liveSPACE

... flowers from my paper garden

hannah and i had so much fun making this one flower.

MATERIALS:
choose your favorite 12x12 color cardstock (i love bazzill basics textured cardstock). get a pencil, scissors, tacky glue (i love gem tack or arlene's tacky glue), rhinestones and a stapler.

step1:
draw 3 flowers in 3 different sizes (small, medium & large) down one side, then fold the entire 12x12 in half. this will allow you to have six flowers but only drawing three.

if you have a die-cut machine you may that instead. although, the free form drawings give the flower a more natural look.

step2:
after fold your 12x12 in half cut out all your flowers. erase your pencil edges.

step3:
sand any rough edges that might have been left over from your cutting job.

step4:
crumple and crinkle. i start out by folding the cardstock flower to soften it up and then unfold and crinkle. the trick is to open and crinkle several times.

 repeat for the other 5 flowers

step5:
now, lets put the flower together. take one of the larger sizes and use that as your base and put a dab of glue in the center.

step6:
take the other largest sized flower and staple it abut 1/4" up from the base. smoosh and flatten, then place on top of the first base flower that has the dab of glue. keeping the center of the flower aligned, off-set the petals for a fuller look (you'll see).

step8:
put a dab of glue in the center of the last layer you just did. take one of the medium sized flower and place on top of the dab of glue. this layer does NOT need to be stapled. again, off-set the petals.

step9:
put a dab of glue in the center of the last layer you just did. take the other medium sized flower and staple it abut 1/8" up from the base. smoosh and flatten then, place on top of the last flower that has the dab of glue. keeping it centered. off-set the petals.

(please note the smiley face on hannah's finger, LOL!)

step10:
put a dab of glue in the center of the last layer you just did. take one of the small sized flower and place on top of the dab of glue. this layer does NOT need to be stapled. again, off-set the petals.

step10:
put a dab of glue in the center of the last layer you just did. take the other small sized flower and staple it about 1/8" up from the base. smoosh and flatten then, place on top of the last flower that has the dab of glue. keeping it centered. off-set the petals.

(real team work here)

step11:
after the last small petal has been placed on top using three finger. crinkle and smoosh the ends to make the flower look fuller. do this only once at this step because you will repeat in step13.

step12:
choose your favorite rhinestones colors. i like to use one 10mm & eight 6mm. glue the rhinestones in a circular pattern.

step13:
crinkle and smoosh the ends of your flower and ENJOY!

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...mambi monday's - feature

i hope you guys had a great weekend. i learned a valuable lesson this weekend. BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. it doesn't matter if you are not as good as the next person just be proud of what you have done. look back at where you were a month ago or even a year a go. have you learned anything new? and forget about the shoulda-coulda-woulda's. you are exactky where you need to be and doing exactly what you need to be doing. somethimes it seems asthough it's sooooo horrible and whoa is me! but, if you can just step outside of it all and look at the big picture and see what you are supposed to learn from it and release and move on.

today's feature is YOU! ok, you as in the winners from last week. most everyone sent me their recipes. and, after reading all of these i am so hungry. come on you guys i have a dress to fit in! ok, but, you have to check out these recipes. YUM, YUM! you guys are awesome. this could be the beginnings of a new blog if it doesn't already exist.

FYI:
for those of you who have been dieing to see the tutorial on the paper flowers (yes, i got all your emails). hannah and i just finished doing it and it was quite hilarious for us. hopefully it translates very well. i hope to blog about it tomorrow. please check back.

i would like to share with you an indian teacher/student prayer, take from it what you will:
“Let us together be protected, and let us together be nourished by Divine blessings. Let us together join our mental forces in strength. Let our efforts at learning be mutually illuminating, filled with joy, and endowed with the force of purpose. Let us never be poisoned with the seeds of ill will against each other.”

have a great week.

...the winners are!

happy friday... the puffy stickers winners are:
Summer Braxton
Michelle A.
kimmie
cheryl yelverton
Lorraine
Victoria S.
Robin M.
Krista
Berenice

please email me your address and your recipes so i can post them here on my blog next week. congrats!

BTW: here is the recipe for the amish friendship bread. however, you have to get a batch from someone in order to start. if someone has a starter recipe, please share.

... the postman never had it this good

hannah, the assistant strikes again!  happy spring everyone!  today i’m exploring a project that i spied on www.thedesignspongeonline.com.

their cool idea (shown above) was to hole punch through airmail envelopes and create an envelope book to organize receipts.  awesome idea.  i didn’t have any cool airmail envelopes and maybe you don’t either but you might have a stack of plain white ones.  we’re going to spruce them up a bit by using our wonderful Fashion District paper.  we’re going to customize our plain whites to have a peek of Fashion District fun when you open the envelope.  take a look...

 

MATERIALS:
Fashion District paper pad (i’d recommend not using cardstock for this project)
stack of envelopes
3 silver rings (found at any office supply store)
double-sided tape or your favorite tape runner
scrap poster board or chipboard (something thick)
ruler
xacto
hole puncher

STEP 1
open one of your envelopes and trace it onto your chipboard/poster board.  it’ll look like a house (shown in brown sharpie).

STEP 2
this current tracing is the exact size of your envelope so we’ll need to trim the edges a bit so that it will fit into the envelope.  take your ruler and draw lines 1/8 inch inside your first tracing (shown in thin black).  i’m using a grid ruler, i find it’s easier for this sort of thing. 

next take a look at your envelope and measure how wide the glue area is.  using that measurement draw in your ‘glue area’ into your template (also shown in thin black).
 

STEP 3
now we’re going to cut out our template.  we want to cut following the 1/8 inch margin and do not include the glue area. 
 

next cuz 1 inch of the bottom of the template, or the base of the house shape.  if we don’t do this it’ll be a little too tall to fit inside the envelope.  test out your template fit by placing it inside one of your envelopes.  make adjustments if too snug.

 

STEP 4
once you’re satisfied with your template trace on the back side of your Fashion District paper.
 

take your cut out paper and place inside an envelope and use double-sided tape your your runner to adhere the paper to the envelope.  i only taped it at the top of the paper, or the roof of the house shape.
 

tada!  we did it!
 

STEP 5
hole punch your envelopes and ring them together.  now the fun part...decorate it!  i used a make-up sponge and distress ink to make my ‘covers’ look more aged.  then i took a marker and doodled the cover to make it unique.  a little ribbon and there you go!


 

fill the envelopes with your monthly receipts, organize your weekly cash allowance, fill it with love notes and mail it to a loved one who’s far away, organize your ticket stubs and memories that you’ll scrap about later, or organize your last few pieces of soft spoken, stickers, ribbon, etc.  the sky’s the limit, have fun!

...my happy red bday box

sometimes when the celebration is so big and so many people need to sign, a simple bday card will not do. my happy red bday box always gives me plenty of room for at least 40 people to sign. it has 16 pockets that i slip little cards into that is double sided. simple embellishments help to offset the intricacy of the box itself.

 

...mambi monday's - give away

happy monday! this weekend i made the amish friendship bread. OMG! sooooooo good. if you've never done this before then, you have to try it. it's worth the extra pounds you will gain.

i've been dieing to show you these new stickers. they are white puffy stickers. i absolutely love them. they are bright white with a gloss coating and very elegant. to win your very own (i have 6 stickers tog ive away – so that means 6 winners). tell me what family recipe you love soooooo much. when you win your puffy sticker please email me your address and your recipe and i will post them next monday for everyone to enjoy.

...a gem in the city

i found an awesome little nail place in fullerton, ca where i didn't feel like everyone was talking about me. i was able to get a mani-pedi that looked good. my new favorite color, "an affair in redsquare". the menu had options like a "goddess manicure" & "royal spa pedicure". the colors, textures and ambiance made me feel very relaxed and welcomed. i will definitely go back.

...mambi monday's - oh la la...flowers

ok, so as i promised. it's finished. all 100 of these lovely flowers are finished. and they were so much fun to make.

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and; you can also attach it to a headband, how vintage.

taking this photo was much too funny for words.
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they also come in red! wow!

... and minty fresh breath too!

 
Greetings everyone!  Hannah, the assistant here back for another installation of 'guest blogger'!  So this week I noticed some Altoid boxes sitting in our hallway cart.  And I thought, "OMG!  How long have these been here??!"  Let me tell you, over 9 months (that's how long I've been at MAMBI)!  So after I tossed the mints I felt a tinge of sadness at throwing away the cool metal boxes.  Hmm, what to do??

So here's my project!  Ready?

Materials:
Altoid Box, emptied and cleaned
8x8 Fashion District Paper Pad
Any Soft Spoken, I used our new Happy Birthday Soft Spoken Banner
Rhinestones
Cotton batting, or cotton balls, I used a paper towel (we work with what we got around here)
Stiff felt, you can find this at your local craft store

STEP 1
I Xyroned an 8x8 paper that I liked but you could use double-sided tape too.  I layed the top part of the Altoid box on the paper and cut 1/2" around the edge of the lid.  In sewing terms, a 1/2" seam allowance.

STEP 2
Press firmly around the outside edges of the lid with your fingernails.  Run your nails along the lip/edge of the lid to create a crease.  This help you know where to run your Xacto knife to cut off a clean finished edge.

STEP 3
Use the bottom of the Altoid Box as a stencil.  Trace the bottom on the back a coordinating paper design and cut out the shape.  Trim the edges as needed to make the paper fit inside the lid of the Altoid box.

 

STEP 4
Fill the bottom of the Altoid box 1/2 way with cotton batting, cotton balls, paper towel, whatever you can find.  Repeat STEP 3 with a piece of stiff felt (the pink part shown in the picture) and fit the cut piece of felt over the cotton filling.

STEP 5
Poke the ends of the earrings through the felt.  If the ends won't go through then use a thumback to poke through first.

Next time you have some jewelry to give to someone this is a great little box to make it extra special without breaking the bank!  Hope you guys enjoy doing this project!

... what am i doing to myself

when i got engaged i promised myself that i would not design anything and i wouldn't make anything. who am i kidding. i thought i would get my invites printed and shipped out. as simple as that. then something happened and i started making flowers. if you are like me, then you dislike fake flowers. except for these beauties. i am making 100 handmade flowers to go on top of my favor boxes. it's crazy i know. but, after thinking about it i didn't want a cheesy favor that my guests would end up throwing away. and; btw, i couldn't decide between the ivory or the red so i ended up doing 50 of each color. and, yes, my bridesmaids are helping (they don't like me very much right not). but, wait until the see the invites they are going to hurt me. LOL!

so this is what i have so far and i think they are the best paper flowers ever. i should be finished this weekend with all of them. on monday i'll show you the completed box.