Stars & Stripes {WREATH}

The other night, while trying to tackle a LONG to-do-list, I found a few things in my craft stash that I thought would make a perfect Patriotic wreath.  So, I decided to forgo the to-do-list and do something a little more fun.  My crafting time has really been dwindling lately, so it was SO good to finally feel like I had done something crafty!

This was a great project because I had all the supplies on hand (yay, free for me), and it didn't take too long!

 It's pretty self-explanatory, but here are a few easy directions if you want to make your own:

Cut Strips of burlap.  I used white burlap and cut it into 2.5" strips.

 Paint half of the strips red.  I just used a foam brush and regular craft paint.  Spray paint would have been a bit faster, but I didn't have red, so this is what I used.  It was more of a blotting than a painting process.

 Cut the burlap to fit around the wreath, and hot-glue into place.  Alternate the white and red strips, overlapping just a little bit.

 Tie the star to the wreath, and hang from the door.

I love it!  I was needing a change to my front door, and this is perfect!  Gotta love the USA!

It's a Ballerina Birthday Party

Hello, hello.  Wow.  It has been a long time--too long.  It's been a crazy couple of months.  We had an unplanned move, a few trips, birthdays, and well, just life.  But here I am again.  I am excited for life to slow down a bit (hopefully) so I can get some more crafting and blogging done!

My daughter turned 5, and was dying for a ballerina birthday party.  We had so much planning the party!  What girl wouldn't love a party dedicated to dancing & twirling.

The invite: (I LOVE how they turned out)

 For party favors, I made these cute little cards for each of the girl to take home:

I decided to do cupcakes this year rather than a cake---best idea EVER!  Cupcakes are SO much easier.  I made these cute little toppers for the cupcakes:

 Here's a quick tutorial:

And of course, there was a pinata!  I made several tissue-paper flowers, and hot-glued them to my paper-mache balloon.  Pretty simple!

Simple little banners:

 Happy Birthday to my Halle Girl!

Lucky {St. Patrick's Day Wreath}

Hello friends.  I have been a little MIA lately.  It has been kind of a crazy month--sick kids, last minute vacations, life...lack of motivation & time to do some crafting.

But good news, I pulled things together today and made a fun little St. Patrick's Day wreath.  I made it with things I mostly had on hand.  I did buy some floral wire, however, it could be made without it.

Simple paper rosettes.  If you have never made them before (like me), they are simple.  Cut out circles--I used just two different sizes.  Then cut them into spirals.  You can cut them a little wavy to add a little more dimension if you would like.  I did this on about half of them.

Then, roll the circle starting with the outside.  **The side you want to show should be rolled toward the inside.  I played around and rolled some tighter and some looser.  I wanted them to all look a little different.

Now, I wanted to be able to reuse my wreath, so instead of just hot-gluing my flowers right to the wreath, I glued a small piece of brown floral wire to each flower.  Once they were wrapped, I let go and they loosen up a bit.  I then put a dab of hot-glue to the bottom flap of paper and pressed the flower down to hold it in place.  Really easy--I even had my 4-year-old making flowers.

 Then I simply wrapped the wired flowers around my wreath until it was full of flowers.  Once I finished, I decided it needed a little something else.  So, I printed a cute little "lucky" card, inked the edges, mounted it onto some cardstock and cardboard (just to make it a little sturdier).  I then glued it to a "v" piece of wire and attached it to the wreath.  Yay.  

Kind of fun. What do you think? 

Heart Attack

So, here is a quick way to tell your family that you love them.  Each night, write a quick little note on the back of a heart and tape it to their bedroom door along with a Hershey's kiss.  Then, when they wake up, they get to read their sweet note and eat their sweet treat.  Plus, it adds some fun Valentines decor to the house!

Yes, my son left his wrapper taped to the door...kids!

I started on February 1st, but you could start anytime.  My plan is to go through Valentines Day.  My kids {and husband} have LOVED it, and it is fun for me to put in writing all the things I love about them!

Happy Valentines!

Love Day Decor

I LOVE decorating for Valentines.  I'm not sure why--maybe it's the pink, or the hearts, or the love, but whatever the reason, I just love pulling out my Valentines decorations!

 My I love you sign normally is in my baby's room, but for the month of February, it is going to be front and center on my mantle!  I love that this sign reminds me of my mom who sang me that song when I was little.

And check out the CUTEST thrift store find--this little heart-holding boy.  I loved it when I saw it, and look how perfectly it matches this cute little printable!  It doesn't get much better than that!

 I've seen lots of fun Valentines burlap banners, so I decided I needed to make one.  It was a super fast craft, and I think it turned out really great!

 The only small problem--the candy I put in a little dish.  My baby wants some CONSTANTLY!  Oh well.  The good news for her is that her cute little way of saying "treat" usually means I cave and give her one.  I guess it's okay to spoil her for the month of February, right?  Every little girl needs candy first thing in the morning, right?  Right.

Happy Love Month!  

From Clock to Chalk

So I have had this broken clock for awhile.  I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away, because I really liked it.  I knew that I would eventually I would know EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it.

And it happened.  One day last week while perusing some blogs, I though CHALKBOARD.  That is what my clock needs to be!  So I dug it out and went to work--not that it took much for this transformation.

The "face plate" had a hole in the middle.  I just put a piece of duct tape on the back, filled it in with wood filler. and sanded it down.  Then I spray painted it with chalkboard spray paint (AWESOME!!!). I also decided the whole thing needed a little more color.  So I took my paint that I used for my headboard transformation  and painted on a couple layers.  Then lastly, I just sanded it down a bit to show some of the original black.

I am so happy with how it turned out!  And it was simple.  Hmm, I think that is about how all of my projects are these days!

My little owlets {rice warmers}

I like to do a homemade gift for my kids each year for Christmas, but with just a week until Christmas, I still didn't have one made.  Plus, I didn't have the slightest idea what I should make.  Well, thank goodness for PINTEREST!

I saw the cutest little owls, and it linked to a GREAT tutorial!  The best part was that I didn't have to go to the store because I just used fabric scraps, and they came together really pretty quickly.  I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!

Oh, and another bonus--my 6-year old gets to take something to school to share with his class every Monday.  Guess what he picked on his first Monday back after Christmas--HIS OWL!  My kids have LOVED them and already used them a ton!

Don't you just love when a gift comes together like that!  Thank goodness for people sharing their great ideas!