Altered Tissue Box and Leaf tutorial

Paper Flowers

Hi friends Thank you so much for the heart warming comments on my Diamond Paper Decoration Tutorial. I had this un glamorous  tissue box lying around my house and decided to cut up some pretty floral pattern paper to alter it

Altered Tissue Box

Punched the pattern paper with a Martha Stewart Lattic heart and added pearls, tiny plastic flowers and pearly leaves on the front of the altered box.

Altered Tissue Box

Made a stick pin with a shell shaped bead ,pearls and a metallic star shaped bead.Added a metal framed charm sentiment "bloom" to my paper flower!

Paper Flowers

Added a pearly border to a lattice heart border I punched on a pink polka dotted pattern paper .Added my favorite acrylic white butterflies to flutter by on my altered tissue box

Paper Flowers

I have an obsession with leaves- Not only do I handcut my leaves, I cant resist buying leaf punches and now that I have a die cutting machine I cant resist leaf dies!!
Sharing a mini tutorial to make a leafy branch
On Pinterest I realized that sometimes even the simplest of pictorials are pinned! My mini leaf tutorial on this Recycled CD Box was so simple but its actually been pinned quite a bit!
So sharing a 8 simple paper-crafting tips especially for newbie paper crafters to add a bit of that extra jazz to your leaves be they hand-cut, die cut or punched .

Paper blooms

• 1.Cut out your leaves from pattern paper! -I punched out these leaves from a swirly pattern paper.

Punchcraft leaves tutorial

To get your punched leaves to point to either side punch out  some leaves on the reverse of the pattern paper!

• 2.Make your leaves stand out by inking your leaf edges using a stamp pad and sponge

Punchcraft tutorial

The pic shows a Faber castell ink-pad[available in India] and my daughter's blackboard duster sponge which I used to apply the ink to the edges of the leaf!

Punchcraft leaf tutorial

• 4.Double shade your leaves with 2 shades of green

Punchcraft tutorial

• 5.Crease your leaves for a 3 D look- In this leafy bunch I just folded the leaves in half and didnt use any other tool

Punchcraft tutorial

• 6.Draw veins with a green/silver/gold gel pen- your leaves will literally shimmer!

Punchcraft tutorial

• 7.Make a branch by sticking your leaves on a piece of sturdy green card stock.

Punch craft leaf tutorial

• 8.Add dew drops on the leaves and paper roses using glossy accents[More examples here:Aperture card tutorial]

  

  Paper flowers

Now back to my altered tissue box,It has 3 compartments on the front and I lined the inside of these little compartments with the same floral paper too.

Altered Tissue box

At times projects look more glamorous in their photographs but I wasnt so lucky with this one and for the life of me I couldnt capture the true beauty of this altered box on camera!!

Supplies: Pattern Paper:DCWV Itsy Bitsy,Dies: Cheery Lynn Flourish,Marianne Leaves,Itsy Bitsy Spiral daisy,Punches: Jef leaf,MS lattice heart

Edited: this project got a honorable mention at Crafters Corner
and also at Lulupu

Easy Paper Decorations Tutorial

 Paper Decoration

Dear friends Thank you so much for the sweet support on my Paper Pyramid Tutorial.I had made 2 extra pyramids for that tutorial and we used them to make easy Paper decorations .

Easy Paper Decorations

My daughter and I made these diamond shaped shaped paper decorations using 2 pyramids.Check this link on How to make a paper pyramid

Diamond ornament

These paper ornaments are super easy to make. Stick 2 pyramids together at the base.

Paper decoration tutorial

And you get a diamond shaped paper ornament!

Paper decoration tutorial

Our glue smeared paper diamond didnt look  so cute so we stuck pattern paper on it to pretty it up. The base of our pyramids are 2 x 2 inch squares and to cover the diamond we used 8 triangles made from of 2 x 2 inch squares of pattern paper. 

Paper decoration tutorial

To get the perfect sized triangles to cover your diamond ornament:Mark the midpoint of one side of the 2 x 2 inch square and cut from this point to both bottom corners of the square to get a triangle which will perfectly cover the side of your paper diamond ornament.

Paper decoration tutorial

I didnt like the gap between the pyramids so stuck a Hello Kitty ribbon on the center of our paper diamond decoration.

Easy Paper Decorations

My little one had a lot of fun sticking Christmas themed stickers on each face of our paper ornament .To add to the festive look we added glittery pom pom balls on the tips of our paper diamond decoration.

Easy Paper Decorations

These easy DIY paper decorations can be made in all sizes and themes and would look just awesome to showcase family photos. 

Another idea is If you hoard stickers like me these paper ornaments would be a fun way to use up some of that sticker stash!

Do tell me how you liked our easy paper decoration.
Here are links to some more easy paper decorations
Easy 3D Paper Decoration Tutorial
Paper Flowers Party Decoration Tutorial
Paper Star Tutorial

Linking to Artsy Craftsy

How to make a Pyramid- School Project

 Solid Shapes School Project

Solid shapes school project

My 7 year old is learning about solid shapes in school and for her school project she had to take a chart or a 3 D project. Those who have been around my blog for some time will know my daughter always chooses the more difficult option![Remember our 3D model of the Taj Mahal!!]

But I must say it was fun making the 3 D paper cube, cuboid , cone and pyramid.

Solid shapes school project

The washi tape flags with the names of the solid shapes was surprisingly my little one's idea[ and no she didnt see it on pinterest!!!]

Solid shapes school project

I had once before made a Pyramid for a food pyramid school project but hadn't bothered to blog about it as I felt it was so simple.My hubby's aunt is a school teacher and recently she told me how she had struggled to make a food pyramid for her students as there were no easy tutorials on the net on how to make a pyramid. 

So sharing our easy and quick 3 D Pyramid Tutorial

Materials

• Paper -thick chart paper or card stock preferred
• Glue- Fevicol MR is my preferred glue. A glue stick wont work and avoid runny glue.
• Scissors
• Scale 
• Scoring tool - use a blunt knife or a ball point pen which has run out of ink
• Optional -Scoreboard - makes measuring and scoring easy and quick

The easiest pyramid is made from a square of paper! I started of with a 6 x 6 inch card .Scored [means take a ruler and run a blunt pen along]it every 2 inches one side first, turn 90 degree and do the other side. Choose any size of paper and divide it into 3 parts.So its easiest to work with a paper measuring a multiple of 3 eg 6 inch, 9 inch, 12 inch etc !!

When you score the paper into 3 both ways your paper gets marked into 9 squares  as shown in the photo below of the paper pyramid tutorial

Pyramid tutorial

Chop off the corner 4 squares as shown in the photo of the pyramid tutorial

Paper pyramid tutorial

Mark the midpoint of the outer 4 squares as shown in the pyramid pictorial

Paper pyramid tutorial

Score from the marked midpoint  to the base corners of the outer squares as shown.

Paper pyramid tutorial

Once you have scored all 4 outer squares,snip off small triangles from all the flaps as shown.This step helps to glue your 3 D pyramid easily

Paper pyramid tutorial

Fold in all the flaps at the score lines and now you have triangles around the base square of your pyramid.

Paper pyramid tutorial

Next fold up all 4 triangles and you have a 3 D paper pyramid!

Paper pyramid tutorial

The last step which is gluing all the flaps looks the easiest but is actually the trickiest because if you don't have patience to let your glue dry ...your pyramid falls apart! Apply glue on all the flaps of the triangles one by one and hold in place by holding the apex of the pyramid

Paper pyramid tutorial

If you are working with kids its highly likely your pyramid will have lots of glue smears..mask the mess by adhering pattern paper like we did for one of our pyramids! We stuck washi tape on toothpicks and my little one wrote the names of the shapes on the washi tape[ a gift from Priya].The "Prisha" was made by die cutting foam.

Solid shapes school project

I know for the seasoned paper crafter making a pyramid may be an easy task but I am sharing our pyramid tutorial for all the kids , harried moms and hardworking teachers to make school projects a tad easier!!
Click on this link for more School Projects Ideas

Handmade Ceramic Flowers and Embellishments

Handmade Ceramic Flowers

Handmade Ceramic Flowers 

Dear friends,in the recent past I have bombarded you with lots of foam flowers..well now sharing ceramic flowers made using ceramic powder and white glue.

I used 2 pattern papers to alter this box into a memory box.

Altered Box

Lots of different types of handmade flowers adorn this memory box : handmade foam roses ,quilled paper flowers, and handmade ceramic flowers

Handmade ceramic flowers

The front of the box has MS heart punch lacy border with  pearly  plastic butterflies and a handmade ceramic butterfly

Handmade Ceramic Butterfly

I used a plunger cutter to cut the butterfly from homemade ceramic dough.I experimented with normal pearl acrylic paint but it didnt look so nice.Later experimented with spray paint and got a beautiful shiny silver hue on my handmade ceramic butterfly.

Handmade Ceramic Butterfly

I kept the ceramic flowers and leaves uncolored..just added pearl centers and distressed the petal edges to blend with the rest of the box! I love how delicate looking yet sturdy these ceramic flowers are!

Handmade Ceramic Flowers 

These ceramic flowers are the successful ones of my experiment.They were super easy to make but my 2nd attempt at making homemade ceramic dough didnt turn out too good!!Once I perfect the ceramic dough recipe and techniques will share a tutorial on how to make your own handmade ceramic flowers.

Handmade Ceramic Flowers 

I lined all sides of the box with floral and fruit themed pattern paper [DCWV]and added more handmade ceramic flowers.

Handmade Ceramic flowers

The foam roses made with this Foam Rose tutorial has silver handmade ceramic leaves.

Handmade Foam flowers

This memory box was inspired by our family vacation to Malaysia and I incorporated some of my most cherished memories into it [Picking up beautiful shells at Langkawi beach and walking with peacocks at the largest Aviary in the world at Kualalumpur]

Shell craft

Inserted a die cut paper net [Provocraft die]with distressed edges under the ceramic leaves and places some shells and a pearl near the foam rose flower.

Handmade foam flowers

I spray painted the chipboard peacock and placed it on a 3 D pedestal made of 3 folded MS punch hearts.

Handmade foam flowers

I used a different Foam rose tutorial to make this foam rose

Handmade Foam roses

Here is the back side of the memory box with MS punched lace and green lace

Handmade Foam flowers

Distressed the edges of  Spellbinder floral oval die cuts and popped up the stamped "Magical Memories" sentiment on a quilled shape[ can be better seen in a side view picture above].To gel wit the rest of the project, added some brown and pink quilled flowers!

Quilled flowers

Added pearly buttons on the centers of the quilled flowers.

Quilled flowers

I hope you are still with me in this visual trip!! And wish me luck to get the ceramic dough recipe perfected so that I can soon share a tutorial to make lots of ceramic embellishments including handmade ceramic clay flowers.

Handmade Ceramic Flowers