Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Paper Towel Tube Rose DIY

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Welcome to the March Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop, hosted by My Pinterventures.  If you aren't familiar with the Pinterest Challenge, it's a monthly event that challenges us to not just be pin hoarders, but to actually make it happen! 

So, for this month I chose to make a rose out of empty paper towel tubes and use it to dress up a cardboard container.  My pin inspiration happens to be roses made from empty toilet tissue rolls. I fell in love with the design shape and thought it quite different from the usual toilet roll crafts. I chose to use paper towel rolls instead because some think using toilet rolls in crafts might be unsanitary - although you can now buy something called paper craft tubes that look just like the real thing at craft stores. Also, I tweaked the method used to my liking just a bit in making the rose! 

This post contains links to products, if you purchase something after clicking on my link I may earn a small commission to help with my craft expenses (at no extra cost to you).Thank you!
To start, you'll just need a few items you probably already have:
  • Empty paper towel/toilet rolls
  • Flower pattern
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Paint (gold leaf)
  • Skewer stick
  • Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Begin by cleaning off any paper residue on the tubes with a damp cloth and let dry.
This is a picture of the toilet paper roll rose  I admired on Pinterest. Pretty and perfect, isn't it? Too perfect, in my opinion, for a toilet paper roll flower!
And below is a copy of the pattern that was used to make the rose. I just couldn't see how the petals in the rose became so wavy and smooth using a plain pattern like this. I know the edges were curled but you can see how wrinkled the paper roll is, and it is rather rough, not smooth, to start.

So I drew and cut out a six petal flower pattern with curvy edges to help compensate the wavy look.

And then outlined it on flatten paper tubes .  .  .

 and cut out five flower pieces.
 To begin forming the rose, I cut out one petal from the six petal flower .  .  . 
 and use it to .  .  . 
 roll into a closed cone shape for the center of the rose.
 Next, I cut out two petals from a six petal flower to use as the first layer of the rose.

 Then, cut the flower in half  to shape the second layer.  
 The third layer is the four petal cut out.
And the fourth layer, is the five petal cut out.
The 5th layer is the full six petal flower. I made additional 1" cuts toward the center on each petal to make them easier to curl. Have you ever tried to curl a toilet paper roll? Well, a paper towel roll isn't any easier! It can crack and bend, especially where it's connected and divided if you aren't careful! How on earth is that pin rose so smooth and pretty?


Anyway, since I'm using my rose to decorate the top of a cardboard container, I painted all the pieces, including the box, in gold leaf to look like metal. And curled the petal edges after they dried, using a skewer stick.


 To assemble, I glued the first layer together at the side edges, adding additional glue to the middle and inserted the center piece (which I had to cut almost in half, to fit)
Next, the second layer was glued together at the edges, and the first layer inserted and glued down into the middle of layer two.

 Layer three was glued together at edges and layer two inserted and glued down into the middle of layer 3. Continue gluing together remaining layers, four and five and inserting previously glued layer in the middle until all layers are glued together for a completed, beautiful rose.
 To attach the rose to the top of the gold leaf painted box, glue down an additional full rose layer on top and .  .  .

 glue the completed rose to the center top layer that's there.

I'm really loving this paper towel tube rose look! 
And the gold leaf makes it all look like a beautiful metal container!
Just perfect in any décor!
My only caveat for this pin is that the paper tube flower is not as smooth 
and curvy as the original pinned rose appears to be in the photos. There may be a few cracks and nubs along the way. But it's very attractive and worth making none the less! Perfect for any project you might have!

Now let’s see what other Awesome things Pinterest inspired! Head over and visit the other hosts to see what they crafted, cooked, built, or tried!

Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop


Erlene - My Pinterventures  Lauren - Mom Home Guide








 Debra - Shoppe No. 5








Cherryl - Farm Girl Reformed  Kelley - Simply Inspired Meals 






Samantha - Little Bits of Home Kristie - Teadoddles  

An InLinkz Link-up

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Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Monday, April 9, 2018

Twisted Paper Napkin Flower Motifs on Cardboard Box

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Welcome again to our Monthly Challenge Blog Hop! I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you a themed monthly challenge blog hop on the 2nd Monday of each month! For April, the challenge is to upcycle cardboard, paper or wood. 
That sounds pretty easy if you think about all the paper, cardboard and wood  that's thrown away every second of the day! We all can make the world a bit better just by upcycling a few of these items instead of trashing them!

For this month's challenge using paper and cardboard, I'm showing you how to twist paper napkins to outline flower motifs on a cardboard container and top, while adding wrapping paper cutouts for a decorative effect!

I'm always on the look out for unusual wrapping paper - especially with the color purple in it, so when I found matching paper napkins at a different store a few months later, I was beside myself and grabbed them up! I thought the combination would make a great craft item but I didn't have a clue as to how. And to tell you a little secret, I'm still not so sure. I did manage to use some of the wrapping paper in an earlier project. But combining the two - napkins and wrapping paper - well let's see what I came up with!
Materials: 
 Paper napkins
Wrapping paper
Cardboard box
Acrylic paint/brush
Scissors
Hand towel
Parchment paper
Flower pattern/tracing carbon paper/pen
Aileen's Quick Grab Glue


To begin, I already had a cardboard box in my stash that I got on clearance for 97 cents .  .  .
 that I painted a shade of pink to blend with the floral print of the napkins and wrapping paper. I tried different shades of purple paint, but pink was the best choice.
While the painted box and top were drying, I cut a napkin into one inch strips.
Next, I dampened a bath hand towel with water, wringing out any excess water.  Then, after smoothing the towel down on my work surface, placed a napkin strip on top - patting it down gently to absorb the moisture from the towel.
After the napkin strip becomes damp, fold in half lengthwise with the pattern facing out and begin twisting the strip between forefingers and thumbs .  .  .
until the entire length is twisted. Repeat for all of the cut napkin strips.
 Lay the twisted napkin strips on parchment paper until completely dry. You'll find that they are soft and very pliable!

Next, you'll need to either free hand draw a flower motif or print out a free pattern found online to trace. I wanted a flower with six petals so I sketched a simple one to outline, scanned to save and printed it out. 

Then I placed the pattern over carbon tracing paper and traced onto the front, back and the top of the box. 

Next, I outlined the flower petals (one at a time) using quick grab tacky glue.

Then began pressing down the napkin twist on top of the glue, following the flower pattern. Any excess glue around the napkin twists can be easily removed using parchment paper. I thought it easier to cut the twists as I finished each petal instead of trying to loop it around the outline in a continuous pattern. Use the glue sparingly - it only takes seconds for it to set and hold the napkin twists.

 Continue outlining with tacky glue and adding the napkin twists .  .  .
 until all the petals are formed.
 Dampen and twist additional  green napkins strips (2") for the stem and leaves, let dry and glue on.
Twirl a remnant napkin twist into a circle to glue onto the center.
I also wrapped the paper handle with a wider napkin strip to match.
And added smaller cut out petal pieces of wrapping paper to glue in the centers of the outlined petals. This is how I used the wrapping paper in this project. I thought about adding strips of wrapping paper around the sides of the top, but liked the cleaner, plain look instead. 

Makes for a cute decorative storage or tote box!

I love this decorative look for a box and I hope you do, too! I think the technique is quite unique!
Imagine the possibilities using different patterns and containers!

Be sure to visit my co-hosts below to see how they met this challenge with their creative upcycle projects:

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back next month for our Family Recipe Challenge!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Ribbon Decorated Egg DIY

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 As a crafter, it's always amazing to me what can be created using ribbon and special techniques. The possibilities are almost unlimited for what you can make! And this beautiful decorative egg using ribbon is the perfect accent piece for Spring and Easter -  adding a special touch to any home décor! First of all, there were several techniques used in making this. Ribbon braiding, ribbon rose flowers, and ribbon leaves - each one quite easy to do! I'm sorry the tutorial seems so long, but once you get the hang of the steps, you'll really get into it and can't wait to finish.

 Materials needed:
  • Large paper mache or smooth Styrofoam egg
  • 3/8" ribbon - brown
  • 5/8" Ribbon - assorted colors
  • Hot glue gun. glue sticks
  • Scissors
  • Lighter to seal ribbon ends
  • Needle nose pliers
Let's begin by braiding the brown ribbon to make the "container bowl" around the bottom of the egg.
 didn't know how much ribbon I would need to cover the bottom of this 8" egg that's 14 inches around, so I began with two, 72 inch strips. 
1.  Make a slip knot on one end of ribbon.
2.  Make a loop on one end of the other ribbon strip and push that loop through the loop on the slipknot.  Pull on the long ribbon end of the slipknot loop to tighten, keeping the ribbon snug and straight.
3.   Pick up the opposite longer ribbon strip, make a loop and insert into the loop that's there. 

 4.  Tighten the ribbon by pulling the longer ribbon of the loops each time, adjusting the loops to keep snug and straight.
5.  Continue alternating the ribbon strips, making loops and pushing the ribbon loops through the opposite loop, braiding the ribbon.  You will notice a pretty pattern as you continue to braid.
6-7. Make sure you are tightening the ribbon loops as you loop and push the ribbon through the loops until you have braided most of the ribbon. Wrap braid around lower portion of egg to see how much more you might need to braid. Additional ribbon strips can be added just by gluing new ribbon on the ends  evenly, matching the ends.
8. Finish off the braid by tightening ribbon, leaving the loops flushed, tucking ends back into the braid, cutting off excess ribbon and gluing ends down.  
Next, I glued on strips of ribbon to cover the bottom of the egg just in case the braided portion didn't cover all of it. 

I then tried out where I wanted to start the braid  .  .  .

and began gluing it on.
Round .  .  .
and round until reaching .  .  .
the end.
Luckily, the egg could still stand on its' own.
Now it's time to make the ribbon rose flowers! The technique is basically folding and turning the ribbon to make the rose. It takes a bit of practice, so don't give up if your first few ribbon flowers aren't exactly what you like.
For this size flower, I cut 14 inch strips of ribbon. Then, depending on how comfortable you feel with which hand to use in folding, turning and adding hot glue to the ribbon - first, fold the ribbon for a tail. In this case, I like to use my right hand to fold the ribbon, so the tail is on the left, with the longer portion of the ribbon, on the right.
Roll the tail over a couple of times with your left hand .  .  
to form the center .  .  .
bud.
Place a small dab of glue onto the lower bud area - and not on the ribbon strip to avoid burning your fingers from the hot glue -  pressing the ribbon against the glue to hold and then fold the ribbon over, back onto itself and turn, forming the petal. 

 
Continue folding the ribbon back and turning and .  .  .
adding glue to the ribbon base, around, forming the flower petals.

Continue forming the petals until nearing the ribbon end, adding a dab of glue, folding the ribbon end back on itself, underneath.
Cut off the tail, sealing the ribbon with flame from lighter and you have .  .  .
a pretty ribbon rose!

 I made about sixteen flowers in each of the three colors that I used for a total of 48 flowers and hot glued them in place around the egg.


 After gluing all of the flowers on, I thought maybe the arrangement needed leaves at the base. So I cut tiny 1 1/2" strips of green 5/8' ribbon, and folded in half. Then I cut across the ribbon fold to the end at an angle.

Then, holding the slanted ribbon edge with needle nose pliers, sealed together with the flame from a lighter.

Some of the leaf ends were sealed together with the lighter .  .  .
and gently glue to base of flowers.
What a perfect ribbon floral arrangement .  .  .

to enhance any décor for Spring and Easter!
Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!