Monarch Butterfly

Hello Friends!

 

 

It's butterfly week here at Paisley Press. I know I've designed a few butterflies before but this one, this monarch butterfly, is my favorite yet. Designed in two layers, one is intricate and the other simple, creating a layered butterfly with all kinds of design potential.

 

To create this design, I traced (with software) a monarch butterfly from a clipart original and then turned it into a Silhouette cut file. The first time I cut the intricate layer, the detail was much too small for a clean cut. I enlarged the design and removed some of the tiniest details. The next cut was clean and precise.

 

You can see, by the picture variations, that there are a multitude of ways to produce this butterfly. The black on white is my favorite, although the blue and white design is lovely, too. I'll be using this monarch butterfly in a few more projects this week - already making plans for what's going to be next - so be sure to check back for new stuff! 

 

I'm working, too, on a design for a printable version of this butterfly - one that doesn't require a Silhouette to make. Hopefully, I'll have that for you, and a cut file for Silhouette peeps, by Thursday at the latest.

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

Anniversary Monogram Tile

Hello Friends!

 

Well...I have had a very frustrating week! Everything seems to be upside down and inside out...not in a major way but certainly in my creative world. Lots of attempts, lots of things falling short, lots of tossing out and doing over.

 

For all of the frustration, at least I'm learning a lot! I worked on this project today, creating an anniversary monogram with a tile (scrounged from my neighbor!) and vinyl cut on the Silhouette.

 

The tile is 12x12 so it's fairly large and a little heavy. It has no hanging hardware and I'm not sure I'd want to hang one of these - the back would almost certainly scratch the wall. Standing it in a plate stand is the perfect way to display it.

I bought this font already split (the split is where the name and date are filled in). It's great for monogramming because of the ornate detail. Some of the very small elements were difficult to keep intact when transferring the vinyl from the cutting mat to the tile. I had to jump through a few hoops to get it together. Not perfect but perfection is overrated anyway...right?!

I also created a houndstooth alphabet for everyone to use (monogram or otherwise) - I'm attaching both .jpg and .png files to this post so anyone can download it and use it for luggage tags, cards, or gift tags. It's a high resolution file so the letters can be resized fairly easily. Try it out!

Here are all of the goodies for download - I hope you're able to use them!

Houndstooth .jpg file

Houndstooth .png file

Scalloped heart .studio file

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

Wrapping Paper Rosettes

Hello Friends!

 

 

I spotted this wrapping paper at Target on Sunday. The colors caught my eye, of course. I also thought it would make very pretty rosette flowers. I wasn't sure how wrapping paper would hold up to the folding that's necessary to make rosettes but I thought I'd give it  a try.

 

The paper is 30 inches wide. I didn't want to make the rosettes that large so I cut the width in half and then cut one of those halves in half again. That left me with one 15 inch, and two 7.5 inch wide strips of paper. I folded them accordion-style, fanned them out, and taped them to make the rosette shape.

I  don't really care for the way the middle of the flowers look without some kind of center emblem so I designed a really simple one using the pink, yellow and green colors in the paper. After cutting them, I attached them easily to the center with hot glue.

The wrapping paper held up much better than I expected it to. I was afraid it might be too thin and tear easily when I used a bone folder to make the creases but I didn't encounter any problems with that.

I realized, after folding everything, that the flowers look a little off center because the stripes don't match up exactly; this paper has a large pronounced design. I'm okay (in this case) with everything being less than perfectly matched - they look cute anyway. Besides, I heard that less-than-perfect is the new perfect!

I'm thinking about making some of these rosettes for the wedding I'm doing in the fall but don't wait for a special occasion to make your own. They're a simple way to add interest, color, and even a little 'happy' to your space!

 

This also happened yesterday! I'm pretty excited about it. Just a few products now but the inventory will continue to grow. I'll be adding some paper kits, soon, and I hope (also) to thin the herd of vintage stock that resides in my closets, cupboards and cabinets.

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

DIY Grocery Vases

Hello Friends!

 

 

Just a quick note today...

 

My husband and I were making dinner the other evening and I noticed, for some reason, the shape of the barbecue sauce jar. I thought to myself 'Self, this would make a cool vase.' And then I started thinking about what other things in my house, from the grocery store, would make good vessels for flowers. And although I still haven't gotten my hands on that barbecue sauce bottle, I did manage to come up with a few other ideas.

 

 

The 3 vases I 'created' are an upcycled soup can, an upcycled peanut butter jar and 4 egg cups. They're all from the grocery store; the egg cups are usually carried (near the Easter holiday) in the store's dishware section. None of these 'vases' was purchased specifically for flowers nor were they purchased from the floral department. As a matter of fact, the soup can has made an appearance before here and the peanut butter jar, here. It just goes to show that so many things can be useful in several different ways...if you give them a fresh look. 

When it comes to fresh flower displays, I typically prefer smaller vases over larger for the simple reason that I think it draws more attention to the flowers. A gerbera daisy in an egg cup is tiny bit of beauty all on it's own. And lush peonies in an upcycled soup can aren't too bad to look at either!

Immediately after finishing these pictures, I delivered these flowers to two of my neighbors. I think I've told you before that I can't keep any plant - fresh or dried - in my home or my clever little cat finds them and eats them. And they all make her sick. So out they go, off to friends to enjoy.

At least I get to look at the pictures!

 

Stay tuned.

 

~ M ~

Paper Lace

Hello Friends!

Oh happiness. Oh joy! Oh relief!! I'm finally internet-connected and rolling with technology again. I've been unable to work on my blog since late Friday when I lost access to the internet...hardware problem. Of course I have a smart phone so I haven't been completely offline but when I couldn't get all of my pictures and files and everything I need to blog where I needed it to be, I was seriously off-kilter. Now...I'm on kilter again and all is right with the bloggy world.

 

Today's project is one that popped into my mind as I was walking through Joann the other day. I was in the wedding section, looking for different supplies I might be able to use creatively. Then I saw these. Doilies. And I immediately thought of making rosettes with them.

Have you ever seen the ribbons given at state fairs, horse shows and lots of other competitive events? That's what rosettes look like, with a center medallion and different layers of gathered ribbon around the center. When I make rosettes, rather than ribbon I use (primarily) paper or cardstock. In this case, though, I thought I'd give these doilies a try.

 

 

I knew these particular doilies would work well because they're rectangular and could be folded in the style needed to make this shape.

They were made by folding two doilies 'accordion-style' and then folding each stack in half as shown (a few pictures above). I used a tape roller to tape the two sides together at the center and then used the tape roller again to attach the two doilies at their sides.

 

 

Once the two were connected, I fanned out the paper and attached the last side of the two doilies together. When they were arranged in a circle, I used hot glue where all the folds meet in the center to stabilize and connect the rosette.  The center medallions were cut and then glittered with, in this case, silver and pearl (you can use whatever color coordinates with your event). When the rosette was stabilized, I attached each medallion with more hot glue.

 

This project was very inexpensive; I made three rosettes for $1.20 (6 doilies to a pack, they were on sale from $2.00) plus a glue stick; I could easily have made a dozen for under $5 plus a few glue sticks. So there you go.

 

I'm always happy when my ideas turn out even close to what I had envisioned. I love the lacy look of this rosette, perfect for weddings or showers or brunches. I think a collection of 20 or so of these rosettes hanging at different heights would make a fantastic display at any event. It's very doable for anyone with time, a little glue and some mad folding skills!

 

By the way, do you like the little leaf heart that I spied on my walk this morning? I thought it looked perfect - a little crackly and a little misshapen - but still a heart nonetheless. It made me smile in spite of my internet-challenged weekend. A very good thing.

Stay tuned.

~ M ~

Sweet Hearts

Hello Friends!

 

 

Does it ever seem to you like the weekend flies by? It does to me and this last weekend did...fly by, that is. Anyway...

Two people I love dearly are getting married this October, late in the month. I'm SO happy and so excited and so looking forward to the big day. I was even more excited when they asked me to help decorate the room for the event. Ummm...yes, please!

 

I won't be doing the entire thing myself - the bones will already be there. I'll just be adding more details; touches to make it look customized and personal for the sweet couple to be married there.

 

The heart garland is one of the things I'm thinking about using to drape the front of the gift table. Since the color scheme is red and black, I used a rich red cardstock and then strung it on black velvet ribbon. For one sample, I embossed the hearts with a 'hugs and kisses' pattern and the other sample is embossed with a damask pattern.

 

I used a Big Shot to emboss the hearts after I cut them on the Silhouette. I put each heart in the embossing folder and ran it through the Big Shot machine to impress the design into the cardstock. Using embossing folders is a really easy way to add detail and texture to projects.

I got zero pictures of the garland itself that were blog-able! They were all grainy and gray - certainly not worthy of my readers... I'm going to re-shoot the pictures tomorrow - I'm sure to get some good ones. I'll post them here when they're ready. And I haven't forgotten the pictures of my Dollar Store swag...I'll post those tomorrow, too!

Stay tuned.

~ M ~