Paper Poinsettia Tutorial

This tutorial was inspired by the Paper Poinsettia's at Bloomingdale's  (you can find pics of them online or on Pinterest)

 I made my own pattern to make some in a similar style. 

So today I want to show you what I did and share my pattern with you. 

The pattern and tutorial are free for personal use.

Happy Holidays!

To use the pattern you can right click and save the image to your computer and then print it out, OR you can right click and select "View Image" to see it on your computer screen (zoom in by holding down ctrl + to get it to the size you like), you then treat your computer screen like a light box, hold a piece of printer paper against it and "lightly" trace the pattern pieces with a pencil. (I say "lightly" because you don't want to damage your screen especially if it's an LCD screen) (sorry guys, I'm not buying anyone a new screen :)

1. Cut the pattern pieces out and trace them onto vintage paper. (I like to use lots of different patterns and papers from old books etc.) I stack 2 sheets together and cut 2 pieces out at a time. You need 2 pieces to make 1 petal.

 2. Next cut some wire about 2-3 inches longer than your petal. You need 1 piece of wire per petal.
I used some steel wire from the hardware store but you can use any wire (floral wire, jewelry wire, etc)

 3. Open up to two halves of each petal and apply glue down the center of each and all over one half.

4. Place the piece of wire in the center and flip the opposite petal half onto it and press over the entire surface with your fingers to seal.

One petal down....

lots more to go....

 Make lots of petals ( I made 20 small & 18 large to make two large flowers)

 5. Tear apart a Christmas pick from the floral dept at your local craft store. They tear apart easily so you can use the small pieces as stamens in the middle of your poinsettia.

 6. Now gather some of those pieces and tape them together. You can use floral tape but I didn't have any so I used some freezer tape I had on hand. Plus the color goes with my flower. :)

 7. Now it's time for bling. Put some tacky glue in a small container and mix it with a few drops of water. Not enough to make it thin but just enough so that it brushes on well. (you can also use mod podge, or gel medium but I prefer tacky glue for the glass glitter as it has a strong bond) Brush the glue onto each petal.

 8. Pour German Glass Glitter onto the glued petal and shake off the excess onto a piece of paper or a paper plate.

 9. Let your petals dry.

 

 10. Now gather some small petals, large petals, and glittered petals along with the center stamens and tape all the wires together. You can add more petals on the outside if you didn't gather enough to start with. You will know when you open them out and it doesn't look full.

 11. Slowly open out all your petals and bend them, the wire in the center of each petal will hold it's shape.

 This is what the back will look like.

 as you can see this pattern will make a pretty large flower

I can image making a bunch of these and decorating a Christmas tree with them.

I hope you like them and I would love to see the ones you make.

Enjoy!

Cream sparkle button tree tutorial...

 I want to show you a little sparkly button tree I made this past weekend.

I used a bottle brush tree I had bleached a few weeks ago (you can find tutorials on how to do that on the web).

1. I used Beacon's 3in1 craft glue to glue some old mother of pearl buttons to the tree slightly pushing them in and holding for a few seconds.

2. Next use a paint brush to brush some gel medium onto the bristles between the buttons.

3. Then sprinkle glass glitter over the wet glue.

(see above, the left half of the tree has glue brushed onto the bristles and the right side of the tree has glitter glass sprinkled on).

4. Next tear a strip of old music and glue around the base using Beacon's 3in1 craft glue.

5. Use a small dab of E-6000 jewelry adhesive to glue the tree to the lid of an old jar.

6. Now enjoy your cream sparkle button tree. Sure to add a touch of vintage elegance and Christmas cheer to any dull corner.

 Merry Christmas!

Pretty Soldered Ornaments & Brag Monday...

So after much too much time has passed I've finally finished 2 count them 2 whole soldered ornaments, lol. I had plans to make lots of these and put them up in my shop. They took much longer to make than I had anticipated due to all the details but I really had fun with them and they turned out so cute!

I have listed these two ornaments in my new online store...

www.vintiquitiesboutique.com

as well as several necklaces. I will be listing more items as I get them made.

 For these ornaments I used vintage images from The Graphics Fairy

The background image and the image on the back side of the ornament are both from the Graphics Fairy as well as the ribbon "The Christmas Tree" from the top of a music sheet.

I bleached the bottle brush trees, added glass glitter so they shimmer and shine, as well as some old glass pearl beads. The star is cut from an antique dictionary and a 1920's rhinestone is placed in the center. I created the scene inside a 2x3 inch box and 2 mercury glass beads, an old glass pearl and lots of glass glitter shake and roll around inside. Two pieces of glass are soldered to the front and back. Antique sheet music is collaged to the sides and back and each ornament is signed and dated inconspicuously.

 I'll be sharing these on Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy and I hope you will go and join in the fun.
I've got some pretty things to show you tomorrow some come back and see me.

Happy Holidays to you all. Hugs!

Year One Christmas Ornaments

I am at present working on a design for my year one soldered Christmas ornaments. I've got a lot of ideas and working out the kinks but please join me on black Friday as I unveil this year's design. 

I hope to make them available for sale in my store starting this week. 

Here's a "tiny" sneak peak.

There will only be a limited number of these beauties so don't miss out.

Happy Holidays!