Best Mom in the World

So I have the best mom in the world. You may disagree, but I'm pretty convinced. Not only has she done more for me than seems possible, she is also crazy creative. She looked at the flywheel on the bottom of this lamp and dreamed up the lamp to go with it. Then, with a little help from my uncle, she brought it into existence. When she saw this table with car axles at an auction, she knew she needed it to go with her industrial lamp. After a lot of work cleaning, sanding, staining, and polyurethaning, it was ready to find its place next to the lamp. I'm pretty excited to have some cool industrial pieces in the shop, and it just gives me one more reason to think that I have the best mom ever :).Tweet

July Newsletter!

Sure is hot outside and we have some hot new projects for you this month! Super excited about our upcoming classes and events.

July 19, 24: 6-10 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of July! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

August 9th: Art Board and Frame Class! Create one of a kind custom frames for special photos and/or unique pieces of artwork for your home. You may bring your own photos to use, otherwise all materials provided, $26.00. 7:00-9:00pm

August 28^th: 6-10 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

August 30^th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

 Our DIY this month is super simple and fun. It’s a great way to repurpose any large old frames you might have lying around. I wish I had a photo of one of the first frames we did like this because it was more ornate, and the more ornate the better for this project. First, you take an old frame and sand it a little. Then paint it with good quality paint in a fun color (I used paint that is premixed with primer already in it). This worked great for the ornate frame because there were places where the plaster was falling off, but once painted you could hardly tell. Next, choose a color coordinating ribbon and tie it across the frame in double-knotted bows. If there isn’t a hanger on the back of your frame, just get a D-ring, hanging wire, or sawtooth hanger from your local hardware store, drill holes and screw them on. Finally, clip cards or photos with tiny clothespins across the ribbon. And you’re done! With a super cute display to show for it.:-) 

We’ve been getting a lot of custom orders in lately for party banners, centerpieces, wedding decorations, and wedding hairpieces, so if you are thinking about getting some cute and affordable custom-made decorations, get your orders in soon!

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Treasuries: Etsy Love

So every now and then I reward myself with wasting a ton of time creating Etsy treasuries. Anyone else do this? Its kind of like being able to curate your own themed museum/art show of handmade and vintage items. A lot like Pinterest, but maybe a little less utilitarian. Anyway, I just created a new red, white, and blue treasury for the 4th that I thought I'd share: just click here. And if anyone is interested in looking at my other treasuries, you can click here.

Would love to look at your treasuries too, so if you have created some please comment and link to them!

One more confession, I keep taking the Etsy taste test over and over again just for fun...Tweet

Collage Fun

Excited to be working on some collages today. And happy that I finally get to use some of the Crate Paper we ordered in about a month ago. I hope it sells well because I'm in love with this company and would love to keep ordering from them! I'm all about vintage and vintage-inspired modern and as far as I can tell so are they. And, their papers work great with old book pages, one of my favorite materials to use. Ok, now back to some collage fun...Tweet

June Newsletter!

June is just flying by, maybe because we are having so much fun! We’ve had so much fun with all the classes this month. It never ceases to amaze me how creative people are, especially kids! Here is the schedule for our next classes:

June 21, 28: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of June! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

July 5, 12, 19, 26: 6-10 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of July! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm   

Saturday, July 14^th: Book Cover Notebook Class! Make your own notebook or journal using old book covers and graph paper, white cardstock, lined paper, etc.-the possibilities are endless! These can be so versatile with so many different options for putting them together and using your own style to decorate them. $15.00. 2:00-4:00pm

This month we have a guest feature from Kat Alder, maker of the repurposed/redesigned vintage jewelry that we carry. Just got some awesome new rings in from her too!

“I created Katz's Designs as my way of feeding my interest in vintage jewelry. This has been an interest of mine since I was a young girl. I remember receiving a mother of pearl necklace when I was 10 years old, and can still recall just gazing at the necklace, marveling at its design. From there, I started working with vintage earrings and broaches. I enjoy taking something old and making it new again. Vintage items carry such a history with them, it's exciting to think about where the jewelry has been as I work with it. It feels like I am taking history and making it new again. I hope you enjoy wearing my designs as much as I enjoy creating them!”

We’ve been using fanfold paper medallions a lot lately, they can be used in so many ways and are so simple to make! So we thought we would share a quick video tutorial with you on a simple way to make them: http://lemmertorium.blogspot.com/2012/06/paper-medallions.html

As ever, thank you so much for being the wonderful, encouraging, and creative people that you all are. We are so inspired!

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Paper Medallions

We've been using fanfold paper medallions a lot lately for so many different things, so we thought we would post a quick and simple tutorial on how to make them:

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I'm excited about some of our new furniture pieces! I was in a French mood when I woodburned and painted this one :-) I was happy to find some toile fabric for the seat of the chair to go with it. The chair was originally a sewing chair, so the seat lifts up for more storage! The desk is pretty awesome because the top lifts up and a shelf pulls out. It was originally for typewriters and still has the vintage sticker on it explaining this. But its perfect to set a laptop or desktop and keyboard on, or to just use as a pull out work station for extra room. The rest of our new furniture pieces can be seen on pinterest or in our shop. Mom is currently working on re-upholstering a really nice captain's chair and my next project will be a dresser. Excited for the possibilities!Tweet

Etsy

Just FYI, we are slowly (yes, very slowly) getting our Etsy shop built up. We welcome custom orders too. So if you see something you like, but need it to be a little different, just ask and we will see what we can do. We specialize in papercrafting, and fabric flowers with a vintage flair. This is a photo of one of our recent listings :)

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Cherry Blossom Paperie May Newsletter!

Wow, Mother’s Day, Graduation, Weddings…May is such a busy, but fun month! We are so excited to share our news with you and are looking forward to our summer activities!

May 24th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

May 25th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

June 7, 14, 21, 28: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of June! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

July 5, 12, 19, 26: 6-10 year old Children’s Art Classes once a week for the month of July! $7.50 per class per child, $6.00 per child if you have more than one child in your family taking classes, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

Saturday, June 16^th: Altered Book Class! Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, painted, collaged, stamped, cut and/or torn.  It is “relaxed” art.  You don’t need to be an expert to create pages that you’ll love. One more chance for those of you that weren’t able to come before, and a time for those who have come before (and aren’t finished) to work on their books and get more ideas! $20.00. No class charge for those that have already taken the class. 2:00-4:00pm

It’s been a while since we’ve had a guest artist/crafter featured in our newsletter, so I’m excited to have this to share with you from Jessica Wyckoff! Jessica makes the tutus and tutu bags we sell in the shop and many of the hair bows, flowers, headbands, flip flops, hats, and necklaces. Here is her storyJ:

“I started making hair bows after trying to find reasonably priced, yet cute hair accessories for my daughter. I took the leap and ordered some ribbon and finally got started on making my own. After about a month I got the hang of it and have enjoyed it since. I love working with different styles of ribbon, and fabric and tulle! It's been a little over a year since I have started and I still am learning new techniques and styles and am always looking forward to my next project! My daughter is clearly my inspiration and participates in picking out what she likes and how she wants to put her bows together. I would definitely say that this so far has been a very positive and fun experience for me!”

Excited for summer parties and celebrations? We are! We have a video DIY tutorial for you this month on making tissue poms to decorate for almost any occasion. We sell various colors of tissue paper in the shop and can order in almost any color. If you don’t want to make them yourself, we will custom make them for you, but please get your order in in plenty of time as we currently have 80 to make! Prices vary based on size and type of tissue paper, but our extra large tissue poms are usually around $2.75. Here is the link to the video we made on how to make them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvaKIOoGRKM&feature=g-upl

We wish a belated Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, we wish a blessed future to all graduates, and a special thanks to everyone for being such awesome customers! We are so blessed and encouraged by you and your creativity!

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Mother's Day Gift Guide

Here are a few of our picks from the shop for Mother's Day gifts, some for all price ranges. 

Handmade chipboard sign with a great quote for moms! Wooster and Prince list pad, emery boards, and pocket mirror. Papaya journal.

Pretty Peter Pauper Press pen. Vintage Laundry sign/ironing board, perfect place to hang a collection of vintage aprons! Vintage pearl necklace with fabric flower.

Springy Iota tote. Black Hills Gold rose ring, currently 25% off! Cricut machine, currently 50% off!
Hope you enjoyed our picks and we hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day...mom's are the best!

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