Paper Roses are a blooming

I have become a little obsessed with flowers on Pinterest...it all started with making the rosettes here, and has just blossomed from there.  I have tried a heap of different tutorials and types of flowers, and I will cover my favourites in upcoming posts but the one that has caught my attention the most is the paper rose.

I followed the fabulously detailed tutorial here and they turned out pretty well I think.  The tutorial uses coffee filters (which are great to work with) and I also used some old book pages to make them.  I mixed a bit of my daughters paint with water and painted away and both the filters and books came up really well. 

For someone with not so green thumbs, this is one way I can have flowers in my house......no watering, falling petals or wilted flowers....love it! 

For more paper flower inspiration check out my Pinterest board.

And now I must get back to focussing on Christmas!

Holy Crepe {paper} Batman

So{or should that be sew?}, carrying on from my previous post about sewing paper, I have been busy making more cards in the last couple of weeks after being inspired by this card that I found on Pinterest.  I just loved the bright colours and had plenty of crepe paper around so I just had to give it a go.

via Paper Crafts Connection

I had lots of fun doing these, and they all look so festive and ready for a party!

I had paper left over so I made matching tags to go with the cards

I love the red and aqua combination, its not something I would normally put together but I was inspired by the lovely blog A Spoonful of Sugar and it totally works.

So I'm prepared for any upcoming birthdays, but as for the very fast approaching Christmas I've still got alot of work ahead!  Must focus, must focus........

The Stash

One thing I've learning since living in the islands, is if you see something you want at the supermarket{or any shop really}, buy it there and then, because you can guarantee next time you go it won't be there and it may be months{or never} before you see it again!

So when I saw rice crackers in the supermarket the other day {which I've only seen twice in  1 1/2 years }, I made the most of it, is 30 packets too much....in normal circumstances I would say yes, but living in the islands does funny things to you, see one packet is missing already.....but the checkout chick may have thought I was a bit crazy as she gave me a weird sideward glance.

Now they can keep my stash of spaghetti company {seen only once here}, I think I took at least half the stock, snooze you lose people!

Christmas - its a hoot

I love Christmas....but I love the lead up to Christmas even more!! At the start of November my mind turns to Christmas and with my new Bestie Pinterest by my side this year, I have a lot of inspiration to work with!

First off the ranks this year are these little Christmas owls, I love how they turned out, just too
cu{hoot}!

Now I wonder what other animals I can add reindeer antlers too and call them Christmas decorations?

Sew not a sewer

Having a sewing machine means you can sew right?  Not in this household!  I have had my machine for a couple of years now and can probably only think of a couple of things I have attempted to sew...the whole sewing thing just seems to be beyond me. 

Do you know what i use it for, apart from another dust collector, not sewing material but paper.  Yep I bought my machine so I could sew paper.......am I crazy, maybe...but i was totally inspired by Moonmum's creations....she creates some gorgeous cards, notebooks and bookmarks by sewing paper into lovely designs.  Well I quickly found out it wasn't as easy as it looked so I had to find some easier ideas to sew. I found this card below and thought I could probably manage to sew a couple of straight{ish} lines.

via The Creative Place

I like to take an idea and put my spin on it, so here are a couple of cards I have made recently.  They are really easy to make and I love the dimension that adding layers to the cards create.

So is there anyone else out there that only uses their sewing machine for sewing paper?  Tell me I'm not the only one...please!