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.

Door Crown Moulding

Thought I would dress up the front door a bit so I added on some crown moulding.  It really added alot of interest in the sky high foyer we have.

I had never cut crown moulding before but it actually was not hard at all.

Here is the before shot:

A few tips I have:

Just remember to always cut it upside down.  The most decorative part of crown moulding is usually the bottom of it.  So when cutting it, make sure its always facing up for your cuts.
To make sure I never forgot this I took a pencil and wrote top and bottom on my crown.

Crown moulding has a flat back portion and then 2 "wings".  It is very important that these "wings" are flush against your fence and table of your miter saw while cutting. 

You are essentially wrapping crown around a piece of mdf board on 3 sides so when measuring your long span of crown molding account for this in your measurement, I had to add on a total of about 1/2-inch extra to account for this.

It was easiest for me when cutting the small return pieces to just attach to my main piece of crown with Gorilla wood glue and blue painters tape and let it set up over night.

First I measured my door span and cut a piece of mdf to match.  I used 5 1/2" wide mdf and using my nail gun installed on top of my door trim.

I had a small gap between the door trim and the mdf so I installed a piece of pine trim to hide this seam.  I used wood glue and blue painters tape to hold until dry.

Then measured for my front piece of crown moulding, adding about 1/2-inch to allow me to add small side return pieces.  Cut both ends at a 45 degree angle using your miter saw, ensuring the crown moulding is flush against the fence and table of the saw table.

Next I got my measurement for the small side pieces.  I held up my crown moulding to the mdf board and measured the distance back to the wall from the top portion of the crown moulding.

These small pieces will have a 45 degree cut and a straight cut.  The straight side butts against the wall.  I cut the straight part first by laying the crown flat on the table and cutting at 90 degrees.

Then I marked my measurement and cut at a 45 degree angle.
Remember to cut the small pieces upside down just like you did previously. 

I'm a visual person so here is what the pieces will look like for the right side before gluing together:

A photo of what the left side will look like before gluing:

Used wood glue and blue painter tape to attach the 2 side pieces and let dry over night.

I painted the crown moulding before nailing it up which saved a lot of hassle. 

Used my level and nail gun to attach the crown moulding piece to the top portion of the mdf board.

Filled in nail holes and added one last swipe of white paint.

Off to do the back doors now!

UPDATED TO ADD:

Wooden Puzzle Blocks

My last Christmas project finally done.  It was easy to put together and has already provided a ton of fun for K!  Six different puzzles from one package of blocks.

Items needed:
Pkg of 1-inch wood blocks from Hobby Lobby. 
Mod Podge Matte finish
sponge brush
paper cutter
book of choice

I purchased a Golden Book of The Night Before Christmas and picked out the 6 pages I wanted to use for each side of the blocks. 

I cut the picture down to a 4-inch square and then cut into 4 rows of 1-inch wide.

I laid out 3 blocks on the top of my 1" x 4" strip of paper and using a pencil made lines where each block was and cut on the lines in order to get four 1-inch squares.

Using my sponge brush I applied mod podge to a block and pressed a square onto the block surface.

I worked left to right and then started a new row until reaching the fourth row.

I let glue dry for a few minutes then used my zacto blade to trim any excess paper off my block so no edges stuck out past the wooden block.

Apply a top coat of glue to surface of block and once dry keep applying new pictures onto the blank areas of your blocks.

I always rotated my blocks in the same direction when getting ready to apply a new scene on the blocks.  Of course you don't have to this, I just wanted my blocks to be orientated the same all way around.

I liked how it turned out and think it will be a nice holiday edition to bring out each Christmas, especially since this was the book I remember as a child.


I have also started a large block puzzle of one of my favorite childhood books that I found in color.  I am using 2-inch blocks for this next project.  I bought these blocks from Hobby Lobby also.

Happy New Year!

Fox Scarf

I had to make this one right away!  Love it.  There is a great tutorial over at Prudent Baby.  So I'm just going to share a few photos.

I'm much to impatient to drive all over looking for plaid flannel so I bought mine here.

I bought a yard and it was enough for 3 scarfs, if you are prudent with the pattern placement.

I also bought the minky fabric at  Fabric.com.

Love it.  Will surely bring a chuckle.

Ornament Ice Skater

I loved this ornament the moment I saw it over at Creative Breathing. 

Such a cute addition for our tree. 

I was having a hard time printing out her pattern so I pretty much free handed my items.

Easy to put together:
6 inch white pipe cleaner, plus extra for ear muffs
Silver pipe cleaner
Wooden bead 3/4 inch
White thread for hanging and boot laces
Red wool felt
2 pom-poms
Hot glue gun

After bending the pipe cleaner in half, add a hanging string.  Bend some small feet.  Feed thread and pipe cleaner through bead hole.  Paint the face & hair onto the wooden bead.

I used a 3 1/2 inch circle template to cut out a felt circle.  Then using my pinking shears I trimmed it down a little more.  Then cut out a small pie wedge in order to wrap around your pipe cleaner body.

I drew the skate boots, gloves and arms onto freezer paper and ironed onto my felt.  I cut out the scarves to be 1/2 inch wide by about 5 inches long. 

I hot glued the dress tightly around the pipe cleaner, just under the wooden bead.

Then added a drop of hot glue to attach gloves to the arms.  Then attached to top of dress.

Wrapped the scarf around the neck and hot glued into place.  I then trimmed off excess and cut fringes onto end of scarf.

Formed almost a semi circle with pipe cleaner onto the top of head and cut to proper length.  Leaving space to add the pom poms under neath the pipe cleaner.  Hot glue the pipe cleaner onto top of head.

Before hot gluing the pom poms to the head trim off a small section in order to have a flat surface to glue.

Glue on boots and thread the string to mimic boot laces and tie into a bow.

Cut a small piece of silver pipe cleaner and glue to bottom of boot.

I like how her back leg is kicked up like she is skating!

I will trim the width of the neck scarf for my next one and shorten her arms a wee bit.  Poor thing is looking like Stretch Armstrong right now.   But over all I think she turned out okay and looks nice on the Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas!

UPDATE:  Yes,  much nicer with the shorter arms!