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?

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...

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.

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.

Brown Shimmer Moca Cafe Paper Daisy

Autumn Daisy

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.

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

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.

Elegant Autumn Wedding

Autumn is just days away, and something about seeing apples and pumpkins everywhere inspires me to dream in autumn colors and scents.

Even our CSA shares (from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA) have been colored scarlet, purple and amber by the freshest crop of peppers, eggplant and squashes. Is there anything else quite like the abundance of fall harvests? 

So, no wonder I think about flowers in fall palettes all day long. 

:)

I just finished one fall-inspired bouquet and I'm currently working on a couple of other pieces.

One of the bouquets to come is a copy in paper flowers of an actual bridal bouquet. The groom contacted me to create the paper flowers version of his bride's bouquet as a gift for their first anniversary. I think it's such a sweet idea that I couldn't resist taking on the challenge.

I'll blog about my progress on this piece in the next few days.

In the mean time, here are more pictures of my latest autumn bouquet.

How To Make Paper Leaves

Paper leaves are easy to make.

All you need is:

• paper
• ruffled edge scissors
• glitter gel pens
• ink

First, cut out leaf-like shapes from a nice paper with the decorated edge scissors.

Lightly touch the leaf with ink to give it more depth, then draw the veins with a gel pen in a contrasting color.

You can glue the leaf to a flower, or wire it and wrap it in floral tape.

And, voila - - -  a paper leaf, ready to complement a paper flower (in this case, a bookmark paper flower).