Paper Flowers

Nate Burkus inspired  paper flowers

 I saw these on pintrest , of coarse, and decided to try them. They turned out much larger than i would have thought. Each flower is about the size of a dinner plate. Originally they are made from paper bags ( lunch bag size). I didn't have any that size so i used one paper bag from the grocery store to make all three flowers. One bag probably only makes 1 1/2 if i had to guess but i also used card stock paper so i would have a contrasting color. As you can see my card stock paper is white so you could do these flowers any color you want or any color of paint that you already have.

leaf patterns I numbered the back side of these so i would keep these for  all 3 flowers

The first thing you need to do is make your pattern. I made 10 leaves of each size for one flower. I tried to fit as many as possible onto one sheet of paper without wasting. it doesn't matter if you have all different size patterns on one sheet of paper. all that maters is that you have enough leaves. DON"T CUT THEM OUT YET!

Smallest leaf 

 For the smallest leaves is started at the edge of the paper and traced my pattern then flipped it to the other side of the page leaving a gap between the petals then did the same for the sides. Since this is the most visible  on the finished product i didn't want to see a bunch of glue mess and fold. you'll need 2 of these plus 2 extras .

                                                Once you have all of the leaves traced out I suggest painting them (if you are going to) before you cut them. it makes it a little easier to paint without getting it all over your hands. Now, once everything is traced and painted start cutting!

this is enough for two flowers with leaves being opposite color on one flower from the other flower.

These are extra little pieces of paper i cut out for the center of the flower so it's not empty.

large leaves after being glued.

I couldn't take pictures and glue at the same time. Start with two leaves and put one dot of glue to glue them together ( I used a hot glue gun instead of regular glue because I'm not a patient person). place another dot of glue on the top of the leaf in the same spot and add the next leaf slightly spacing it. I did this all the way around. For the second (medium leaves) you can continue to glue them on top of the large leaves or make a seperate flower then glue it to the large flower. It's up to you. If you want all the petals to line up perfectly i suggest gluing directly to the large ones.

Growth Chart Ruler

Of coarse I saw this somewhere else and decided to try to make it myself. I've seen these for sale online for around $100. My project cost about $40 which could be cheaper for anyone that already had the supplies on hand.

 Supplies needed:

1-7ft long board ($20)

1- wood burning tool ($15) 

1-small can of stain ($5)

Other supplies needed that I had:

Polyurethane 

Ruler for a reference 

Measuring tape

Pencil

Tape

The first thing I did was print off the numbers 1-7 in the font that resembled what was on my ruler and large enough to look size appropriate on the 7ft board. Set those aside. 

Next I used the measuring tape and pencil to mark 1 inch increments along the board. I wanted my board to look like a large ruler so I made the lines longer and shorter just as my ruler looked

After all of the lines were marked I cut out the numbers I previously printed and taped them to the board where I wanted them to be. I then used the pencil to trace the numbers to make an indention into the board. Once the indentions were made the taped on numbers were removed and then I traced the indentions with the pencil. 

Then the burning process began. Other more expensive boards I've seen online only used a permanent marker but I personally think burnt looks better.

This was my first attempt at ever burning anything and I must say that it is very easy. I did use a scrap piece of wood first before I got started just to see how it worked. This part was very time consuming!!! In the end I think it was worth it. 

Then I burnt in the numbers.

Now that it's all burnt, it's time for the stain. 

I stained the front and the back of the board since I was unsure how or where I would be putting this in the house. I ended up putting three coats of stain and one coat of polyurethane (had it from another project). 

Finally dried and in the house. Because we rent i don't want to permanently fix it anywhere. I think this is perfect for anyone who may have to move several times like we do due to being in the military.

The method to my recipe madness

When I'm on pintrest I pin recipes that I think my family would enjoy to eat or at least try. After I've got a few new ones I make out my weekly menu and write down, rather than print my recipes.
The reason for writing is so i don't waste printer ink on gross food. I picked up a package of holiday recipe cards for $1 on clearance after Christmas last year so it really wasn't much money spent. after dinner I usually either toss them in the trash if they were bad or make notes on the back as to what could be different and if the family likes them. Trust me, a stack of recipe cards looks a lot better than a stack of papers with food stains. I always hate printing recipes from the Internet because sometimes they can be a full page with 2 line on the second page or a huge picture that wastes my ink. here's examples of what i do and now you know why i do it. Have a great day!

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