Gorgeous Papers #2

Even more gorgeous papers for you to view. This one is a gorgeous Christmas-y one, but I think it could be used for just about any occasion. After all, holly is just a lovely plant of red berries, and white evergreens (is that an oxymoron?) are abundant in many shabby, romantic homes all through the year and doesn't have to signify Christmas altogether. I'd certainly use it all through the year.

For the bird and nature lover. Notice the little bunny at the bottom.

For the lover of old ledgers.

Isn't this a lovely shade of green that complements the fruits exquisitely?

This one would be perfect for a lover of Victorian wallpaper and old wishing wells.

Lovers of all things french and that lovely "french blue" would find a good use for this paper.

~*~

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New Kind of Roses

Since I have to make some things—having been challenged by my eBay group—for my Christmas tree next year, I've been looking at some inexpensive things I can make along with some purchased balls. I found these scrunched flowers and though I'd share a tutorial with you.

They are originally made with card stock and this is what I had on hand tonight; although, I did make some with coffee filters since I have a glut left over from making the roses. Do NOT try the coffee filter roses if you've had too much caffeine! It could be detrimental to your well being. Trust me on this one! Stick with these "scrunch flowers."

Anyway, I'm going to show you how to do both and the difference. Yes, there is a difference. Coffee filter ones are very soft and "floppy" while the card stock dries rather rigid.

As I said I used what was available and I had these water colors so I used them on both. I'll try acrylic paints later. I also learned some valuable lessons you won't have to bother with since I've found all the hard things beforehand. ;-)

I made a template out of a sheet of copy paper. You will need 2 sizes and this is what I started out with: the large one is about 4" wide...

...the small one is about 2" wide. I think this is too big so I'll do some smaller next time.

Size comparison for you.

Cut 3 pieces of the large one and 3 pieces of the small one. Then spray a mist of water on each of the six flowers. Mist, not saturate and punch a hole in the center after placing all 6 together. Then scrunch it up into a tiny little ball—all six pieces. Scrunch, scrunch and more scrunch! Put a brad through them starting with the smaller 3 first and then adding the 3 larger ones.

This is the coffee filter one. Very pliable.

This is the card stock one. I experimented with the watercolors. Dabbing gently on pink and then yellow.

The two of them side by side.

This morning I got up and did this one with card stock and photographed it out in the early morning light so it has that ethereal blue light that comes just before the sun peaks and peeks over our horizon on this side of the world. I love it but it doesn't give the brightest and best light. The others were taken at my kitchen table at night with incandescent light.

This one I did with the original size of the small flower but decreased the size to 2 3/4" for the large flower. I like it much better. I shall try it again with 2 1/2" for the large flower and 1 1/2" for the small flower. I, also, did the watercolor with a brush that was almost dry. I wet the brush, dried it off with a paper towel and then stuck it right into the red paint in the paint tray. I didn't dilute it in a bit of water, just almost full strength and touched the ends very lightly with the brush. You can experiment on your own for the look you prefer. Very easy and cheap.

Okay, since Love Bunny is tired of having all this stuff on the kitchen table I've decided to skip the "coloring" part and just use plain white card stock for this one. My craft room is in such a disarray that I can't even function in there. Yikes. I guess I'd better clean it up a bit, but I needed a bunch of space on a table top to do this experiment. Hence, these are the last ones for a while until after Thanksgiving.

These were the easiest and quickest. I used a compass to make 3 circles 3" round and 3 circles 1 1/2" and cut them out with some fancy schmancy scissors, scrunched them unmercifully after misting them and then glued them together with a button glued into the center. Use your creative mind and put things other than buttons in the center. Some glue and glitter in the center, a piece of jewelry, ribbon bows, bottle caps or anything you desire can be adorable. I don't know if I'll be making a bunch of these for the Christmas tree next year but I shall make some. I am going to also make them out of scrapbooking paper in pink with roses. With those I'll not mist them at all. I think it is thin enough to just scrunch, glue together with a button and put a little ribbon on them to hang from the tree or simply stand them on a limb for fillers.



Okay, okay, I just couldn't stand it without pink so I went ahead and just dabbed pink acrylic craft paint on the edges and look how much more depth this gives it. This last one is definitely the easiest and quickest flower.

This is absolutely, positively the last one before I publish this blog post. Again, the easiest way is to cut circles, scrunch and glue together. Very, very quick. I used 2 different designs of paper here and put some glue in the center and sprinkled it with some glitter. No spritzing the paper this time. Oooh, and I did a 1 1/2" on the outer one and 3/4" on the inner circle. A very nice flower for a card. Cut out several and have on hand for whatever occasion you have.

These would be absolutely great for making cards and putting a flower on them. Quick enough not to get too involved and you can make several ahead at one time and have them ready whenever you might need them. After all, they can't get any more "scrunched" without looking even better! Happy crafting!!!!
~*~

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Vintage Floral & Fruit Canisters

Can you believe these darling canisters??!! I bought them several years ago and put them on my kitchen soffit and just about forgot about them being up there. They are from the 40s or 50s I believe as it looks similar to some my grandma and mom had as I was growing up then. But they are definitely cute with the flowers and the fruit in that basket. I thought about painting them but I'm not too sure I'd want to do that as I truly love the way they are now. They're metal and the words, basket and vines look painted on and not a decal. The bottom has "The Tin Box Company of America, Inc., Long Island City, N.Y. Made in Hong Kong" printed on it. But the color is what is so unusual about this set. Pink wasn't on very many things back in the 40s and the green is an unusual green. They're a bit rusty inside but not a dent on any of them, some scratches though but they are so cute.

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A Sweet Collection

I collect a lot of "things" - especially if it is "eye candy"! Hmmm, I've never collected husbands though - still on the first after 47 years. Anyway, no matter. I do have several collections. My sweet hubby, Jack, would tell you that my fabric collection tops the list, but truthfully, I've seen women with far more fabric than I have! Mine is just a drop in the hat compared by my sister-in-law's stash.

But I love beautiful pitchers. I have more than these below but these are the prettiest ones. So I thought I'd show you some of them. I decided to group them together as collections should be. I don't always follow my own advice but in this instance it does present quite a show.

This is a burgundy lacquered sofa table in my small "entry way" and that term I use loosely because you're right in my living room when you enter - the effects of downsizing, but much, much easier to clean this house than the last one which was about 3 times as large. So I put them on there as a group.

The one on the left is a MacKenzie-Childs look-alike and that's why I bought it. I love their pitchers but this one was a fraction of the cost. The little blue one, 2nd from left, is a darling blue raised fruit pitcher. The 3rd from left is a majolica one I purchased on ebay several years ago and when I received it and opened the box I actually gasped at the beauty of it. So did Jack! It is stunning in real life. The 4th from left is covered with roses; therefore, I had to have it! The 3rd from the right is just an adorable one with a polka dot bow and a rose but very unusual looking. The 2nd from right is again roses but the colors are a bit unusual but it has a graceful feminine line and so it had to be in my home! The 2nd from the right is also a very unusual one because of the top part which is flowers but the bottom almost looks like a basket weave and the handle reminds me of a twisted rope. The vase on the right is an unusual color of green - almost lime - but it is also lovely and had to be in my home also.

So enjoy the close ups below that I've put on here for you to see.

The little "boxes" are another thing I love to collect. Those I got at Macy's, which is my favorite store in the world.

The little bowl on the left matches the pitcher so I just filled it with faux grass and added roses to it. I'm a rosy kinda chick!! Hah......

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French Flowers Gift Wrap Papers

These are absolutely gorgeous papers. I bought one many, many years ago and then found the other one a few years after that. Very hard to find and expensive when you can find them all in one piece. Strangely though the 2 books have differences in the papers. Each book I have has one of the papers missing. I've only used one out of each. I keep them for the beauty but they absolutely can be used. I collected beautiful roses papers at one time but the company I bought them from in Sausalito sold the business and never did quite measure up with the new ownership. I still have some of that wrapping paper and will probably never use it all up. But I'm going to sell one of these books. All the papers are beautiful and I don't think anyone would be disappointed in either book. They are all shiny papers and are 4x the size of the book. They are perforated in. So with knowing that one of the giftwraps is gone and there are only 15 instead of 16, let me know if you'd like to purchase it. I'll be offering it on ebay starting at $25.00 and that's a very good price for the excellent condition of the papers.

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Filbert St. on Telegraph Hill

How would you like to traverse these steps every time you went grocery stopping or had something to be delivered to your house?! Yes, these are actually steps to little cottages in SF. It's a lush area of overgrown of honeysuckle, fuchsia, overgrown ivy, ferns, trees and wild flowers. Just quiet and lush. BUT each resident has to walk up and down these steps every single time they leave their house. It looks so serene living there.

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