The Monogrammed Life: May 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014 2 comments

Last week I purchased a wedding gift for a family member. I was looking in the gift-wrapping aisle for some pretty paper & ribbon when I saw this…

A $2.99 tissue paper flower. $2.99!!

My first thought was there’s no way people really pay for those, but then I realized THEY DO!
Friends…I am here to tell you to STOP buying $3 tissue paper flowers when you can make them for a quarter of the price!

My mom taught me to make these great little accessories when I was a kid. We used them to decorate her classroom or at showers at church. It wasn’t until last year (when I was ribbon less) I realized how cute they’d look on top of a gift!

What you’ll need:

Tissue Paper (any color or combination of colors)

Scissors

Bread Tie, Fishing Line, or Pipe Cleaner

Tape to decorate a package or fishing line to hang somewhere

Stack 7-10 sheets of tissue paper. These will be your petals so you may add more if desired.

Cut your paper. Generally tissue paper comes in pretty large sheets. Depending on the size of the paper flower you desire you can cut a square accordingly. My rule of thumb is a fourth of a sheet for package decorations & half a sheet + for paper flowers to hang. I have also seen smaller flowers made as table setting décor.

Begin folding paper in an accordion-like fashion. Make each fold 1-2 inches, alternating directions. When you have folded the entire paper, it should look like a fan.

Secure the center with a bread tie, fishing line, or pipe cleaner.

Cut each end of the folded paper into a rounded or pointy shape. This gives each petal dimension & detail.
A rounded shape will look similar to mine below. A pointy cut will look more like a Dahlia.

You'll see that my cut wasn't exactly perfect, but that's ok! You're just adding dimension to the petals.

Separate each layer. Begin pulling apart each sheet of tissue paper.

Fluff the layers to make your tissue paper flower perfect!

The last step is to add your tissue paper flower to your package by taping each side of your bread tie or secure additional fishing line to hang your flower!

These flowers also make great event décor as well. Use fishing line or ribbon to hang from the ceiling or simply display them in various places to add detail. I am not gonna lie, I’ve used pink Victoria Secret tissue paper for gift flowers before.
Repurposing is a beautiful thing, Y'all!!

I hope this tutorial was helpful & you can finally stop buying those overprized gift bows! Let me know if you have any tips of your own or questions on the tutorial. So glad you stopped by!

Written by Jenni from Frankly, My Dear...

Wednesday, May 28, 2014 No comments

Monday, May 26, 2014 20 comments

Friday, May 23, 2014 4 comments

A few weekends ago I got the hankering to do a DIY project. I jumped at the opportunity because it's not every weekend that I can (or want to) do the little projects around the house! I had been on the hunt for a vintage roll up desk for quite some time. I'm talking scouring thrift stores, consignment stores and Craiglist for months (and months and months). Either they were too expensive, were too beat up to fix, or further away than I wanted to travel. I lucked up and found this one for free (!!!!) It had been well loved, but it still had great bones. It just needed a little TLC. I decided I wanted to put it in our guest room as a place to store extra desk items and in lieu of a night stand. This was probably one of my favorite DIY projects to date. The fact that it turned out so well was just an added bonus!

What you will need:

-cloth or wet paper towel to remove any excess dust,etc.

-Primer (I use Valspar primer)

-Spray Paint (I use Rust-oleum Satin)

- gloves (spray paint seems to explode on my hands every time)

-a sheet/newspaper/cardboard to cover your work area

-screwdriver (if removing hardware)

After having a few DIY projects result in really bad brush strokes from primer, I have sworn myself to using spray paint primer. Personally, I find it easier to cover the surface and it's easier to conceal those not-so-perfect parts. I really like that Valspar goes on so easily and dries fairly quickly (within an hour if not less). That is also a huge advantage.

After my primer is fully dry, I move on to the actual spray paint. There were a few areas on this piece that showed some drip marks from the primer, so I sanded those and then got to work. I fully painted one coat of paint on the desk, then let it dry for a few hours. I pulled out all of the drawers and painted them separately. I then put a second coat on the desk. I always suggest a second coat even if it looks evenly covered with the first coat.

Once every part of the desk was dry, I added the hardware. I ended up keeping the original hardware on the drawers, but added classic, clear knobs on the roll up part of the desk. The combination of these turned out so well for a classic roll up desk look.

I couldn't have been more thrilled with the way this DIY project turned out! It gives me motivation to do more DIY projects around the house. I often find that if I get an idea (via Pinterest of course) and am patient, the result is always worth it.... especially for a girl on a budget!!

Have you had any successful DIY projects? If so, link them in the comments below- I would love to check them out!

Written by Emily from Life with Emily

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 2 comments

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