If you’re up for a marble table makeover that takes more than an hour but delivers even more impact check out this one from My Noting Hill

If you’ve ever made a paper fan than you can do this wrap. Starting from the center of the sheet accordion fold the paper a few times. Each time you fold the paper back just make it a little wider so that the fold is next to the last one instead of on top of.

I only did a few folds on each side but you could go crazy and pleat the entire box.

One of my favorite things about Spring is when you start seeing those little tiny blossoms appear on the trees. Since that time has come and gone here in Raleigh I decided to keep that look alive with some origami blossoms. I’ve made paper blossoms in the past (you can check them out here) but I wanted something smaller and more like a bud than a flower.

What you’ll need:

- Paper of your choice cut into 2″ squares (I used one of our Yuzen Potluck Packs)
- Glue (The stickier the better! Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue is perfect for this)
- Binder Clips
- A Branch (preferably from your own yard and not your angry neighbors)

Now it’s time to start folding

1 ) Start with a 2″ square of paper
2 ) Fold the paper in half corner to corner with the pattern on the outside
3 ) Now fold the paper in half again corner to corner to make a small triangle
4 ) It should look like this now

5 ) Now gently open one side of the triangle and fold the top point down to form a square
6 ) Flip it over and repeat on the other side. You should now have a small square.
7 ) Take the tip of the square and fold it up, pulling in the sides and folding them down
8 ) Flip it over a repeat on the other side. You should now have something that looks like a skinny diamond

If you are familiar with origami this is a basic crane fold we are doing. You can see the full crane instruction here, we are only doing steps 1-7

9 ) Take the point of the solid end and fold it back to the center of the diamond
10 ) This part is a little tricky, unfold the point and then fold it back in… gently lifting the sides away so that you can tuck the point in
11 ) It should look like this once it’s folded in
12 ) Repeat on the other side

13 ) Take one of the ends with the tucked-in point and fold it back towards the pointed end. Flip and repeat on the other side
14 ) Holding it with the smaller end facing you fold the right flap over to the left. Flip and repeat on the other side
15 ) Now take the long skinny end and fold it back to the other side. Flip and repeat on the other side
16 ) Fold one of the long skinny ends towards the center crease and do the same “tuck fold” in step 10. Flip and repeat on the other side

Still with me?

17 ) At this point you should have something that looks like this
18 ) Fold the front and back flaps back so that you end up with a pentagon (hey look I used my high school geometry for once!)
19 ) Now take one of the outer sides and fold it into the center. Repeat on all four sides
20 ) You should end up with this

21 ) Holding the blossom by the base (or long skinny end) start to fan out the petals
22 ) You can open up the sides as much as you want to depending on how “in bloom” you want your flower
23 ) All done!
24 ) Now repeat

And repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat. This part of the project is best done with a good movie and a glass of wine

Once you have all of your blossoms simple add a tiny dot of glue to the base…

and use the binder clips to keep them in place on your branch until dry.

These cards from Alexis Mattox Design are perfect for Mother’s Day. They are beautifully simple and the combo of colors and blossoms make them so cheerful.

There is no way someone is going to throw out one of these cards from The Hummingbird Card Company. You may want to give the recipient a picture frame along with the card. Wouldn’t you want to put something that detailed on display?

By far my favorite are these cards from Alljoy Design, especially the last one. Tea Cups + Bird…so cute!

Not very stylish huh? This is my iphone cover and if you look close you will see that it is absolutely filthy. I bought this peachy pink incipio cover a few months ago and because I usually carry it around the warehouse & office in my back pocket all the edges are completely stained from my jeans (a problem I later learned is very common with the incipio cases). After many failed attempts to clean the case I decided it was time for a complete makeover.

Here’s what you’ll need:

- A small sheet of decorative paper (I used Snow & Graham’s Meadow print)
- An old iphone case
- Spray Paint (I used Krylon for Plastic in Honeydew)
- Decoupage Glue & Paint Brush
- A Chiyogami Covered Pencil (or any old pencil…but a decorative one does make the project more fun)
- An X-acto Knife and Small Cutting Mat

I wanted the pattern on the back to be slightly smaller than the case so instead of tracing the case itself I traced around my iphone.

Then I swapped in the cover so I could trace out the hole for the camera.

After I had the whole thing drawn out I simply cut it out with an x-acto knife. Oddly enough this step took me the most amount of time. After a little too much caffeine my lines were not that straight so I had to keep going over them to get things even. In hindsight a ruler may have been a good idea.

Once I had the paper all cut out for the back I moved on to the cover. A few shots of spray paint took care of the grungy look and made it look new again.

…let dry

Now it was time to put things together

I brushed a thin coat of decoupage glue on the back of the paper and laid it down on the back of the case. Any air bubbles were easy to rub out with my fingers.

After the first cost of glue dried I applied another thin coat of glue over the entire back of the case.

And…TA-DA!!!

It says it was covered in Italian marbled papers (although I see some that I think are Renato’s marbles in there as well) and then coated to make it impenetrable. I would imagine plain old decoupage finish would make it pretty destruction proof but you could always add a coat of polyurethane varnish to up the protection factor.

Definitely a statement piece!

You can see more photos of the rest of the apartment at Habitually Chic

The latest issue of Country Living showcased a variety of modern designers including Smock, Elum, and Caskata.

Victoria Magazine packed a ton of gorgeous marbles onto a single page

Martha Stewart showcased little gifts wrapped in a variety of Katazome-shi paper

Even West Elm used a few presents wrapped in lokta paper in their latest catalog.

I can’t wait to see what else I can find

I love how Miche Bacher and Nanao Anton of Sacred Sweets incorporate decorative paper into their products. As much as I love to admire the perfectly wrapped treats however, it probably wouldn’t be long before I rip through them to get to the goodies inside.