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? 

Crayon Art Canvas Instructions - Learning Curve to Something New

 

A few months back, my BFF and Jilliene Designs colleague, Maggie Donoso, came over for a crafty playdate and introduced me to the  crayon art she had found on Pinterest.

She made a few of those adorable canvases for Christmas gifts this last year including one for me- which I treasure!

(The expression "I love you to the moon and back" is one of those shared memories that great friends develop over time.)

I tried my hand at crayon art and it was frustrating for me.  I gave my first project an hour and then decided it wasn't my thing and put the canvas aside.  I had thought I would have better control of the melted crayon when using my heating tool, so I  tried something different than the dripping crayon motif.  What I got was a random mixture of colors that were muddy and uneventful.

I had lightly adhered the crayon bits I wanted to melt with a glue dot and then proceeded to melt them with my heating tool.  I hadn't anticipated that my heating tool with it's light flow of air would push the melted crayon to and fro.  What happened was that the wax blew away from the target and left me with "bald spots"  I had envisioned a "thickish "layer of wax like icing on a cake.  I had hoped that the colors would gradually flow into one another creating movement and harmony.  Yoda would say; "grand ideas, they were," but alas, this was not the way crayon art worked.

Once my canvas hit that point of no return where the colors became muddy and and the texture changed from fluid to "icky" (I think that is the correct industry term), I elected to put the project aside for a rainy day.

Then yesterday, I disappeared in the world of Pinterest and came upon this fun piece of art:

My creative juju kicked in and I thought I'd pick up that old canvas and try something new.  My idea was that I would create circles of chunky melted crayon and then add more crayon circles layers on top so that it looked kind of like the yellow flowers in the artwork above. (Now I see that it is ribbon, but at the time my excitement prevented me from actually looking at the details.)

1. First I commandeered my kids crayon bin and found the colors I wanted to use.

2.  Next I lightly hammered the crayons so they were in chucks thinking that this would help melt in a lump form.

3. I was concerned about controlling with the heat so I went to the kitchen and gathered some cooking tools to assist with the project.

I grabbed a glass baking pan to support the canvas, a pot holder (which was quickly exchanged for silicone tongs) and 2 circular glass items which I hypothesized would help melt the crayons in neat circles.

4. Next, I stacked the crayon chunks in their spots.

When I tried to hold the small glass bowl with the pot holder, I found that the edges of the pot holder were too long so I switched to the silicone tongs.

5.  My first attempt at melting the crayons was a useful "learning experience".  I realized I was going to need wax paper between the bowl and the crayons else the crayon wax would stick to the glass.

 
6. The wax paper was an improvement but I found that the wax did not melt evenly and it mixed with the existing wax on the canvas.  I allowed the wax to dry before I removed the wax paper.  If you look at the yellow circle on the lower left (in the photo above) you can see that there were clumps but there was also disbursement beyond the bowl circle "mold" because the melted crayon blended with the existing wax on the canvas.  At that point, I realized that stacking another layer of crayons on top of the first wax circle would replicate this same issue. Now what will I do? Another idea had been brewing in the back of my mind while I had been trying to fix the circle issue.

I thought it would be cool to layer paper flowers on top of the crayon circles.  I love the look of stacking circles to create a flower so I pulled out my punches and my scraps and I got to it.

7. I crumpled, inked, cut and frayed the edges of the circles to create interest and used foam dots in between the layers to add to the dimension.  Then I dug through my buttons, beads, found items and metal embellishments to find the right center piece for each flower.
8. I new what I wanted to title this project as I looked at my work table with chagrin so I sat down at the computer, found a font that would fit the look and printed out "Life is messy".  I made sloppy cuts when I trimmed the words to match the motif. I then inked the edges and modge podged them to the canvas.  I also tore some of the wax off of the canvas and inked those spots for more interest.

And there you are.  An afternoon in my creative laboratory, experimenting with that and that - one idea turning into another.  Its a magic formula - a little inspiration, a couple scoops of random materials, a touch of trial and error and out comes a bit of art.