Scrapbook Paper Rose Tutorial

Step 1 & 2: Round out the corners of the scrapbooking paper(You can use smaller paper- I wanted the biggest and fullest flowers possible).

Step 3: Cut into the circle. Create a starting point for your spiral.
Step 4: Cut a spiral into the circle. Keep an inch or more from your previous cuts. It does not have to be perfect. I actually encourage you to not make perfect cuts. Imperfections in your cutting will make the flowers look more real!

Step 5: Start rolling your paper inward. If your paper is textured/pearl make sure to roll that side inward. It will end up being exposed when the flowers are complete.
Step 6: Keep rolling, and focus on the base of the flower being tight. The outside can be looser to encourage more 'petals'.

Step 7: The rose is becoming more obvious. Keep the base tight, and extend the rolls on the outside as previously mentioned.
Step 8: When done with rolling. Hold the flower to the base so it does not fall apart.
Step 9: Try to loosen the flowers petals on the outside while holding the center together. This will make the flower bigger, and fuller.

Step 10: Hold the flower upside down in the face of your palm, and lift the bottom off.
Step 11: Cover the bottom with hot glue.
Step 12: Hold the flower tight together- pushing everything to the base so it will get glue on it. I usually leave the flower faced down for a minute or so to dry.

Step 13: Place hot glue on the top of the clothes pin.
Step 14: Push the flower from the top down onto the hot glue, and hold it for 15 seconds. I once again leave them faced down for gravity to do it's job. This makes it so no glue will get on any of your work space.

ALL DONE! Now they are ready to pin to anything! I plan to use these in the trees surrounding my aunt, and her husband-to-be on their wedding day(next month). The colors will make for adorable pictures! Now the REAL project is to make hundreds! Now that I taught you, Will you help me?! :)

My Favorite Auntie's Bridal Shower

My aunt is getting married next month, and my dear and I are the photographers. My mom, sister, and I were in charge of throwing the bridal shower. My mom did most of the work once again. She has been very on the ball with the party planning! I love it! My sister headed up all of the social interactions and lead the shower with really fun games, and prizes. I bought the yellow pom flowers, and brought the wood rounds for the centerpieces(which I made a post about recently when we cut down the maple tree- That's them!). Everything else my mom and sister put together. My dear and I put in some labor setting up. But this was probably a 10 person set up and took 2 hours. I think we pulled it off just lovely. That was just a preview of how the wedding will go. Quick & beautiful!

I am excited, and can't wait to document the event!

Once again I made the wedding shower invitation(I am building on that resume!).

Let the Festivities Begin!

My sister got married, and just graduated form college. Congrats! Her new husband asked the ladies in the family to help plan the graduation party. I made up the invitations, and my sweet mama came up with most of the decorations. I unfortunately was not as on the ball as I wish I was because of being in between addresses. I didn't know if things would make it in time, and they didn't! The red & white balloons did not make it in time. Nurse parties are fun, because it brings out Halloween supplies. I really wanted to get chocolate band-aids, and stethoscopes. It didn't happen. I DID get a fake prescription pad, and a customizable 'Congratulations' banner. My mom got syringe pens in 4 colors, pill bottles with custom labels and filled them with jelly beans as favors, nurse photo prop hats, a giant syringe, a giant pee cup to hold all of the syringes. My sister also got some syringes for jello shots(Of course-haha).

This is what I had in my inspiration board for the party.

Here is the invitation I came up with.

And here is the party! I set up a silly photobooth that went totally haywire. The silver fringe curtain was being completely sucked through the wood fencing. Poor planning, but I had no idea where it would go before I got to their house. I suggest having quite a few layers of fringe if there will be a photobooth up against the fence. :/ Now I know..

My nephew loved the syringes. He kept calling them 'shockers' and wanted his photo taken. Which is out of character. He usually hides! I am glad someone enjoyed the props! Always makes for good pictures. :)

The Creation of a Tiny Home

The tiny home/AKA Mother in law cabin/garden shed is coming together! The whole prefab cabin went up in about 7 hours. It is only a shell so we are going to work on completing the inside as soon as possible. The exterior paint is only a primer coat. We plan to build a deck, and stepping stones up to the house. So we have some exterior work to do also. I will continue to update as things go on. Lots of new and exciting things going on.

On a side note, I also completely revamped my entire Etsy shop. Our new home doesn't get as much light as our old casa so I had to find an alternative photoshoot space.

Check out the new shop theme and photos HERE.

We had to dig about 2 and a half feet on one side to make it level(turned out one section was all clay-ugh) and we found 3 pier blocks in the 'forest' outside of our yard that were 2 feet tall. They were perfect to help level out the foundation. The 3 pier blocks were unfortunately at least 400 pounds each. We moved them with a dolly that had a weight limit of probably 200 pounds. And the tires are somehow not flat! I should do a product review! :)

I documented our experience picking out, and customizing the tiny cabin also.

I snapped a photo of the interior of our living room. It is ALSO coming together!

The Move

We did it! We moved. The roof is finished, and we got our appliances delivered. Most of our stuff is unpacked. We have quite a few projects going on, and lots of plans. One of them is to custom build our pantry, and take off our kitchen cupboard doors to make open shelving. Then we can build a spice rack. Right now the doors would hit right where the rack is. We found out our oven doesn't close all of the way so we have to get a new stove. :/ We didn't like it anyways.

I had some issues with the transition of my shop. I am so used to having a fully functional studio to work out of(I used to take over the whole house). In the new house- the sink is too shallow and the faucet head doesn't come off and extend like I am used to, the shower doesn't have a lip so the water/ink sprays all over the place. The ink started to stain the shower. I had a bit of a breakdown, but Wayne found an easy solution for me(love!).

I wanted to share our recent activities with you in photo form! :)

Here is the studio/1 bedroom we have called home for the last 4 years.

Here is the studio before moving out. A disaster...

Moving day.

This is a 40 year old maple tree that was leaning right where we are getting a tiny cabin put in.

It fell right in our fire pit.

We then stacked and chopped the wood to dry. With all of the sawdust (I call it confetti). We collected a whole bucket full for the chicken coop(another project for another day).

While cutting up the maple tree- Wayne cut some rounds to see how they dry. A good experiment that I would love to sell in my shop for wedding table centerpieces.

Andddd the cedar! Look at all of it. This tree is about 400 years old. There is so much we can make with all of this. :)

Wayne also started stripping some tipi poles.

As you can tell we have quite a few projects going on. It has been quite the roller coaster, but I can't wait to sit back and finally be able to enjoy all of it. Right now it is just work, work, and more work.