Paper balls

Hello there

I had this great idea to make some paper balls for a friend of mine's birthday. They were a delight to make and I love them. I made the larger ones this time i.e 5". See my post from January for more information. One thing to note is that the first shape you put the thread/ribbon through needs to be facing down, so that none of the lines from the printout show; once you start with a shape facing one way, all the others have to face that way too or they won't slot into place properly. I made them with a lovely handmade paper with a slightly rough texture.

After feeling rather smug with myself for making those two, I then had a little panic. Aaarrggh! How on earth can I present these? I can't just take them round there in my hand. Then the fun started of making a box.
I measured how long and high a space they took up next to each other and then made the base two centimetres longer and wider than that to allow for the lips necessary to glue the pieces together. For these size balls the measurements were:
base = 27x 16cm
side = 27 x 15cm
end = 16 x 15cm

Score the base at 1cm all the way around. Only score the sides and ends on three edges, as the top edge doesn't need folding over. At this point in came one of my newest toys which is the Ultimate Pro boxer board - it made this activity so much easier. The lid was made .5cm larger than the base.


I embossed some wavy shapes on the pieces before glueing it together, which I thought tied in quite nicely with the wavy balls.

I must give praise to my now favourite glue, which is the cosmic shimmer acrylic glue. It's brilliant for making boxes as it dries so quickly. I definitely needed that facility today!

I know that white isn't a fantastic colour but I thought that the recipient could colourize the box herself and use it to store some crafty stash, as she does have rather alot of it! If I had coloured it, it might not have been the right colours for her craft room or studio and the time saved was then spent chatting in her living room instead :-)

Take care out there and chat loads with your friends. Talking of which, reminds me; I've got a crafty night on next Wednesday and I'm getting excited about it now.

I'm much happier with colour

Hello there

I've just made two more of the 3D balls I made this morning. I've used some 'My Mind's Eye' Totally Girl paper. I forgot to mention in my previous post that these are so great as well because you don't use any  adhesive at all; you just slot them all together. The cutting out is made easier when you layer two or three together, so they can be made in next to no time.

I've attached them through some holes in my desk (it's an Ikea one - the holes are meant to be there -it's fate!). I had to use some jewellery wire to thread the ribbon through - KNEW that would be useful one day. They now adorn my desk - adorn is such a lovely word.

What a lovely way to spend time on a completely horrible weather day.

Take care out there

Wasting time is research

Hello there

I've just made this gorgeous little 3D paper ball decoration in no time at all. I subscribe to DailyCraft on Facebook and they link to loads of different projects every day. This project came from howaboutorange blog. I originally told myself " no, don't do that as it's not on your 'plan'". I fairly quickly realised that it won't be a waste of time to do it at all. Doing little things like this could bring my motivation back; it could give me an idea for a lovely home decor item; it could be the start of a whole new business for me. Who knows where little steps could lead to?



I must stop seeing distractions as bad things; I must see them as having a different purpose for me. The skill will come when I get my mojo back and I then must focus it on something I'm working on from my 'plan'.

The oil is in this photo to give some idea of the size of the ball





If I get a chance this weekend, I'll print out the template again on nice patterned paper. I'm going to put hanging storage in front of my desk (well, Chris will hopefully) and I could hang some of these from them, so that they'll be pretty as well as practical.





Take care out there