Ballerina Snowflakes

        These are actually pretty easy, if you put a few things into consideration while doing them. Have fun!

Here is what you will need: 

1. Paper (two pieces for every ballerina, one printed with a template and one for the paper .snowflake. although I recommend a few extra practice sheets of course!
2. White card stock for the body.
3. Scissors.
4. (Optional) Glue.
5. (Optional) Fishing wire, to hang them on.
6.  Pencil.
7. Eraser

     First, you will need to print from the template (I printed them at 85% of their original size, since it did not fit the paper). I believe any ballerina silhouette would work, but it needs to have a tutu on in order to keep the snowflakes up.

     Now, take the time-consuming task of carefully cutting the ballerinas out, these will be a template you will then use to trace on to the card stock. I almost cut off a few ballerina fingers and wrists in this process, so I recommend waiting until the end to cut these part out to avoid any rips or tears.

Cutting the original template.

After cutting out the card stock and erasing.

     Now, use that to trace an outline for your ballerina on card stock, and then cut it out again. Of course, you could always use normal printing paper for the body, but it made it very delicate, and card stock made it more durable and sturdy. Then, erase all of the pencil lines on it. Then, set it aside!

You are already almost done! Now, you are going to need to fold a separate piece of paper like this in order to make your snowflake, and then cut it out however you want.


     First, you need to make your paper a square. Complete this task by laying the A4 paper out in front of you so it is wider than it is taller. Then, take the bottom left corner and fold it over until you get a triangle (watch the top edges to make sure they don't overlap, you don't want to make this part sloppy). Now you should have a rectangle of excess paper on the right hand side. You can go ahead and cut all of this off. I accidentally took the picture the wrong way, but the bottom part is the part you need to cut off.

After folding it.

After the second step (open).

     Secondly, Open it up. Fold it the other way so that when you open it, the creases go from point to point, like a kite. Now, close it again.

     Once it is closed, Take the right corner, and fold it over itself (as if it is trying to hug itself). And then, fold the left one over the right one. Now, it probably looks like a kite.

After both sides were folded over.

     Now, fold it in half so the flap edges are inside. Then, draw a pattern on it and cut! *Remember to erase the pencil lines before unfolding it* The hole in the middle may be too small or too big to fit the ballerina properly, if it is too small, slit it a bit on each side. If it is too big, you can try taking one of the creases that point upward and gluing them to the edge of the tutu. Or you can try another snowflake.

My snowflake!

After it was folded the last time.

      
      Now you need to grab that ballerina body, and wiggle it GENTLY through the middle hole of your snowflake. I then had one of the folds hang on her tutu and applied some light glue there, so it did not wiggle so much. VIOLA! You may need to make adjustments to your snowflake if it did not fit properly. And, if you want, you can attach some fishing wire or ribbon to the top of the ballerinas head and hang it. Enjoy! <

How-To: Paper Gift Bow In 4 Steps

     Hello again! I've always loved gift bows, so I thought I'd share how to make one out of paper! It was really fun, they took me around 15-20 minutes, and they are really cute!

Heres is what you will need:

• Paper. (I used scrapbook paper, but you could always use some newspaper or recycled stuff.)
• Some double-sided tape or scrap-booking dots. (I suppose you could use a glue stick.)
• A stapler. (I found this works best, but you could use the double-sided tape again, or even regular tape.)
• Scissors or a scrapbook cutter. (I used a scrapbook cutter because I love to cut things quickly, and even better, with a perfect, straight edge!)
• pencil
• ruler
• 15-20 minutes

    

 Step 1. Cut the paper into nine strips, 11inches tall and 3/4 an inch wide. Set three of the strips aside, these will be your full sized strips. Now, cut 1inch off of three of the strips and two inches off of two of the strips. The last one you have left will need to be cut to a length of 3 1/2inches tall. You should end up with three 11inch tall strips, three 10inch tall strips, two 9inch tall strips and one strip with the length of 3 1/2 inches.

Paper strips - Step one

   
     Step 2. Take each strip except the 3 1/2 inch strip. Fold them so that one folds from the left and one folds from the right. Staple in place. Take the 3 1/2 inch strip and tape it into a short cylinder. The picture will REALLY help this part.

Folded strips - Step two

     Step 3. Now, take your three largest folds and use the double-sided tape to stick them together. The first two should make the same angle as this symbol: >< Then, stick the third one smack-dab in the middle. This should make a little star shape, and the base for the bow. Now, grab your 10inch folds and repeat the steps. (These two stars should look like the picture for First two stars - Step three) Stick your last two folds (The smallest ones) in the shape of this symbol: + And put the Small, short cylinder in the middle. (It should look like the photo Single star - Step three)

Single star - Step three

First two stars - Step three

     Step 4. Stack all of the "stars" on top of one another with the double-sided tape. Stack them with the largest on bottom and then the smaller star, and then the star with the cylinder in it lastly. And... VIOLA!! I hope this article was helpful, and that you enjoy making stars. Thank you for visiting!

Enjoy!

Completed gift bow - Step four

Hello Again!

     Hey everyone! Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm currently working on a DIY project blog that I'll be posting soon. Keep checking in! Thanks, and if you have any opinions on what I should blog about, feel free to comment!
     -Maranda

Five Strange Plants And Flowers

         I was reading about plants and stumbled across some of these... I thought I'd share with you! Enjoy!

     1. The bleeding tooth fungus (Hydnellum peckii) also known as Devil's tooth or Strawberries 'n' cream, Is a small fungi most often found in Northern America. It resembles a bleeding tooth while young. It's said to have a peppery taste, and is inedible due to it's acidity. They remain whitish-cream while young and change to a brownish color in adulthood.

Bleeding Tooth Fungus. Photo by H. Krisp

     2. The Baobab tree (Adansonia grandidiers) Is a large tree, ranging from 80-100 feet in height, and grows in the south-western parts of Madagascar and flowers between may and august and the flowers smell like watermelons. Unfortunately the Baobab tree is endangered.

Baobab Tree. Photo by Leo Za1

     

3. The Hydnora Africana is a parasitic plant native to Africa. Its flower lies above ground and smells like feces (I recommend not sniffing it) to attract its pollinators. (Dung beetles and Carrion beetles) It then acts as a trap, so the beetle stays inside of the flower long enough to pick up the pollen.

Hydnora Africana. Photo by Lytton John Musselman

     

4. The Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the Corpse flower, is another flower I don't recommend smelling. It's the largest non-branched flower in the world, and it has the smell of a decomposing body. These stink-flowers can reach ten feet in height, (the largest recorded being 10ft 2.25in) and are native to Sumatra Indonesia.

Corpse Flower. Photo by Erin Kohlenburg

     5. The Lithops plant (Lithops leslier) is a species of succulents native to South Africa and Namibia. To avoid being eaten, the blend in with their surroundings, in other words... they look like rocks. They bloom yellow or white flowers in the fall.

Lithops Plant. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen

Do you know about any strange plants? Feel free to comment!