Coffee Filter Flowers and Video Tutorial

Hello sweet friends!

It has been inexcusably long since I have posted.  I know.  But I do have legitimate reasoning.

The kiddos got sick.

The kiddos got ME sick.

Been preparing for an upcoming gala next weekend.

I have had 101 appointments and hence...no access to blog land. 

We actually have been going through a lot of personal stuff with our oldest daughter.  I promise, nothing alarming or worrisome.  But she has been having behavioral problems and struggling in school.  So I have been determined to get to the bottom of it and I think we are on our way to a solution.  It has taken all my time and energy which I have no doubt all of you are amazingly understanding about.

But GOOD NEWS...I am going to be sharing all the elements of this DIY Tablescape I have been working on.  I think you will like some of the ideas I have come up with. The gala theme this year is "A Knight in the Garden." Garden?  Flowers?  I am so in.

Do you remember last year's table?  Here are some photos to jog your memory...

1. family nest centerpiece

2. twig and paper leaf place cards

3. napkin ring wraps

4. bird house with bird magnet favors

5. diy fabric square chargers

So here we go with the first part of  Gala Tablescape 2012...

My idea was to have a bunch of flowers...I mean A LOT...all over my table.  I was going to make a runner, inspired by this, but my table is round so I figured I could just arrange a bunch in the center with some candle light. I realized coffee filters could be my solution.

I think I am the last person to get on the coffee filter flower train.  I have always admired them but to be honest, my crafty self can NOT pull it off. I tried all the different methods I have seen (rolling them with masking tape, roses) but for some reason, I am missing some coffee filter flower making gene.  So while failing miserably trying this...quite by accident...I came up with my own way of making them. 

And it's easy! 

Everyone chic scream for easy!

First I dyed them.  

I experimented with tea, food coloring, washable markers, and watered down acrylic paint.  They all work great but I had the most fun with food coloring.  I found I had a lot of leeway with it. You can even use kool aid too!  I just soaked them for about 10 minutes and dried them in individual layers.

The soft colors of these are so lovely.  

Here they are folded twice into cones and cut with a scalloped edge all ready to make the flowers.

Check out my video below with a step by step on how to make the flowers.  I needed both hands and I figured using my tripod for a picture tutorial would be more time consuming then just doing a video.  

I don't necessarily call this a vlog because  only my hands are in the video. But I guess it is.  I was probably sporting yoga pants, a hoodie, and working on day 2 of needing a shower.

I love being a mom. :)

Oh, and my voice sounds funny.  Kinda valley girlish.  Never knew that about me but whatever.

Or...WHAT-everrrr. ;)

Hope you like the step by step and let me know if you would want more vloggy tutes.

What do you think? Aren't they crazy easy for being so pretty?

BTW...if you want me to show you how to make these with a stem, I can do that too.

Here are a bunch as I was playing with as a practice run on my kitchen table (which is round like my gala table).  I think I am just going to have all the flowers loose to work as the centerpiece with those candlesticks in the middle to add height. Sorry you can't see a completed look but at least you see the flowers!


I will check in with you soon for another fun tutorial.  It's a favor and a place card in one. I'm just plain tickled I actually will be back soon! I hope you will be back too. :)

Blessings lovelies!

P.S.  I hope this will launch an upcoming 2x a month series called Tablescape Tuesday.
Details to come!

Pretty Skewers for Yummy Treats!

Happy Good Friday my sweet friends!

This day is a precious one as I ponder what my Savior did for me on this very day.  I think of Him confronting death in the face, being rejected by His Father, and suffering tremendous pain. 

And He did it willingly.  For me.  And you. 

I am in awe of His love.

So I do wonder how many of you are actually reading blogs on this often busy weekend.  But I came up with a really cute, last minute Easter favor for the kiddos or the kid at heart.  

These DIY Wood Skewers are made simply by painting and gluing wood beads on the end.  

That's it!

 You need pastel paint (or any paint of your choice), paintbrush, glue gun, some wood beads (preferably unfinished), and some bamboo skewers. 

OK.  So don't laugh.  

I could not figure out a simple way to paint these without smudging or spinning them. So I stuck two wooden beads on either side of a Q-tip to paint them.  I pulled off some of the cotton until I knew it would fit but snugly. Then I dried them with a hair dryer.

That's right people.  We can find craft supplies in the loo.

 After the beads are dry, I put a little hot glue inside the wood bead and them pushed the blunt end of the skewer in and held it a few seconds until set.

Aren't they pretty?

Now make some Rice Krispies Treats.  

I personally could eat a whole pan with no regret.  I love them!

Now just cut out some small squares and put your sweet kebabs together!

I topped them off with a mini marshmallow, (so they would not poke an eye out or through the bags) wrapped them in cellophane, and tied them off with baker's twine.

A great treat for family,  neighbors, friends, or a homemade treat for the Easter basket. 

You could even dye the marshmallow pastel colors to make them fun and colorful. Or shape them like eggs or flowers or whatever.  I was all about easy today. :)

I hope you enjoyed this and that you enjoy the precious time of Easter.

Hugs and so much love to each of you!

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:10-12

A New Look for my Old Table

Hey sweet, lovelies! 

Alrighty. 

Spring Break is officially over so me, the hubs and our pinks are back to the old routine.  We had such fun relaxing and doing family stuff over the last week.  

I was so happy to even have the time to work on two, dejected little tables.  I endeavored to save them from an empty existence in our attic due to my best intentions of a makeover never actually happening outside the part of my brain overflowing with ideas. 

Spiraled Yarn Circle Garland

Whoa.  Two posts in two days. Shocking. But I wanted to share this fun tutorial to make this happy little garland.  I shared it last week on Kimberly's blog...bugaboo, mini, mr. and me.  She has a great Yarn It All series going on sharing all things yarn.  It is awesome.

I have been drooling over all the colorful crochet garlands I see out there.  So I decided to make my own version without the awesome crochet skills but still all the pretty. I am excited to share it with all of you!

Here's what you do to start making cute little yarn circles with the help of some paper and glue...

It's pretty easy and quick too!  If you don't have a circle punch just trace and cut a circle with scissors. I suggest using card stock the same color as the yarn in case you have some gaps. Also, I find hot glue to be the easiest to work with since it dries so fast and keeps the yarn from un-spiraling. You just have to  be careful not to burn yourself.  I have worked with hot glue so much I think I no longer possess fingerprints. :) 

Here it is in my Spring Vignette that is still a work in progress. Fun!

Hugs and blessings!

Distressing Paint w/ a Sponge

Hey sweet friends!  OK,  I know.  I hardly post anymore.  The last few months have been full of tons of stuff and my priorities have heavily shifted on family and helping my oldest with school. My poor girl is having a tough time in math.  But...I also have been focusing a lot on my house too.

I do love crafts.  But I have a sweet spot in my heart for decorating. I've always been too shy to share stuff on my blog because I kind of wing it when it comes to decor and furniture redo's but I figured I could start sharing with you some upcoming things I have planned.

For those of you who don't know, we bought this house about 2 years ago but 3 months after moving in my husband lost his job (he found an even BETTER one now) in the middle of us remodeling our master bath. And to this day, it sits unfinished.

And the rest of the house needs some work.  I love our house but we still need to tweak things to have it fit the way we live.  So I hope to share this journey with you friends to keep me accountable to get it done.

But in the meantime I have small little projects I am working on.  One project is this set of shutters we found for free on the side of the road.  It looks like they were a closet door or something. My plan was to cut them half to make four shutters are create a headboard for out queen size bed. But they come up short. And if I kept them intact, and lie them horizontally, they are too long. Bummer.

So I think I may use them for interest in a bookshelf vignette or something. Not sure what.  I have enough memo boards but I do love that idea.  I just don't "need" it.  Wall space in my home is precious and I don't want to clutter them with too much "stuff."

But I did decide to distress them a bit with paint.  I ended up using a sponge instead of sandpaper to do this so that I could go faster and layer it with paint for the look I want.  I wanted it to kind of look like it had paint layers peeling back over time.

 So the first thing I did was paint it a really pale blue...almost white but dry brushing it lightly.  

When it was dry to the touch, I took a really wet sponge and lightly wiped it back and forth to start peeling back paint.

Then I used a darker light blue and did the same thing.  Dry brushed it one and sponged it off.  I did this several times leaving a bit more paint on then the last time. This is what it looks like with a lot of dark wood showing though. I was looking for it to be lighter so using a light grey paint, I began covering up more of the dark wood.

This is actually the back but wanted you to see the color before :)

I like both distressed looks but ended up happy with this lighter look. 

The sponge made it much easier to work with.  Faster too.  I found that the less wet the sponge was, the harder it was to get the paint off.  So I kept the sponge wet but not soaking wet and full. It was so much easier then using sandpaper and much faster too. :)

So here it will sit in my bedroom next to my ugly fake tree until I can decide what to do next. :)

(So sorry for the weird pictures.  Something is up with my camera but I can't figure out what I did to it.)

Until the next time my friends!

Easy Fabric Flip Flops

Spring is almost here which means a fun wardrobe change like sandals and flip flops to show those toes!

Although us Floridians wear flip flops all year...even when I wear a sweater you can see me sporting the flops. :) I have...I think...1,002 pairs of them.  OK.  Maybe not that many but I have more than I can count. Dressy, casual, beachy, girly, whatever.  And my crafty self loved the idea of making my own using fabric scraps to make them custom and super fun.

I had the privilege to speak to a fabulous group of women last week for a local MOPS group about gift giving ideas for Spring. This was one of the projects I shared and I figured I could share an easy peasy tutorial using flips flops for my girls.  (It's been WAY TOO LONG since I did one).

Oh and sorry if the flip flops don't look pristine.  They were worn a few times by my little pinks until I snagged them to pretty them up. :) Here goes...

I know there are other fun tutorials out there by taking the whole thong out and just using fabric...so cute! Check out this one and this one from The Mother Huddle which are FABULOUS!  I just happen to prefer the support these give while making them feel a bit more comfortable and a whole lot prettier.

Oh, and please know I will be getting back to visiting all of you very soon.  Life has gotten VERY busy for me so sadly I have not been able to visit all you fabulous friends in A LONG WHILE!  Just know I appreciate every one of you who read my blog even with YOUR busy lives and schedules and it means so much to me knowing you come to visit again and again.

Hugs all my fabulous friends!

linking to:

tatertots and jello

lolly jane

crafty scrappy happy

it's overflowing

A Pretty Baby Shower

Happy Sunday y'all! 

 It has been a jam packed week over here with all the baby shower planning.  But yesterday was the day and we had such a lovely time.  So I just wanted to share some of the fun things I made to put this party together. I don't have a lot of photos because playing the hostess makes it hard to pick up a camera.

My friend Laura made these amazing cupcakes...they are SO GOOD! And I love that the cupcake picks were really tall.  I like the look.  I made them from a curtain panel I thrifted and some buttons.

I know you have seen me do a paper doily garland before but maybe it is still exciting since I added buttons? Hmmm...

Yes.  Yes, I believe it is in fact thrilling to see a paper doily garland and now with added buttons.  

I made this with bakers twine and double sided tape.  So easy.  And I used what I had on hand to cut costs too.  Thrifty and thrilling.  Oh yeah.

 

This was the only decent shot (even with an arm in the pic and looking a tad overexposed) I got of the embroidery hoop art hung over the fireplace.  Thought you might want a peek. :)

This is my BFF opening my gift to her. I am smitten with this diaper/messenger bag from the etsy shop, ikabags. I love, love these bags and I am so getting one for me! Here are some of my favorites...

Stripes make me ridiculously happy.

The shop is from France so you will pay extra for shipping but the quality of these handmade bags are amazing!  I love them and wished I owned about 10 of them.

Now back to other party details...:)

I made these cards for all the guests to write a prayer, blessing, or well wishing for the baby and Kelly. They are made with scrapbook paper and embellished with bakers twine and buttons.  I had so much fun making these!

I found the frame on the side of the road ready for the trash during a little ride to look at Christmas lights back in December. Since my arm is still weak, I had my husband do the work of sanding, painting and adding the chicken wire to the frame. Then I just hung the cards with little wood clothespins.

Here are a bunch filled out.  Aren't they so pretty like this?

The favors waiting by the front door were 4 oz mason jars filled with sugar scrub.  A friend and I put these together and made two batches to fill 24 jars.  One batch (doubled the original recipe) was 5 cups of sugar, 2 cups of olive oil, and 8 tablespoons of lemon juice. I got the recipe from Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming. Her original recipe makes 12 oz so we just doubled it to save time.

I would have tied them up with string and pretty labels but with around 22 women there, I was just plain done in!  And I figured the pretty tops were enough. :)

So happy I got to share this with all of you wonderful friends.  

Have a fabulous day!

P.S. Sometime today or tomorrow, check out sweet Kimberly's blog who will be doing a series on parties all week.  A great bunch of bloggers are sharing tips and tricks and I think some of my ideas will be included today.. 

Go check it out!:)