Hot New Flowers to DIY

Poppies make the world better. So of course I had to design a flower file that, and I am so proud of how it turned out! leave a comment bellow with an email or a way I can get in contact with you and I will send you the Silhouette file for the flower. 

I thought that three blooms worked well in this vase, it makes me smile! The paper is from Michaels, it's duo toned and perfect for flowers. 

These tulips are the perfect gift to make for a friend, and new mom or for birthdays. With a few simple pedals and shapes, you can make a dozen of these in a afternoon like I did for teachers that have taught my kids this year. 

Happy Creating!  paper flowers have always been one of my favorite inexpensive things to make, all it takes is some time and you got a beautiful bouquet for a beautiful thank you gift! 

Why paper flowers are the new way to give flowers

I just completed my first ever custom order for paper flowers, and I am feeling pretty good about myself and my talent of making the paper look amazing.

While making this order my thoughts were turned to why are paper flowers a thing? and more importantly why give paper flowers?

Why is paper flowers a thing?

I believe that there are a maker and creative movement going on. Our world is all about creating When you get some amazing artists that turn ordinary objects (paper) into something stunning (flowers.)  Of course, that is what is going to go mainstream, now, years later this art form has become a beautiful artform to have paper flowers.

As a little girl I would make flowers out of cupcake liners, and tissue paper, ribbon, and even leaves, I was creating my own little happy floral shop as a child. I loved creating with what I had. Paper flowers are a beautiful art form that truly can last for a long time.

knowing that you can custom any flower to any color, any size, you may find yourself asking a paper artist/crafter to make you some flowers you have only dreamed about.

Maybe your loved one is in ICU in the hospital and you need some hope... Paper flowers are allowed to be in the room, unlike real flowers they allow paper flowers.

True story: I learned that real flower bouquets are beautiful for your daughter's dance recital until they wilt and die a couple days later, with crocodile tears and a sad daughter when you throw away the flowers, you think there has got to be a better way to remember her recital... Paper flowers are the answer!

Got a graduate that loves colors that are not quite traditional that you can get at the florist? Yup, I bet there is a paper in that color, and oh yeah I got that hot orange Iris covered... Just saying the possibilities are endless! You can have a lot of fun with paper flower bouquets!

Maybe you just want a special gift for your friend that you can't get at a store, a paper flower can me customized to the color, size, type of flower(s) If you can dream it you can make it!


Paper flowers are so much fun to make and to learn, for me The process is therapeutic, it calms my souls and makes my heart happy!

This will be a perfect mother's day gift, I love paper flowers because you can make them as interesting as the person that is getting them and I really find that these flowers can be designed to have a timeless feel.


 I love the simplistic white and yellow color pallet!

My design tip for simplistic flowers or design, do something subtle in the design process to add an element of wow, for example, my white daisies, I could have done just white card stock, instead, I used a white paper with a small off-white pattern, so the flowers have a bit of texture. Just a small change can really change your project to wow to Amazing!

Happy Creating! and Happy Mother's day!

The Beauty of Coffee Filters DIY Paper Peonies!

I love frugal crafts, Paper flowers are frugal in the fact that you are using paper and glue for the most part. However, the time that is put into a paper flower is a labor of love.

As a little girl, I would make flowers out of tissue paper, and there are florists out that do this as a living, The tutorial/class I followed to make these beautiful Peonies used tissue paper. I had coffee filters, (a bit more frugal) After dying them in liquid watercolor the coffee filters were then dried and then cut into pedals that I could do something with! Cool right? So with about $2.00 in materials, literally the vase I found at a consignment store was more than the materials to make the 5 blooms. Cheap and fun to make, crafts that I love to make!

 I used this lesson on Paper Peonies to make these peonies for a friend that is having a baby girl this month. (which btw there are so many reasons why peonies are so easy to give to friends and family!)

I loved making them, in 5 hours I had 5 blooms ready to give or display to make you smile!

DIY Flower Crown

Every little girl I know dreams of having a flower crown at some point in her life, why buy one when you can make it? I thought I would make my daughter one for the father daughter dance that they attended. I hope that she will also wear this during the summer when we like to play dress up.

I found the instructions on Creativebug with Lia Griffith's class Paper Wedding Crafts. I loved her down to earth tips as she assembled the paper flowers, and I also enjoyed that with her paper flowers you can really use them any way you want, not just for a flower crown.

I love crafts that don't use a lot of materials, this one did that well I thought. I only needed to go to Hobby Lobby and get the brown twine floral wire. This project was fairly inexpensive which helps if you need to make more than just one.


As alway I cut my flowers, then assembled them and then glued them onto the wreath (the floral wire) and then attached the ribbon, there wasn't really anything too hard or special about this project but it was very entertaining to watch Lia Griffith create the flower crown because she had such wonderful tips along the way!

I hope you can find the time to make a flower crown. The project is what I call a no risk craft since you are using materials that don't cost too much just your time the risk of making a mistake and needing more material is low.

Happy Creating!

Watercolor poppies are the Spring Card of 2017

I LOVE PAINTING and STAMPING flowers cards, so When these poppies from Stampendous came out I had to have them.  I came across them at my local paper craft store at Memory Bounds and snatched them... I started early in the morning to stamp they ( I made about 10 cards) turned out amazing!

The fun was in the creating, and decision making, do I want to do a resist embossing or just a watercolor, or maybe I wanted to layer the flowers? What I absolutely loved about all the different ways to create with this stamp set was that it came with a stencil so I used the stencil as a mask to get some really neat effects! (coming later in a different post.)

Then after the stamping session the next morning I watercolored the cards, I used a small percent of pigment from my Gansai Tambi and Stary colors to color the flowers,

For the watercolor I mixed the starry color White gold in with the Gansai Tambi cobalt watercolor with lots of water, I wanted a light and dreamy feel to the flower. on the background, I also just painted the white gold for some added shimmer.

then I assembled the card with a bit of pop dots, this card turned into one of my favorite cards that I had given to a wife that has her husband in a hospital.


at the bottom I made a happy mistake and used some Washi Tape, I love how the washi tape anchored my card to make such a stunning finishing touched! (washi tape was found at Michaels in the best value recollection washi tape tube.)

On a side note about this stamp set, it came with a stencil for masking, I fussy cut the flowers and leaves out.


My quick Desing tip: I like to use Washi Tape that adds a design Element to the beauty of the card. I knew I didn't want floral WT. I wanted something that complements the card.
  To compliment a floral design add a geometric pattern.

If you are looking to add some watercolor to your card making I would suggest taking this class at Craftsy or Yao Chang's class at Creativebug, both are excellent recourses to help with your watercolor.

Here is a review for the watercolor card class from Craftsy I posted a little bit ago.


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18 Artists dates to inspire and make you happier

I mentioned in my earlier posts by taking care of yourself you can feel more peace. Here are some of my ways that have helped me become a more secure and happier person:

My pal Julia Cameron over at the Artists way and I call them Artists dates. to give you a brief explanation of artists dates: You and your inner artist's brainchild go out on a date weekly. Alone if possible, if not then take your kids along with you or sometimes you can take your Dear Husband with. It's a tool to help you to become an amazing mother, artist, spouse, friend, you name it, it will transform you!

Some of my favorite artist's dates I have shown lots of resistance too like I am too old for this or that's not for me right now... those have been my favorite ones:

Wave pool, just being in the sun energized me to make a series of paintings with just blue hues

Making cupcakes for NO REASON! (that was awesome I gave the cupcakes away to my daughter's 2nd grader's teachers, they LOVED THEM!) and here is another one that I posted about

Dancing with our disco lights at home to retro Disney soundtracks!

Watching an inspiring movie about other artist's I really like Walt Before Mickey. It was the best!

Look through magazines and cutting out whatever made me go OOH, I like that and making a poster of that and putting it on a poster board and then hanging it up for you to see all the time for a week!

Here are some of my dates with myself.

Going for a sunrise walk on a trail (one of my favorite)

Listening to a classical album and driving in the country

Planting tulips in the fall for a beautiful surprise in the spring

Taking a cooking class, and cooking the new recipes. Craftsy has a bunch of them, they always have one sale

Thrift store shopping (give yourself a 5$ or so limit.)

Making something that isn't in a fine art form  like at Creativebug like paper flowers
Fall in love with creativity at Creativebug I also love Lisa Congdon, she is pretty awesome!

FriendsDay, a whole day or afternoon where you and your BFF can just talk! those are my favorite!

I also have a running list of things I would like to do if I had a sitter (grandma) on hand on the weekends or in the evening.

Temple/Church worship (with husband is nice too)
visit a local farmers market (can't wait till spring)
visit the rose garden by the art center in the summer
Canning something (jelly and pizza sauce are my favorite, I do this with kids too, but it's fun by yourself.)
Sightsee and take pictures

A trip to the dollar store with a $5 budget to spend on just you... I like stickers and a helium balloon! Then I visit the scrapbooking store that is in town and get my eye candy fix.

A great example of how Artists dates can change your life came from a scheduled artists date about a year ago:

My love for paper flowers came from an artist date, I thought what if, I used my cameo to use up some of this horrible paper someone gave me and made it look like a flower? It worked and now I love them and hope that someday it can become a way to make some fun money.

My experience with artists dates have made me see the goodness in the world again and gave me proof that God really does want us to be happy!


I love them so much that I am in the works of posting An Artists date with kids post to come soon!

Paper Delphiniums

Creativebug has a wonderful paper flower class that is all about using tissue paper or coffee filters! I loved the class! I was able to make some Delphiniums for my Grandma's funeral, they make me happy to see them. She loved to garden and I thought making some paper flowers would add some peace to the mourning process a bit. It did, I always wonder why making stuff with your hands will always bring some peace into your life?

This project was fairly easy, just use some coffee filters or yellow tissue paper, and do the dyeing process, which if you want to know how to make them Creativebug has a wonderful class on it! it was totally worth watching!

The break down on materials:
steams $2
floral tape $2
Coffee filters $3
ink to die the filters $1
Vase and rocks $5-$10
Your time: 4 hours (It took a little over an hour per stem)

If you are a DIY'er here is the link to learn how to make these flowers! 

If you would like a bouquet like this I would be happy to make it for your next event, I can do any color imaginable. Contact me if you would like more information

The best way to use up scrapbook paper

Do you have some paper you love but don't know what to do with? I know I do!!! So let's have a paper flower party!

Here is what I do:

Get your Silhouette software loaded with lots of 3d flower shapes, and have then ready to cut.

I have some flower files that are just ready to go on the Silhouette design software that all I have to do is load a 12x12 piece of pattern paper, or 8.5x11 cardstock and hit start, and it starts cutting  my favorite flowers that I use all the time!

Take a day (or an hour here and there) to cut paper.

You can't go wrong with a Gerber Daisy. 

I like these roses because you can make them as full as you want, or as small as you want, there is no limit as to what size and how many layers you want. This rose file makes short work of cutting too!

Pair big patterns with bigger pedals for a dramatic look, I like the look of these flowers, it's unexpected, and yet looks elegant enough for a bouquet. 

Daisies have a great way of making interesting pattern paper look amazing! All those bold and monochromatic or analogous paper you have from years ago because of hoarding tendencies will look like a beautiful Daisy when you were done. (one 12x12 sheet = one full daisy with lots of layers.

Paper florists will spend one day just cutting out their flowers, and then another day assembling them. So having a paper flower cutting party really helps with workflow. If you have a ton of flowers to make this method is the best way.  Of course having extra doodads around helps bling up the flowers a bit I get most of mine from Hobby lobby in their scrapbook section called spare parts!


So what kind of occasions do you see paper flowers working out well? Soon I will be working on dance recital bouquets!

My love affair with Silhouette

I thought I would share my top 5 Silhouette projects I have done and posted about!

Birthday Bouquet

 My Favorite project to do with the Cameo Silhouette is to make flowers, So This post was a favorite of my all around, enjoyable to create, fun to write about, and entertaining to see where it leads me! This project would also work well for any wedding bouquet, just add more flowers. Need an impressive hostess gift that will be cherished, you got it! (frugal alert: I buy vases at my consignment shops for about a dollar!) 

Christmas tree stencil card

I am a mixed media artist by Nature, and this project in one of my favorite projects, I like to use what I have on hand, ( use what you got.)  So I came up with a way to make a bunch of Christmas cards that are all unique in a way, that doesn't break the bank but looks like you really spent a ton of time on. I had a lot of fun playing with watercolor techniques, this project is an open-ended one, use a stencil that you find on the Silhouette Desing Store, resize it to fit your card size, and play with watercolor. You don't have to be a seasoned watercolorist to do this card. Instead of Christmas trees do flower stencil, or a geometric stencil, So many ideas!

Santa washi tape

Crafting with the Cameo Silhouette and Washi Tape is a match made in heaven! Christmas can bring out the best in the crafting world, and although this is all about Santa, can't you see the colors and the theme to change for any type of season, Washi tape adds just enough pizazz to make clean designs look amazing! Check out my other post that used washi tape with the silhouette for a fast card

Silhouette Mint and watercolor pairs nicely together, I love that I can design stamps to fit my size, and my style, as always I wanted the mixed media(watercolor and ink) to stand on its own, add a bit of stamping to go with it and you have a really nice card. I loved how both turned out. This project is great for those color challenges that are popular right now!

A flower candle holder is perfect for so many occasions. I like how easy and elegant this project was to make. It's a beautiful piece that makes me smile when I see it in my house. I like it because it only takes two Design Store files flowers and a candle holder to make, and they are both files that I use on a semi-regular basis, both files are very open ended.








As you can see, I am a crafter that loves to use clean and simple design elements to enhance the project, I love watercolor and mixed media to produce a unique piece that doesn't break the bank, or dip into my family's grocery budget! (see my post about why I use coupons and try to save money.) 

A touch of Spring is on my table!

I made two hydrangeas. These make me smile every time I see them! They are surprisingly easy to make, I learned how to make them from Creativebug,  Totally worth becoming a member if you are a crafter or artist! Right now they are offering a one month membership free, which also means you can get this class for free, and always have it to reference! Go to this link to get started! Use code JOANN to get your free month!

Exclusive Savings: Use Code JOANN to Receive a Free Trial + Save 30%

Materials:
Silhouete, 2 inch  60-80 paper hydrangeas pedals cut from your choice of paper 3-6 sheets of paper for the pedals, 15 floral wires, wire cutters, floral tape, scissors, hot glue, glimmer mist, or liquid watercolor to add texture to the pedals, and time.

I made these Hydrangeas for about $5.00, which makes for a frugal craft that looks expensive! I estimated I spent about 2 hours for both stems, not to bad, 20 min. for cutting out the paper, and 1.5 hours assembling these.

Here's how I made the hydrangeas:
Watch this class

I used the Hydrangea file from the Silhouette Design store Don't resize it, you may have to ungroup the file, I used 8.5x11 pink cardstock and got 30 pedals on each sheet. Double cheek to make sure each pedal is 2 inches. 2 inches is the magic measurement for this flower, don't make them bigger or smaller, you will not like the outcome. This is the time to add texture to the paper, I used pink glimmer mist, before you cut the pedals.

While the Silhouette is cutting you could start on assembling the stems. I cut the floral wire in half, to save on material cost. In total you will want 15-16 wires/stems. Use your needle nose pliers to make a loop then bend the loop to hold the flower on top of the loop.

Next gather all the stems together and use your floral tape to make one stem. To activate the floral tape stretch and wrap the floral tape around all the stems.

Next use your scissors to curl up each pedal, I did this while sitting next to my toddler watching Paw Patrol, it took me 30 min. to do all 120 pedals.

Now on to the assembling of the Hydrangea:

Hot glue pedals onto the wire loops you created.

At this point it's a good idea to use a jar or vase to hold up the stem, and you start adding all the pedals to other pedals, each pedal that is on a loop will have four pedals attached to it, I started in the middle, and then I divided the stem into four parts, and I glued away, this is the time to listen to your favorite podcast, or show.

It doesn't take to long, just lots of attention, make sure you are not using to much glue, a little dab will do ya! I add the glue in the middle of one of the curved part of the pedal, not to low, it won't hold, and not to high so you don't see the glue.

 See how the pedals are  attached, that is the look you are going for.

What it should look like when you have finished 2 sides. Keep going, at this time if you need a break or your kids need you it's not a big deal, to stop and start it up later.









This is what the finished hydrangea should look like!

For the taller steam, I used 30 wires, and looped them all, it took a little bit longer to do, but totally worth the bigger bloom. 

What is your favorite color hydrangea? it's so fun to customize your favorite color for these beauties, I think a blue hue and white would look really neat. 

Don't forget to get your fee month membership at Creativebug!

Exclusive Savings: Use Code JOANN to Receive a Free Trial + Save 30%

 please comment below if you have any questions, I enjoy responding to comments! 

Birthday Bouquet

Loopy flowers Coreopsis flowers and Carnations in a bouquet for a friend's Birthday was a simple and fun way to use my Silhouette and use up some pattern paper I didn't know what to do with, It turned out amazing! 

Materials are pretty light here is the list:

Silhouette, 3-4 listed flower files from the Desing Store ( I specified each flower in this post) Patterned paper, about 10- 12in.x12in. coordinating sheets, I like to use them from a pack of paper instead of buying each sheet separately. Hot Glue, 7-10 floral stem wire, wire cutters,  needle nose pliers. And an assortment of brads, and sprigs to add some bling.

Adding up all the materials, I estimate that you can make this bouquet for about $5.00 or less, depending what you have on hand, I had everything on hand, so it didn't really cost me much, just time, and I estimated my time took me about 1 hour, 15-20 min. cutting, and getting the paper ready, and 20-30 min. to assemble the actual bouquet.  

A Loopy Flower or two in a bouquet always makes me smile, and they are so fun and easy to put together! If you make loopy flowers, don't use glue, I just use a brad in the middle to hold all the strips. 

Coreopsis Flower cut with orange MME patterned paper, to assemble Jamie Lane (the designer) has a great tutorial. 

A Carnation or two always makes a great addition to a bouquet. My daughter's first Dance recital had a bunch of Carnations in her bouquet, they can really add a nice design element! 

I also added some sprigs to the bouquet for some added bling. 

Too attached the flowers onto floral stem wire,  make a loop with needle nose pliers, Then I bend the loop to hold the flower with hot glue.

Then add each stem together and wrap floral tape around all the stems. Start at the top, about a third from the top of the stem with the loop, activate the floral tape by stretching it and wrapping it around the stems as you go.  Then attach your flowers to the loop, bend and twist the wire stems gently as needed to make the bouquet look real. 

Pretty in Pink paper flower bouquet

I have a dream about creating a whole green house out of paper flowers becuase I can, and it seems more logical than to grow them. So with that in mind, I though instead of making a card that is cute for a friend that is needing some extra love, I made a paper flower arrangement! I used some paper that my distant cousin gave me while she was cleaning out her craft closet, by My Minds Eye, a girly paper pack (from  years ago) A mason Jar for the vase, it came together quickly. I used my Cameo Silhouette to cut the flowers, they have so many files, my favorite flower desinger is Jamie Lane from bits of paper  She really is extrodanary!

So that's my paper craft project for the week, I have been busy making tons of paper ornaments that I can't wait to post pictures off!

I am still working on an idea for Christmas cards, I have a color pallet in mind, like this:

What do you think? I think I could have lots of fun with some gold accents with either of these two, and yes they do seem to be the same color pallet, The second one seems to be darker and have more contrast! I would love to see what color pallet you would go with, leave a comment bellow, and who know's maybe I will send some packages of cards your way!!!