Pretty paper flowers

Inspired by all the romantic hints of Valentines Day just around the corner, I made these pretty paper flowers recently.  I found the original idea in the DIY section of the Inside Out Christmas edition - so thanks!

To create your own paper bouquets, you will need a range of different papers that you can cut into different shape circles, and some florist wire to make your stems.  For my flowers, I used pink cupcake cases, some small white doilies leftover from the Christmas wreath, and some baking paper, and I picked up some florist wire from the local flower shop.  Using different types of paper media help to texture the flowers, but really you can use whatever colour or paper you like.

Collect 3-4 paper circles together, starting with the largest circle on the outside and getting smaller as you come to the front of the flower.  Pierce the heart of the flower with a piece of florist wire that is folded in half, and you can then bend over the end of the folded wire to create a stamen.  I then twisted the florist wire together to make a more durable stem.  

Easy as that! And now you don't need to wait for the flowers to be brought for you...although that would be lovely also :-)

xx

Family connections

Our sister Nadia made the most fantastic discovery a couple weeks ago.  She was rummaging through our Mum's cupboard (where 32 years of childhood memories are awaiting collection!), and found a very cute, very familiar collection of cards.

With excitement, she recognised it as being two of the characters from the Daisy Lane swap cards that we sell at Presse-Papiers.  As we already knew, Lark's Daisy Lane collection celebrates the work of Sue Adams, whose gorgeous images of young boys and girls were found on thousands of greeting cards from the 1950s to 1980s.

As it turns out, the cards were used for guests to RSVP to our Mum and Dad's wedding in July 1977, and as all brides do, Mum had kept them all and shared their story with us when we were young.

Mum's RSVP cards from 1977

Daisy Lane Swap Cards - available in our online shop 2011

There is something quite lovely and magical in this discovery...almost a reminder of the invisible threads that forever connect mums and daughters, long-time friends and different family generations. Although we couldn't remember them, maybe this is why we fell in love with the Daisy Lane cards in the first place, and imagined our own children collecting them and sharing them with friends.  Just lovely.

Do you or your parents remember these cards? What other childhood memories have revisited you as an adult?

xx

Gift Wrapping Delights!

As you can imagine, we were a teeny weeny bit excited when we came across this Hello Sandwich Gift Wrapping Zine, written by the super stylish and ever so lovely, Ebony Bizys.

Can you imagine 64 pages solely dedicated to gift wrapping ideas!!  Filled with inspirational ideas and step-by-step guides to wrapping all of your presents with originality and flair, it seriously evokes heart palpitations for those of us with a weakness for gift wrapping!

It is filled with our favourite gift wrapping ingredients - stamps, MT tapes, tags, ribbons, stickers, paper bags and much much more...

As part of our 2011 pledge to become more creative, this guide is an essential bible! And of course, we will be stocking up on plenty more gorgeous gift wrapping accessories in the months to come in our shop.

All images kindly supplied by Hello Sandwich.

Make sure you check out the fabulous Hello Sandwich blog,filled with inspiring ideas and images from Ebony's life in Japan, and of course, where you can buy your own copy of the Zine.   

Happy wrapping everyone!

xx

Needing inspiration?

We are feeling all inspired and reflective this first week of 2011, and thought we would share these words of wisdom :-)

Feel free to share some of your favourite quotes with us xx

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of the New Year!

As the Christmas tree and decorations are packed away for another year, I thought I would share with you my creative attempt at a paper doily Christmas wreath! I found the idea on the gorgeous blog The Red Thread, and thought I would give it a go! The blog gave a great tutorial on making the wreath, so we'll be watching out for new DIY projects in the future and will be sure to share them with you.

One of our resolutions this year is to explore our creative side a bit more, so why don't you join us? :-)

xx