Happy Easter... Butterfly Tutorial...

Spring is here... the flowers are blooming... cherry blossoms are filling the hills around me... AND IT IS Easter!  Every year we gather at my house for a potluck lunch...Aaackkk!...Yep, I said my house...forcing me to get motivated and do some spring cleaning.  I don't know about you, but I need a little kick in the pants to get started...

As soon as I got that out of way... I got creative with my decorations...

The best part... is I used stuff I already had...

First... I raided my studio for some white lace, and then draped it over some white lights(leftover from birthdays past)... that I strung across my living/dining room...

 Then... I cut apart the garland from Easter 3yrs ago(on the left)... and added these segments onto the lights(on the right)... I made these circles out of printed velum, pressed flowers from my yard(in between wax paper), and buttons...

Last... I added these butterflies I spied on Pinterest... I have been wanting to make them for awhile, and used pages from an old Anthropologie catalog to put them together(see my how to at the bottom of this post)...

 I went with simple table decorations... Gathering up my jars filled with treasures we've collected over the years from the Oregon coast... Stacking my cake plates, I piled them with lichen and twig "nests" from the yard for the kids colored eggs... and of course a few more butterflies...

I also recently purchased some air plants... that I added to the jars... I am proud to say they are still alive after being in my care for awhile, and may be the only plant that I have not killed... yet...(fingers crossed)

I think it is going to be a fun day... I can't wait for my guests to arrive...
Happy Easter!
***Jennifer

P.s. Here is my inspiration for the butterflies... and how I put them together...

The inspiration...I am not sure of her name because the Blog is written in German... but these are the fabulous butterflies she made(you can see her post here)...

This is my interpretation...

You will need to cut out two pieces of paper( I used an Anthropologie catalog)... The top piece will be slightly larger... these are the dimensions I used...
Small
4 1/4 x 3 inches
3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches
Medium
6 1/4 x 5 inches
5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches
Large
8 1/4 x 7 inches
7 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches

Next... accordion fold the top rectangular piece on the diagonal... and the bottom square piece horizontally...

They should look like this...

Fold both pieces in half(the rectangle will be diagonal)... Place on top of one another, and pinch the centers together... then wrap with a piece of wire(or tie with string)...

Open up your folds... and you will have a beautiful butterfly...

You can leave them as is... or you can add more detail...

I used them to decorate my living room, but these butterflies are also a great way to decorate a gift... I just attached them to a long piece wire, arranged them at various heights, and then twisted the wires together...

I know you want to make some... get to it!

***Jennifer

Another Day... Another Cowl...

My love of infinity scarfs and cowls is pretty apparent... seeing how I've blogged about them... here...here...here... and here...(see I told you!)

Well I bring you yet another, because it is tooooo simple to keep to myself... and it's no sew!  I spied it a while back on Pinterest... And thought I'd give it a go...

Here's how I did it...

First I raided my husbands t-shirts... ssshhhh... he won't miss it...

Then I folded it at the arm pits... toward the hem...

This gave me a nice straight line to cut along...

And off it came...

Next... starting from the hem up... cut your fringe...

Do this all the way across the bottom... mine are about 6inches long... and 3/4of an inch wide...

Give each one a little tug...

Now it is ready to wear!

Seriously... so easy!  

If you want a smaller cowl... I believe my inspiration picture is using one of her own t-shirts... I also think layering a smaller one on top would be cute too... I might have to try that...

Happy upcycling!

***Jennifer