Halloween

It may be a little delayed but I wanted to share my Halloween costume from this year. Really I just wanted to share the spider hat I made myself. I think with or without Halloween I might have to create more head pieces in the future!

Well, it is getting towards the end of October and I am finding myself without much to show here. Not because of a lack of project but because those project may become Christmas presents so I am holding off on sharing pictures... just in case. So in the mean time, guess what, more flowers!

Do you see the theme here...

More flowers! Once again another paper flower piece I made for our living room. This time the flowers are with an old frame I have been lugging around with me for several years and some dried branches. I picked up the branches originally when I was taking an ikebana class. The leave where already dried when I found them and had an almost iridescent look. I liked them so much that I wanted to keep them after the class. When I got home the night of the class I saw the frame on the wall (at that time it was just empty up on the wall) with some of my paper flowers sitting under it. I put this together that night and it has been up ever since.

In the first picture, you can see some green garland across the corner of the frame. Before I put up the feather garland I had two sizes of green triangular garland hung up.

Flowers, real and paper

I thought I would do an update of some of the floral projects I have done this summer.

First off the real flowers.

Next, some close up shots of some antique gold pips that I made and edge dyed petals.

Finally, this is a paper flower arrangement I did for my aunt. I had a lot of fun making this one.

Also, a close up of my aunt's arrangement.

Paper Feather Garland

Pictured above is a paper feather garland that I made for our living room. I thought I would put up a little "how to" because I was pleased with how it turned out.

The supplies are very few and inexpensive. You will need paper (I just used computer paper), thread, a needle and a pair of scissors. For the set that I made I used white paper but for this tutorial I used a nice robins blue and think this would be a nice color for another set.

Cut a rectangle out of the full sheet of the paper and fold it in half the long way. Then cut the half feather shape across the folded seem side of the paper. I like the way the quill looks on the feather so I include it. I think it reads more clearly as a feather when you include the quill with the cut out shape.

While the feather is still folded in half, cut little slices inward towards the center of the feather making sure not to go all the way to the center.

I like the way it looks when there are a lot of cuts close together.

Unfold the feather and fluff the edges a little. This gives it more interest and a nice softening to the edges.

Using a needle and thread, string a thread through the uncut center portion of the feather. I chose to do this at all different angles so that the feathers would hang in slightly different directions.

I did different sizes and shapes of feathers and chose a white thread so it would blend more into the background.

Now it is time to go out and hang your new feathery decoration!

Paper Flowers

My mom just sent me a picture of a bouquet of paper flowers I made for her last year. In the corner you can also see some calligraphy practice I did after taking a calligraphy class recently.

The earrings are also made with sterling silver and incorporate the porcelain beads that I made.