Cupcake Flower Lights Reconfigured

If you spend any time on pinterest, you have probably seen this pin:

This darling project was created by Steph Hung at Oh Happy Day.  This blog is amazing; packed full of fabulous DIY, party, home decor and craft ideas.  In her post, Steph said that her inspiration for this project came from the "beautiful blooms" she has seen around town (San Francisco, CA). Well from the moment I saw this pin, I knew I had to give it a try.

I took my 25%-off-your-entire-purchase coupon to Michael's and bought 4 packages of the mini-cupcake wrappers ($1.99 reg price - 25% = $1.50 each) and 4 packages of standard sized cupcake wrappers from the $1.50 bins next to the checkout (on sale for $1.00 each - 25% off = $.75 each).  So now I had the supplies; I just needed to find the time to cut 100 flowers out of cupcake wrappers.  Oh how I wished we had a shorter strand of Christmas lights.

It just so happened that my son, Aidan, had to finish his Mission for his 4th grade CA mission report (a requirement for all 4th graders in California).  Instead of doing a model from craft store supplies, he decided to make his from Legos.  At first the construction was exciting for him, but because it was such a huge project, it had become a daunting task and with it being a beautiful Spring day, it was a challenge for him to stay focused.

I offered to work on the cupcake flower lights along side him while he worked on his Mission.  He liked that idea a lot and dumped his extensive collection of Legos all over my bedroom floor while I started cutting flowers and leaves.  Once I began assembling the flowers onto the strands, I noticed that my damn lights were twisted every which way!  I couldn't manage to keep two consecutive lights in a row facing the same direction.  Every other flower was at risk of getting smashed. I realized that when I went to hang the lights I was going to have a heck of a time making many of the flowers visible.  Unacceptable!

So in typical Jilliene fashion, I came up with an extravagant solution that was disproportionate to the problem.

"Lets make flowers facing both directions! This way no matter which way the strand twists, a flower is visible. And lets make the flowers more intricate so that even if you get a side view, you will be able to see the pops of color!"


I removed all of the flowers I had already assembled and started all over again.  It didn't occur to me until I was an hour into the new design, that this was going to mean 200 flowers - 200 more elaborate flowers.  Oh well, I could see from the flowers I had already made, that this was going to be amazing!

It is important to point out that I am adapting a project here, not creating a new one. This alteration does not make the double-sided-more- elaborate-cupcake-wrapper-flower-lights project MY design.  I am not the author of this craft.  This is Steph Hung's creation at Oh Happy Day.  The lights I am showing you here on my blog are my interpretation of her original project.  I mention this because far too often artists and crafters tweak something they saw elsewhere and then call it their own.  That is plagiarism fair and simple.

The tutorial (and pin) I posted at the top of this article is really all there is to making this project, but I am going to share a few of the things I added, learned and/ or adapted for my project.

• You might want to start with a short strand of lights.  25 seems like a reasonable number..
• Buy extra green small wrappers for the leaves.  I ran out.  Twice.
• Before you get started, pick the pattern you want to use for your strand.  You could go free-style but if you want to avoid having two or three red flowers in a row or groupings of big flowers (big flowers need extra space around their light bulb- side by side- they get crinkled or torn.) you should have some kind of a plan or you'll probably have to back track at some point.  I did a pattern of 3 small flowers, 1 big flower, 3 small flowers, 1 big flower, etc. and I tried to alternate colors and styles.
• Cut the X in the center before you cut your flower and leaf shapes. It is just easier.

• Cut multiple leaves and flowers at one time and stock pile them until you have assortments of colors and styles to choose from. When I first started, I cut out one flower and attached it to the strand and then cut out another flower and attached it to the strand. This quickly became tedious.  Once I made an assembly line, I had more fun creating the individual designs plus it seemed to go a lot quicker.
• Let's talk about the flowers with a "central bell or corona." The example below consists of a green cupcake wrapper cut into leaves, a big yellow cupcake wrapper cut into a flower shape and a small blue cupcake wrapper in its regular form, only turned inside out.  The blue wrapper in the example below is the central bell or corona.  This is an adorable feature to use in your strand but it isn't as easy to put together as it seems. First of all, turning a cupcake wrapper inside out distorts the shape and the center never returns to a perfect circle.  Second, if you opt to make this project with double sided flowers, when you design your bottom flower, you will need to cut slits on the edges of the corona so the cord can run through the middle of it.  Third, be very careful of these types of flowers when you set the strand down on a surface so they don't get smashed.  All that said, they are totally worth the extra care!
• If you go with double sided flowers you will assemble your flowers on the light bulb in this order:
  
  This is the look you get with a double sided flower. Definitely not a necessity- the lights are adorable as Steph made them. Its just another twist.
• If you are going to make a leaf/ small flower combo, try cutting the small cupcake wrapper down to a smaller flower so you can see the leaves pop out behind the petals. 
• After you have finished your strand and you are happy with the final look (i.e.- you are not going to move any of the flowers around), take a little piece of tape and put it around the wire above the top of the flower but below the bulb. This is to prevent the flowers from slipping of the light.
  Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I am not a clean, pristine, flawless artist.  A long time ago I tried to walk that road and I was lost before I knew it.  I so wanted to be impeccable and detail oriented but it just isn't who I am.  I have accepted that my best work comes when I let go of "the" expectation and the most fulfilling work comes when I disregard any kind of audience.  
  
  
  I mention this because in comparison to the original design, these flowers up close are sort of a hot mess.  They are willy-nilly and lots of silly but collectively, I think the strand is beautiful. The bottom line is that cupcake liner flower lights are awesome and regardless of your style, there is a strand waiting for you!
  
  
  

Creating Mosaic Garden Stones

I fell in love with this Mosaic At Disney's California Adventure.  It is truly a masterpiece with its vibrant colors and unique design.  It also offers amazing tactile opportunities with unexpected protruding elements and a variety of textures.

Ever since I saw it I have been obsessing about doing mosaic stones for our garden.  I bought some colored ceramic plates and glass stones from the dollar store and my husband picked up some concrete at Home Depot for $5.  To break the plates, I put each plate inside a ziplock, then inside a small trash bag and then in a large trash bag.  Before taking my hammer to each plate, I put on safety goggles to protect my eyes from stray shards and gardening gloves to protect my hands from microscopic cuts that occur when handling broken ceramic pieces.

I need order to create freely.  If things are in disarray I become distracted and frazzled so I was compelled to separate all the different colors and types of mosaic tiles into tupperware and then I placed them in the kids wagon so I could move them around when I wanted to work elsewhere.  I called it my "Wagon of Wonderful."

Just looking at this "Wagon of Wonderful" made me happy.

Next I traced the perimeter of the tub I was going to put my cement in and sprayed it with adhesive.  This gave me a measurements guide to create a design on.   I applied the adhesive because it prevented the tiles from moving if I bumped the table or the paper accidentally shifted.

Once I finished, I would mix and pour the concrete into the tub and then I would have to quickly transfer the design onto the concrete before it dried. 

Because I was working in the sun, (it didn't occur to me that this might speed up the drying process - duh!) the concrete started hardening faster than I could transfer the tiles, so I used a spray bottle to moisten the cement, which was very effective.

 This is my first garden tile (above) and below is my second one.

The concrete will dry overnight and then tomorrow I will use white grout to fill in the cracks between the tiles.  The smudged concrete on the glass stones and ceramic pieces will wipe off easily so they are colorful and shiny once more.  The white grout should contrast the color palette nicely making the garden tiles look nicely finished.

I will share photos of all of our tiles when they are completed.  We intend to do a few more over the weekend with the kids.  I have decided not to let the kids use the crushed plate pieces as they are sharp and leave your hands feeling raw after you have handled them.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Hay Garden Experiment has been published on "the Hub"

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The Hay Experiment is an ongoing project with weekly updates and photos:

May 16th update - "Phase 2 - Composting"

Tutorial -Flower Wreath Made From Toilet Paper Rolls

My visits to Pinterest always inspire and motivate me to do wonderful things. I have been on the site A LOT lately and I have noticed that I am doing a lot more crafting than I used to.  The best part is that I am experimenting to make each project my own which is both exhilarating and soothing for someone like me.

Yesterday, as we sat on the patio enjoying the nice weather and celebrating Mother's Day as a family, I decided to try a project I had recently found on Pinterest.  I went to the artists blog to get instructions only to find that the entire blog was written in German (I think).  I could have used Google Translate but I didn't need to because she had fabulous photos which were enough to help me make a similar project

Can you believe that this gorgeous wreath is made from toilet paper roll tubes?  Obviously the wreath above was made for the holidays so I altered the concept a little to match the current season.  Below is a step by step tutorial:

Toilet Paper Roll Wreath
1. Collect toilet paper rolls until you have about 18.  Spray paint the rolls to your desired colors.  OR... alternatively, go to Michaels and pick up this set of 25 pre-colored tubes.  They cost $7.95- I used my 40% off coupon so they ran $4.75.  Sort of pricey but I didn't have to worry about the rolls getting warped from wet paint, nor did I have to wait for them to dry, nor did I have to clean up the mess.

These rolls are not covered with a coat of paint or dye; they are covered with a thin sheet of paper.

2. In order to make the petals of the flowers, you have to flatten and then cut the rolls so that they provide you with at least 6 similar size pieces.  Initially I tried using a box cutter to cut the pieces thinking that the edges would be straighter but the box cutter was much more difficult to manage than i thought it would be.  Long blade scissors were perfect for the job.

Not all of the pieces are uniform in size and my cuts were sometimes wonky but I decided that all of this just adds to the charm of the project.

3. Assembly: I initially used E6000 to glue the petals together, and I'll tell you why.  My mom was at our house for Mother's Day and I didn't want her to feel neglected or secondary to my craft project, so instead of whipping out my glue gun and an extension cord, I used a tube of glue and tried to do the adhering on the down low. While I know this was the right "Mother's Day" choice, I will tell you, it is not a good crafting solution.  in fact it was a bit of a nightmare.  Glue gun, glue gun, glue gun.  There. I said it 3 times fast in hopes that you will use one.  After my mom had left, I pulled mine out to finish my last few flowers and I was done in like 2 seconds plus the bonds were waaaaay stronger and cleaner.

This is a photo of the flowers waiting in line to be bonded because the wet glue took so friggin long to apply.

This is a flower after being assembled with E6000.  The wet glue sort of warped the cardboard where the petals connect.

This is a picture of the assembled flowers posing for the final look, but those icky craft brown undersides simply would not do!

Oh dear - now they are just showing off...here we have flower acrobatics.

4. The next step is to paint the interior of your flower.  Initially, I painted the interiors the same color as the exterior but the matchy/ matchy look did not appeal to me.

I decided to add some interest to the flowers by using paints that were a little lighter or darker than the exterior color.  I was trying to get a distressed look. 

5. The next step was arranging the flowers into a circle so that there were at least two connection points between every pair of flowers.  Once I had the larger circle, I created a smaller circle on top of it making sure that the color distribution was dispersed properly.

6. Then I added an assortment of color coordinated buttons as the center of the flowers.

And there you have it.  A very simple and inexpensive project with a ton of possible variations.

I made a stack of additional flowers to explore other ways to use them.  I thought about making garland, a mobile, adhering them to canvas, attaching them to twinkle light, using them in table centerpieces and even as candle holders.  I haven't made a commitment yet though...any other ideas? 

A Real Mother's Day

I awoke this morning to breakfast in bed - angel's food cake, a chocolate covered strawberry, melon, kettle corn and dried mangoes.  My family showered me with handmade cards and gifts and my 10 year old son even made a digital love note using clip art and google images.

I ate the chocolate covered strawberry and melon and went back to sleep hoping that the nightmare I had been dreaming would resolve itself.  Unfortunately, it picked up where it left off and when I finally did rise, I was feeling pretty blue.  Isn't it weird how dreams can effect your waking life?

The reality that my husband remains infected despite the chemotherapy he underwent for a year, has started to set in and the sadness I have been unable to express in my waking life has decided to show itself while I am asleep.  Even now, as I stare at my keyboard, I really don't know what to say.

My life is so good and my world is full of promise.  We just returned from a magical vacation at Disneyland, we have a beautiful hay garden blooming in our backyard, my children are flourishing in academics, tae kwon do/ ballet, and as tiny humans,  my husband treats me like a princess, I have a remarkable group of women who truly love me as much as I love them, I have an incredibly supportive extended family who has been there for us both emotionally and financially this past year and I am able to do lots and lots of scrapbooking and crafting as both a profession and as a hobby.  It really is a breathtaking inventory of blessings and today I am numb to it because I feel a sadness I can't explain.

It isn't like he is symptomatic - he actually feels better now than he did a few weeks ago when he was still on treatment.  The truth is there is no way of really knowing what this illness has in store for him.  Worrying now is just living a possible reality that hasn't happened and may never happen.  I am conscience of this but my insides still feel heavy, sad and really uncomfortable.

So I faked it today.  I smiled and laughed and played and listened.  All the things a mother does for her children, a wife does for her husband  and a daughter does for her mother.  If anything I was the epitome of what a mother really is.  Someone who puts her best foot forward regardless of how she is feeling and loves even when it doesn't feel like there is any love to give.  I guess today was truly my day.  All I can say at this point is I really hope tomorrow things get back to normal tomorrow.

Tutorial: Tissue Paper Photo Album for Mother's Day

I was so surprised that Mother's Day was THIS Sunday!  I thought I had another week so yesterday I scrambled for a gift idea.  I decided to make a brag book for my Mother-in-law and a 6 x 6" album for my mom.  It would give me an excuse to try a new technique I learned from a Pin on Pinterest last week.  Sarah at Sarah's Never-Ending Projects had a fabulous tutorial on her blog for printing photos on tissue paper and then modge podging the tissue paper onto canvas.  I had never seen this technique before and was looking forward to an excuse to try it.  Now I was in need of a heart-felt Mother's Day gift...and I had a plan.

I remembered the 2 pack of mini album's at Michael's for $4.99 that I had put in my basket on several occasions, but then promptly removed because my "want vs. need" reminder started pinching me.  Wouldn't it be cool if I could Modge Podge photos printed on tissue paper to the cover of these memory books?

So I scurried down to Michael's to use my 40% off coupon and then rushed home to get started.  Because I knew I wanted to make this project a tutorial I decided to experiment rather than focus on following the directions to the letter.  If the albums turned out disastrous, I could always buy a plant.

The step by step instructions for this project are in red. My commentary is italicized and in black .  I do this because once you get started assembling, you are going to want to find the next step quickly before your Modge Podge dries.

Printing Photos on Tissue Paper

1. Place a 8.5 x 11" sheet of printer paper on the top of a sheet of tissue paper.  The crisper the tissue paper, the better but even a crinkled old piece leftover from Christmas will work.  There are, however, a couple of potential problems with "used" tissue paper you should consider.

• The wrinkles will be visible on your photo when you Modge Podge the paper down.  If you are hoping to use a dewy face photo of yourself when you looked like a 20 year old, wrinkled tissue paper will put a damper on your plans.
• The more worn the tissue paper, the more vulnerable it is to tearing when you are sealing it with the Modge Podge.  This happened to me with a brand new sheet of tissue which was such a bummer.

2. Match the top left corners of the tissue paper and the printer paper so that two (top and left) of the edges are lined up as in the example below.

3. Use a craft knife to cut the tissue paper leaving approximately one inch extra on the right and bottom edges.

4. Use a straight edge to cut precisely along the right edge so that the tissue paper width is the same as the as the printer paper.  Leaving even a little extra tissue paper on the edge might cause your printer to jam.   
The first time I made this cut I used the tip of my blade to cut the tissue paper.  This caused the tissue paper to bunch and then tear leaving jagged edges (see the "V"-like rips in the pic above.)  

The next time I used the edge of the blade, holding the knife at an angle so the blade lay flat.  I sliced very lightly and went over the cut several times.  Then the cut was perfect.

You can see the angle a little better in the photo below.

5. Once the widths are the same, place the 8.5 x 11" paper in the center of the tissue paper so there is a .5" lip on both sides.  (Note: I rotated the paper in the photo below so I could use the measurement lines on the mat, but it is still the same paper and what now appears to be the width is actually the height from the photos above.) 

6. Fold the .5" lips over the edges of the printer paper and tape them down using scotch tape.  I taped the entire edge down to avoid a printer jam.  The image below shows the tissue paper taped down.

There was a bit of a bubble where the tissue paper was originally folded inside of its packaging (see in photos below.)  This made me a little nervous, so I taped the side edges in a few spots just to be safe.

That gap in the photo above looked like trouble so I added a few strips of tape to keep the tissue paper from bunching in the printer.

7. Next load your paper in the printer- make sure you know which side the image will print on.

I thought I knew, but I was wrong. :o) All I had to do was flip it over and print again.

You can barely see the difference between the tissue paper and printer paper images when the tissue paper is still taped down.

Adhering the tissue paper photo to your project
8. Holding the tissue paper down firmly, use a straight edge and a craft knife to cut each image out.
I sliced light enough that the printer paper underneath was not cut.  This allowed me to cut out the pictures I accidentally printed on plain paper so you can see them side by side.

The photos on the left are on on tissue paper and the pics on the right are printed on the regular copy paper.

9. The next step is to paint Modge Podge over the top of the album.

I almost put the tissue paper photo down but I didn't think it looked any different than if I had adhered a regular photo so I decided to experiment.

First I put down a patterned piece of tissue paper to add a little more color.  It was a used piece of tissue paper so it laid down very wrinkly and tore when I was attempting to smooth out the bubbles.  Regardless, I didn't like the look at all.  

I was about to panic but I noticed this paper towel I had been hoarding for years.  I had literally been holding on to this paper towel for 4, maybe 5 years.  I had used it to clean up paint after I finished a project and thought it looked like hand made paper so I put it into my stash.  I would finally put it to use by Modge Podging it onto my album cover.

I felt it offered a bit of dimension and the colors complimented the photo.

I reapplied the modge podge to the album cover and...

10. Then press the paper towel onto the wet Modge Podge, using your hand to smooth the paper towel so that every bit of it is stuck to the album. 
As you can see in the photo above, the wrinkles were pretty pronounced which meant that the tissue paper photo would get really bumpy if I placed it on top.  I decided to use gesso to fill in some of the cracks.  I put it on pretty thick and went to the gym to give it time to dry.

When I got back I applied Modge Podge and laid down the tissue paper photo.  There were still wrinkles but for the most part it mounted nicely.

- To blend the edges of the photo to the book cover,  you can smudge color coordinated paint around the frame. In this case I used white and pink paint but it was lost amongst all of the paper towel dimension and the vibrant colors in the photo.

  

- You can also use Washi tape, ribbon or lace to frame your photo. Embellish the frame with flowers, buttons, butterflies or any other bits that would compliment your photo.

I used a beautiful print Washi tape which was lovely and added several Prima flowers with button centers. 

On the album below, I left the background white and used white paint to blend the edges.  This cover almost looks like a painting.  It is very cool.

I am so happy with both albums and with this new technique which will work with so many other kinds of projects.  I hope you find this tutorial useful.  Please let me know if it is confusing so I can make adjustments.  Happy Mother's Day!