Monday, December 26, 2011

RED, CHAMPAGNE and WHITE

This lovely piece was created for Sandra who wanted a wedding bouquet in RED, CHAMPAGNE AND WHITE.

I made roses in red and peonies in white, and for the "champagne" part of the palette I used book paper to create more roses (touched with ink to give the petals more definition).

Red and white paper lace butterflies complement the flowers and a lovely high quality satin ribbon ties it all together.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Sleeping Baby


This "Baby sleeping father hands" Giclee print by OrangeOptimist on Etsy catches the most perfect news in my life perfectly.

My baby boy has arrived, healthy and hungry, and occupies my nights and days with perfect efficiency :) Dad is here to lend a helpful hand, but it's up to mama to keep him happy and well-fed.

So, on that note, I'll be taking a little break from blogging and creating paper pieces for a few weeks, just so I can bond with my boy and recover.

Please email me / leave comments / check out my Etsy shop if you see something that you like here and would like to talk to me about paper flowers for your wedding and I'll do my best to reply in a timely manner.

Thanks for understanding and be back to blogging soon!

- Marija

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Cobalt Blue and Yellow


I'm in the process of making paper flowers for a very special June wedding.

The palette is cobalt blue and yellow.

The vision: a book lovers' wedding with thoughtful vintage touches.

The flowers for the bridal bouquet, as well as for the other pieces, like bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages, are still in the early stages, so in the next couple of months I'll post updates about my progress, as well as show the finished pieces.

For now, I'll just enjoy in the inspiration that this fresh color palette brings to mind: crisp skies, warm sunshine, well-loved vintage touches, pearly sophistication, afternoons with books, and a happy wedding on a clear summer's day.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Zoe Bradley's Awesome Work

I adore Zoe Bradley's work. She does amazing window installations, some of which feature beautiful paper flowers, like this awesome New Town Plaza installation.

Or these flowers for Kate's Paperie.
What an inspiration!!!
Wow!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Ivory Gold Pomanders for Anna's Wedding

I just received this happy photo from one of my favorite Etsy clients, Anna, who had her wedding this summer.

She wanted paper flower spheres for her five flower girls in an ivory gold palette, and she wanted each pomander personalized with the girl's name. It was such a sweet idea, I couldn't resist it :)

So, for Emma, Mya, Lexi, Kiki and Hanne I made paper butterflies to carry their names in gold ink, and attached them to the paper roses in colors ranging from soft white to gold and polka-dot yellow.


I'm so happy these paper flowers made it to such a nice wedding and that Anna and the girls were happy with them.

For a person who likes to play with paper, there is nothing so rewarding as knowing that your paper creations have found a good home with people who will appreciate them.

So, Anna, thanks so much for sending the photo!!!
Cheers!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Autumn Sun Through Vellum

Want simple lighting decorations for a casual party?

You'll need about 4 things:

  1. vellum paper
  2. a few glass jars lids
  3. double sided tape
  4. battery-operated LED tea lights

Cut out the paper as needed to wrap it around the lid, then use double sided tape to secure it and drop one LED tea light in each lamp.

These look lovely when lit up, and especially lovely on a sunny afternoon.

You can see more of my vellum light decorations here and here.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Vanilla Cream and Turquoise FLEUR DE LIS

Sometimes a paper is so gorgeous that you don't want to cut it or mess with it in any way, always keeping it for something more special along the way.

My vanilla-colored fleur-de-lis-patterned paper fits in this category.

I enjoyed it too much to ever want to do anything with it. So it stayed untouched for a long time. And then, in one afternoon, I decided to finally use it for something pretty and meaningful and made these 3 paper flowers.

What makes these flowers so special?

  • Hand-cut petals, folded and inked, then glued into place to form the flowers;
  • Lovely silverish pearly beads for the centers;
  • Wired stems which can be twisted in any direction or form, or kept straight for easy displaying in a simple vase;
  • Most of all - this lovely lovely designer paper, evocative of rustic elegance and shabby chic awesomeness.

Check out the pics for details...

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Colors of the Day - GRAY and YELLOW

Today is colored in gray and yellow - golden sunshine and silver clouds.

Two paper flowers to match the mood and the light.

Enjoy!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Pink Gold Paper Flowers

Cambridge, MA was hidden behind a thick layer of misty fog today. Very gray and dull... But a violent rain this afternoon cheered things up a bit and even introduced a bit of sunlight before a second round of showers.
Just in time for me to take some pictures of the new pink flowers I've been working on.

I've come up with golden pink roses (striped pink paper touched with luscious gold ink) and spiky paper flowers with shimmer paper centers.

The cheerful pics of the whole bunch can be seen in more detail below.
Not bad for a rainy foggy afternoon, right?

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A deer, a rabbit, a squirrel and a badger

I have always loved to draw and dabble in watercolors, but it's been years since my last attempt. A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about it again. Unsure at first, I started to draw an animal, and little by little, it started to actually look like one :)

The inspiration behind the effort was the idea that I'd maybe create some kind of watercolor art for my soon-to-be-born son's nursery.

I hadn't done it in a really long time that I wasn't too sure I'd pull it off with these little forest animal drawings, but now that they are actually done, I feel so happy and proud of them.

The drawings were partly inspired by Esop's fables (which both me and my husband used to read as kids), from illustrations in old-school children's books that we received from a close friend and from me spending hours looking at animal prints on Etsy.

As you can see in the pics below, each animal drawing is mounted on a couple of layers of designer paper, which I'll hang on the wall next to the baby's crib using push-pins instead of picture frames (for fear of them crashing down and hurting my baby).
I'll post more pictures of the wall art once it is set up in the nursery.
Stay tuned...

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Fern and Moss

Who'd think that brown flowers can be so cheerful, right?

I had this brown paper with green leaves laying around and decided to make something happy with it. Hence - the big brown daisies with pretty brown and green buttons.

Each petal is cut and inked by hand, than folded and glued into a daisy-like shape.

Complementary flowers:
  • shimmer moss green flowers
  • little light pink flowers

Embellishments:
  • buttons
  • crystals
  • pearls
  • satin ribbon in two shades
"FERN & MOSS" Paper Flowers Bouquet
Perfect for a woodland-inspired wedding.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Shimmering Brown - Moca Cafe - Autumn Flower Bookmarks

It's getting chilly this September... This morning I wore my long sleeves around the house and thought of getting the winter clothes out from their hiding place from under the bed.

There's no doubt about it - autumn days are here.

And, with them, I get more and more drawn to cozy afternoons curled with a book, a hot soup and something hand-knit to wear. My sweet old granny from Macedonia sent me a pretty awesome collection of woolen socks that she knit especially for me this summer. I was looking at them the other day wondering when I'd get to wear them, but now I see that I won't have to wait until December. It's probably going to be much sooner than that.

Anyways, with colder weather, I start to notice how quickly this autumn has arrived.

I see it in the bright yellow, orange and red produce we get from our CSA farm; in the leaves changing color outside our windows; in the splash of occasional cold rain and the ever-decreasing sunlight dancing on the walls of our living room.

Inspired by the colors of fall and feelings about fall, I made these paper daisies with cheerful buttons and handmade paper leaves.

{ BOOKMARKS * VASE ADORNMENTS * GIFT TOPPERS * ETC. }
See them in my shop.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

1st Anniversary Gift - A paper flowers copy of the bride's bouquet

The paper flowers I've been making based on one very special bride's wedding bouquet from 1 year ago are finally ready!

I worked on them for a few weeks and one by one, the petals came together and each blossom formed and folded by hand found its place in one of the loveliest bouquets I've ever made.

I was especially thrilled to work on a piece in a palette I haven't used before: hot pinks, deep purple, lilac and soft white.

This bouquet was constructed from:
  • paper roses
  • paper daisies
  • paper orchids
  • paper hydrangea
  • paper peonies
The flowers have been enhanced with pearl and crystal accents and custom touches of different inks. A dab of glitter glue here and there makes the bouquet sparkle.

I'll be sending it to the groom, Rob, tomorrow morning so he can wrap it in a fabric piece of his wife's bridal gown and present it to her as a 1st anniversary gift. Very thoughtful of him, don't you think?

Here are more pictures of the paper flowers bouquet.

Friday, September 16, 2011

For those who love books...

Made from designer paper and the pages of a beloved book.

Book-Lovers Fancy Bouquet

BROWN BUTTONS * POLKA DOT FLOWERS * PEARLS * BOOK ROSES * PAPER DAISIES * GOLD INK * STAMPS * VINTAGE PRINTS * FLORAL TAPE * PEACH FLOWERS * IVORY BLOOMS

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Copy of an actual wedding bouquet

Some time ago I received an unusual request through Etsy.

First of all, it was the groom who contacted me (I usually get emails from brides or ladies in the wedding party).

Second of all, he sent me these pictures asking me if I could re-create his bride's bouquet in paper flowers.

It was to be a gift for her for their first anniversary.

How could I say "No"?

This is such a sweet idea, that I decided to do my best and create this beautiful gift.

So far, I have most of the paper roses all ready, as well as orchids and a few of the hydrangea blossoms. A paper daisy is coming along nicely, too.

So, hopefully, in the next few days I'll have the whole piece finished.

In the meantime, here's a peek at what I have done so far.