DIY Origami Boutonnieres

. . . and back to some wedding crafts! . . .

Not only were the centerpieces and bouquets made of paper, so were the boutonnieres and corsages.  I had to play around with the boutonnieres the most.  At first when I made some samples, they would tip slightly to the side when pinned to the suit lapel.

In the end, I snapped off a piece of a wooden disposable chopstick.  Then I covered it with flower tape.  Next I made a green paper crane (but did not fold the head and tail of the crane up).  I glued the bottom third of the crane to the back of the chopstick/flower tape.  The crane helped to stabilize the chopstick against the suit lapel.  Then I re-covered the chopstick with painters tape, making sure to cover about 1/3rd of the bottom of the paper crane - to help it stay in place. After, I glued a piece of ribbon around the chopstick/flower tape - to add more color.  

For the flower, I made it following the instructions I found online: http://www.capitolromance.com/2011/09/21/diy-how-to-origami-paper-flower-bouquet/
I used different types of paper for each type of person in the wedding: Japanese washi paper for the groom, blue printer paper for the groomsmen and ring bearer, and white paper with Japanese kanji on it for the dads and my brother. 

After, I cut about 1/4th inch from the bottom of the flower (to make the bottom flat and easier to glue) - and hot glued it to the top of the chopstick - I used a lot of hot glue!  I wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall off!


The boutonnieres were pinned using a regular sewing pin.

 Boutonnieres for the Groomsmen and Groom

 Groom's Boutonniere (Photographed by Quinn Photography, but cropped by the bride)

  Ring Bearer's Boutonniere (Photographed by Quinn Photography, but cropped by the bride)

 

DIY Woven Lamp

Loved this idea, too! A DIY Woven Lamp: http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/2010/06/diy-with-bookhou-woven-lamp.html

I didn't find the thick edging, but found a thinner one at Home Depot.  I decided upon birch - since it looks a little more like a 'bamboo' color.  I think I used 2-3 packages (I bought one at a time because I didn't know how much I would need).

 


I did not use the card stock at the top (as directed in the above link).  Instead, I made a knot, using the cord, above the light bulb/socket.  Then I cut 4 smaller pieces of the edging and ironed the corners together, around and above the knot I had made in the cord.  I was wary of the edging being too close to the socket/bulb - in fear of it being a fire hazard.    

Next, I cut the edging into similar sized strips.  I didn't want to make the strips too long, or else the weight would make the circles droop over time. 

I made circles with the strips and ironed the ends together, or to the top square.  I weaved the circles in and out, overlapping on another, to help create more stability, and to help decrease the chance of drooping.

I kept overlapping circles until I felt the light peeked out enough, but was not super bright.  

Please excuse the cord in the background - this picture was taken before we swagged the extra cord to the ceiling. 

DIY Canvas Art

Loved this idea! . . . 'Super Easy Canvas Art' from: http://davisdaybyday.blogspot.com/2011/10/super-easy-canvas-art.html

. . . so I decided to make it for our place!

We had some extra painters tape leftover from painting an accent wall - so I used it on the canvases.  I didn't paint the canvases, nor the tape, white first (as suggested in the blog).  But, I would recommend using your nails to really make sure the painters tape is in the grooves of the canvases.  After painting over the tape with green acrylic paint, and peeling the tape off, I had to touch up some spots with white because the green paint had seeped under the painters tape.

(This is a picture of just the painters tape on the white canvas)

I didn't cut the tape in half for the smallest lines, either.  The smallest lines are the regular width of the painters tape.  The thicker lines are 2 or 3 rows of overlapping painters tapes. 

Finished product! (I played around with the order of the canvases):

 

DIY Felt Ramen Set

Looking online (http://www.etsy.com/listing/105145742/diy-felt-colored-ramenjapanese?ref=exp_listing), I found inspiration for my next project:

A DIY Ramen set for my niece.  Of course, mine does not look as professional as the one in the link above!  But, I did what I could.

My niece loves to eat edamame and nori, so I wanted to make her something that incorporated both of those things.   In addition, when eating at restaurants she likes to play with the chopsticks - so I wanted to give her something to practice with.

The ramen noodles were the easiest to make.  I used a regular felt rectangle sheet, sold in Michael's, and cut 1/2" strips.

For the shiitake mushrooms - I just cut out the basic 'shiitake' shape from a darker brown felt sheet.

I did the same for the regular mushrooms, using a lighter brown felt sheet.  However, I added another layer - sewed two mushrooms together, to help make them a little thicker to pick up with the chopsticks.  I did not do this with the shittake, because I had already cut them, and they were a little too thin to sew neatly.  But, hey, this can help with her chopstick skills b/c she can learn to pick up thicker or thinner items. 

For the nori - I cut out 2 black rectangles, and sewed them together (to help make them a little thicker to pick up with the chopsticks).

For the chasu, I roughly cut out a 'chasu' shape - sort of round.  Then I sewed 2 pieces together by making a swirl with the sewing machine/thread.

 The kamaboko, I cut out three pieces of felt - 2 white and 1 pink.  I sewed the three pieces together, following the shape of the white felt.

For the egg, I roughly cut out 2 white felt pieces, and one yellow circle piece.  I sewed the yellow circle to one of the white pieces.  Then, I sewed the 2 white felt pieces together - with the yolk on the inside - leaving a little opening to turn the pieces outside in.  Last, I hand-sewed the egg shut.  I was so happy when my niece opened her present b/c she said "Tamago!" excitedly as she held up the egg!

I roughly cut out 2 green pieces of felt, to resemble the edamame shape.  I cut them out a little bigger though, to leave leeway for sewing.  Next, I sewed the 2 green pieces inside out - leaving a little opening to turn the pieces outside in.  Before hand-sewing the closing, I took a piece of thread and thread it through the top middle of the edamame, then the bottom middle, and pulled it snug - this helped to create more of an indentation (as if there were edamame beans inside).

For the chopsticks, I used disposable chopsticks from a take out order.  The chopstick wrapper was folded over and over again until a small rectangle.  This was placed between the 2 chopsticks - then a rubber band was wrapped around it all, over and over again, until tight.

My favorite part - seeing my niece feed her best friends, Bert and Ernie!

DIY Candy Wrapper Gift (with Gloves)

Another holiday gift idea I found online - ended up making it for some of my coworkers. 

I got the idea from http://befickle.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20Gift%20Giving

And the printout from http://pattywraps.blogspot.com/2012/11/snowman-candy-bar-box-free-of-course.html

I printed out the snowman, then wrapped and taped it around a candy bar.  I placed one glove around the top of the candy bar.  Next I placed the second glove behind the candy bar, about an inch below the first glove.  I taped the second glove to the candy bar wrapper.  Then, I tied the pinky and thumb of the second glove, around the first glove - so that it would look like a winter hat!  

I also added some handwritten directions to the back - just in case they didn't notice they were gloves (and not just fabric) hehe.

Happy Holidays!!!

DIY Ninja Ornaments

. . . taking a little break from the DIY wedding craft posts . . .

Happy Holidays!!!

Pictured here are some DIY ornaments made for my best friend, who loves ninjas (and they match the ninja pillows I made her and her family: http://www.lwadamelon.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-felt-crafts.html )

I got the idea from The Cheese Thief http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/11/ninja-ornament-tutorial.html

I bought the plain ornaments - and decided on plastic ones, to help ease anxiety about them breaking in the mail.  I used acrylic white paint and then permanent marker for the eyes.  I decided to use more of a rectangular shape for the white paint, to match the pillows I had previously made for her. 

It was fun taking pictures of them, too!

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

DIY Wedding Crafts - Origami Flower Wedding Cake

To add to the numerous origami flowers made for our wedding, my husband, mother-in-law, and I, folded 2 different sized flowers for our wedding cake!  Again, we used regular printer paper in different colors.  We did not want to use Japanese newspaper for the cake, in fear that the buttercream icing would leave oily marks on it.  So, my husband - being creative - typed random words in Japanese characters on regular white paper and printed them out.  Things like - sushi, unagi, oishii, etc!

Each flower had a skewer hot glued to it (about halfway up the middle of the flower).  Then, we gave the flowers to the cake shop, and they were able to snip the skewers as they saw necessary.

  Photographed by Quinn Photography

Photographed by Quinn Photography

On the top of the cake are hand-painted kokeshi dolls, made to look like us.  We love them so much! - they were given to us by my matron of honor and her family!  (painted by http://www.kokeshiclan.com/#! )