Tutorial: Paper Medallion

Paper Medallion backdrop from Roo's 3rd birthday party.

A very sweet Instagram friend of mine (who lives in Hong Kong) asked me about a button that one of her small friends was wearing.  She wanted to make one, but wasn't sure how to go about it.  She guessed that I could probably help her, and she was right.  I had a quilt to finish and a new pattern to finalize first, now that those things are done, I am finally ready to share the how-to with all of you.

Gather all of your supplies.  You will need three sheets of paper for the medallion, a scrap of contrast paper for the center, a scrap pf paper for the back and a scrap piece of felt.  You will also need 1"and 1/8" ribbon, a safety pin, double sided tape, hot glue and glue sticks, ruler, scissors and a pencil.  (Optional: sequins, buttons, glitter etc.)

Start by measuring and marking all three of your paper to the same size.  For this example, my paper was about 6" square.

Trim to size.

Start by folding your paper in half, this will give you a guideline to use as you fold. Open the paper up again, fold the edge into the center, then the edge to the outer fold.  You will start to see the accordian effect.

In order to make sure the paper medallion doesn't stand too thick off of the wall or as a button, fold the length of your paper again, decreasing the width by half (boy, I hope that makes sense!)

Now, fold the accordian in half, matching short ends and creasing at the center.

Repeat for remaining two pieces of paper.

Place a piece of double-sided tape along the length of the folded paper.

Firmly press two paper pieces together.

Tape the two center folded sides and press firmly to itself; tape the long edge and attach the remaining folded piece of paper (with the center fold already taped to itself.)

You should have something like this.

Now, find a glass or a compass to judge the circle size for the top of the medallion.  I used a pilsner glass and found it was just the right size.

Trace and cut out two circles.

Cut several 4" pieces of 1" and 1/8" ribbon (in this case, I used 10 of each)

Using your hot glue gun, place a bead of glue on the underside of one of your paper circles, about 3/4" inside the edge and press ONE edge of your UNFOLDED ribbon to the glue.

Work your way all the way around the circle.

Run a strip of hot glue across three or four ribbon edges at a time, fold ribbon in half to meet raw edges and cover the glue.

Fold your 1/8" ribbon in half, having the edges slightly crossed; place a bead of glue between the 1" ribbon folds and press the 1/8" ribbon to the glue.  You might want to use a toothpick to avoid burning your fingers.

When you are finished, you should have something like this:

Squeeze out a large blob of hot glue in the center of all those raw edges of ribbon, flip the circle over and place in the center of the accordian circle.

Add a good size dollop of glue to the underside of the second paper circle, flip it over and center it on the back side of the medallion.

Cut three 8" lengths of 1" ribbon, glue one piece to the middle/center of the back circle.

Place a bead of glue on top of the ribbon, arrange second piece of ribbon directly on top of the first, but angled to one side; repeat for last piece of ribbon. 

*Optional-cut four 6" lengths of 1/8" ribbon and arrange on the outside and between 1" ribbon pieces, cover edges with a scrap of 1" ribbon and hot glue.

Cut two slits in the felt scrap for the safety pin, squeeze a light line of glue on either side of the slits and apply to the back of the medallion.  Make sure the felt is not flat against the medallion, but instead has a "bubble" or gap in the center.

Trim edges of ribbon in an inverted "V".

Decorate with sequins, buttons, glitter, a photo etc.  You're all done!

Thank you for following along!

Happy Crafting!

-Kristi

Roo's Fourth Birthday Party

My goodness, where does the time go? I'm pretty sure that it was just last week that we through that monster themed birthday party for Roo.  Except...it wasn't.  It was three months ago!  Ah, where in the world does the time go?

Well, the party was a huge success.  Roo decided on the theme herself and requested that the colors we used were blue, black, white and silver.  We had a hotdog bar, I made a googly-eyed monster wreath and googly-eyed monster party favors.  The birthday cake was AMAZING: Chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and toasted marshmallow frosting...WOW.  Poor little Roo was not feeling very well, but she still had a great time.  Here are some pictures from her special day.  Enjoy!

Monster Mix

Watermelon Monster Fruit Salad

Googly-Eyed Cookie Pops

Potato Salad cups from Pink Lemonade Party on Etsy

Googly-Eyed Vanilla Cupcakes

The birthday girl

The Hot Dog Bar

The Birthday Cake

Handmade Glittered Birthday Banner

Dad's beer ;)

Handmade Googly-Eyed Monster Wreath

YUM

Party's over!

What I've been up to

I know I don't blog very often, I always have really good intentions to do so but the thing is, I really, really, really don't like computer work.  I'd so much rather be behind my sewing machine or in front of the Kitchenaid than stuck hen-pecking the keyboard of my laptop.  (I can't type.)

So, that's pretty much where I've been!  Behind my sewing machine or in the kitchen or playing with Roo.  Plus, we went on vacation to Disney World in March.  I have a few things I want to blog about: toasted marshmallow frosting, my two projects that were published in Stitch Craft Create magazine, and a few quilts and other projects that I've been working on.  For now, here's a happy picture of my sweet little girl on Easter.  She's going to grow up thinking that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are bikers...nothing wrong with that, right?

See you soon!

-Kristi-

Tutorial: Homemade Watercolor Paints

My little girl loves to paint.  Last weekend we came across a recipe for homemade watercolor paints in an old book of my moms and decided to give it a try.  Roo had a lot of fun measuring and mixing her very own set of paints.  It was an easy project that took about an hour from start to finish and it turned out really well.  We painted with them for the first time tonight and were very happy with the results of our paints!  Want to give it a try for yourself?  Here's how we did it:

You will need:

3 Tablespoons Corn Starch

3 Tablespoons Baking Soda

3 Tablespoons White Vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons Corn Syrup

Food Coloring

Mixing bowl or 4 cup capacity measuring cup

small cups for mixing colors

candy mold with at least 6 compartments (do not use lollipop molds!)

To keep this project as independent-kid-friendly as possible, measure your ingredients first and putting them in individual bowls to prevent spills and over-measuring.

Combine the baking soda and corn starch in your mixing bowl.

Carefully add vinegar to the dry mixture.  Vinegar and baking soda foam and fizz when combined so don't pour it in too fast.

Stir together until there are no lumps and the fizzing has subsided.  You may want to give this a stir yourself to make sure it has all been incorporated.  Corn starch/liquid mixture can be difficult to stir for the little ones.

Add corn syrup and mix until dissolved.

Line up your color mixing cups and pour a small amount of the white paint mixture into each one.

Have an old towel handy to wipe up any spills that happen.  

Use the color chart on the back of the box to mix your colors. 

Pour into candy molds.

It takes about 1-2 days for the paints to completely set and air-dry before you can use them.

I think the next time I make a set of paints, I will plan my color and color placement a little better.  I had twelve compartments in my candy mold and only about seven color ideas in my head.  It's probably a good idea to have your paint set mapped out, including where to put them and how to make each color.

Roo and I used the paints for the first time tonight.  It was really satisfying to see her get such happy enjoyment out of something that we made together.  

Happy Crafting!

-Kristi