It's beginning to look a lot like Chri......... shhhh ;)

I am loving these origami stars!

I started making them for a customer's wedding decorations, but I have gotten the bug and am planning bunting, tree garlands and hanging decorations, but they will be limited so keep an eye on my Etsy shop - hoping to have some ready this week xx

New Christmas Designs in Store!

I have been working on 3 new Christmas shadowbox designs this weekend.

Each one features a beautiful origami / paper decoration centred on a worded background - they are fully customisable, with a choice of colour with the stars and snowflakes, and a choice of background featuring Christmas songs, things we love about Christmas or your own choice of words and text colour.

Hope you like!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperButterfliesM?section_id=17102899&ref=shopsection_leftnav_6

Handmade September Market

Tonight is the Handmade British Artisans Collective's monthly online market over on Facebook and I am excited to be selling there again this month. I will have the selection above available, all at reduced market night prices and there is much more besides.

The album is already full and ready to view here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1637516273189525.1073741843.1520039144937239&type=3

and you can join the event and receive 

updates here

https://www.facebook.com/events/1656758484579891/

There are some amazing businesses taking part tonight selling beautiful handcrafted items from jewellery and clothings to homewares, toys, art and even fudge! Every business is HMRC registered, and copyright, CE and Food Safety compliant where applicable, so you can bguy with complete confidence - all transactions are completed via paypal.

If that's not enough to tempt you then every purchase made tonight comes with a raffle number and extry into the prize draw for this beautiful necklace from KHL Handmade Jewellery

The Ballad of the Origami Ships

Once Upon A Time a mother and her daughter created some origami ships, they were good ships, of many sizes, and were launched with all due ceremony on the Ocean of Paddling Pool.

Those ships floated and floated well, pushed by the gentle breeze, and all was good with the world - until suddenly a storm, known as Hurricane Little Brother was unleashed upon the peaceful ocean and waves crashed upon the tiny paper boats - the daughter did her best to save the ships and rescued 3 of the most precious, but the others floundered in the storm, finally rescued as Hurricane Little Brother blew itself out, and scooped from the ocean by the Hero Fishing Net, to be repaired and ready to sail another day.

The End 

:D Just a little snippet of our day today ;)

FREEBIE FRIDAY!

It's Freebie Friday over on my Facebook page today, and it's going on all weekend, so for your chance to win one of my set of 10 origami Fortune Cookies, pop over to the link below!

The winner will receive one set of 10 origami cookies with their choice of 'fortune' inserts - UK p&p is included in the prize, overseas entries are welcome but will need to cover the extra postage costs on winning.

https://www.facebook.com/paperbutterflies/photos/a.652534504787899.1073741844.149930111715010/937102226331124/?type=1&theater

Playing with Japanese Paper Dolls

My daughter and I have been having fun making Japanese paper dolls this week. I picked up a great craft kit full of beautiful origami paper and instructions, and we made some beautiful dolls, starting with the instructions and then adding our own embellishments - in fact I got a little carried away!

Once I had helped my daughter make her first one she asked me if she could have one of the frames I use for my shadowboxes, found some bright pink Chinese silk style fabric from the stash I keep and said she wanted to make an origami tea set to go with her doll. When she had finished her box looked so amazing that I asked her if I could use her design to make my own and this is what I came up with

My doll is set against a piece of beautiful vintage kimono fabric and has her tea pot, Japanese style cup and flowers on her table, and I am offering it for sale in my Etsy store, at a reduced price as it is a prototype, but I am planning to introduce this Tea Ceremony Design as a range, and am open to taking commissions too

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/240107547/japanese-doll-tea-ceremony-framed-wall?ref=shop_home_active_1

I also made this miniature, in a frame just 10cm x 15cm, a pretty little doll with flowers in her hair, set against a red cherry blossom pattern Chinese silk style fabric, another range I will introduce this summer - this one is also now available over on Etsy and please feel free to message me if you would like to commission one on other colours.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/240106475/japanese-paper-doll-and-fabric-miniature?ref=shop_home_active_2

If you have the summer holidays coming up I definitely recommend keeping your eyes out for kits like the one we started with, and there are lots of great tutorial on you tube too - my daughter is 7 and needed help with the folding, but it was a wonderful activity to do together, she is so proud pf her shadowbox, which now has pride of place in her room.

Paper Butterflies Miniatures!

I am very excited this week as it sees the launch of my new range of miniatures, teensy tiny versions of my original Nature Boxes, just a few centimetres in size but still containing each of the elements I love to create, a piece of my translucent, handmade silk paper, polymer clay leaf created by taking pressings from real leaves, and tiny origami flowers and butterflies!

(Frame - approx 10cm x 11cm x 3.5cm; Picture approx 5cm x 4cm)

These make a really perfect gift, and at only £16 each plus p&p are affordable enough to start a little collection.

The first 3 of these will be available exclusively in the Handmade BAC market on Facebook this weekend, all at a special price, with more available in my Etsy shop soon.

The market album is available to view and browse here

If You Go Down to the Woods......

This Sunday I will be taking part in Oak Tree Events online market, and this months theme is woodland and nature. The Oak Tree Events online markets take place on the last weekend of every month, on Facebook, when a photo album of beautiful items from 25 sellers opens for sale. To make a purchase on the night simply browse the album, and comment SOLD along with the password, released on the night, against the item(s) you would like, and then message the seller's Facebook page (stated on listing) to confirm.

I will have 4 brand new shadowboxes in the market, including 3 of my new floating shadowboxes, at the special introductory price of £16 plus p&p.

https://www.facebook.com/OakTreeEvent/photos/a.878993975500475.1073741856.671008426299032/891700007563205/?type=3&theater

All 25 sellers in the market are based in the UK but as always many are more than happy to ship internationally so please feel free to browse the album and contact Oak Tree Events, or the individual sellers, if you are hoping to purchase but are outside of the UK.

This is the link to the album

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.878993975500475.1073741856.671008426299032&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/events/363793633793031/

Floating Shadowboxes 2015 Summer Range

This year's range have been created using beautiful, handmade, distressed white wooden box frames, with glass front and back to create a floating feel, from a lovely small business.

Each box contains a piece of beautiful silk paper, which I handmake, suspended between 2 sheets of glass, as well as origami models created from traditional Shoyu and Yuzen Chiyogami patterned washi paper, natural silk and bamboo fibres and polymer clay leaves, made by taking impressions from real leaves and then had painted and varnished.

I love every process and material I use in these boxes, and the the way the butterflies come alive and seem to fly with the light pouring through. I hope you like them too.

Each boc ix 4inch x 4inches, glass front and back, and can be wall mounted or freestanding. Whilst I would recommend not leaving them in direct sunlight they look particularly lovely on a sunny shelf or windowsill.

They will retail at £18 each plus p&p and will be added to my etsy store soon, in the meantime please message me via my email paperbutterfliesorigami@gmail.com or through my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/paperbutterflies to purchase.

Party time! Lucky star cake bunting

So it has been party central here this weekend, with my dad's and husband's cousin's birthday yesterday, plus my son's friends Super Hero party (so much fun!)

 my father in law's birthday today and my own in two weeks so I have been  thinking of party decorations and come up with this fab new product that is also super easy for you to make at home!

My new mini cake bunting can created with these gorgeous origami Japanese lucky stars.

These are really cute to make at home, using cake dowling, thread and lucky stars, but I am also now selling these in my Etsy store, and they can be made with as many stars as you need - 5th birthday - 5 stars! 10th Wedding Anniversary - 10 stars! Alternative wedding cake topper just choose your colour and number!

There are lots of great tutorials on the web for the lucky stars, and next week I'll be posting a tutorial of my own.

Lunar New Year Series

This week I have been working on some more shadowboxes for my Lunar New Year range, a series inspired by the colours and sights associated with Chinese/Lunar New Year.

Each contains origami models which I have hand folded from beautiful Japanese Washi and Shoyu papers, then set on natural bamboo and silk fibres, and Chinese style fabric.

My family and I have always loved Lunar New Year since we spent the New Year and Spring Festival in China a few years ago. Our daughter was only 7 months old at the time and we were travelling on our way home to the UK, having lived in Australia for the 18 months before. It holds very special memories for us, reminding us of China itself, of our life in Australia before and the excitement of returning home as well; not to mention the fact that when we did return home we discovered I was pregnant with our son. A very special time indeed.

Paper Rose Bud Tutorial

I have been making a lot of these little roses this week, to add to my Valentine Cards and gift boxes, so I thought it would be perfect for my first tutorial

. There are lots of tutorials for these little roses on the internet, and this is mine.

To start you will need a strip of paper approx. 25cm long by 1cm wide – you can buy these pre-cut from many craft and origami sites, as Lucky Star kits but you can also cut your own from any favourite paper you may have – quick note though, you don’t want the paper to be too thick or if will be difficult to shape.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, if it has inspired you to have a go then let me know - I'd love to see what you create :)

Please not the design for the rose is not my own but the tutorial, including words and photos, and the design of thecard shown in the first photos is.

Online Market Night with Handmade - A British Artisans Collective

I am getting very excited as tonight is the 2nd market night of the year (2nd ever actually - we're pretty new ;) ) from Handmade - A British Artisan's Collective over on Facebook.

If you've never been to an online craft fair/market before it is super easy, and means a lot less standing around in cold and mud, although I do love the real thing too!

The market starts at 6pm tonight when password will be released on the main page, then simply browse through the album and if something takes your fancy just comment SOLD and the password and the seller will send you a paypal invoice. Easy!

There is everything from clothing and jewellery to home decor and foodie treats and some great Valentine's gift ideas too. 

If you need any more incentive there is also a great raffle prize up for grabs! Every purchase made gets an entry into the prize draw for a lovely tea towel featuring an exclusive print from Wychwood Cuckoo Designs.

To get an idea of what's on offer have a look at the pic below and follow the links to the event and album xxx

https://www.facebook.com/events/838432366220376/

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1544711182470035.1073741832.1520039144937239&type=1

Charity Auction in Aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust, We are Macmillan Support and CLIC Sargent

I am very proud to be taking part in this wonderful charity auction over on Facebook tonight.

https://www.facebook.com/events/373828029444759/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

It is being held by Tracy from Mad About Bags on behalf of friends whose son is battling Leukemia, and all money raised will go direct to their Just Giving page to be shared between the 3 charities.

Many wonderful and talented pages have donated a beautiful selection of handmade goodies, most with free postage so you know that every penny you spend goes to the charities.

I am donating this cute ickle Ellie and her friend butterfly on their sari.

If you would like to pop over and show your support, maybe even have a cheeky bid or two, the fun starts at 6pm - just follow the linre to join the event and get updates.

Thanks, Mel xxx

UPDATE

The auction was a great success and raised well over £300, and Ellie found her forever home xxx

Origami Fortune Cookies - new additions to the range on the way!

My origami fortune cookies have been proving very popular since I added them a few weeks ago so I was thinking, how about a make it yourself set?    

10 precut circles of gorgeous embossed paper plus full instructions plus link to online tutorial - available with or without precut strips of paper for the fortunes, depending on whether you wish to handwrite or print your own.

I also now have some cute little US style take out boxes available to send the cookies in - I'll be listing them soon to either buy alone, as an add on, or as a set with 5 fortune cookies in!

Look out for more details soon!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/219035723/red-origami-fortune-cookies-set-of-10?ref=shop_home_feat_2

What I do

For those who are new to my work here are a few pics of what I do and links to where you can find me.

http://paperbutterfliesorigamiboxframedart.virb.com/

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperButterfliesM

https://www.facebook.com/paperbutterflies

Welcome to Paper Butterflies HQ

Hi and welcome to my new blog!

I'm Mel and I run Paper Butterflies, Origami Box Framed Art (yes it's a looong business name, it has a story to it that I am sure I will blog about before too long ;) )

I have been mainly over at facebook and Etsy but with the new year I decided it was time to set up a proper HQ where I can chat, share ideas, give updates on new products and hopefully create some great origami tutorials to get your inspired :)

So New Year, new website, new blog and lots of new plans!

I would love to meet some new people, crafty blogs and just generally get to know people so feel free to leave me a comment and show me your blogs too xx

Mel xx