Pretty Patriotic

Hello Friends!

 

In honor of the 4th of July: touches of red, white, and blue. Everything here is easy to find and, of course, inexpensive: the cans are from my pantry, the washi sheets (adhesive-backed washi paper) and candy dishes are from Target, and the spoons are from the Dollar Store.

 

 

 

The cans - one beans and one roasted almonds - were both covered with a houndstooth pattern washi sheet, cut to size. The sheets are much trickier to handle than washi tape but the fact that they are adjustable makes all the difference in the world. If you're in a hurry, work with washi tape, not the sheets. I had little bits of it stuck everywhere when I was done!

 

I painted the almond can, the smaller one, with a few coats of white spray paint before covering it; the larger one I left with the original (tin?) finish. If you look closely, you can see the difference in the appearance between the two. I actually like both...no preference on this one!

 

Even though these projects are really inexpensive, they do add small touches of color, and a little bit of 4th of July, to your holiday table or  holiday mantel. Holiday decorating doesn't have to be difficult...sometimes the little touches create great impact and with very little effort.

 

 

Most of the designs I've posted in the last few weeks are small enough, and easy enough, for anyone to do. Just take your time, do a little planning ahead, and accept that at least one thing will not work out! That frees you from the pressure of 'perfection' and allows you to actually enjoy the process. That's a really good thing.

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

Stars, Stripes, and Freedom

Hello Friends!

 

 

Wow, have I been busy! Lots of catching up to do here at Paisley Press so I'm just jumping in. Organization, design, redesign and more red, white and blue coming your way.

 

Remember this? I took care of that mess in no time; the picture above is the after. I'm much happier with this clean and easy-to-access storage 'system'. Organization, although tedious at times, is always so worth it in the end! Don't you think so?

In that same post, I created my first project with adhesive vinyl: two acrylic mugs. The more I looked at them, the more I thought they needed to be redone. So I stripped the vinyl off the mugs and created a few new designs.

After the designs are cut, the excess vinyl in the design needs to be removed before the vinyl is transferred. I, however, removed the actual monogram itself. Whaaaaat? Epic fail! Needless to say, I recut the design and left the monogram intact while removing all of the extraneous bits.

Once all of the extra vinyl was removed, I used clear contact paper to transfer the vinyl to the mugs. Using white cardstock in the mugs to take these pictures shows the completed designs much better than trying to photograph them empty. So much happier with the new looks! 

 

Now it's time to bring on the 4th of July! I designed new cupcake flags, bunting tags and a Freedom banner that are all starred and striped to celebrate the holiday in style.

The bunting tags are just separate cardstock shapes that I cut out and then attached to the cake plate with two-sided tape. They aren't perfectly spaced or perfectly even but I love the way they dress up the plate. I covered the edges with plain white ribbon to give the bunting a finished look.

The cupcake picks are the same as the bunting - just longer and two-sided so they're patriotic from every angle. Again, so easy to make, just cut and glue and these picks are ready for dressing up any cupcake that comes their way.

The Freedom garland was created using the same stars-and-stripes pattern as the bunting and picks - they're all coordinated for decorating ease. Using my go-to baker's twine and glittered red clothespins are just the finishing touches needed to put this little garland over the top.

 

Don't be too disappointed but I don't have files to share today! I have a few issues with my file sharing platform so I'll get those straightened out and make the files available as soon as possible. I'm even going to work on it tomorrow - hopefully I can resolve it quickly!

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

Celebrate the 4th of July With this Patriotic Pinwheel

Hello Friends!

The 4th of July is a week from Friday!. I don't have any idea what we're doing but I plan to take some of these pinwheels along to wave around in celebration. They're pretty festive looking,

 

I began work on this design awhile ago and just 'found' the file again - so timely considering all of the stars and stripes! The first thing I made from this pattern was this banner.

 

 For the pinwheel, I printed the design two sided so the stars pattern backed the stripes pattern. I printed the center circles next and then cut all of the shapes with my Silhouette.

 

They're very easy to put together, just bend the outer corners (with the holes) over the center, aligning with the hole there.. Place the round centerpiece over the top, aligning it's center hole with the others. Place a brad through, from the front to back, and open the brad to secure all layers. Glue - with hot glue - the back of the pinwheel to your stick of choice, making sure to hold the stick in place long enough for the glue to dry quite a bit and the stick to be stable. Put a sticker over the back of the stick/glue area to cover it and provide further stabilization.

 

I'd like to give you the cut file today but I actually need to make the size a little smaller. It'll be much more manageable that way. Check back tomorrow because I'm working on a few other things to pump up the volume of your 4th of July celebration. I owe you a bunch of files, too. I need to get back to work!

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

4th of July Liberty Banner

Hello Friends!

     This week has absolutely flown by! I feel like I got so much done and yet still have so much to do. I'm sure you can relate.

   I don't typically use a blogging schedule - in other words, I don't plan what I'll write each day at the  beginning of the week or month. Consequently, this morning I woke up with no idea what to make today. I sort of wanted to play hooky!

I'm so glad I didn't though because I ended up making this banner and I just love it. The red white and blue colors are so sharp and crisp and the tri-color baker's twine is perfect for finishing it off.

I'd been thinking about starting some 4th of July projects to get a jump on decorations for the holiday so that was the direction I decided to go. I'd started working on this alphabet quite awhile ago; half stars, half stripes and all patriotic, I knew it would be perfect for a banner.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to both design and cut the alphabet. It's attached to the red cardstock with foam tape; the foam tape lifts the letters slightly off the cardstock and gives the project more dimension.

I made little puff 'fireworks' out of the same red, white, and blue baker's twine that I used to hang the banner. I'd hung it without the embellishments at first; it looked sort of plain to me. I grabbed the baker's twine, made 7 little puffs and added one to each letter. I think they were the perfect addition to the design.

I'll have cut files and print files for this banner next week. I have quite a few more ideas for patriotic projects, I'll be creating those soon to make sure you have them in plenty of time for celebrating the 4th!

Stay tuned.

~ M ~

Promised Pictures

Hello lovelies!

 

Today the pictures, as promised, of my Dollar Store swag and a few more detail pictures of  yesterday's garland. Just can't seem to get awesome pictures of that project but these red, white and blue decorations look fantastic.

Can you believe I got them at the dollar store? They're so on trend right now and, obviously, inexpensive too. The paper lantern was a dollar, the two rolls of crepe paper (making an appearance soon in July 4th rosettes...) were a dollar and the spiral paper flowers/rosettes were 2 for a dollar! You can stretch your decorating budget a long way when you can get so much for so little.

These sample garlands are being mailed to the future bride to see if they'll work for her. You'll have to trust me when I say that these garlands look better in reality than they do in these pictures. Sometimes it just works out that way.

 

Stay tuned

 

~ M ~

Easter Hangover

Hello Friends!

 

No, not that kind of hangover! I just mean that I have something 'hanging over' from last week that I meant to share with you before Easter.

 

Speaking of Easter, I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Ours was lovely; peaceful and pretty. Sometimes, there are days that seem just about perfect and yesterday was one of those. Do you ever have days like that?

Since we observed Easter so late this month, May Day and Mother's Day are just around the corner. I've got some great ideas for both which I plan on sharing with you in the coming days and weeks, and so many other things to take care of: blog format updates, complete a kit I'm working on (maybe for sale?), nail down a few other ideas floating around in my head, test those ideas and share it with you as I go. I get excited just thinking about all of it!

 

 

The flower pots are the project that's 'hanging over' from Easter. I finished them last week but never got to share them with you. 

 

To make them, I painted flower pots with a few quick coats of chalkboard paint - 3, actually - and used this pen (these look like fun, too!) to write Easter sentiments and names on them. These flower pots were SO easy, so quick and so gratifying - done and done, lickety split! 

 

To make the place 'cards', I used these eggs, popped one into each little flower pot, and personalized each with the chalk writer.

 

I so appreciate that the chalk pen is wet wipe-able - a few swipes with a wet paper towel, and these little pots are cleaned up and ready to be used again. They're not just for place cards, either - these pots can hold paper clips on your desk, straws for a party or cocktail forks on a casual buffet. Whatever your creative mind can cook up! Do you like them?

 

 

More to come.

 

~ M ~