of my younger self, random shapes and colors! When you’re done drawing the shapes, cut them out of the paper. Figure out how you want to arrange the pieces, then use little pieces of rolled up tape to stick them together. To be safe, run a piece of tape along the whole back of your design to keep it intact. Then, use another rolled piece of tape to adhere the design to the front part of your pop-up platform. Make sure the design is high enough that it doesn’t affect the closing and opening of the card. (Will be more noticeable with heavier paper.)

You’ll notice that you can see underneath the platform to whatever surface is below. This is where your 3rd piece of paper comes in. Fold the paper in half like a hamburger, and slide it into place directly behind the card and tape it into place. Tape one half first (make sure to get the corners and middle secure), then bend the card closed to tape the second half. This ensures there’s enough leeway for your card to close properly. The hole disappears, and your card is ready for writing!

You might be wondering why I recommend using tape for this project. After some trial and error, little me discovered that printer paper was flimsy, and that adding glue made it warp and bubble and caused the markers to run. Once I discovered construction paper, that’s when I made the switch to Elmer’s.

This card took me about 5 minutes to make today for this demo. I’m not sure how long it took at 8 years old, but I’ll tell you that the birthday card I made for my father yesterday took about 5 hours. Like I said, my skills have advanced and the detail has increased.

Below are some of the cards people have received from me in the past – and note that I’m aware the first isn’t a pop-up. I can’t include dad’s latest birthday card because he hasn’t received it yet, but you get the idea. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, it’s another skill of mine that has improved over the years.

Not that you asked, but you might be curious… I do cut out all my shapes and letters free-form. There’s nothing wrong with drawing out designs first, this is just something I like to do because it adds an extra layer of challenge for me. It’s kind of funny, how everyone has their “thing.” I’m not the kind of person who can jam on an instrument without sheet music, but give me scissors, paper, and glue, (and the occasional sticker), and I can create a whole new colorful world from nothing.

One of the head counselors at camp, which was my home away from home for many summers, made a comment once that little kids have smaller worlds, and as you grow your world expands. I found this sentiment to be particularly true when it comes to how I’ve evolved as an artist. I’m still making these cards the same way I started when I was a kid, but my medium, creativity, and sensitivity to detail have all grown up along with me. With the discovery of better quality “ingredients,” these cards have a certain sophistication about them, especially considering they’re handmade.

Now that I’ve given you the tools to make your own works of art, I’d love to hear how you’ve added your own flair and taken it to the next level.