Valentines Day Creation

I've been charged with making some decorations for the florist shop where I work for Valentines Day. After having a quick look at the catalogue of florist shop point of sale decorations, I decided that I would rather do something with a bit more handmade flair.
I found a couple of polystyrene hearts in our storeroom, and decided to turn them into big, plush, red felt hearts that we could hang in the shop window.
I used about 2.5 meters felt for each heart that I made. You also need long strong pins - I used floristry pins.
Start by cutting 10cm strips and then cut them into squares and then into circles.




Fold the circles in half then in half again and pin to the top of the heart surface till completely covered.




When the top is covered, turn over and do the other side then continue around the side edges. I cut slightly smaller circles to do the sides.








On my second heart, I painted the heart with red paint first, so that I didn't need to worry to much if there were a couple of gaps.

In the background you can also see some hanging heart garlands that I made. If you'd like me to post how I did them, please let me know.
Now... Lets hope the customers feel the luuuuurve!




Also did a similar one using paper doilies and a fresh rose in the center. I used a pink rose for the pic but we'll be putting in a red rose for Valentines day.




The rose is in a water tube which is hidden under the doilies. I used white wired string to secure it in place.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wired Glass Jars & Bottles

I love glass jars and bottles.



When we got married - 24 years ago, I convinced my hubby that we should start a collection of art glass pieces. We got a few nice glass pieces for our wedding but that's about where the collection stopped! Once children and bills start taking over, there's not a lot left to spend on expensive hand-blown glass!

So, how have I managed to fulfil my passion for glass collecting??

Recycling glass jars of course!

One day, at a homewares store, I noticed they had cute glass jars with wire handles - that cost A BOMB! It was then that I decided I would rinse out and take the labels off all the cute and interestingly shaped glass jars from food products we used at home. I keep a bottle of this label remover under my kitchen sink just in case I come across a nice bottle I want to recycle.



Sometimes I would buy a certain product at the supermarket just to get the jar it was in! My favorite jars and bottles are - essence bottles, pasta sauce jars, embossed jars, cordial bottles, mustard jars, and antipasti jars.

These ones usually have great shapes and interesting patterns embossed on the glass.

I have added wire collars and handles to hundreds of jars and bottles with these easy steps:


1. Cut a piece of wire twice the length of the top of your jar.
2. Make a loop at one end.
3. Make 2 more loops at the 1/2 and 3/4 points along the length of the wire. These will be the loops for the handle to hook on.
4. Thread the end of the wire through the first loop and tighten the wire around the top of the bottle. Bend the end back so the collar is now secure. Cut the excess wire.
5. Give the 2 handle loops an extra twist with the pliers to tighten the wire collar.
6. Cut another piece of wire for the handle and thread through the handle loops. Bend wire back to secure the handle in place.


I have built up a great collection that I've used to decorate many functions.
I've also added hooks to some of the handles so that the jars can be hung if needed.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Giant Wire Chandelier

I've been working on some decorations for a wedding that is being held at a fabulous venue in Sydney called The School and suggested to the client that we make a giant wire chandelier as a decorative feature. She loved the idea, so I decided to make a mini- version as a test and we will be taking it to the venue to see how it can be sized to fit.




It started out as a concept drawing and bit by bit I put it together. Of course, starting with the tools...




Then creatively putting together the different lengths of wire...




















I needed to 'tie down' the wire so the struts don't move around the rings. This required an additional short length of wire threaded through the wire loop, and tied down to the ring.




My fingers took a bit of a beating from all the twisting but I was thrilled with the result!

The finished Chandelier - not the easiest thing to photograph!

We will see what works best in the space- either using the wired bottles and jars hanging from the chandelier with sprigs of greenery and flowers, or maybe even covering the whole thing with fresh or even silk flowers.
Whichever way, i think it will make a wonderful happy festive statement!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Corsage Season

Last year, my son was asked to a school formal and aside from all the expenses involved... suit, shirt, transport, cover charge,  (I hate to think what the girls spend on their hair, makeup and outfits....)

there was also the CORSAGE to think about.....

I only had to walk in to one florist to realise that these kids were forking out an unnecessary fortune for a corsage, and so I suggested to my son, that I would make all the corsages for his mates to give their dates.  Not only would I make them, I would make them BETTER than anything I'd seen at the florist.

Some of the corsages I made by hand.

I asked the boys to find out what colours their dates were wearing, and did an assortment of different corsages for them.  They all had a wide satin ribbon to tie on to the wrist so they were totally adjustable.  (We had a 'how to tie on the ribbon' lesson in the kitchen before the boys went to pick up their dates!).

All my corsages had a gorgeous WOW factor - with a bit of drama thrown in with the colour combinations, the addition of feathers, diamantes, pearls, greenery, and floral embellishments.  The girls told me that they were very comfortable to wear due to the quality and width of the satin ribbon that I used.

I've done a lot of work with flowers in decor, arrangements, table settings, and event centerpieces, and now happy to add corsages to that list!

Graduation Event

I've been busy the past few weeks designing and making the decor for a Graduation Event that I'm styling.  I decided to go for a vintage cool classroom theme and have incorporated loads of decor ideas using vintage books and papers.
I collected all sorts of vintage text books including history, physics, music, language, plays, even a 1970 thesaurus.  I try to choose books that have a certain type of paper - quite yellowish, lots of markings and stains, and thick in texture - almost velvety to the touch.
I've used the papers in various ways.
The first idea is to stitch them together to make paper binding - which I have then folded and stitched onto hessian for a centerpiece table overlay.

stitched paper edge binding

binding with mitred corner

finished overlay.

The second style of overlay is made of stitched papers which have been hand stencilled with black gesso, and then taped onto a brown paper backing.  I've folded the edges of the backing paper back over the inlaid section to give it the nice wide edge binding.  Then I stitched all around the edge.

mixed papers including hand stencilled pages.

hard at work!

brown paper backing - with double sided tape to secure paper while stitching.

brown paper folded over the edges to become the binding.

We are having mini blackboards for the table numbers - I was going to use blackboard paint, but discovered that black gesso works well as the blackboard surface - so just painted up a whole load of cardboard and cut to size to fit the frames I sourced.

mini blackboard table numbers.

The centerpieces will be glass hurricane lamps with candles, and they will be standing on a small stack of books that I've covered with brown paper.    Each table will have 3-4 books with the family names of the people at that table printed onto the spines.

covered books packed and ready!  

Lastly, the hall will be decorated with this gorgeous bunting which I've just finished making.  I had a roll of vintage measuring tape lying around which came in handy for this!!  Each triangle on the bunting is 2 pieces of paper just to give it strength.  I tried to make sure that while putting all the papers together, that I had an interesting assortment and variety and also that there were no two of the same next to each other!  Mad!  But it looks really good.

sewing the bunting onto vintage measuring tape.

the finished bunting - with all the assorted papers.

I also designed the invitation, reply cards, DVD covers and programmes, for the event which continues the theme of the vintage/brownpaper/etc look.  

I'm looking forward to putting it all together at the event - but for now, my family and I will be happy to clear out our dining room - which has become my workshop!

Here's the final table centerpiece on the night.  I even managed to do a little matching match box with dymo tape on the front saying 'class of 2012".  Very retro!


The room looked spectacular and the styling was so well received it made all the hours and effort worthwhile.