The Reading Wreath

You all know I've been crafting up a storm lately, and I decided to try to make roses out of book pages.  Most everyone in my family loves to read, so I thought it would be appropriate to make a wreath out of them.  It's kind of a zen process and gives me time to think, so I thought I'd take pictures of the process and make a tutorial of sorts.  For those who are interested, I give you The Reading Wreath:

You will need an old book you can rip the pages out of, scissors, and a cool glue gun with lots of glue sticks.  Not kidding here:  Don't try this with your super hot glue gun.  You will not have any skin left.

Now fold one corner of your page down to meet the opposite edge, like above.  We're going to cut it into squares.

Cut the excess off, as above.

<<You will end up with the square to the left.

Trim the corners - you do not have to be precise.  >>

Now cut a spiral into the circle, leaving a tiny disk shape in the middle (photo on the right).  Again, do not be precise.  Irregular shapes and widths make the roses look unique.

Starting from the outside, start curling the paper.  Start with a tight curl to start it off.

Keep winding...

As you wind towards the middle, you can decide whether you like it tighter or looser.  Keep winding...

This is what it looks like from the side.  Keep winding until you get to the little disk-shaped end.

This is what it looks like from the bottom after it's all wound up.  See the little disk shape flipped up at the top?  Now squirt a blob of glue right into the center.  This will hold all of those layers together...

And then close the disk flap down onto the glue to hold everything in place.

<<You may end up with something like this.  I personally didn't like the piece that was sticking out, so I always go around and dab glue into the very bottom of the outside petals to secure them and to place them where I like.  Finished product >>

Experiment with using different sizes of pages, which give you a bigger variety of rose sizes and shapes.

Now you're going to glue them to the wreath.  Since I didn't want green to show through between the roses, I wanted to spray paint the wreath white.  Unfortunately, I ran out of white spray paint because of the porousness of the foam.  I figured knocking the green down to light green was good enough and moved on.  :-)

For finishing my wreath, I have my sorta painted wreath, finished roses in three sizes, and my Dangerous Killer Take Your Skin Off glue gun.  I decided to use this glue gun for this part as I need the roses to adhere stronger than a cool glue gun can plus my skin doesn't come in contact with the glue (in theory).  

Now just go for it.  I just started using the biggest and prettiest ones on top where people will see them most,  filled in the outside and inside, and used my tiny baby roses from really small books to fill in.  Photos below.

All done!  

You could tea stain the top edges of your roses, too.  Add a bow.  Add a wooden letter.  Or give me another idea!  I'm sure this won't be the last one I make.  The front door might need a colored one with the wooden numbers of our house number.  Hmmmm....

Payday

Work product

Yesterday I was frantically trying to figure out the finances.  Today is Payday.

I have two people inside me:  One went to college and wanted to take the world by storm.  I can definitely be a workaholic, and have been.  I love putting out a superior product with superior service.  The other person inside me has wanted to be a mom since as far back as I have memories.  I sort of run that the same way:  I'm a workaholic, I want to put out a superior product, and I want to serve them well.  The first one pays a lot more than the second, though.  And I have that tug of war that many (most? all?) women have as they want to contribute financially to their home but want to be everything to their families.  I do have a business (or three) running from home, some more successful than others.  But my most important job and most beloved job title remains Mama.

This morning I woke up to a Mama job bonus.  A million-dollar bonus.  In the night, my daughter had put something on Twitter.  For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, you can put a hashtag (# symbol) in front of something you write on Twitter and it becomes a way for people to search for that thing.  So, if I wrote, "Just burned the roast. #foodnetwork," then people can go to #foodnetwork on Twitter and see the posts from everyone there, and the people at Food Network can comment on them (hopefully helping you with that roast).  So, here's what I woke up to:

#thingsmymomtaughtme independence, confidence, hard work ethic, success, empathy, faith, loyalty @DanetteSteimle <3

#thingsmymomtaughtme always stay classy, no matter what

She could have written anything at all - you should read some of them.  A personal fave was from a teenage boy: #thingsmymomtaughtme A jealous woman does better research than the FBI.  (Props to that mama!)  But my girl wrote things I yearn for her to know.

It's these things that are a mom's payday.  And it made me think of things my kids did that made it Payday for me:

Ty wrote the most amazing and sublime essay based on his childhood.  Some of the things that he imparted to me will stay with me forever.  He's written me poems, encouraging letters, and sweet cards.  And he never never pulls away from a hug first - even if he has to leave.  

Holly finds ways to write the most loving notes to me:  Texts, Facebook, little notes on the counter (attached to Voodoo donuts!), and now Twitter.  She shows up with her blanket, pillow, and water in hand and announces we'll be watching a show together now.  

Austin never misses kissing me right before he leaves the house and right when he comes back in the house.  He asks me about my day.  He opens my doors, carries my packages, and always offers me his arm when we're walking anywhere, even in front of his buddies.    

In my type-A way, I dwell on the finances of my family.  How can I make them go further?  How can I bring in some?  How can I pay that?  But today is Payday.  I will simply roll around in my bonuses today.  Today I will be content and so very, very grateful.


What does your Payday look like?