Paper Quill Monogram

I finally tried my hand at paper quilling.  I saw a beautiful monogram over here and used that as my inspiration. 

Only had to buy one thing:  a paper quilling slotted tool, which was $3.99 at Hobby Lobby.

Normally, paper quilling is done with 1/8" strips of paper, but for this project I used 1/4".

I first used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a large initial out of paper.

I lightly traced around my letter with a pencil onto a 12 x 12 piece of white card stock.

I then cut a bunch of 1/4" strips of light blue paper to use as my letter outline.

I scored all corners and dry fit them on top of my pencil outline.  Once I had that done I started gluing down my strips of paper into my letter shape.  Using a small paint brush I laid down a thin line of mod podge along my pencil line.  I then lightly pressed down on my strip of paper to adhere to the white paper.  I held in place for a few seconds before moving on to the next section.  When the strip ends just over lap with a  new strip of paper and glue and keep going.

Once my outline was complete I chose 4 colors of blues and a green to use for the inside of my letter.  I cut into 1/4" strips.

Then using my quill pen I just started rolling up the paper.  I set them down in the areas I wanted.  Dry fitting the entire piece to make sure I liked it before moving on.

Here is a photo of the dry fit piece:

Another dry fit shot:

I picked a starting point and using my small paint brush applied the glue to the bottom of the piece of paper and set into place.

To make the paper look like it continues through the initial make sure to apply glue to the end and butt right up against the initial.

Well, I have no idea what happened between dry fitting and final glue but obviously I had made some changes!  Oh well, once it's glued down it's done.  I still like it, but maybe next time I will have the dry fit picture RIGHT next to me to view!

I will be framing in a shadow box.  You can also use a regular frame but leave out the glass.

 

It really was a fun & easy project and I am already moving on to different letters to give out as gifts!

Beefed Up Baseboards

Since we have 10 foot ceilings downstairs I wanted to beef up the baseboards, but do it the faux way.  I was not about to rip up and replace all the regular baseboards!  Started with the kitchen/dining area first. 
Here is the after:

 

 

I love the finished look and it was a very inexpensive project.

 

I purchased my screen moulding from Lowes.  My pieces were 3/4" x 8' at only $2.38 apiece!

 

 



Before shot:

I used a scrap piece of wood as my spacer and set that on top of my original baseboard and set my new trim piece on top of that and using my nail gun quickly nailed to the wall and just kept sliding down my spacer and nailing in the trim piece.  This project went quickly and because the trim was so light it's an easy job for one person to do.

We have an alcove in the kitchen dining area and using scrap pieces of wood (and 3 guesses) I figured out the angle in the alcove was 20 degrees.  Perfect fit.

Then I caulked along the entire top of the trim piece and filled in the nail holes and sanded.  Applied 2 coats of pure white paint.  

 Love it! I will be doing the entire first floor with this faux treatment.