DIY-Tutorial: Bridal Bouquet Preservation Artwork #2

Here's another tutorial about how to turn your wedding flowers into an individual piece of artwork.

Materials:

- dried bouquet ( this time i used yellow tulips)
- paint brush and sponge
- acrylic paint in turquoise, yellow, red and green
- Mod Podge ( or similar)
- large sheet of paper matching the size of the bouquet ( or a canvas)

The best way to dry tulips is to just let them sit in the vase until the blossoms are completely dry. Pay attention to the water though and pour away when it turns dull, otherwise it might mold.

1. To create a contrasting background, mix blue acrylic paint with a drob of water, dunk in a paintbrush and splash the paint onto the paper/ canvas. No need to be precise, just feel and act like a five-year-old again, whee!

2. Let dry, then use a sponge to cover the entire surface with Mod Podge.

3. Now carefully place the bouquet on top of the paper and immediately press it down with a flat and solid item. Smart people use a book, unprepared dummies grab the next best thing they can find ( e.g. a paint brush package).
Make sure all the petals get in contact with the Mod Podge

4. Up next, dab the flowers with Mod Podge. It is important that all the petals keep sticking to the paper/ canvas, otherwise they will fall down once you hang your piece of artwork.

Let dry completely for ca. 1-3 hours. In the meantime, wash your sponge and paintbrush.

4. Now you can paint the flowers.
Mix different hues to achieve a vivid and more realistic look. In addition to yellow i applied a red color to make my flowers look like parrot tulips.
For the stems, start with a dark green and put some highlights with a brighter shade.

5. Again, let the paint dry completely.

6. As a final step, insert the sheet of paper into a glassless frame and hang it up.

And that's it!

WHOA, what an AWESOME way to start the day!
My fun Button Ring Bowl made it into the Etsy Weddings Newsletter tonight!!!!!!

Custom Order: Bouquet Charm

The customer purchased this personalized bouquet charm as a gift for the bride, and so i could not resist to include a handmade gift box. My husband jokingly asked me if i knew that this is totally inefficient from a financial point of view. Yep, i know, but i just love making those things and thinking about how another person receives my mail, opens the envelope and then smiles or even squeals of joy makes me happy!

New Business Cards

Working on...

This week i am working on a custom order of 100 fabric flowers. The bride wants to attach them to her wedding gown to create a unique and vintage inspired one-of-a-kind style.
I adore this idea!

FEATURED!!!!

Remember back in January when i mentioned my preparations for my parents' anniversary surprise party?
I haven't posted any photos of the party yet beeeeecause... i submitted it to Hostess with the Mostess and it got FEATURED today!!!

Man, i am so excited to see my tiny event over at this amazing and inspiring super-blog!!! Even more so because i basically created everything out of nothing and materials i already had.

CLICK HERE

to see the feature

and 

HERE

to see all photos

And a photo of me hanging up those giant paper flowers:

DIY: Another Vase Makeover

Dark blue is so not my color, but IKEA had those vases on sale a while ago and two of them went home with me. One got a makeover today, the other one is still waiting for a brilliant idea.

I used a turquoise Edding and instead of spray paint a white acrylic paint that is at least ten years old and because of its age mostly dried out and crumbly, but i think that gives it an interesting texture.
The flowers are made of recycled plastic.

DIY: Vase Trio Makeover

I finally managed to restyle those 10-cents vases. At first i gave them a coat of white spray-paint, which looked quite nice. But as much as i enjoy all-white decor and furniture, this is just not the kind of interior i want to live with.

I need color in my life, lots of color, and most of all my favorite colors: turquoise and yellow.
So  i decided to transform the vases into something colorful, fun and imperfect instead. I'll probably repaint them in a few months, but for now i totally like that style.

The decoration is from last year: Billy Balls made of modelling clay, and denim roses

DIY: Dried Flower Canvas #2 - Tulips

Here's another tutorial about how to turn a dried flower bouquet into an individual piece of artwork.

Materials:

- dried tulip bouquet
- paint brush and sponge
- acrylic paint in turquoise, yellow, red and green
- Mod Podge ( or similar)
- large sheet of paper matching the size of the bouquet ( or a canvas)

The best way to dry tulips is to just let them sit in the vase until the blossoms are completely dry. Pay attention to the water though and pour away when it turns dull, otherwise it might mold.

1. To create a contrasting background, mix blue acrylic paint with a drob of water, dunk in a paintbrush and splash the paint onto the paper/ canvas. No need to be precise, just feel and act like a five-year-old again, whee!

2. Let dry, then use a sponge to cover the entire surface with Mod Podge.

3. Now carefully place the bouquet on top of the paper and immediately press it down with a flat and solid item. Smart people use a book, unprepared dummies grab the next best thing they can find ( e.g. a paint brush package).
Make sure all the petals get in contact with the Mod Podge

4. Up next, dab the flowers with Mod Podge. It is important that all the petals keep sticking to the paper/ canvas, otherwise they will fall down once you hang your piece of artwork.

Let dry completely for ca. 1-3 hours. In the meantime, wash your sponge and paintbrush.

4. Now you can paint the flowers.
Mix different hues to achieve a vivid and more realistic look. In addition to yellow i applied a red color to make my flowers look like parrot tulips.
For the stems, start with a dark green and put some highlights with a brighter shade.

5. Again, let the paint dry completely.

6. As a final step, insert the sheet of paper into a glassless frame and hang it up.

And that's it!

This project is linked up to my favorite Linky Parties

Living: Preparing for Emergency

A few months ago I noticed a smell of warm plastic coming from the area near our TV. But MisterT could not find anything unusual and he did not smell it either. The next night i smelled it again, but we could not locate it and assumed it might be the drying leaves from my birthday bouquet.

The next night our TV and the light in our living room suddenly turned off and on and off and on again. This time we assumed the problem was caused by a broken bulb in our uplight which then made the fuse jump out. MisterT switched off everything immediately and checked the breaker box, but everything was ok. Weird....

I noticed the smell again and this time could locate it. We had a vase full of chestnuts besides our TV and unfortunately they had started to mold. So we thought the problem was solved: Smelling chestnuts and a broken light bulb.

We went to the kitchen to throw away the chestnuts and wash the vase when the power in the living room went off and on again. At this point we started to panic a bit and MisterT  began to move our furniture to check all the power outlets. After we moved the new Billy cabinet, the smell ( that we thought was caused by the chestnuts) got more penetrant and we could hear a buzzing sound. 

There was a fire in our wall!!

We did not see any flames but the power outlet cover plate was charred, as well as one of the cables inside the wall. Mister T secured everything and called the electricians emergency hotline to ask if we are save until the next day or if someone had to come here immediately. The electrician said MisterT had done everything right and we would be ok over night.

My dear readers, i am writing about this incident as a reminder. Something like this can happen anytime and we should all be prepared for emergencies, may it be a fire, a natural disaster or a medical emergency.  

Please, please, please be prepared!

I have a terrible fear of fire ever since i was a child and no matter where we lived i always created an emergency exit plan with an escape route out of each room, depending on the location of the fire.

Before this incident happened i had also been planning to pack an emergency kit but skipped it from day to day, thinking " Nah, i can still do it tomorrow".

I packed it right after the incident. This is what i included:

- Cash. Not much though, just enough to buy some food and stuff

- Our passports

- An external hard disk drive with the latest back-up of our digital photos and scanned documents.

- Our most important documents: marriage certificate, car documents, registration certificates, phone and electricity company letters and contracts, our rental contract

- Adresses and phone numbers of family and friends

- Spare Car Keys

A few more things to mention:

- make an emergency exit plan for your home and pack an emergency kit for your family and  pets 

- be sensible to any unusal scents and noises, take them seriously and investigate where they are coming from

- a cordless house telephone is totally useless when the power is switched off! It does not work hence it cannot be used to make an emergency call. Make sure your cellphone always has a fully charged battery to be able to call the police or fire rescue or medical rescue!

- Keep several flashlights at different points in your home and check their function regularly. We have a large one in our living room and a small one besides our bed. Never change their positions!! Everyone in your household MUST know where they and easily be able to find them in the dark!

- same with a fire extinguisher

- install smoke detectors in every room. We had inexpensive ones from the hardware store for several years but they were replaced after smoke detectors had become the law here last year. They are professionally maintained on a regular base.

Invest in high quality smoke detectors. They will save your life!

- have ICE contacts in your phone's adress book! Please read both links to the ICE function and decide which one works best for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.123

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_case_of_emergency

You can find more detailed lists about emergency preparations here:

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/epc.pdf

http://thetiffy.tumblr.com/post/10792235187/how-i-watched-my-apartment-burn-or-what-do-you-grab

So, this is all i can think of right now, hope it helps! Feel free to share your tips how to prepare and what to pack in case of fire.