Kitchen Shower Crafts!

I recently threw my sister a kitchen bridal shower! It was lots of fun and I enjoyed making a few crafts for the occasion:-)

Butterfly Globes

I started out calling them butterfly balls, but then my sister's good friend (my friend too:-)) called them butterfly globes! I loved it and they really do resemble globes! I got the idea for them from one of my favorite blogs, YHL. Except, theirs is a baby mobile with flowers.



I started out with two sheets of shimmery scrapbook paper (blue & green - my sister's wedding colors), floral wire ($2 at Michael's), Tacky glue, and a Martha Stewart butterfly punch ($5 with 50% off coupon from Michael's). You will need a pair of pliers too if you don't already have some.



It was hard to get step-by-step pictures of this part, but I will do my best to describe what I did (and try not to get too distracted by my awesome polka dot pajama pants, lol!). I started out making a circle out of the wire and wrapped it around 3 or 4 times. I cute the wire and did 2 more circles. I spaced them out to make as close to a "ball" shape as I could. Then I attached them to each other by wrapping the wire around at the top and bottom. Next, I pulled the wires out, away from each other so it would fill in the spaces and have even more of a round shape. Last, I took 3 separate long strands of wire and weaved them in and out ,horizontally, giving the ball more structure and it's globe appeal. I tried to make them look even, but they definitely weren't perfect. I just wanted to be able to place the butterflies evenly around the ball.



Sorry, no pics of this next part either. But all I did was Tacky glue the butterflies to the balls. Sounds simple and it was, but it took a lot longer then I thought it would:-/ It was the first time I worked with Tacky glue. To me it seems a little more heavy duty/stickier than regular craft glue, but takes just as long to dry. Basically some took longer than others...it just depended if I had to hold in place or if it kind of stayed in place on it's own. The nice thing about it was it was so sticky that if it started to fall, it would just flip over and hang on so I would just flip it back over and hold it until it dried a bit more. So at least they weren't falling all over the place and getting glue everywhere:-) I thought about hot glue, but thought it might get messy with all those strings of glue everywhere. All in all it went well and I would probably do them the same way again, but would know to allow for more time. Also I ended up incorporating some patterned scrapbook paper (the one I used for the banner). My husband and I agreed they needed some contrast to the plain blue and green. I love how he pretends to be interested, haha. No, he really is helpful!:-)



So, what do you think? I love how they appear to be "floating"!

Dainty Doily Banner



Not sure where I got the idea for this...I wanted to add some color to my mantle for the party and I wanted the banner to be girly and tea partyish. That made me think of doilies because they're so dainty. And I thought "how easy would it be to cut out circles of scrapbook paper and glue them on top?". Well, that part was pretty easy. The tricky part was getting it to hang correctly! So here's what I did...



I started out with a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper and a pack of 30 4" doilies by Wilton for around $4 from Amazon. But Michael's has them too and for probably cheaper, especially with a coupon. I just happened to be ordering from Amazon and wasn't sure Michael's had them. I found a candle votive holder a little bigger than the inside circle of the doily and used it to trace circles on the back of my scrapbook paper. I cut them out and glued them with regular craft glue to the center of the doilies. I stuck them in a book so they would dry flat and not be all bumpy.



Next, I took a thin white ribbon and stretched it out on the floor over some magazines (to protect the floor from glue). Then, using Tacky glue (to have a stronger hold than regular glue), I glued each doily to the ribbon spacing them just so they were barely touching. I took it and held it up to the mantle to figure out how many I was going to need. I decided to do three sections of 7 (21 total) so it would hang evenly. I thought I was all finished and was super excited to go hang it up only to see that it was not going to work... :-( The doilies were turning every which a way and it was not pretty. I had a brief urge to give up, but then decided to go back to the drawing board. I originally thought about gluing them to clear string/fishing wire, but didn't think they would stick because it's so thin. But now that I had them glued on to something I could use the clear string! I just weaved it in and out of the holes at the top of each doily. This worked perfectly, forcing them to sit up straight and put their best faces forward (haha)!



You can see in the pictures above how they are glued onto the ribbon and then held up by the clear string at the top. And I simply taped the banner to the mantle with good ol' Scotch tape.

And that's it! Easy peasy and brings some life to the mantle!:-)

Other Shower Decorations:

My sister had pinned this decoration made with limes on Pinterest, originally from here.



So I gave it a try and loved how it turned out!!! Please don't judge my day old picture with bad lighting, lol! Probably shouldn't have put it next to their gorgeous picture, huh? Owell. And a word of advice if you try it for yourself...it only lasts 3 days tops! I kept it around for 5 days and it started growing stuff - yuck! A few people at the shower said how good it looked in my kitchen and that I should try to keep it all the time (refreshing it of course). It's a nice idea, but not very economical or low maintenance. Obviously I would have to change it out every few days and my container holds 18 limes!! Not cheap. Perhaps if I used a smaller container. But even then it's a little high maintenance for me. I think I'll stick to special occasions for now:-) And another great tip from my husband (who has picked up stuff like this from being in hotels) is to use sparkling water to give it a little something extra! It looked neat how the bubbles stuck on the limes.



Here's a shot of the dining room table...3 vases of flowers with a hurricane over the center vase. I wanted to use my new hurricane and wanted some flowers to brighten things up and this is what I came up with! I like how it turned out and was a new twist by using something other than candles in the hurricane.

Pssst...here's a sneak peek of the table runner I made!!! Stayed tuned for the tutorial:-)

My First Silhouette Project!

I recently completed my first project using my new Silhouette Cameo! My very sweet hubby gave me the electronic cutting tool for Christmas! So my first project was this "Just Married" banner I made for my sister to use in her wedding pictures:-) If you'd like to know how I made the banner, you can check out a similar tutorial here. I love how it turned out and my sister does too! I can't wait to make more things with my Silhouette Cameo!

Valentine's Giveaway!!!

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and I thought I would get everyone in the lovey-dovey spirit with a giveaway!!! There are so many cute crafts you can do for Valentine's and I'm bummed I haven't had time. I was really wanting to make this guy from here.



And I still may and then he'll be all ready for next year!!:)

I picked up a few things to decorate the lucky winner's home for Valentine's Day!!!



There is the cutesy "LOVE" sign for hanging, some adorable, glittery (hard to tell in pic) decorative ball vase fillers, and a candy dish!

Because the holiday is so close and I want the winner to enjoy their prizes at least a little before Valentine's, I will be announcing the winner Friday morning!

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about Valentine's Day!! For example, do you love the candy, date night with your special someone, or is it a special memory you have? I love having an excuse to go eat somewhere fancy with my husband!! And my Dad has always made Valentine's Day special for his girls (me, my sis, and mom)! He always gets us the sweetest cards and some nice treat like flowers or candy:-) My husband has a lot to live up to!;-)

Thanks for sharing and reading!:-)

Congrats Robin!!

Elmo Birthday Party {The Crafty Side}

My daughter just turned 2 and we threw her an Elmo birthday party!! She loves that little guy!;-) Anyways, I wanted to share with you the crafty side! If you saw my previous post, you already got a sneak peak with the birthday hat here.

I don't have any more tutorials for you, but thought I would share some pictures and tips to help inspire some creativity! After all, that's one reason I started this little blog in the first place! More on that here.

First up...her birthday banner!



It was fairly easy, just a little time consuming with all the cutting! I purchased pre-cut letters in the teacher aisle of Joann's and a pack of scrapbook/card stock paper:



I traced a roll of ribbon to make my circles and free-handed a flower shape and used it as a template for the rest of the flower backgrounds. So once I had everything cut out, I played around with the patterns and colors until I got it just right! Then I glued it all together. Last, I punched holes on each side of the flowers and tied together with thin ribbon. One thing I would do differently would be to glue the circles and flowers together, but wait until after the punching and tying to glue the letters on. I had to peel a couple of mine off and re-glue because they weren't lined up quit right.

In the corner, next to the banner, I hung some pom poms that I made!! I followed an easy tutorial from here.



The only thing I did differently as use clear jewelry string/fishing wire type stuff from the craft store instead of the floral wire and it worked! The floral wire may work better, but what I used did the trick so I was happy! I was really surprised by how quick and easy this project was!

I ordered some Elmo cake pops and displayed them in a ribbon covered cone!



All I did was take some thick red ribbon I had on hand and wrapped it around the cone as tight as I could while leaving a tiny space to stick the cake pop sticks. To cover the top I trimmed the ribbon into a small circle and pinned it down.



I got these cute favor bags from an Etsy shop you can find here. I thought about making them, but didn't really want to spend the time. Also, they were reasonably priced and the shop had great reviews!

In keeping with the Elmo theme, the favor bags were full of sesame street coloring books, a small pack of crayons, a small carton of gold fish, and a Cookie monster or Elmo cookie! The coloring books and crayons were from the party store in packs of 12, the goldfish from Target, and the cookies were from Sugar Shack Sweets just like the cake pops.



Here's a shot of the whole set-up...don't you just love the life size Elmo balloon, lol?!

Next, I would like to share the Elmo cake!!!

Confession: I did not do any of the baking, white icing, or polka dots (Publix did). However, I can take all the credit for the Elmo!!!! And I'm super proud of how it turned out! Honestly, I was very nervous while doing the Elmo head because I had not practiced and it was my first time working with fondant. But I'm happy to say all turned out well! Whatcha think?



A cake bakin' friend gave me some good tips:

She told me to get a small batch of white fondant. I bought some for around $4 with coupon at a craft store and also some orange and black colors to tint the icing/fondant. It comes in a big block and you basically tear off however much you need, roll and kneed it, and add the tint color a little at a time with a toothpick. Then roll it out with a rolling pin to get it pretty flat. I used random kitchen objects to make my shapes. I used a shot glass for the white part of the eyes, a teaspoon for the black part, a regular spoon for the nose, and I free-handed the mouth. I used a butter knife to do all my cutting and touching up! I also used food safe latex gloves so I wouldn't get coloring all over my hands. Also, I watched a video on making fondant on you tube that helped a lot!

Icing:

For Elmo's red, furry head I bought a tube of red icing. My friend told me to get a Wilton French icing tip and poke at it for the furry effect. And this technique worked great!

So, what do you think? Have you done an Elmo birthday party before? What party themes have you done or will be doing soon??

Party Hat!

A friend pinned this adorable hat on pinterest for me and I was in love! I thought it looked fairly easy to make so I gave it a try! But if you love it and don't want to make it or don't have the time, you can order one from Etsy here.



I went to my local Hobby Lobby and gathered some supplies:



Different colored felt, medium-sized pom poms, headbands, and poster board. I bought a pack of pre-cut poster board because it was simply easier to cart around since I had my daughter with me and it ended up being a good size to work with. But the normal size poster board was a little cheaper if you want to go that route. And I had to exchange one of the medium-sized bags of pom poms for a bag of small pom poms. After making the hat, I realized smaller pom poms would be a better fit for the bottom.

Here's what I did:



The first thing I did was roll my poster board up in a cone shape. If you do opt for one large poster board sheet, it would probably be easier to cut it down before this part.



Next, I flattened it out and cut straight across to make the bottom of the hat.



It was not a straight line by any means, so I unrolled it...



And trimmed it up a bit to make for a nice, smooth line.



Then I rolled it back up and secured it with a piece of tape at the top and bottom.



Next, I put it on top of the headband to see how it was working out.



It looked pretty good, so I added the fabric.



This part is very similar to how I did my Christmas trees here.



I left a little material at the top and put glue down the side.



Then rolled and glued, rolled and glued, while also tucking the top.



Then I trimmed the bottom and the side to complete the fabric portion!



Next, I made a bottom for the hat out of the same poster board. This step is necessary so the hat does not get in the way of the headband fitting correctly and so there is more area to glue the hat onto the headband.



I traced around the bottom of the hat and cut it out. I put a wad of Elmer's glue all around the edges...I wanted to make sure it would stick!



While I was letting the hat dry, I cut a bunch of circles out of my felt in different sizes. I did them freehand, but you can trace coins if you want! I laid them out on the hat how I liked them and then hot glued each one on.



Next, I did the pom poms! This part was really quick and easy...I just hot glued a medium pom pom on top and hot glued the small pom poms around the bottom in groups of three. And last, I hot glued the hat to the headband! Voila! I thought it turned out so cute:-)



And I must say it looks pretty darn cute on the birthday girl herself...

Scollop Banner Tutorial

Although it is after Christmas, I still wanted to post this because, well, there's always next Christmas! Also, this banner can be done in any colors/patterns so get creative and make one for your next party or holiday! There's New Years, Birthdays, Valentine's, etc., this banner is perfect any time of the year. And let me just mention it is a GREAT beginner sewing project!!! It was actually the first time I sewed something other than a straight line!;-) And I did so many scallops it was good practice. This was not the quickest project, but it was not very difficult and, like I said it, made for great practice! I'm the type of person that doesn't like to just "practice", so having a goal/project in mind is right up my ally!

Let's get started!

First, I drew a scallop shape on the back side of my fabric. If you don't feel comfortable doing it freehand, look for something in your home to trace. But the nice thing about this project was the scallops did not have to be perfect.



I cut it out and used it as my template to do the rest of them. Here are two all cut out to make one scallop!



Then I placed them facing each other...



It was almost time to sew, but since I did them freehand I held them up to see if they were even and did a little trimming in spots where they were not.



Time to sew! I did a couple back stitches at each end to ensure they would not come apart when turning them inside out.



Here it is all sewn together! Not perfect, but you can't tell once you turn it inside out.



See...one nice scallop!



I ended up making 18 scallops (half red, half green) to cover my mirror above the mantel. As you can see there is an unfinished edge, but it will be taken care of once we sew it on to the ribbon!



I pinned 6 scallops at a time to thin white ribbon. Then I got to sewing! I went very slowly sewing this part to keep it lined up and centered, but do what you're comfortable with! And I took the pins out as I went since they held more securely pinned sideways and not straight up and down.



I left gaps in my banner so there would be room to tape the ribbon up on the sides...but after much rearranging, I ended up cutting them all separate to make hanging a bit easier!



What do you think? Are you going to try it? Keep in mind you could do one long banner to hang across the mantel or down your stair banister? I'm pretty sure my inspiration for this project came from here:



http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-countdown-bunting-tutorial-and-28-grateful-activities.html

Hers is neat because it has pockets you put activities for the family to do together in! Maybe I could add some pockets to mine and make an advent calendar?? We'll see!