Mother's Day Floral Topiary: Easy, Beginner's Project, No-Sew

   While browsing floral arrangements online, I saw a beautiful topiary arrangement. The price was less beautiful, as the flowers were fresh. It was, however, something I'd love to give my own mother and grandmother this Mother's Day.

Just between you and me, I got my supplies at the Dollar Store. It's not that I have anything against spending more on a gift... but why, when you can get great quality items for less?

You Will Need:
  
A Flower Pot

Styrofoam that will fit in said pot

A Styrofoam Ball

 Decorative Twigs

Various Silk Flowers (at least 2 bunches for the top ball, and 2 bunches for the pot)

Dried Moss

Wire Cutters

Ribbon (optional)

***The Size of the flower pot and the foam ball are entirely up to you. For your reference, my pot is 4.75 inches tall, and the foam ball is 4 inches in diameter. The finished product is 16.5 inches tall.***





1.) Place your foam in the pot, and a stick (I used a bamboo skewer (like for kabobs) on mine but you can easily use one of the twigs) in the center for the foam ball.

 

2.) Use a pencil to mark where the bottom of the ball is. Remove the ball and then cut twigs to surround the skewer, using your mark as reference for length. Stick them into the foam and replace the ball.

3.) Use the moss to cover the foam in the pot.

4.) To make short flower pieces, first take the flowers and greens off of the wire stems.

Then cut the wire stem into short pieces.

Place the individual flowers onto the short wire pieces.

5.) Poke these flower pieces into the pot-foam (through the moss) until you like the fullness.

6.) Using the same process for making individual flower pieces, poke flowers into the ball- alternate with the greens- until you like the fullness.

7.) Dab some hot glue at the base of your twigs and apply the end of your ribbon. Wind the ribbon around the twigs and glue in place at the top. (If you don't want to use ribbon, you can gather your twigs together at the top with a rubber band. Just make sure to cover it with the flowers and greens)

You're finished!

How easy was that!? I made these myself and I'm still looking at them thinking (a' la Stacy on What Not to Wear), "Shut-up!"

These came to about $8 each, but you will have twigs, moss, wire stem, and greens left over.

A Quick Gift Bag Idea

I recently attended the 14th birthday of my nephew. Seriously... what do boys want!? Well cash is pretty much the answer, but I also threw in a package of candy bars and a bottle of his favorite soda. It's not glamorous but he liked it.

However, there was the little problem of presentation. Wrapping paper wasn't really going to cut it, and the gift bags I had on hand were Christmas themed. What's a gal to do?

Fortunately I spotted a bag given to me by a local business, some fun Duct Tape, and the hamster wheels of the mind started turning.

Check out these pretty designs and other colors at TapeBrothers.com

Perhaps you have seen the Duct tape in funky colors and patterns. I found mine at a local craft store. (Really, how can you resist Zebra striped tape?)

The gift bag really couldn't be much easier.

Gifts on the Right, Gift Bag Materials on the Left

Step One: Apply Duct Tape to the outsides of the bag, covering the logo (and beautifying at the same time).

Step Two: Put Gifts in bag.

The end.

This was so fun and quick! I will be on the look out of other items to Ductally Enhance. ;)

Lovely Flower Lanterns

You'll notice the list to the right, of my favorite blogs. These are the ones I visit on a regular (if not daily) basis and one such favorite is Aunt Peaches. She has a great mixture of funky, elegant, eccentric (feather tiara for a Feline Fanailow, anyone?), and down-right awesome crafting projects.

Before my life was (gladly) interrupted by room construction and the holiday...I was just itching to make this gorg flower hanging ball. I know...I'm so girly. I picture two of these hanging in my sewing room/hide-away.

While the drywall dust was flying, I picked up two Halloween themed lanterns at the dollar store (seriously, is there anything I can't get there!?) and a couple Styrofoam craft balls.

Per Peaches' instruction, I crafted the flowers from coffee filters, and hot glued them on.

And since I'm terribly inpatient, I had to see how it would look with a pretty center glued in before I finished my first row...

So far I have two rows plus two flowers on the lantern, but I ran out of coffee filters (gasp!). Luckily, I will be supply grocery shopping later today. ;)

This is a little more work than the coffee filter roses, but definitely worth the effort.


So.....
Sorry for the sporadic posting as of late. You all know I took a break for my sewing room. It was finished just in time for Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and my house guests. We had lovely time spending virtually every day with family for a week and a half. (It was a little hectic, but I wouldn't have had it any other way)

I will be posting more Christmas themed projects as well as a gift idea or two.

Happy Monday! *snicker*

Make Your Own Charlie Brown-ish Christmas Tree

Oh how we love the Charlie Brown specials! My kids look forward to seeing them every holiday season and randomly quote them throughout the year. So when we saw a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" at the local stores, the boys wanted one of their very own.

Here's the store version as shown on www.thegreehead.com:

So cute and pathetic, isn't it? On sale, I've seen it for around $12 but to tell you the truth I'm just cheap. I can't see spending that much on an 18 inch scraggly tree branch.

Fast forward to Black Friday... I was standing in line waiting for my turn at a great deal on electronics, when I see the tree on an endcap (these folks know they have a captive audience and use their marketing skills!). Why, it's nothing more than wrapped wire with a few pieces of faux evergreen. I can do that.

Here's what you'll need:

• Wire
• Floral tape
• A dollar store wreath, garland, or some source of the evergreen pieces
• Something for the base- I used wood scraps, you could also use an old coffee can, or a flower pot
•  Piece of blue flannel 
• Red ornament 
• Wire Cutters

1.) Cut ten pieces of evergreen.

2.) Cut a length of wire for the main stem, 23 inches (18 inches for the tree, plus some for under the base).

3.) Twist the end of the wire around one piece of evergreen.

4.) Start wrapping the floral tape where the wire is twisted and wrap around going down the wire about 3 inches.

5.) Make the branches in the same way, with shorter pieces of wire. Wrap the floral tape down most of the length of the wire for the branches, then twist them onto the main stem. Here you can be as creative as you want to be. I looked at a picture of the store's tree for reference and made my branches accordingly.

Wrap the main stem with floral tape as you go.

6.) Make or prepare your base. For my wood base I cut one piece in half and stapled them onto the main piece. I then made a small hole in the center with a screw. Other options are using a clean coffee can with a hole in the lid, or turning a flower pot upside-down.

7.) Feed the main stem through the hole and secure as needed. On my wood base I stapled the wire down and cut off any excess.

8.) All that's left is to add the scrap of blue flannel for Linus' Blanket, and a red ornament.

Have fun!

Ain't This a Pretty Picture: Leftover Door Trim/Moulding Becomes an Art Piece

From recent construction, I had some leftover pieces of trim/moulding.  It's just too pretty to chuck, so I decided to make a frame out of it. Why not...I know it'll go with the room's decor. (It'd be much easier to use a prefabbed picture frame, though)

***Disclaimer: I am not great at cutting a mitered corner or woodworking in general. You've been warned.


1.) I didn't have a set size. I just took the smallest piece, cut the 45 degree angles on both ends and cut the other pieces to that size.

2.) I then attached the pieces with a couple of staples in each corner.

(I also put some glue in the miters)

3.) Staple a ribbon the the center back for hanging (or you could use the picture hanging hardware and do it the right way... but who wants that?)

I got to this point and I honestly didn't know what to put IN the frame. I had the idea that I wanted whatever it was to kind of free float... but what? Then I saw this at Make It and Love It and had an idea. I would put the silhouettes of my sons in the frame!

I remembered sitting in front of a overhead projector light in Kindergarten while my teacher sketched my silhouette. So I grabbed some computer paper, a flashlight, and my four year old.

Have you ever tried to make a four year old sit still for more than two seconds? Yeah.

I didn't have much luck with my middle son either. Then T. brings me into the 21st century... "Why don't you just take a picture, Mom?"

Best. Idea. Ever.

So I (4.)took pictures of their shadows, uploaded them to the computer, using photo editing software I made them purely black and white, and printed them out. Thank you technology.

5.) Cut out the silhouette. Since I am layering these, I am leaving a thin white line on two of them to give some separation.

6.) Glue onto cardboard (I recommend a thin one like from a cereal box) and cut the cardboard away.

7.) Hang your frame, and stick the silhouette in the middle (I used the stick-em putty stuff like they use in schools for posters).

I love it! Of course I would have loved to have made these out of the wall art vinyl, but I don't have the cutting machine or vinyl. (Hint, hint, Santa)

Straight up Slippin', Boo! Using a Bed Sheet for a Slipcover

I'm so close to having my own creative space! The walls are up and painted a cheery yellow. Next we put in the drop ceiling and carpet. Woo hoo!

Something I will need after all the construction stuff is complete, is lovely furniture. I've already begun painting old cabinets...



... My project yesterday involved a cute little arm-chair. Just the thing for relaxing!



What? You don't think it's so cute? You don't see it working with cheery yellow walls?

Neither do I.

So I took myself over to Joann's and priced out the upholstery fabric for recovering (which happens to be 50% off this week).

Yeah...not gonna happen on my budget. I have expensive tastes.

Fortunately my quilting experience has taught me, a great way to get lots of fabric very cheaply is to buy a sheet. I got a full size set at a super store for right around $20, less than half of the price of the material at Joann's.

First thing I did was to take that horrible trim from the bottom.



Borrowing an idea from the now defunct Trading Spaces, I removed the cushion and draped the flat sheet over my chair and got to pinning.



1.) After draping the sheet (wrong-side up) over the chair, adjust (but not tuck) so that the bottom edge is even all the way around.

2.) Pin in the places where there is just too much fabric, corners, curves, etc. to fit the sheet to your chair's shape.  Spend a lot of time on this step. The more pins and time, the easier it will be to sew and the better it will look.

***For a No-Sew Slipcover, use a bunch of safety-pin to fit the sheet.***



3.) Gently pull the sheet off of the chair, turn right-side up and place back on the chair to check the fit. You will likely do this step at least twice, just remember the more time you spend here the better it will look.

*** No-Sew: after this step you're done! Just pull a pillow case over the seat cushion and you're good to go.***



4.) Once you have it just how you want it, cut the excess fabric  about half an inch away from the pins.

5.) Sew the, now cut, seams. (This is where I added a little trim)

 

6.) The seat cushion is as simple as making pillows. Measure the top square (or rectangle in my case) from side to side, and add an inch to each measurement. Cut two squares, that size. for the gusset (the strip that goes around the width) do the same, adding that inch to the width and length.

7.) Sew that all together, leaving the back open at one seam so you can slip the cushion in there.

8.) Finishing the edge for the cushion cover has a few options. You can hand stitch it closed, use hook and loop (like Velcro) pieces, or if you're lazy like me and out of velcro you can safety-pin it shut.

I can't wait to post some finished room pictures!