March 30, 2011

From Ugly Betty to Bold and beautiful

I’d been waiting for this Starbucks Cocoa tin to get empty so that I could put it to some good use Winking smileEvery time I got some cocoa from it, I would think to myself – “oh what a beautiful candidate this is for altering!”. One day I was lucky enough and the last grains of cocoa were used up from that tin by some Samaritan (in all probabilities it was me) and then a jubilant me put it in the dishwasher to get it ready for the d-day!

I figured that the tall and thin structure of the tin would make a beautiful vase. If there’s a vase, there need to be flowers. I’m not one who can dutifully pick the flowers from the garden and replenish the vase everyday. So artificial it was, for me. Handmade? Or readymade? no handmade would be better. But ready made would look more natural. The tussle began and handmade won the war. Thus began the search for tutorials for handmade flowers. Lucky for me I’d been recently experimenting with some paper flowers and had hit upon just the right tut. Here it is. The only thing that I would like to add is that alternately opening the layers from opposite sides worked better for me than opening all on one side and then the other.

So here’s a peek at the tin that was

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and what it is now

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Doesn’t it look perfect for spring?!?!

I used a 12X12 scrapbook paper to cover the tin. It fell a little short – so I made two pieces of it. 6 X 12 each. Covered up the little slit on both sides with a black and white ribbon! Nobody would ever know that I did that because I was short of paper!! If you look closely at the photo you can see the ribbon on the right side. My apologies for the blurry photo – I didn’t realize it then.

The flowers are made from tissue paper. Since it’s spring I wanted a pastel theme. Don’t they look gorgeous?!?!?

This masterpiece now sits on our dining table. Not only did I save a tin from going to the landfill but also created a beautiful centerpiece at no cost!!