Views around the studio and rolled roses

 Hi guys! Just a couple pix from the studio. These are some antique bisque dolls and doll heads I have been fiddling with lately. More to come on that later..

 This is some of my storage. I use these vintage suitcases to hold mostly vintage papers. I hoisted one more white one full of maps on top after these pics!

 I used my Target $1 stickers! These pics are not the best, I was taking them at night.

 This is the cabinet Ed and I wrestled in last week. It is 5 1/2 foot tall. The front doors are glass and someone dabbed taupe paint on the inside..not my taste, but I am pretty lazy so I may just add some vintage wallpaper behind to peek through the haze! This may also get painted at some point..

 ..not the inside though as that would be a nightmare! I hate getting paint all over my knuckles and the only way this would get painted inside would be a spray painter..and as I am not planning on moving it again..this is how it is going to be! (I might paint the edges..after it gets filled with my vintage cigar boxes, that is all you'll see anyways!The fab cubbies run all the way to the floor!

On of my vintage cigar boxes. I was going to make a purse out of this at one time and glued the graphics on sideways in relation to the clasp..so now it is a storage box!

 I got volunteered to do a "craft project" at our church ladies group tonight. "But nothing too hard". Yikes. I figured I'd show them rolled roses as they are pretty easy and have infinite variations and uses. Here are some spirals I cut from book pages, map paper, card stock, magazines pages..I also used sheet music. Instructions for these are all over the internet. I did a warm and natural version here in  Sept. of 2013 if you want to see a tutorial. (I don't know how to link old posts!)

 You can also scallop the edges for a more "petaled" look.

 I wanted to just give the ladies the basic idea and let them run with it.

 The solid ones look great with patterned leaves. I am showing 3 options here. These would make a cute magnet singly, or massed on a wreath form for a fab wreath. Or if you don't have that much of an attention span, cut a cardboard ring about the size of a CD and an inch or 2 wide, wrap with yarn (lace, paper strips, GLITTER, whatever) and add only a couple blooms for a mini wreath. It doesn't even have to be round..a square or oval would be cool too. Add a photo behind and it is a mini frame!

 This is dyed coffee filters..same technique, I just used 2 spirals..one for the center and added another and kept going to make it a bigger bloom (use hot glue) I scalloped the edges before rolling to make it more "petal-ly".

You can also use felt. This is warm and natural, but I think a felted shrunken wool sweater would make a fab large one for a pillow front (I'd tack with thread instead of glue-ing there) So many options! Old Christmas cards is another great thing to use. I prefer to use double sided paper, but you could color or watercolor tint the back of the card front (or not) The side you roll to the inside of the roll shows up the most. So look around and get rolling! Ed and I went vintage hunting this weekend and got some goodies I'll be sharing next..so much fun! Stop back! 'Til then! Julia