Tissue Paper Trees

Hi everyone! My name is Kalyn, and I am from And I Thought I Loved You Then. I am an almost 27 year old stay at home mother of 1. I love to blog about my baby girl, our adventures, and our crafts. We live in Michigan and as the weather gets colder, the more I enjoy to craft and bake. I hope you enjoy my tutorial, if you have any questions feel free to contact me!

If you wouldn't mind I would like to start off this tutorial with a quick apology. My nails are DESTROYED!! I am attempting to participate in No Spend November so I am not able to go get my normal manicure. After deciding to take part in this I realized I have no nail polish remover so they look terrible. Please try to look past this and see how beautiful these trees are.  Thank you : )

Supplies-
2 Tree Forms, I used paper trees, they are cheaper-Hobby Lobby
Tissue Paper, I bought 4 packs of paper. Be conscious of the design of the paper, you don't want anything too wild or that might show any mistakes-Dollar Store
Glue Stick, I used 10 mini sticks-Already on hand
Glue Gun-Already on hand
Scissors- Already on hand
Pen-Already on hand

Start out with your tissue paper, leave it folded like it comes. Cut it into strips about 1 inch wide. Once you have cut the whole pack into 1 inch strips, cut the strips into 1 inch squares. Separate all of the squares, it saves you time, they tend to stick together. If your paper has a pattern I would decide now how you will do it. I had a pattern of solids and stripes so I alternated them.

Next pick up one square in one hand and the pen in the other.


Put the end of the pen in the middle of your paper

Fold the paper down with your finger tips. In no way does this need to be perfect, I think the imperfection of this gives the tree more fluff.

While holding the paper around the end of the pen, twist the pen, this will wrap the paper around it nice and tight.

While holding the paper on the pen, let go of the pen and pick up your glue gun. Put a dab of glue on the end of the pen where the paper covers it.

Place the paper on the tree form with it still on the end of the pen. Once it is glued on you can remove the pen and it keeps its shape. I found it easiest to start at the bottom, and move from right to left as I am right handed. If you are left handed it might be better left to right. I continued to go around the tree form until I met the edge, I then moved up to the next row.

First Row

When you get to the top, give your wrist a little flick as you glue the paper down, it adds some fluff to fill out the tip of the tree.

Mirrored Christmas Tree from TJ Maxx 2010

Tada, tissue paper trees!! I did this for HOURS, and I mean HOURS. Many nap times were spent with these trees. I will say, if I ever do this again I will not buy such large trees. I love the way they look, and my little one loves to pat them and feel the paper and hear it crunch. All together I spent about $10 for both trees so it was definitely worth the savings. What I love most is that it is a 360* project, it would be great for a centerpiece, or a little cut out like I have. Here it is from the other room

Thank you so much for checking out my Tissue Paper Trees, I hope to see you guys over at And I Thought I Loved You Then. You will be able to check out tutorials for my Candy Cauldorn, Christmas Countdown, and Jingle All The Way!

MIA

I will make this short and sweet..I totally broke my computer. I leave it on for days at a time, plugged into the wall, on the couch. Mark has told me 1000000 times to stop but why listen?? Well because something fried it. So while he works on it, and scuffs at my under his breath I will be MIA. I was able to convince him to let me use his super fancy computer just to write this...I am not even sure how it works.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Oh also, there is an update on beautiful baby Easton. He had his surgery and it went as well as it could! The tumor, kidney, and appendix were all removed without incident. The tumor was totally encapsulated so it does not look like there will be need for chemo. PRAISE THE LORD!!!


Peace and Love!

PPS...I totally scored Eliza a Power Wheels Mini Cooper on Black Friday...what 10 month old doesn't need a car??

Cared For Winner

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Congratulations ~*Nicole*~ email me within 24 hours to get your information.

Thank you everyone for participating!! Please remember you can go to Cared For and use coupon code ELIZA2011 for 15% off your order!

My Birthday Wish

As my birthday rolled in last night I read some heartbreaking news. My friend Courtney has found out her 7 month old little boy named Easton has a tumor attached to his kidney. Never in my life could I imagine what she is going through right now. My heart breaks for her, I want to fix it, but that is what the doctors are doing this morning.

So my birthday wish is for you all to pray for little Easton, his family, and the doctors and nurses who will be performing Gods work. The power of prayer never ceases to amaze me and I know this little guy will be healed.

Please add him to your prayer list while you are gathered with family and friends tomorrow at dinner, he has a long road but he will be OK.

Here is Courtney's post and I snagged a picture of Easton for you to smile!

Is he not just the cutest??!!

Thankful for November 23rd

Today I am thankful for this day. I have survived another year to become 27. This has been the most amazing year of my life, that little monkey that is MINE has made it the best year possible.

But I really am thankful for being able to spend 25 of those years celebrating my birthday along with my Papa. I was his birthday gift. I loved sharing my birthday with him. It has been really rough without him these past two birthdays. I can't call him to say Happy Birthday for him to say it back. I feel bad because I feel like when people think of my birthday they remember his birthday, and it is a reminder he is not here to celebrate. I prayed to him to have Eliza come on our birthday last year, I am thankful he did not listen to that prayer, she would have been born way too soon. I know she threw him a killer birthday party in Heaven though.

My Papa passed away on March 4th 2010 at 225pm. We were all in the room with him, holding his hand, it was so peaceful, he didn't struggle, it was his time.

Here is the eulogy I read at his funeral-



Grief can awaken us to new values and new and deeper appreciations. Grief can cause us to re-prioritize things in our lives, to recognize what's really important and put it first. Grief can heighten our gratitude as we cease taking the gifts life bestows on us for granted. Grief can give us the wisdom of being with death. Grief can make death the companion on our left who guides us and gives us advice. None of this growth makes the loss good and worthwhile, but it is the good that comes out of the bad.. 

My Papa was a kind and thoughtful man, at times a man of few words, but you always knew he cared, and everyone’s happiness came before his.   He would not want us to focus on the sadness of his death, but instead look at the happiness we still have in our lives.  He would want us to look at each other and appreciate what we have together and what we hope to make better.

I have much comfort in the good feelings my memories give me.  I remember when I was a little girl, spending almost every Saturday night with Nani and Papa. We would always get pizza and spaghetti for dinner and watch TV together. I would find myself wandering in to watch COPS with Papa, instead of the shows Nani and Jaymi would watch. Sometimes I wonder if I really liked that show, or if it was just being able to sit in the den with him, I still watch that show every Saturday night. 
 

 Most Saturday’s, after dinner, Jaymi, Nani and I would enjoy doing a puzzle. As the time went by Nani would usher us off to bed with the promise we could finish the puzzle in the morning. I was always amazed when I woke up and half the puzzle was done. Papa would stay up for hours, alone, working on the puzzle. He really enjoyed doing them, but was never so selfish to finish, he always left the last pieces for us.

Papa was always playing with us, whether it was with rides on the tractor in the yard, or riding his tandem bike. I’m sorry you always had to do all the pedaling, my feet didn’t always reach. Thank you for letting us do pretty much whatever we wanted…building forts with the couch cushions, dressing your dog up like a baby, even dying and cutting Nani’s hair.

My favorite memory of Papa will forever be going to Lion’s games with him. When I was younger the guys would go to the football game on Thanksgiving and the girls would go to a movie. For years I would ask my dad why I couldn’t go but there just weren’t enough tickets. After the unfortunate passing of my Uncle Mike’s friend Paul, I finally got that golden ticket. I used to be SO embarrassed; Papa would sing the national anthem and Lions Victory song louder than anyone in the stadium. I swear everyone stared at me! As the years went by Papa got 2 tickets instead of 4 and I wasn’t able to go to the games as much. This past season Uncle Mike wasn’t able to go to a game and Papa didn’t have a ride. Nani called to see if Mark, my husband, would want to take Papa, UM HELLO?? Did we forget my last paragraph?? I WANT TO GO. The fateful day came, and I hadn’t been that excited in years. We got to the game and I couldn’t wait for the national anthem to start, so I could sing it with him. I wasn’t very optimistic that I would be able to sing the Lion’s Victory song, but they scored a few times and we were able to enjoy it. I have some good news for you though Papa, Uncle Mike let me take over your season ticket, so I will be there every game singing loud and proud just for you.

Papa, I will miss your bear hugs, and the way you always greeted me, “Kalyn Dormaier, how the hell are ya”.  You were a wonderful role model in my life, and a great friend.  I do have one confession though, I used to take pennies out of the glass jug, so when I am up beside you, be sure to remind me that I owe you quite a few pennies.  I hope you accept that as gratuity for all the wonderful memories that you gave me.

My Papa sure loved his Lions Football...we all wore Lions' shirts for him at his funeral.

Happy Birthday Papa, thank you for all you have done from above. We know you are watching us...Eliza points to you everyday. 

This video is from when Eliza wasn't even 2 months old. She would stare at this decorative tree in our family room and smile and laugh at it forever. My Papa used to tell my Grandma she drove him so crazy he was going to climb a tree...he found one.

Last Day For Giveaway

Today is the last day to get your comments in for the giveaway. Make sure you leave a comment for every action you do!!

Tutorial Tuesday-Pottery Barn Inspired Thanksgiving Countdown

Welcome back to Tutorial Tuesday. This week I am showing you how to make a Thanksgiving countdown. I saw this in the Pottery Barn catalog and about fell over when I saw how expensive it was, $70, I knew I could make one for a lot less. Mine might not be as perfect but I have memories of making it with Eliza, and a few extra dollars in the bank.

Here are your supplies this week-

Felt- I did 3 different colors for the tree, a yard for the trunk, a yard for the top, and a half of yard for the grass.
Felt sheets-I used these to cut the leaves
Vinyl-For the numbers, you could use any sticker you wanted
Fabric-For the words
Heat and Bond-To adhere the words
Sticky Back Velcro-For the leaves
Scissors
Hot glue
Marker
Leaves

Start off by drawing out your grass. I used a black marker and as you can see it took me a few attempts.

Once you have it like you like, cut it out. Don't worry we will flip it over so you don't see any of the lines from other attempts.

Do the same for the trunk of the tree. This take a little more practice. If you want just a straight tree it is pretty easy, I wanted mine to have some curve.

My helper

Repeat for the top of the tree. Again, I just wiggled my marker around a few times until I got the shape I was looking for.

Cut it out and then lay it out to make sure you like it. Remember to flip it over so all the marker is face down. I trimmed mine a few more times once I saw it all together.

Now go outside and grab some leaves. I just grabbed the two closest to the door, it was cold that day!

Trace them onto your felt sheets, Don't worry about them being perfect, leaves aren't perfect

Sorry, I cut before I took a picture

Make sure to cut enough for 30 days, I did extra, and lots of colors. Lay them out again to make sure you like it.

Take a roll of sticky back velcro, you will only need the scratchy side, and cut out pieces for each of your leaves, stick the sticky part on the back.

Next take your Heat and Bond and iron it onto your fabric. Follow the directions on how to do this

Cut your letters out of your fabric, if you are talented enough to free hand or trace, go for it, like normal I used my Cricut

Take your letters and iron them onto your tree

Make sure you iron out your felt and fabric really well to get all of the wrinkles out. I also lint rolled mine, felt really collects junk.

Now you are all set to lay out your leaves, velcro them onto the tree top, the sharp part of the velcro will stick right to the felt without having to use the other piece. You can do it however you want...I enlisted some help

And you are all set! Hang it on a wall or a door, I used 3m double sided tape with the little pull tabs. I used some tape rolled in a loop to help hold down a few extra places.

I really enjoyed making this. I feel like there are a lot of lessons attached to it. Before dinner each night I plan to have Eliza find the # of the countdown for that day, so number learning, and then at dinner we will tell each other what we are thankful for that day. I also made extra leaves in the hopes that maybe she will want to take one down throughout the day to tell me she is thankful for something special...a mom can hope right?

And in case you were wondering, here is Pottery Barns countdown. It is available only in the catalog

In a Rut-Pretty Random

I feel like I am just in a rut today. I am exhausted and can't get it together.  I have lots of random thoughts floating around...

I am getting frustrated looking for a house. We haven't put ours up, and it isn't near condition to be up, but I keep working to get it there. I watch the listings each week and I can't find anything worth the money. I love our house, hate our neighborhood. If I could take our house and just put it on land our issues would be solved. I feel a bit spoiled with our finished basement and granite kitchen. I see houses without those, asking for more then what I will for our house and I feel like it would be a waste. I thought I found an amazing house today, I talked to our agent about it and then packed Eliza up to go take a look. I loved everything about it, until I realized the neighborhood play structure-basketball court-soccer field was our back yard. No thanks, I like my privacy and don't want to end up watching the neighbors kids daily. Back to the drawing board. Mark is really pushing to move out of state but I am just too comfortable here, I don't know.

Eliza gets to go see her boyfriend and sister in law today : ) Before I was pregnant with Eliza I nannied for a little boy, I started when he was 6 days old. I was there about 50 hrs a week and just fell in love! When I became pregnant with Eliza we knew it would be too much for me to watch them both, they are only 13 months apart, so I left a few months before I had her. They have since had another baby and I can't wait to go meet her. I hope Eliza naps well so we can have lots of fun!

We missed church this week and I feel off, I am glad Pastor Ben has a blog so I can catch up on what he was preaching.

Last week Eliza refused to nap more then about 20 minutes a day for me. Of course, yesterday while I was at the Lions game she took a 4 hour nap for Mark.

OK, I guess that is all, I have to start getting ready for Eliza's date!

Sorry So Random

Eliza's first pedicure...3 months old

Christmas Tree Tshirt

Some of you might have seen this tutorial last week over at Pocket Full Of Pink, when Karen featured my project. I wanted to post it for my readers as well. Enjoy the Christmas Tree T-shirt I made for my little girl. This was a very quick project, maybe 15 minutes top.

Here are the supplies you need:

A shirt
Ribbon, choose as many different prints as you would like
Star Button
Needle and Thread
Scissors
Stitch Witchery
Iron

Start off by prewashing your shirt. This will make sure it wont shrink in the future. Also, wash your ribbon so the colors don't bleed. Soak the ribbon in salt water for 30 minutes then hand wash, hang dry, and iron.

Lay out your shirt and cut the ribbon to size according to the size of your shirt. I used a piece of left over green ribbon as the trunk of the tree. I put the trunk down first, then the star, this way I knew how much room I had in between to space out the "branches" I started with the largest on the bottom and slowly moved up making each ribbon shorter to show the angle of the tree.

Once I had it laid out the way I liked it I cut a piece of stitch witchery for the trunk of the tree. I laid it down and pressed with my iron, on cotton setting, for 5 seconds. I did it in 5 second increments until it was on there tight.

After I did the trunk I moved onto the branches of the tree. I used a clean cloth, burp cloth actually, in between the iron and the ribbon. I didn't want the heat directly on the ribbon just in case it would make the colors run.

Once all of the pieces were down I hand stitched the star onto the shirt and TADA, all done!

Here is a picture of Eliza wearing it.

Please excuse the bottle, if I didn't have that this is what the photos looked like:

No Pictures Please

YEAH!! For my Christmas Tree Shirt!

As always, don't forget about our giveaway. You only have a few more days to enter...not too many entries right now so get in there!!