Bloggy Book and Craft-a-thon Day 3

Lauren and Derek of the Curiosity Shoppe are guest posting today to help promote the Read to Feed Project! Everything you will find at their shop in San Fransisco is special. They have taken great care to fill their shop with items and ideas that will delight, amuse and inspire.  You will also find them each Wednesday at Design Sponge sharing creative and useful projects. Be sure to check them out! They will amaze you with their creativity!

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Lauren and Derek write…

These bright and colorful tissue paper flowers are inspired  by the book Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf.

We love the book Ferdinand for its beautiful illustrations and wonderful story about a bull who would rather sit under a tree and smell the flowers than charge the bullfighter who is taunting him at the opposite end of the ring.

How to make Paper flowers inspired by the book Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf

Ingredients:

Colored tissue paper

Scissors

Floral wire

Floral tape

How-to:

1. For each flower you will need 3-4 squares of colored tissue paper, measuring about 5″ square. Stack up the paper and fold into quarters.

2. Cut a rounded edge with your scissors, adding little wavy scallops as you cut.

3. Bend the top of one of your pieces of floral wire into a loop and thread the opposite end through the center of your stack of tissue, pushing it all the way up the floral wire until it catches on the loop.

4. Wind a 4″ piece of floral wire around the base of the flower, making sure to catch a bit of the paper and continuing down the stem 1″-2″.

5. Gently separate the layers of tissue paper and crinkle them slightly to create the petals and give the flower some volume.

Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith are the owners of the Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco and are the DIY editors at the popular design blog, design*sponge.

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Who loves flowers as much as Ferdinand? — Bees!

From India to the Dominican Republic, bees from Heifer International help struggling families earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen.

Beehives require almost no space, and once established, are inexpensive to maintain. As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable yields. In this way, a beehive can be a boon to a whole village.

Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family’s livelihood. Your gift provides a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, and training in beekeeping.