Thursday, July 4, 2013

Fourth of July Mantle and Paper Medallion Tutorial

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

 


I love the month of July. It could be because I love fireworks and watermelon. It could be because I love summertime and all the activities that go with it. Or it could be because it's my birthday month. Probably all of the aforementioned.  


Because I love July so much, I really like decorating for the month. Usually I just decorate for the seasons but there is something just so happy about the combination of red, white and blue. 


Most of my decor leans towards the coastal vibe so I decided to incorporate this feeling into my July mantel, which ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would. 

 

I made the American flag using wood shims from Home Depot. I really like the dimensional effect they provide and am really pleased with how it turned out. 


The printable I made when I couldn't find exactly what I wanted on Pinterest. {I didn't even know that was possible...} Feel free to snag a copy for yourself at the end of the post. :)


And what would a July mantel be without fireworks? I have seen these paper medallions used for baby showers and other parties and thought they would be a great representation of the fireworks that everyone associates with Independence Day. However, all the tutorials that I found required you to fold the paper over and over again, keeping the width the same. This seemed a little...tedious to me so I came up with a way to use the Silhouette to make them. 


 




Materials:
-Silhouette cutting machine
-glue gun
-12"x12" scrapbook paper
-cardstock
-dowel rod


1. Using the drawing tools, make a rectangle. For a larger medallion, make the height 4 inches and for the smaller medallion make it 2 inches. 



2. Now draw a line about 1/2 inch away from the edge of the rectangle. 

3. Highlight this line and go to the Cut Style button at the top of the program (looks like a wee pair of scissors). Change to Perforate. This will cause your Silhouette to make tiny cuts along the line. 




4. Copy and paste this line every 1/2 inch all the way across.



5. When you are finished, highlight everything and group selected items. Then duplicate below. For the larger medallion, you will need three rectangles. For the smaller medallion, you just need two. 




6. Send the file to your Silhouette and let it do its cuttin' thang. 


7. Remove the paper and start folding along the perforated lines. This is really simple and folds perfectly. 


8. Fold all three (or two) rectangles. 


9. Using your glue gun, attach all the folded pieces together.



10. Then glue the ends together so you wind up with a circle of folded paper, like this:


11. Now this is where the magic happens! Press down on the center and Voila! You have made a medallion!


12. Next, secure the medallion to a 2 inch circle (cut from cardstock) on the back side. 


13. At this point, you can finish it off with either a patterned circle in the center....


...or a smaller medallion. 




14. Once your medallion is finished, glue a small dowel rod on the backside and you are finished!







I really think the group of paper medallions looks like fireworks and I love how festive they feel. And now I know how easy they were to make, I think I will start decorating with these paper medallions at all my events. They are just so fun!

 

  
 




 

7 comments:

  1. Shut up! Everything is so cute :) I love it ALL.

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  2. What a cute mantel! I love the paper medallions;) Hope to see you at Haven!

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  3. This may be a SUPER big "DUH" but I am trying to make these and I am seriously stuck at the "highlight" part....I know, right!? I just got a Silhouette for Christmas and Im still trying to igure this thing out, and this is one easy step I can't figure out:-/ Can you help? Thanks so much...I can't wait to make these:)

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    1. Hey Marisa! Congrats on your new silhouette! It took me awhile to feel comfortable using mine too but now it's all second nature. :) To highlight, just use your mouse to select the line you've just drawn. It should now have brackets around it, meaning you can change the properties of it. Then go to the top of the screen and find the small scissors icon (next to the A), select and change from cut to perforate. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to shoot me an email at lydia@huckleberrylove.com.

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  4. Hey Lydia!! Thanks SO much for emailing back and forth with me, your help WORKED... You are awesome! I really appreciate you taking the time out to help me figure out even the SIMPLEST step:)

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  5. Bonjour ladies, Thanks for soooo useful tuto! I am crafting and preparing a lot of surprises for my children!
    I am really impressed by your idea of four to have a blog!!! Good job ladies!

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  6. If you need some french recipe (cooking or sweets), let me know! With big pleasure!

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