Metallic Poinsettia Flowers for Christmas Decor

This post is on making metallic poinsettia flowers using just regular paper. Here, I made flowers with two layers of petals and applied golden and copper metallic shades of spray paint. These flowers are a great addition to your Christmas decors-tree, wreath, garlands, etc. It's a super simple project and moreover very inexpensive. You just need some materials that you might already have at home.

Materials required:

• A4 size sheet white paper
• Scissors
• Glue gun and sticks
• Spray paints in metallic shades
• Cotton swabs
• A cardboard strip
• Mask (use when applying spray paint)

How to make flowers:

• Cut A4 size paper into a square 
• Fold the square in half, repeat folding 3 more times (total 4 folds)
• Trace/draw the outline of the flower and cut along the line (one A4 paper yields 4 flowers). Also, make a cut to make a hole at the center
• Fold along the center of each petal to create a crease. This is to get a 3-D appearance 
• Separate the layers into 4 flowers
• Repeat the same process to make flowers of different sizes

Arranging flower

• Cut one tip of each cotton swab (if it's double-sided). Save it for later
• Cut a cardboard strip into 1-2 cm diameter circles and make a hole at the center. The purpose of this is to hold the petals in place when you arrange them
• Insert swabs into circular cardboard piece and fix in place by applying glue
• Then place and glue the larger petal on the cardboard piece followed by a smaller layer of petals. When placing the smaller second layer, be sure to place it at an angle so that the layers are not aligned on top of each other 
• Finally, glue the remaining cut tips on the center of the flower. 
• Arrange all flowers on a styrofoam piece and apply two coats of spray paint. Apply the first coat, then allow 5 min to dry before applying the next coat. 

(Caution: use outdoor space for applying spray paint and WEAR A MASK. Since most of the metallic finish spray paints are organic solvent-based, the vapors are harmful. DO NOT INHALE VAPORS!)

• Once the paint is dry, attach flowers to Christmas tree using a metal wire 

Happy Christmas, New Year, and Holidays!!

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Slinky Pumpkins-Fall Decor

Supplies:
Jumbo Slinky (orange color)
Pipe cleaner (green color)
Glue (I used E6000)
Acrylic colors-green and black
Paint brush
Yarn (orange color)
Twigs

Tutorial:
As the slinky I used was too large, I broke it to make two pumpkins. Glue the ends of the slinky together, then tie a knot using an orange color yarn in the center.

Paint the twigs for the stem and use a coiled pipe cleaner as the squiggly. Glue the twig and pipe cleaner on the top center of the pumpkin. Allow the glue to dry. (You may also add a fake leaf) That's it!!

DIY Canvas Picture Frame

 

 

Supplies:
Photo prints (8" X 10" )
Canvas (8" X 10")
Mod podge (Matte finish)
Foam brush
Acrylic paint 

Select a photo to decoupage on canvas. Apply an even coat of mod podge over canvas using a foam brush.  With extreme care lay the photograph over the modpodged surface of the canvas. Nicely even out the surface and make sure there are no air bubbles trapped in between the photograph and canvas.
Let it dry and trim any of the overhanging edges of photograph. Apply another coat of mod podge over the photo.  At this point, the surface of the photo looks covered in white brush strokes (see the picture below). 

It's perfectly fine and you will see the white color vanishes once the mod podge is dry. Make sure the brush strokes are either in horizontal or vertical direction. Let the mod podge dry.

Finally paint the four edges of the canvas (Choose matching or contrasting color). You may need 2-3 coats. Let the paint dry. Apply one more coat of mod podge on the painted edges. After it dries, hang up the pictures !!

  

Dried Plants

 

Dried flowers/plants are one of the most popular home decor items around.  Recently I noticed some road side beige-colored spiky grass and I thought to preserve and use it for indoor decor. (After googling, I think the plant I selected is reed canary grass ,which is a perennial grass growing in moist places.) 
Here is an easy method to preserve and showcase the dried plants.

Supplies:
Dried plants
Paints of your choice (I used acrylic paint-orange and green color)
Hair spray (or any mild glue)
Paint brushes

Pick dried plants with the perfect seed head and stem. (if it is not dry, dry them in shade for a week). Apply a a few squirts of the hair spray (or any mild glue) over the seed head to prevent it from falling apart. Let it dry and apply 1-2 coats of paint using a brush. Organize  in a flower vase once the paint is dried. 
(From my experience, the seed heads were intact for 2 years. You can apply more hair spray after an year to prevent them from falling )