It is almost Halloween and this year I went on a hunt for easy pumpkin decorating ideas. Don't get me wrong, we still love to carve pumpkins too, but this year I wanted to decorate additional pumpkins for the house. Fortunately, I was able to find three great ideas from products that I purchased at my local Target. Pumpkin Face Felt Kits If you haven't checked out the $1 spot at Target, run! This is the best place on earth to find inexpensive, seasonal gifts, craft ideas and more. This year, I picked up two Pumpkin Face Felt Kits. There were five different varieties to choose from and they are so easy to use. Each felt kit comes with the pieces necessary to make a perfect pumpkin face. The pieces are pre-cut and have a sticky back. Carefully remove the felt pieces from the plastic backing and stick to your pumpkin. Foam Stickers Target also has a variety of Halloween-themed foam stickers. These stickers are easy to use and perfect for young children too! Simply remove Continue Reading
How to Make Burlap Flowers
One of the hottest craft items this year is burlap ribbon. At my local craft store, I found a variety of burlap ribbons in various colors and patterns. I bought some black gingham burlap ribbon and used it to decorate a fake flower centerpiece that I recently made. Since I had left over ribbon, I wanted to use it to decorate a cute bird cage that I purchased from Pier 1 Imports. How to Make Burlap Flowers Purchase Burlap ribbon that is wired and cut a piece approximately 24" long. Fold down one end of the ribbon about 1/2" and then fold again and crimp tightly. This will prevent the wire from coming loose. On the other end, choose one of the wires and start to pull. As you pull the wire, the ribbon will gather. Move the gathers toward the opposite end until the ribbon is completely gathered. Start to roll the ribbon in a circle tightly and you will see that a flower/rose will start to grow! You may need to pull the wire every so often to keep it tight. You can also fold Continue Reading
Five Ways to Make Fake Flowers Look Real
I don't have a green thumb when it come to indoor plants. Anything I try to grow indoors dies. Flowers that I receive seem to wilt away within hours. If you feel that you are in the same boat, then why not take a look again at fake flowers. I know that there has been a stigma with fake flowers. Maybe you were brought up believing that fake is just not where its at. However, fake flowers have come a long way! New and improved materials make fake flowers look real. Pay Attention The key to getting a real "fake" look, is to pay attention when you are shopping for fake flowers. Just the other day I headed over to our nearest craft store and found some great fake flowers and some not so great ones too. When deciding on which flowers to buy, remember that real flowers are varied in color and textures. You don't want to purchase fake flowers that are all one color, or the stems and leaves have a plastic look or feel. Try New Varieties What is great about fake flowers is Continue Reading
Unfinished Wood Frames – Paint Them in a Coordinating Color
Last month I was busy staging my home for selling and decided that I needed some art in the bathroom. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I decided to get some unfinished wood frames and see what I could do with them. I found four frames at Michaels for less than $3.00 a piece. Next, I rummaged through all my supplies at home and found four 8 x 10 pictures from an old calendar that I thought would work perfectly. The question was, what color do I paint the frames? I did not want a bright, obnoxious color, I wanted something subtle. I had already painted the bathroom in Behr Irish Mist and I thought, why not choose a color on the same palette? I took out the color card and these are the three colors listed: I choose the last color on the card - Behr Dolphin Fin - as the color that I would paint the frames. Next, I headed on over to Home Depot and asked for a sample. Sample jars are just $3.94 and I could paint all four frames with this jar. After the Continue Reading
DIY Balloon Flip Flops
I have seen these balloon flip flops all over the net, and when one of my favorite blogs, About A Mom, posted their success with this project, I knew I had to give it a go too! The concept is simple. Buy a pair of cheap flip flops (you can often get these for $2.00 or less) and embellish them! I have seen flip flops with ribbons, rhinestones, yarn, flowers, and more. I thought my 13 year old daughter would get a kick out of making some fun flip flops so I set off in search of supplies. I bought the flip flops at Walmart for $1.99. They were out of every color except blue in her size (M 7-8). If you have larger feet you are in luck. They had every color in the 9-10 size! Then I headed over to the Summer section to find water balloons - nothing! There wasn't a single pack. I tried CVS and Target and still couldn't find any. This project was starting to add up in cost just due to the gas I was wasting driving to all these stores. Finally, I found them at our local party store. I Continue Reading
What’s Up with Mason Jars?
I have noticed a disturbing trend over the last few months - mason jar crafts! Not that it is really disturbing, but I have always used mason jars for just one thing, canning. I reuse the jars for other canning projects but I have never thought about using them for other than what I thought they were intended for. Needless to say, there are others in the world that are much more imaginative and crafty than I am and they have filled my Pinterest boards with cute and functional mason jar crafts, home decor and gift ideas. Types of Mason Jars Mason Jars come in many sizes and the most popular jars are made by Ball. The Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company started making their fruit jars in 1884 in Buffalo, New York. The business was moved to Muncie, Indiana after a fire destroyed the Buffalo plant. The company is now a worldwide business. The smallest jar is the 4oz Jelly Jar and the biggest jar is the half gallon 64oz jar. In all, there are ten different sizes and shapes of Continue Reading