14 Days of Valentines - Day 9

****OOOPS, Sorry, forgot to hit publish so this is yesterday's project!

For Day 9 of the 14 Days of Valentines, we have some thing that's the same but different!

I love origami that's easy, so here goes! Start with a paper 4.25" x 8.5"

Fold in both sides to the center. Crease well.

From the top, fold down 2". Crease well.

Flip the paper over to the other side. Fold the top corners down to the center. Crease well.

Flip the paper back to the other side. It should look like this.

Fold the top point down to the back. It should create a small pocket.

Here's a side view with the point on the other side and the pocket formed.

At the top, snip at the center point about one third down.

At the top, fold the corners in on each side. Crease well.

At the bottom, fold in each corner to the center. Crease well.

Roll the paper and tuck the bottom point into the pocket.

Slip in a napkin. This is the matching napkin ring for your chopstick holder. See, same but different!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you had a wonderful weekend!

14 Days of Valentines - Day 8

Are you starting to  wonder what you're going to eat for Valentine's dinner..hmmm maybe Japanese? Well, today's project would be perfect for that!

All you need is a square sheet of paper 4.75" x 4.75". I found this cute heart print wrapping paper at the Celebrations store. Take the paper and fold it into thirds.

I usually roll it into thirds and pinch the ends to mark where I have to fold. Then, I refold it and crease it nicely. Unfold.

Fold the bottom right corner to the center, crease well.

Repeat with the left bottom corner. Unfold.

 

Fold in the bottom right  corner to the creased line. Crease well.

Repeat with the left corner.

Fold the right side flap in and align to the one-third crease fold. Crease well.

Repeat with the left side flap.

Fold in the bottom right corner to the center. Crease well.

Repeat with the left bottom corner. Crease well. You can see the heart taking shape now.

Turn the whole piece over.

Fold in the right side to the center. Crease well.

Repeat with the left side.

Turn over. Now, you can really see the heart shape.

Pick the piece up and tuck the straight edge into the back of the heart.

Ta Daa! Your heart is complete! What's it for?

It's a chopstick rest!

Although you think there are a lot of steps because of the number of photos, there really isn't. I just like to show the before and after each step. Thanks for stopping by today and hope you're having a Fun Saturday! Hmmm...maybe I'll have Japanese food tonight?

14 Days of Valentines - Day 7

Happy Aloha Friday! It's time for our 7th project and it's a nice and easy one.

I've been doing a lot of Easter and Spring projects so I have a bunch of these colored up chicks. It's from the dandelion designs' Happy Spring set.

I love punches so I'm using the small heart punch from Marvy Uchida, the orange one. I punched out 6 hearts.

I laid some crochet thread across three of the hearts. I wrote "I" and "U" on two of the remaining hearts. Then, I used  mini glue dots to glue the second set of hearts onto the first, with the crochet threads sandwiched in between. This made a mini garland.

I used pop dots behind the chick to place on the card front.

I just took a 4.25" x 5.5" card and placed a smaller scrapbook paper on the front. This one is from Amy tangerine's line of scrapbook papers. Added the chick and used glue dots to attach the "I {heart} U" garland. I used the extra wing piece that the stamp set comes with. I colored up two so that I could really make it seem like the chick was holding the garland.

Here's the inside of the card "Happy Valentine's Day from your favorite Chick!"
It's always fun to use different designs for another occasion.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

14 Days of Valentines - Day 6

Today's project is really for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Wear Red day in support of Women's Heart Health. Show your support and wear something red!

For those of you who just want a touch of red, how about a little pin to wear? Here's Day 6's project...

Start by stamping  a small image onto cardstock. I chose this cute dandelion design because the kimono girl is holding a heart..how appropriate!

Next, color your image up. I used Copic markers but a lot of times I just use colored pencils.

Cut the image out. I know that I won't be able to fit the whole image, that is why I didn't bother cutting out her feet.

I cut the image out because I am going to use a red background (wear red!). So I punch a 1' circle from red cardstock.

I cover the red circle with some Mod Podge.

Then, I added the image on top. Mod Podge acts as a glue, too.

Then, I add a coat of Mod Podge over the whole thing.

Instead of a marble, I placed a round glass tile over.

Press down to get rid of any air bubbles. Now, to let it dry.

The Mod Podge dries clear, revealing the image! Glue on a pin back to the other side. Now I'm ready for Wear Red day!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're ready for another project tomorrow!

14 Days of Valentines - Day 5

Today is the fifth day in this series of 14 Days of Valentines. Yesterday, I used Plarn to tie up one of the gift card holders. So, you ask what is Plarn? Well, today is your lucky day, we're going to make a Plarn-ation!

Okay, I made that word up. We're going to make a carnation flower from Plarn, which is like a yarn made from plastic that's super strong. A Plarnation would be great for outdoor decorations and fun for Graduations, too. They are simple to make. Choose your color of Plarn, it comes in 6 colors: White, Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow and Green. I'm going to use two colors, the red and pink.

It's going to be just like making a pom pom. Take a piece of sturdy cardboard about 3" wide. First, wrap the pink plarn in the middle of the cardboard about 20 times.

Then, take the red plarn and wrap it around the cardboard left to right about 80 times.

I took  12" of the red plarn and slid it under one side of the wrapped plarn, like when you make a pom pom.

Tie the piece of plarn up, bundling the wrapped plarn. Tie it  as tight as you can and knot it two times to secure. Slide the cardboard out.

Cut apart all of the loops of plarn.

The pink plarn should be in the center,  just to give it some contrast. You can even trim this section shorter to make it stand out more. Shape the flower by fluffing the strands and trimming the ends as needed.

Take a 12" length of the red plarn and wrap around the bottom, tie securely.

Slip an 18 gauge floral wire through the bottom of the bundle. Fold the wire in half for the stem.

Place 5 satin leaves along the bottom to make a calyx. Glue in place, slightly overlapping each other.

Wrap up the stem with floral tape. Start the floral tape about 1" below the calyx. Wrap upwards to the calyx. Then, work your way back down to the end of the stem. Remember that you need to pull the floral tape slightly as you wrap to release the adhesive in the tape.

You can add leaves to the stem as you wrap it with the floral tape.

Fluff and shape the "plarnation" until you're happy with it. One roll of plarn can make a lot of flowers!

Although roses are generally associated with Valentine's Day, carnations always have a special place in my heart for that day. In my sophomore year (our first year of high school), my group of friends included four girls (my besties!) plus a couple of guys. We always hung out together and none of us were "couples". But on Valentine's Day, the guys surprised us! They each gave us girls a single stem rose and some carnation stems. It must've made them broke going to the florist near our school! So, we carried our flowers around all day, class to class. It was really sweet of them to make us all feel so special! Carnations take me back to those sweet memories.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope your week is going great!