In His Grip

Garden Container Makeover, Again!

Two years ago I did a makeover on two planters that I had on my front porch.  My Hibiscus trees lived in these pots for a couple of years until during a crazy Kansas storm one of the trees blew over and broke the container. Off to Home Depot to find two more large containers for my trees, but I had an idea for this one lonely planter.  Paint it pink of course!  After all, when in doubt pink is always the right choice.

I took this container from a subtle black to the excitement of berry pink in the matter of a couple of coats of my favorite spray paint. 

Once the spray paint was dry, using an acrylic white paint and a sponge brush I lightly covered the detail just enough to make it really show up and have more texture.

In my own opinion, I think this turned out perfect and the bright pink geraniums that I chose to go inside were a perfect match.

Over the summer this pot will be almost covered in the vines that are planted in it but bright pink always has a way of showing through.  Believe it or not I like it that way!

Christmas in February

Our family finally was able to celebrated Christmas with Ryan and Paula last week.  It just seems hard to find a time when we all can be together.  Of course my fantasy as a mother is to have all my kids live close to me the rest of my life so we will always be able to spend every holiday and family event together and live happily ever after.  {Pop} goes the fantasy bubble and real life is where I am forced to live.  Darn!  Although, I cannot complain, Ryan and Paula only live in Lincoln, NE, just 3 1/2 hours north of us, its not like they are in another country.  But that distance, at times, feels too far.  The time we do have as a family is very precious to us and I will take all that we do get. 

 

 

To say that the wait for our Christmas presents was worth it would be an understatement.  Ryan and Paula out did themselves with their creative, craftiness.  Look at these great tables/foot stools/benches/what ever you want to make them, repurposed vintage suitcases they made for Lindsey and Anna.  Seriously, they are awesome and in super shaped on the inside too.

They made this fabulous “S” to hang on our front door.  They could not find an initial that they liked that was big enough so Ryan cut one out of styrofoam and then Paula decorated it.  Oh my heck, just look at those handmade flowers.  Does this gal fit perfectly into our family or what?  Not only that but she whipped up some homemade shower scrub as well.  She is a gal after my heart, I just have to say.  Making things pretty and smell good too, who can go wrong. 

We also received this set of tile coasters that they made using their wedding pictures.  I was trying to figure out how I would display a bunch of their pictures without making it look like some kind of Ryan & Paula gallery.  The girls already accuse me of having Ryan as the favorite, so a bunch of pictures on the wall, shelves, etc. would only perpetuate such a myth.  But coasters, now that is something that is very useful and if they display eight different wedding shots so be it. 

Look how perfect this looks on my pink front door.  I thought that I would be changing the color of the door soon, but who am I kidding?  This “S” just made the decision, the door is pink for now at least through Summer. 

DIY Sweater Boot Toppers

I am really liking the boot topper leg warmers that I keep seeing around the internet and in the latest Fall fashion magazines.  There have been several out there on Pinterest as well and I think they can make a plain pair of boots into a WOW pair of boots.  A couple of weeks ago I was going through my closet and was getting rid of those things that I have not worn in the past year or have worn way too much and came across two different sweaters that I like but are just too worn out to wear any more and thought that the sleeves would make cute leg warmers.

I started out by cutting off the sleeves just under the arm.  

Then I surgered aroung the raw edge.  If you don't have a surger, I would run a zig-zag stitch along the raw edge.  

Picking out buttons out of my collection, I sewed them to hold the cuff in place.  So very easy and a great way to jazy up some boots.

I made two pair in less than an hour and now I have my newest favorite Fall accessories.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday, Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

Book Pumpkins

I found a tutorial on line to make pumpkins out of old books.  Creations By Kara has a great step by step instructions on how to make these lovely little beauties.  They really are easy and everyone has old paperbacks hanging around, why not make them into these cute decorations? I found that the fatter the book the fuller the pumpkin.  I used scissors to cut the pumpkin shape but I think that a box cutter would make for more uniform pages and you would less likely make the shape bigger as you go as I actually did on both and then had to do some trimming in the end.  I really like how they turned out and may be making some more soon.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter, Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home, Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest

Mossy Twig Jar Candle

Spending time in the north woods always inspires me to do some thing creative with the things that I find outdoors.  In the woods near my Mom's home there is an abundance of mossy twigs.  I have always loved the way that the moss grows and makes the branches of the trees look like they have a fine lace hanging from them.  Again, with the fall decor in my home this season taking on a more natural look I thought I could use these twigs to make a jar candle that I will use on the table in the dinning room.  

I collected a bunch of branches covered in the lacy moss making sure I had a variety of size twigs to be able to cover the jar.

Using a jar from a jar candle, I began hot gluing the twigs to the jar being sure to cover the area completely.  When the twigs did not fit close enough to cover the glass, I just took some of the really fine ones and glue them in to fit.  

This is a perfect addition to my natural dinning room table decor.  Adding a candle to it so that the light shines through the small spaces looks so good.  I wish I would have made several sizes, but this is the only one that I made.  Shoot, I guess that I will have to go back to the north woods to make a whole display of these.

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, Keeping It Simple, Today's Creative Blog, Somewhat Simple

Pumpkin Topiary Redo

Autumn is just around the corner and I have been planning what I would do to update my porch for the change of the season.  I have been admiring the ghost pumpkins that have been out the past couple of seasons.  So I decided to update my pumpkin topiaries.  You can see what they used to look like here. I thought that a neutral theme for the front porch with a splash of orange would be different and give me a chance to give my topiaries redo in the process.  These topiaries have been on our front porch for over ten years and they have had several make overs.  So I figured a little spray paint might just give them a fresh new look. 

If you look closely, you will notice that the pumpkins are slightly different color.  I used Krylon khaki (for the bottom), pebble (for the middle), and almond (for the top) all had a satin finish.  I used spanish moss to cover up the wire of the garland that has all the little berries on it as well as between each pumpkin.  Besides, spanish moss will cover up a myriad of imperfections not only from the age of the pumpkins but my amateur floral skills.

 I have more ideas for the rest of my porch and as soon as it is complete I will share what I come up with.  Go out enjoy the beautiful weather.  I love autumn.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, Boogieboard Cottage, Dittle Dattle, Pinkopotomus, Its So Very Cheri, DIY Showoff, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's creative Blog, Truly Lovely, Simply Sweet Home, Its a Blog Party, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest

Repurpose Light Bulbs

Over the weekend I had some time to catch up on inspirational blogs as well as Pinterest.  I just needed to do something creative that would give me immediate gratification.  After looking at some sites of hanging canning jars with candles in them I decided that I wanted to do something like that too.  But as I was changing a light bulb in my studio I had an idea to use the light bulb for a small bud vase, similar yet different than the canning jar idea, but that's just how my mind works.  One idea leads to another and another, and so on.  I did a Google search on how to make a light bulb into a vase I found this great tutorial.  Needless to say, I found a total of three burnt out light bulbs in the house.  It was not that hard to do and I love the results for the amount of effort involved.

I immediately went out to my garden and cut a bunch of Zinnias to put in my new light bulb vases.  Normally, every Spring I plant a huge patch of Zinnias so that I can have cut flowers all Summer and well into the Fall.  With the Spring being so wet every weekend and then the temperatures zoomed up into the 100s I never was able to get my Zinnias planted.  Happy day, I had a bunch of volunteers show up unexpectedly.

Here I just used clear water in them, but I'm thinking you could add a drop of food color to the water and make a whole new look.  Matching the water to the flower for a monochrome design.

So, so cute.  I tried a flood lamp light bulb, but it broke in the process.  You need to be super careful as the light bulb glass is so stinking sharp.  But the next time one burns out I will have that shape as well. I also think that adding wire to the top and hanging them like my original plan will be awesome too. 

I am participating in the following link ups: Coastal Charm, Domestically Speaking, Today's Creative Blog, Momma Hen, Blue Cricket Design, My Girlish Whims, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees, Goodbye City, Hello Suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Woman who Do It All, Seven Thirty-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home, Lil' Luna, Sugar & Dots, Somewhat Simple, Alchemy Fine Living, Paisley Passions, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Momnivore's Dilemma, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home, Its a Blog Party, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Chic on a Shoestring 

Roadside Pick Up

Look at this great little chest of drawers.  Jeff and I were driving in a neighborhood near our home and I saw this chest out by the trash can with a FREE sign taped to it.  Seriously, of course I shout to my husband stop we have to pick up that chest.  His response is "We are not stopping and picking that up in the light of day.  You can wait until it is dark."  Clearly with the cute factor of the chest involved here I knew that it would not be there when it got dark.  I dropped Jeff off at the house that we were going to and went back and loaded up the little chest in broad daylight.  I am just not that proud when it comes to a cute chest just waiting for me for FREE, hello!  I think is it fine just like it is and it is a bit wobbly, but I am thinking a new coat of paint and some creative fixing to one of the feet in back it will go from trash to a fabulous treasure.   I will post the makeover soon.   Hmmm, what color should it be?

HGTV ~ Cash & Cari

I have found a new show on HGTV.  First of all, I love HGTV and get so many great ideas from this network.  I often go away from a show thinking I can do just about any kind of home DIY, until my husband assures me that we will not be tearing down that wall, and expanding the house out into the backyard, ha,ha.  The newest show that is an addition to my DVR programing is call Cash & Cari.  My sister Janet told me about this show and said that she knew is was my kind of program.  Boy, was she right.  The host of the show Cari Cucksey runs an estate auction business where she goes through the contents of the costumers' home and then has a big sale where everything must go.  If you like the show American Pickers, this show is for you. Cari sells the things that the American  Pickers pass up like old beds, chairs, and household goods.

 

 

 

Repurposed Recliner

This had been my project for the last couple of weeks.  There was a time when I thought the recliner would win but I kept at it and I finally conquered the challenge of the crazy recliner.  Early last year a coworker of Jeff's asked if I would want a recliner they no longer had a use for, he must have been aware of my dumpster diving hobby and allowed me the dignity of picking it up from his home rather than picking it up off the curd with the rest of the trash.  Since I have never upholstered a recliner before, my naivety, made me believe this would be no big deal.  Boy, was I mistaken!

 
Here is what the recliner started out as.  The fabric was a very worn polished cotton.  Although, this chair had been used a lot and the fabric thread bare, the structure of the chair was very solid and as it turned out a good brand name as well.  Score one for me!

 
When I begin to take a piece of furniture apart, I always start on the back and take lots of pictures of each step.  This is so helpful as you begin to put the piece back together.  I am always careful not to tear the fabric as I then use these pieces as my pattern, marking them with "top", bottom", "right", and "left".  This sounds like a bit much, but believe me it is more helpful then you know.

 
Recliners come apart, top and bottom.  This makes it easier to work with and I was able to work with each piece separately.  For the most part, I always replace or add additional dacron padding to the arms and sides.  On this chair, I added stuffing to the head and back cushion and dacron warp to the seat cushion, sides, and arms. 

 
Because of my lack of experience with recliners I miscalculated the yardage and realized I was going to be about a yard short.  Score one for the recliner.  As my luck was going with the project at this point, the recliner was winning, the store had sold out of the fabric I had purchased just a couple of days prior. Dang, dang, double dog dang!  New plan, this chair was not going to beat me, so I let my creative side take over and decide to add in a contrasting color to the back and sides.  I would only have to redo the seat cushion and add the contrast to rise so that it would go with the rest of the chair.  I ended up purchasing 2 1/2 yards of the contrasting fabric to make this new plan work. 

 
As it turns out, I like how the contrast looks and makes the recliner unique rather than just any other relciner. 

 
My mistake turned out to be something really good. However, I don't think that I will be tackling any more recliners any time soon.  This one just about did me in.  I did learn a lot, and if I ever do another one in the future, I will take waaaaaay more picture.

 
Now I think I will just pick up my book and cup of coffee and rest before I start my next upholstery project.  This time I am doing a sofa I found on the curb with the trash! Oh, yeah, re-purpose other people's cast offs, that's how I roll. 

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, Dittle Dattle, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Making The World Cuter, Sumo Sweet Stuff, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Blue Cricket Design, All things Heart and Home, Me and My Bucket, Niikki's Nifty Knacks, Sew Woodsy, The Thrifty Home, Trendy Treehouse, Alchemy Fine Living, Miss Mustard Seed

Valentine Sweater Pillows

During the holidays I kept seeing pillows made of sweaters out there in "blog-o-land" and just loved them so I decided to make some for Valentines.  Off to the thrift stores to find some pink and red sweaters just for my project.  One thing I like about our local Salvation Army store is that all of the clothes are arranged by color so it is very easy to find exactly what I was looking for in a short amount of time. I spent $2.99 per sweater and it was also 30% off all women's clothing day.  You've got to love a sale at a thrift store, right?

 
These are the two sweaters I purchased and I had the solid red one left over from my mom's project of making a red dickie for herself.  Dose anyone else even know what dickies are?  We used to have them as kids so we could wear a turtleneck collar under some thing without wearing the whole sweater.  It is just the turtleneck collar with shoulders on it.  Well, needless to say, Mom cannot find them anywhere so she makes her own. 

 

I cut the heart shaped pillow out of the front and the back of the sweater body and then the edge and cording of the pillow out of the solid sleeves.

 
Because the sweater was so soft  and I though the cotton cording would be too stiff, I used a heavy yarn for the cording instead.

 
On the solid red sweater I used fusible webbing and added a bright pink heart and then began sewing white buttons to it and filled in the whole heart.

 
I especially like the way that this one turned out.  The buttons just seem to make it.

 

I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Cheri, Mad Skills Monday, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff, Dittle Dattle, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, It's so Stinkin Cute, Life as Lori, Simple Sweet Home, Tales from Bloggeritaville, All Things Heart and Home

Tiered Heart Plate

Valentines day is on its way and when I took down my Christmas things the hearts went up.  Last week when I was at Target, I found these great heart plates.  Because I like to have tiered plates on my counter with treats on it, I thought that it would be great to have one that would represent the Valentine season.  When I purchased these, my friend Ashley was at the checkout counter and asked me if I was going to do something creative with the things I was buying.  I said that she would see my project on my blog soon. So, here it is Ashley, this is what I created with what you sold me.

I found these dowels in my craft supplies and glued two together.  I painted them all pink and then placed the longer one between the large round plate and the the large heart and the shorter between the two heart plates. 

 
My Valentine tiered plate cost me less than $10.  What a bargain for a great addition to my Valentine decor.

I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Cheri, Dittle Dattle, The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Keeping It Simple, Today's Creative blog, All Things Heart & Home, To Sew With Love, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Its a Hodgepodge Life

Peace Ornament

As we decorated Lindsey's house for Christmas, we had a lot of extra Christmas balls left over from making her peace wreath, so  we wanted to use them in some kind of creative way and came up with these peace ornaments.  We literally just hot glued the balls together in the shape of a peace sign.

  
I started with the center part of the peace sign and then began hot gluing the balls of the circle until they joined together.  I used a low temp hot glue because the balls were the non shatter type and it would not burn my fingers.  Easy peasy.

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps On the Porch, Dittle Dattle, Its So Very Cheri, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, All Things Heart and Home, Fine Craft Guild, Life as Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales from Bloggeritaville. Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest

Its a "Deer" Christmas Tour

Helping our daughter, Lindsey, decorate for Christmas for the first time in her own home was such a hoot.  Lindsey has always been that daughter who has made fun of all the Christmas decorations that I have.  Well, after our afternoon of decorating her home for the first time, she has no room to talk.  Seriously, what gal starts off with her first Christmas on her own, not only with a coordinated Christmas, but so much to decorate with? Boy, was she happy with all of the leftovers from my house that I have been saving for just such a time that she would need them in her own home.  Of course, she had to start with her "deer" friend and get her spruced up for the season. 

 
This is the Christmas tree that has been in Lindsey's room since she was a girl.  It has been in the window of her room at home, as well as adorned her dorm rooms at college as well.

 
Lindsey has been accumulating pink Christmas things since I brought the pink tree home to her years ago.

 
Nothing better than the glow of pink lights.

 
Her hearth looks so cozy. We painted the garland silver along with my painted Christmas trees. I love the way it turned out.  It looks so vintage.

 
Digging through my linens, Lindsey found a bunch of these quilt squares that I had picked up at an auction a long time ago.  She sewed the corners together and made a garland and added it to the painted garland.

 
Her vintage and pink deer collection sure came in handy to add to all of the Christmas things going on the mantel.

 

Again, digging through my old Christmas things, Lindsey found these very old Christmas light bulbs that were given to me by my Mom and they were given to her by her Dad.  My Grandpa had them hanging on their mobile home when I was a kid, so that dates them back to at least the 70's.  Now I am not sure why I still have them, as I am sure they no longer meet the safety standards of today, but don't they look great just sitting in this bowl.  Grandpa Nelson would be proud.

 
Now we get to the tree.  This was a tree I purchased about 20 years ago at Wal-Mart for $19.99.  It was the first "second" tree I ever had.  Not being satisfied with the green color, Lindsey took my lead and painted it a very nice ballet pink.  Didn't it turn out fabulous?

 
To wrap up our "deer" Christmas home tour is her peace wreath that she made out of Target dollar spot balls. Wow, what a great Christmas home for a young gal.

Linking up to the following Christmas Home Tour link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, Centsational Girl, Home for the Holidays, Its Fun to Craft

Painted Christmas Trees

Last year was the first year that I had acquired enough pink Christmas things to make part of our home pink for Christmas, click here and here to see what I did last year.  It has been mostly contained to the dinning room, but with the front door once again a great shade of pink, the porch has become a very fun pink winter wonderland.  I wanted to change up the look and really wanted some sliver trees but could not justify buying anymore trees, let alone explaining that one to Jeff. 

 
So I figured, I have some silver spray paint in my studio, why not try a little on the small trees on the front porch.  I tested it first on a small piece of greenery to make sure the spray paint did not melt the plastic or do anything crazy.  And it worked, so I went to town with the painting.

 
Once I saw the transformation, I absolutely love it and knew that it would be the perfect change to the front porch and make those pink accents pop.

 
The end result truly looked like the vintage tinsel trees from back in the day.  I not only paint my two trees but a wreath as well.

 
Who knew that spray paint could change a Christmas tree?  Again, Jeff doubted the outcome of my shenanigans with spray paint, and once again he is shocked that it really did work.

 
Next year I just might be brave enough to tackle the giant wreath above the door.

I am linking to the following link up parties: Its So Very Cheri, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, Cross My Hooks, Between Naps On the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Dittle Dattle, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, Centsational Girl, Somewhat Simple, Blue Cricket Designs, All Things Heart & Home, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, Trendy Treeehouse, Sew Woodsy, Fine Craft Guild, Creations By Kara, The Thrifty Home, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Life as Lori, Tales from Bloggeritavile, Wildflowers and Whimsy, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Paisley Passions, The Shabby Nest, Truly Lovely

Bleached Pine Cones

Some time ago I had this idea of bleaching pine cones.  We have trees in our yard that drop pine cones every year and I have used them for many different projects.  But I wanted to see if I could get the pine cones a lighter color so that the pink glitter I wanted to put of them would show up better.  Heck, the pine cones are free and bleach is cheap so why not give it a try.

 
I gathered a bunch of pine cones to fill this large plastic container that I had and then poured bleach over them, enough to cover them all.  Now here is where I should have done a little more research.  When the pine cones and bleach were mixed the bleach not only heated up but the bleach expanded and started seeping over the top of the container.  You guessed it, Jeff was not happy.  I quickly moved the whole thing to the sink.  I had no idea that anyone else had ever bleaching pine cones before.  After Jeff suggested I Google bleaching pine cones, there are a bunch of sites on how to's, they recommend a bleach and water mixture as opposed to straight bleach, oops!

 
When the pine cones absorb the bleach they close up.  I left them in the bleach for 24 hours and was disappointed that the did not lighten up a much as I had anticipated.  Darn. 

 
However, I put them in the oven at 250 degrees to speed up the drying process and as they opened and dried, they came out this beautiful light tan color.  Score!  This is exactly what I was hoping for.  Perfect to add a little pink glitter.

These are going to be a great addition to this year's pink Christmas. Oh, yeah!

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, Its so Very Cheri, The Girl Creative, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, Skip to my Lou, Coastal charm, Domestially Speaking, Today's Creative Blog, All Things Merry & Brite, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Just A Girl, The Shabby Nest, Simply Sweet Home, Finding Fabulous, Its Fun to Craft, Thrifty Tickle, Tidy Mom

Pink Jack-O-Lantern

Last Halloween, my sister, Lori, told me about how she took the traditional jack-o-lantern buckets and covered them with dictionary pages.  As I have just recently come into a huge box of old sheet music at an estate sale, I thought it would make a great cover for my jack-o-lantern.  And of course, I wanted to bring a little pink into my halloween decorations and what better way than to add a little bit of pink glitter to the mix while I'm at it? 

 

 

 
I started with two typical jack-o-lantern buckets from K-mart for $1.49 each.

 

I spray painted them both white so that they would be easier to cover with the white music pages.

 
There is no real reason to post this picture, other than to prove that I was doing crafts outside in the sun by the lake in Northern Minnesota in mid-October.  The weather was beautiful that day. There was absolutely no wind as proved by the fact that my strips of music are not blowing all over. 

 
Using Mod Podge I covered the jack-o-lantern with the strips of sheet music, being sure to overlap and pressing out the wrinkles. 

 
Once the Mod Podge was completely dry, I used glue to paint the face and then sprinkled with pink glitter. 

 
I used pink wire to make and curly handle and topped it off with a pink bow.  Now I am ready to fill this puppy with candy, and ready for the trick-or-treaters.

 
On the other jack-o-lantern I used a black sharpie to fill in the face and then add glue and black glitter (sorry no picture).  I kind of like him too!

Pumpkins From Up North

With the days as beautiful as they were when we were up north, I was inspired to do some crafts that required things from the good old outdoors.  There are lots of birch trees around in the woods and beings as it is Autumn how about some birch pumpkins?  Now this was something that I had thought up in my head and really wasn't sure how it was going to work out.  So the first course of action was to peel some birch bark from the trees around my Mom's property. 

 
Birch bark peels easily right off the trees and it is a light orange on the inside and an ashy white on the outside.  It will peel off in strips that can range from the thickness of tissue paper to hearvy cardboard.

 
I soaked the bark in hot water to help make it pliable and bend the way I wanted it to bend.  I found that this also loosened up the layers of the bark and I was able to make the pieces that were too thick much thinner by stripping away some of the layers.

 

Using handy dandy hot glue, I just started covering the artificial pumpkin with the strips of bark, overlapping as I went to make sure I had good coverage. 

 
Once the pumpkin was covered all of the pieces came together on the bottom and did not look very good so I cut a round piece of bark and glued it down.

 
Next, I drilled a hole in the top and glued in a birch branch.  Taking some thin bark, I cut some leaves and made some curls for vines and glued them next to the the stem.  

 
These turned out way better than I ever expected.  I love them.  Now my mind is going crazy as to what I can cover with birch bark next time I am in the north woods.

 

 I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Creative, The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, The Halloween Scene, The Girl Creative, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, New Nostalgia, Life as Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Paisley Passions, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Its a Blog Party, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest

Felted Acorns

I found some great felted acorns on a blog a couple weeks ago and thought "I can do that".  I began a search for some acorns so that I could use the little caps, I put a post out on Facebook for anyone with acorns in their yard and I would come by a pick them up.  My friend Nancy responded that she had recently found a giant acorn while on a walk and brought it by to me.  This nice big acorn was awesome, now just any acorns would not do, I needed the BIG ones.  While at K-State for family weekend, we were visiting Anna at the Pi Phi house and what did I see but giant acorns all over their front yard.  Score!  I had all the BIG acorns I wanted.

I began by taking the nuts out of the caps and cleaning them up a bit.  Some still had their leaves attached so I decided to just keep them and see how they will fair over time.

Because I am just a sparkly kind of gal, I decided to spray paint the caps with a metallic gold spray paint.  What nature makes, can always be made a little more sparkly with some gold paint,right?

I chose to use wool roving to make the felted nuts, thinking the roving would be easier than Kristi used over at The Speckled Dog.  Using roving would also give me the ability to make my acorns mutli colored by mixing the colors together.  To add a little more colors I found some 100% wool yarn that I added in as well.

 

Taking a wooden bead and a hunk of roving large enough to covering the bead, you dunk the whole thing into the hottest water that your hands can stand, working the roving into a ball around the bead.

 

Then you add a drop of liquid soap and continue to work the ball of wool.  I am not sure why you need soap, but just trust me you do. Lightly roll the ball around in your hands dunking it down into the water again and again, putting it a side for awhile and starting another will allow the water and soap to soak in and help the felting process.  This takes a lot longer that I anticipated, but as you work it into ball it will continue to get smaller and smaller and will dry even smaller than that.  This being said, be sure to start with a little bit bigger ball of wool than you think you are going to need. 

 Once the felted balls are dry, just hot glue them into the caps and you have some fun acorns for your enjoyment.  I am not sure what it is about acorns but I love the way they look.  Maybe, its because they are the only nuts around that come with their own accessory, hats.  Love it!

I am participating in the these link ups: Its So Very Creative, The Halloween Scene, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Showoff, Skip to my Lou, Coastal Charm, A Silly Little Sparrow, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket, Paisley Passions, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Frieflies and Jellybeans, Finding Fabulous, Its A Blog Party, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, Life as Lori, The Shabby Nest, Vintage Suitcase, Tidy Mom

Plaza Art Fair

I have never been to the Plaza Art fair before, so I was very excited about going this past weekend.  The Plaza is one of my favorite places in Kansas City.  We have a lot of memories there starting way back when we had no money and would just walk around pushing Ryan in the stroller for our entertainment.  There were many years we have ventured to the Plaza for the big turning on of the Christmas lights on Thanksgiving Night, and our all time favorite tradition of going to Winstead's (the only restaurant we could afford back in the day) for Jeff's birthday in December.  The Plaza has great shopping but also has the midwestern feel to it and I like that.  To see so many true artist in one stop is nothing more than inspiring.  It always makes me feel like "I can do that".  Now, I am not delusional enough to really believe "I can do that", but it is those fancy artists that always give me ideas for the down to earth things that I really "can" do. 

Look at these dresses.  I absolutely loved them, the red one is made out of bottle caps, and the other is metal as well.  How fun are they?  $3000 worth of fun that is.

Here is another one.  I think of all the things we saw this artist was by far my fave.

These whimsy statues made out of re-purposed things were a big hit and there were a lot artist with their own style on them.  I love how interesting they are and fun to see everyday things in a different way.

I highly recommend the Plaza Art Fair, the food was from any restaurant you can imagine, the people watching ranks right up there with the art, and the creativity of artists from all over the country makes  this a great Fall outing.