Wreath take two

I have been seeing these 'deco wreaths' around a lot this year and decided to finally succumb to the craze and give it a try.  I showed you before my hydrangea wreath so I clearly don't need one for myself but I figured I could make one as a gift.  I started by googling ideas and quickly realized there were several YouTube videos out there to guide me but first I was off to AC Moore for supplies.  I was lucky enough to find all my supplies on sale...including the deco mesh and ribbon! 

As you can see purple was the chosen color for the wreath!  I bought a straw wreath which was kind of a mess when I took the plastic wrap off.  Next time I will definitely go for the foam wreaths instead.  I had to cover the wreath first so I decided to use the light purple deco ribbon.  I secured the end with a u-pin and started wrapping....

The ribbon covers up the straw and gives the wreath a sparkly nice base.  After watching one YouTube video I realized it isn't really an art because you can be as haphazard as you want and it won't matter.  I started by scrunching the mesh together and pinning the end to the outside.

(Disclaimer: as you can see I started with a different ribbon to cover the straw but there wasn't enough and it looked sloppy so I started over)

This is the first securing of the mesh - I found it easy to pin it to the outside and then inside and outside and so forth.  It was like you were making v's and the mesh is full on the loops.

You can see where I pinned it on the inside.  The mesh is about 18" inches thick so it really does a great job of covering the wreath with the loops.

Here is the wreath all done...well before I had some fun decorations to add to it!  I decided to add some flowers first.

I wasn't exactly sure where to put the flowers but I did know I had a wooden 'B' I wanted to add to one side so I placed the flowers on the other side.

Next I painted the 'B' in light purple.  I had the paint from another project so I was all set with the color scheme!

As I let the 'B' dry I added some more flowers, light purple ribbon, and some purple butterflies.  It sounds like a lot of stuff but I didn't plaster the decorations all over the wreath just in a few areas.  I glued u-pins to the back of the wooden letter with hot glue and was able to fasten it to the wreath.   Like I said before I am going to give the wreath away but I wanted to give you an idea of how it looked on a door!

The great thing about this wreath is that I was able to make the wreath for under $20 - I think it is a pretty inexpensive project when you can find the supplies on sale!  Another great thing about these wreaths is that you can make one for every season or holiday with different themes.  You can definitely do more conservative colors but for spring and summer I thought purple was fun.  Stay tuned for my easy quiche that even tastes good!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Not so plain wall...anymore

A few weeks back I had a day off during the week and was able to catch the Nate Berkus Show.  I really enjoyed the show but I think it is being cancelled...not sure why though.  Anyhow he featured a girl from Chicago who decorated her small living space with odds and ends and even art she created herself.  She made pieces of wall art from two canvases, paint, and felt...naturally I felt inspired.  I started with two canvases and spray paint.  I had green spray paint the color I was going to paint the background so I figured that would be easier than painting with a brush...I was being lazy!

Next I started painting the canvases.   I quickly noticed the paint was creating a pattern as I sprayed and moved the bottle, a pattern I liked.

After I sprayed a bit more to even out the pattern I let the canvases dry.

As you can see once the canvases dried the pattern was more distinct and added some texture.  Next up was cutting felt out to create flowers.  I started with cutting out patterns for the flowers from thick paper.  The flowers were supposed to be layered so I needed 5 or 6 layers per flower.

I then started cutting and layering and cutting some more.  After cutting a few layers I realized it was easier to just cut the flowers free hand and let each one be a little different.  I decided to use brown felt for the flowers.  The pictures on the show were gold with white flowers which looked very elegant in the living room.

This is the up close of one of the flowers.  I made about 9 more and started placing them on the canvases.  I think I looked at the canvases for a week straight trying to figure out where to glue the flowers.  I used hot glue to secure each layer and used hot glue to affix the flowers to the canvas.

Here they are on the wall...it is hard to see how they bring the room together as the room isn't big enough to get the other colors in the room but I am happy with how they came out.  I think in total they cost less than $15 as I had some materials already.  I wish I could find a picture of the original ones I saw as they were awesome in the room. 

Next up I have a really easy quiche recipe as well as another fun

wreath.

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Another holiday over...

I wanted to share with you all a couple things from this weekend.  My husband and I entertained our families on Sunday and it was a lot of fun!  It actually wasn't too much work for me as my other half did a majority of the cooking but I did do some flower arranging and baking.  Let's start with the flowers.  I had seen an arrangement on Pinterest which I really liked and had to try.  I wasn't sure how it would come out - looked simple but who really knows until you try.

I started by pulling out all my vases to see if I could use them for this project.  I needed two vases, a big one and a smaller one for the inside.  The smaller one is for the flowers and the space between the two would hold the candy.  After I realized I didn't have a big enough vase I looked high and low for a square or round one and finally found a round one and it was perfect.

Next I started filling the bottom with jelly beans then a layer of peeps and another layer of jelly beans.  This was easier than I thought it was going to be - the hard part was getting the first layer of jelly beans level.  I didn't do a great job but live and learn!  The peeps I bought were in rows of four and the vase fit 16 peeps perfectly.  It was very easy since they were attached.  I also used two bags of jelly beans, one bag for each layer.

Looks pretty good but I will warn you the next part is harder.  I bought a few bouquets of flowers at Trader Joe's.  I really like Trader Joe's flowers because they are inexpensive and you can buy bunches of one type of flower (not just arranged bouquets).  So now it was time to arrange the flowers however first I had to put water in the smaller vase.  A piece of advice use a watering can to fill the vase or else you will get water in where the candy is and it will be a hug mess.

I started arranging the flowers using bright spring colors...yellows, pinks, and purples.  Arranging was the more time consuming part as I had to clean the flowers of their leaves and then arrange them.  I realize you all know from previous posts how much I love flower arranging but I still have to share :)

And it's complete!  I wish I had gotten a picture of it on the table but I forgot to take a photo shoot of it all set up.  I was happy with the way it came out and can't wait to explore more ideas for filling the area between the two vases.  I also saw it with red hots and heart candies for Valentine's day.  Stay tuned for more arrangements using this concept.

Next up baking.  I also made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I absolutely love carrot cake and think it should be a staple for every Easter feast.  I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to decorate these but figured I would come up with something.  If I had more time I would have researched some ideas but this is what I came up with.

I also frosted some of the cupcakes with green frosting and stuck a peep and jelly beans on top of each one.  Those ones were hard to get in the boxes without making a mess.  I bought the boxes at HomeGoods and they were the perfect carrier for the cupcakes.  At the end of our brunch each family took home a box of cupcakes since we were all too stuffed to eat one during the day!

How cute are these boxes?!  Ok enough of the Easter talk - I mean come on that was over yesterday.  I look forward to the weather getting better and being able to share my flowers with all of you. 

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Sweet Eggs...

Ok I am back - I was on vacation for the last week and a half but now that I am back I am ready to blog!  I want to share with you a project that I completed with my mom.  I say completed because she did the hard part and I was able to do the fun part:)  As a kid my mom made sugar eggs so she decided to try them again.  I am not positive how she made the actual sugar egg but here is a recipe from the internet: http://candy.about.com/od/sugarcandy/r/sugar_eggs.htm

My mom used egg forms with two halves that were supposed to hold candy.  Once she filled the eggs with the sugar substance she let it harden then scooped out the center of each egg.

When I came home for the weekend my mom had four halves waiting for me.  Here's a close up:

In the bottom half is where you create a scene so once the halves are together you look through the hole.  My mom purchased some chicks, Easter grass, and robin eggs for the inside.  It was difficult to find the small figurines but if you keep your eyes and your ruler out at the craft stores you will find the right figures!

I added a dab of hot glue on the bottom of the egg and stuck the Easter grass to it and then glued the chick and the robin eggs.  Next I hot glued the the top to the bottom and it was one piece!  You can also use frosting to hold the eggs together but hot glue seems to work better and I highly doubt anyone would want to eat these after Easter!

Here they are pre-frosting.  Next you need to make the royal frosting to decorate the eggs.  It is important to use royal frosting as you need frosting which completely hardens.  Regular frosting will not harden enough and will get damaged in transit and will be a mess when kids are trying to look through them.

Here is a recipe for royal frosting: http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/ss/royal_icing_sbs.htm

We decided to use blue coloring but you could use any color or multiple colors!  Now it was time to frost the egg.  After a quick instruction from my mom I was ready to decorate it.

First I put frosting around the egg where the seam is for the two halves and then decorated the front.

As you can see the frosting is great to hide the seams and the jagged edges of the sugar eggs.  You can even get a little more fancy and create designs and flowers.  I have not mastered frosting flowers yet but I will get there!  These may not be the best project for kids but they are great to give to kids.  If they are careful enough then these can be used each year.  More projects to come!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!