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FUN/DIY

FUN/DIY

Paper Romance

This beautiful tutorial is a guest post from Lucy from Craftberry Bush.  Enjoy!

Romance is the glamour that turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze – Amanda Cross
When Amy graciously asked me that I share a tutorial here at New Nostalgia, I was
honoured and quickly said yes. What I hadn’t realized however was that I had no idea
how to do a tutorial for this specific project.
You see, I often times just let my creativity take me away and I am a true believer that
there are no rules when it comes to creating. So I sat down and tried to put together a
tutorial to the best of my ‘structured’ ability.
To those of you who are truly paper artists, I apologize if my techniques are unorthodox
to your craft. Nevertheless, I hope that you get the gist of it and that you enjoy it!
Materials:
Scissors
Paper (I used pages of a book)
Glue
Clear tape
Masking tape
Floral wire (optional)
1. Cut or rip 5 strips of paper of approx. 3″ long by 1″ wide (these will form the middle
of the flower, I believe it is called the stigma…please correct me if you know the right
name)
2. Wrap each piece of paper around the toothpick to help you get started on the quilling
process.
3. Gather all the little tubes
4. Tape them together
5. Cut 15 petals in total (5 each of large (4″), medium (3″) and small (2″)). These are the
sizes that I used but please feel free to alter as you wish.
6. With your scissors, gently curl each petal just as you would curl ribbon.
7. How it looks
8. Start assembling your flower by placing the smallest petals around the stigmas (?)
overlapping them as you go around.
9. Continue this process all around
10. I secured it with tape after every layer, making sure I squeezed the paper together
tightly. Don’t worry about the petals being perfect at this point; you can mold them after
(paper is very forgiving to work with)
11. Continue to attach the petals until you have placed all 15 (from smallest to largest)
12. Squeeze the ‘stem’ tightly one last time and secure with tape
Trim the excess paper and you’re all done !! ( that was easy)
If you would like a stem, follow steps 13-16…
13. Tightly wrap the floral wire ( my wire measure approx 12″) around the flower a
couple of times and bend it downwards to form stem.
14. Wrap masking tape around the wire all the way down to the end.
15. Cut several long, thin pieces of paper and apply glue to them.
16. Wrap the strips of paper, one at a time, around the masking tape covered wired
And you now have a lovely paper flower…
I truly hope this tutorial was helpful and you give it a go!
Thanks so much for reading and thank you Amy for allowing me to share this with your
lovely readers!
much love,
Lucy
You must click through as see this beauty topping a package.  I would love getting a package with something so beautiful adorning it!
She also used paper to make these hanging spheres, they are soft and understated, yet elegant.  They are made Christmas by hanging alongside Christmas globes.  So pretty!
Her blog is such a delight, and so is she!

Craftberry Bush

As a little girl, I dreamt in colour and I still do. In the winter, I long for colour but find calmness in the whites of the snow; spring’s welcoming tulips fill me with joy; the summer’s glow of the sun over the fields of ferns make me want to dance and in the fall as the leaves dress in their royal reds and oranges to say farewell, I am inspired. Inspired to create. And amongst all that nature as my children enjoy life along with me, they are my biggest inspiration. Some may call me an artist. I call myself a mother, a wife and a woman who loves life and dreams in colour.

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FUN/DIY/ Gardening

Garden Markers

 Guest Post by Erin at A Bird And A Bean
 One of the items I made to sell at the upcoming craft fair are these fun garden markers. I’ve seen them on etsy and wanted my very own. So, I’ve been picking up old vintage, antique silverware at yard sales all summer. Then, I went to the hardware store and bought a set 1/8 inch of alphabet stamps. Got out the trusty hammer and stamped away. You’ve got to have a very hard surface under the spoons…..like the rock in my picture. It’s pretty easy…..the hardest part is finding silver-plated silverware at yard sales. The stainless steel kind is too hard to stamp. Well, it’s too hard for me to stamp. It is possible – I watched my dad do it easily. You have to do the stainless in one strong blow (which is hard for since I am a clutz – I tried and smashed a finger). The silver & silver-plated are forgiving and you can hit it more softly and just hit it a few times – way easier. 


I just think these are so clever and would make a nice gift for pretty much anyone. They don’t even have to be a gardener to like it. As long as they have a plant it would be cute. They can say anything….”live, laugh, love” “you are my sunshine” “i love you” …the possibilities are endless. Cute gift for a co-worker, teacher, stocking stuffer, or even tie it on a bigger gift as the tag. I’ve seen pictures of them being used as table markers for parties, or you can make one for everyone at the party and use it as place cards. I even saw one hammered totally flat and it was used as a cookbook marker. It said something about food on it. I can’t remember exactly….but anything would work. I hope you try this fun idea. Let me know if you do….I love seeing pics.

Erin Blogs at A Bird And A Bean.  
Here are a few more posts of hers that I loved:
Homemade Tortillas–This recipe is so healthy and looks fun!
Fancy Chicken House–I’m sooo jealous of this…
Food Face Plate–this would make a super fun gift.
Sprouts--I’ve wanted to do this, and after reading this post I am very motivated!





If you head on over there, you will find a little bit of everything, as she says “kids and crafting and cooking and such!”  She is as sweet as can be and has been a dear blogging friend to me!  When you are there, tell her I said hello, and if you like what you see, become her follower!



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RECIPES/ Seasonal/ Sides

Too Much Pumpkin?!?

***this post is from last fall.  I’ve been busy having fun with my girls on their fall break, too busy to write new posts!!  
If you love pumpkin, this post is for you!  I am planning on going crazy during the remainder of this fall with the whole pumpkin food theme.  I have collected a few recipes that have caught my eye, and now that it is pumpkin eatin’ season, its time to try a few!

Every year when it comes time to carve pumpkins and scoop out all those pumpkin guts, I have great intentions of saving the seeds and making them into some kind of roasted goodness.  And every year, my good intentions go right out the window after a long night of carving, and even longer time of cleaning up all those pumpkin guts. This year I am FOR SURE going to do it.  I have Old Bay Seasoning sitting in my cupboard, which is what I need to make Maryland Pumpkin Seeds.
*I made these and they were yummy!

This Creamy Pumpkin Pasta recipe is one I am very excited about. Doesn’t that sound so very comforting?
*This pasta is one we will have at least once every fall.  I made it and it was creamy goodness..

We are all about pancakes in this house, so Fluffy Light Pumpkin Pancakes are a must try!
*These are everything their name says they are.  So good!

The picture of these Soft Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies has not left my brain since I first got a glimpse of it, I really hope they taste as good as they look! (I am going to use applesauce in place of the oil and maybe some maple syrup instead of all that sugar!)
*I replaced 1/2 the oil with applesauce and used pure cane sugar (sucanat) instead of sugar.  I made them last fall and I am hoping to get the energy to make them again, seeing the picture again makes me remember how wonderful they were!

This Black Bean Pumpkin Soup I have made, and it is to die for.  It got two thumbs up from my husband, and it is very healthy.  (I used a small amount of bacon instead of the ham)

 I have yet to find a chili made with turkey that I like, maybe this one, Pumpkin Turkey Chili, will be THE one?

As you know, I am a smoothie lover. Not so sure about a Pumpkin Smoothie, but if it can make a vegetable taste like dessert, I’m all for trying it!

Thank goodness I have until the end of November to make some of these!  I have a feeling my family will have had their fill of pumpkin by then!

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Kids/Family/ Seasonal

Fall Break Fun

**This is a repost from last year.  This week is my girls fall break, and we just found out I don’t have to do chemo until next week, so I get to enjoy my girls this week!!  This motivated me pull out this “Fall Break List Of Things To Do” post.  I will be eager to see what my girls want to add to it this year…

My girls have a week off of school for fall break.  Today was the first day, and after chores were done this morning, it only took about an hour until I heard the words “Mom…I’m bored!” When I think of all the awesome things my sweet but spoiled girls have to keep them busy, I was pretty surprised to hear those words so soon into our break!

I know a list helps keep me focused and on track with the flow of my day, so I thought maybe it would help them, too.  I grabbed a pen and paper, called my girls into the living room and made them pop- a- squat on the living room floor right in front of my feet.  Then I asked them to help make a list of all the fun things they can do to keep themselves busy during break.  They really got into it, and we were able to come up with a whole bunch of fun stuff to do!  As we brain- stormed, it was neat how they were able to think of things they have not done in awhile, like Lincoln Logs and making paper snowflakes.

When we were done, I copied the list onto a large piece of paper and hung it on our dining room wall.  I made a place for each of them to initial beside each idea, so they can keep track of what they have done.
They played with Play-doh for the first time in a very long time today, it kept them quite busy!  They are all excited to wake up tomorrow and decide what they are going to do next. I think we were able to come up with enough things to make this fall break very fun!

Here is what we came up with:
Legos, Art, Twister Dance, Karaoke, Sidewalk Chalk, Play-Doh, Nintendo DSi, Pop Beads, Computer, Hullabaloo, Puzzibits, KEVA Planks, Pop Beads, Beads, Paper Snowflakes, Doll House, Babies, Dress-Up, Barbies, Marker Board(Dry Erase Board), Hullabaloo, Scooters/Bikes, Lincoln Logs, Sticks, Crossword Puzzles, Piano, Basketball, Hide n Seek, Sardines, Trace Cookie Cutters, Bake/Cook, Doctor/Nurse, Beauty Shop, Lite Brit, Puppets, Puzzles, Tea Party, Tinker Toy, School, Play Food, Coloring Pages, Polish Nails/Toes, Boochie, Life, Battleship, Circus Game, Drawing Game, Parcheesi, Visit Library, Play At Park, Go For A Hike!  Whew!

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Seasonal

3 Fun & Easy Halloween Projects For Kids

**This is a repost from last year
We have been having a ton of halloween fun here at the Bowman House.  My girls just  LOVE all things spooky, and have been creating all kinds of spooky fun.  I am not one who is creative enough to come up with a project, so I depend heavily on FamilyFun.com!  It doesn’t matter what the season, the Family Fun website always has great, simple ideas.

Here are a few that we tried recently:

Salt Dough Ghosts and Paper Bag Trees
I can’t believe we have never made anything with salt dough before!  It is a cup of flour, cup of salt and a half of a cup of water.  Mold into any shape and microwave until hardened!  So easy!  The plan was to just create ghosts, but my girls wanted to get more creative, which was great, it kept them busy the entire evening.  The paper bag tree is a cute idea, but all that twisting left my wrists tired, so we decided to make just one!  I think making mini trees with brown paper lunch bags would be much better for little fingers and wimpy wrists.

Gotta have a snack in the middle of all this creepy craziness!  Apples and Almonds, can’t get much healthier than that!

These were so much fun!  My girls spent almost 2 hours at the table creating these, and every few minutes there would be a trio of giggles drifting from the dining room.  They just loved finding silly face parts to glue on to their bags.  Aren’t they funny?

What would I do without Family Fun?  What did moms do without computers back in the day?  I am very thankful for ours, its kinda SCARY thinking about doing life without it!

BOO!
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Music Renews

Music On My Mind #1

Almost daily since my diagnosis, there has been a different song on my mind each day.  It is usually exactly what I need for that day.  It has been such a huge thing to have words of truth going through my mind all day.  If I don’t wake up with a song, somehow throughout the day God gives me one, whether it is through one of you sending me a link, or the radio, or a verse I read that I know is in a song.  I decided to start sharing those songs with you when they come, this is the one that was in my brain all day today.

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FUN/DIY

Cupcake Decorating Birthday Party

My daughter turned 11 years old on August 27th, and we had a super fun cupcake decorating party for her.  She invited a handful of friends, and we celebrated out at Grandpa and Grandma’s pool house.  It was a really easy party to prepare for, and she loved how it turned out.  We kept the decorations homemade and cheap, and the food super simple and easy.

She knew she wanted lots of candy to decorate the cupcakes with, so we decided to go with bright colors and let the candy become part of the decor by using little mason jars to display the candy toppings.

We went to Hobby Lobby and started in the paper aisle.  I knew paper was a cheap way to bring lots of color and fun to the party.  My daughter picked out the polka dot paper.  We used it to make popcorn cones (using this template), wrap water bottles, and make little round decorations.  I grabbed a few pieces of coordinating paper, and a small package of round mirrors that were under $2, that I knew would add sparkle.  We had the wrapping paper that you see down the  middle of the table leftover from Christmas, it just happened to have little circles on it in the same fun, bright colors.

  We made custom water bottles by gluing little paper jackets on them and topping them with a mirror.

We wrapped boxes in the wrapping paper to hold the popcorn cones and suckers.

I put tissue in the boxes before wrapping to keep suckers from sinking down too far.

3 tissue poms and mirrored, circle paper decorations made the bar festive.

We made little flag toothpicks out of the paper scraps.  The Baked Macaroni And Cheese Cupcakes were a hit with kids and adults.  Yum!  I used this recipe from Giada.  The rest of the menu was simple.  We ordered pizza and I made fruit kabobs.  Easy, easy, easy!

We had lots of fun stuff on hand to decorate cupcakes, as you can see, this birthday was full of sugar and all kinds of artificial colors!  I tried to ignore that the whole day…:)

The kids had a blast decorating their cupcakes.  They just piled on the toppings!  Love it.

We burned off the sugar by playing a few fun pool games.  It was a beautiful day, and it was such fun planning this party with my girl and celebrating her!  She has brought so much joy to me in her eleven years of life, I love being her mom!

{I’m Happy To Be Linking To These Parties!}

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