DIY: A Roaring Center Piece

One my friend's son is turning 4! She has been busy organizing her son's Dinosaur themed party for a couple of weeks now. Check out the adorable center pieces for her tables!  The best part, it's simple to do.  The printables are available from the Etsy shop, Wants and Wishes.  All you need are glass jars, chopsticks, paper ribbon, and some herbs.  My friend used Rosemary from her own garden, but you can use any herbs.  To my friend's own prince, Happy Birthday!

DIY: Pocket-T Quilt

This cool project is from Martha Stewart website.   You can hang it in your child's room to organize his/her small toys and trinkets.

http://www.marthstewart.com

This pocketed quilt is made from recycled shirts.
1. Start by cutting nine 11-inch squares from the front portions of shirts, keeping pockets in the centers of the squares; or trim the pockets off shirts or jeans, and mix and match with different materials (below, left). To create the quilt's top row, pin two of the squares together, right sides facing, and sew with a 1/2-inch seam allowance; add a third square to complete the row (below, right). Press the seams open. Repeat to make the middle and bottom rows. Sew the three rows together to form a square, and press seams open.
2. To make the quilt's border, cut four strips of fabric to the following dimensions: For the bottom, one 2-1/2-by-34-inch piece of fabric; for the sides, two 2 1/2-by-31-inch pieces; and for the top, one 3-by-34-inch piece. If you wish, add four buttonholes to the top piece, and sew buttons on top of them -- they're just decorative, so you don't need to open the buttonholes. Pin the two side-border pieces to the quilt, right sides facing, and sew them together using a 1/2-inch seam allowance; then pin and sew the top and bottom borders. Press all seams open.
3. Add four tabs at the top of the quilt for hanging: Cut four 5-by-4-inch strips of fabric. Fold strips in half lengthwise, right sides facing, and stitch the long edges together to form tubes. Turn tubes right side out, press flat, and fold in the middle to form tabs. Pin tabs along the top of the quilt, directly on top of buttons (if you didn't sew on buttons, space tabs evenly). Baste tabs to quilt, and remove pins.
4. To fill the quilt, cut one piece of fusible interfacing and one piece of fabric, each measuring 34 by 34 1/2 inches. Iron the interfacing to the back of the quilt. Next, pin the fabric to the quilt with the right sides facing, and sew around the perimeter with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, leaving a 24-inch-wide opening at the bottom of the quilt. Turn the quilt right side out, and insert a piece of 1/4-inch thick batting measuring 33 by 33 1/2 inches. Tack the batting in place at the intersections of the squares, and slip-stitch the opening closed by hand. Hang quilt from a dowel.

DIY: Party Centerpiece

I got these adorable centerpiece sticks from WH HOSTESS.  Yes, it comes with the ribbon too! If you saw the e-design board Kelly Lyden sent to me from this post here, you will notice what picture inspired me to make these centerpieces.  I want to show you how I made them.

The materials you need are: 

• Kerr packing jars (you can use any jar you have at home doesn't have to be these.)
• Flowers. I got mine for $1.00.
• Moss sheets (I got mine at Michaels)
• Foam to hold the centerpiece stick while in the jar.

Clockwise: glass jar, moss sheets, flowers, foam.

Here's a close up of the moss sheet I used.

My Kerr packing jar.  Aren't  my nails pretty? 

  I used wet foam.  You can find this at the floral section of your craft store.

Fake flowers. I chose this to match the theme of my daughter's
birthday party.

I inserted the wet foam into the glass jar.  I had to trim it for it to fit.

I lined the inside with the sheet of moss.  You can line first and insert the foam later.  Whatever is easier for you.

I inserted the stick into the wet foam.

I added moss on top.

I applied glue around the jar  and attached the ribbon.

I then topped it off with flowers!  You're done!

DIY: Vacation Memory Jars

As I was browsing through the web for ideas to show off some travel souvenirs I have stored in a storage box, I came across an art project called Vacation Memory Jars on Martha Stewart's website.  I thought it was a creative way to display souvenirs collected on trips as well as pictures.  You may be taking a Summer vacation soon so keep this project in mind!  This can also be a fun project to do with kids.   Kids can add to them or rearrange them anytime they like.  To add items or rearrange them you just need a bent wire which can be used to lower and position objects in a thin-necked jar.

http://www.marthastewart.com

DIY: July Fourth Wreath

I want to share with you my Fourth of July wreath that I created.

I got inspired by this tutorial on "Making Wreath with Rolled Flowers" over at Hyphen Interiors.  This blog's owner is Kristy Swain who is a Design Enthusiast!  Kristy Swain gives tips on home design in her blog by sharing DIY decor projects, trends to watch in interior design,  and even her own design projects.  Get this... she also offers design services and even gives advice to her blog to readers who have hit a road block in decorating their homes.

I was so excited to create a Fourth of July wreath and try the rolled flowers after I saw the pic below!

The foam wreath is wrapped with cloth, the paper flowers (scrapbook paper)  are glued and pinned into the foam wreath.

But, mine didn't turn out so well.  My rolled flowers looked awful!  I think it was because the patterns on the paper I had selected were too big, and they ended up looking like sea shells!  My wreath looked so awful that I didn't bother taking pics of it.

I thought about another way to decorate my blank white wreath and got an idea.  I had purchased these Fourth of July gels from Target for  only $1 and decided to use those instead of the rolled up flowers I had created.  It all worked out fine at the end.   I followed everything from Kristy's blog except for the flowers which I substituted with the star gels.  I apologize for the really bad photos, but at midnight light is terrible, and I am not much of a photographer.

These were my supplies: Foam wreath, ribbon, white yarn, and paper (for the flowers)

Instead of cloth like in Kristy's blog I decided to use yarn instead.

My paper flowers didn't turn out so well, so decided to use the stars from these gel stickons which cost only $1.

My finished wreath!

King of the Grill on Father's Day

Do you have a father who's the King of the Grill in your family?  Or a father that just loves BBQ?   Try making these little brownies in shape of what else... a grill with grilled items on them!!  Of course they aren't real grilled items, they are candies made to look like grilled items.  This is a fun and creative way to surprise your father for Father's Day!

Ingredients

• Brownie batter
• Black food coloring
• White frosting
• Orange sugar

• Caramel creams
• Red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices
• Hot Tamales candies

Instructions

1. To make a batch of 12, place liners in a muffin pan, oil them, and fill them two thirds full of your favorite brownie batter, then bake according to the recipe directions. Let the brownies cool.
   
2. In a small bowl, mix one or two drops of black food coloring with 1/4 cup white frosting. Transfer the frosting to a ziplock bag and snip a small section from the corner. Pipe grate lines onto each brownie and let them set for 20 minutes. Add embers with a sprinkle of orange sugar.
   
3. Prepare the grill food as instructed below and press it in place atop each brownie.
   
   Kebabs = A caramel cream and red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices, cut into small pieces + toothpick skewers
   
   Pork chop = two thirds of a caramel cream, molded with fingers + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick
   
   Hot dogs = Hot Tamales candies + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick
   
   

   

   http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/grate-gift-for-dad-88883/

   
   
   

A Builder's Dream

Looking for fun projects that both kids and daddy can do together?  Try some ready made building kits from Lowes.  They have various ready made kits that kids can work on with their Daddy!  Below are some projects available for purchase all under $10!  It would make a great activity for the kids and their Dad on Father's Day!

Bird House

 

Pirate Ship

Fire Truck

School Bus

DIY: Poppin Art!

It's Pop Art!

I wanted to give my son's room a modern and vibrant art piece above his crib so I tried this DIY Pop Art I found on the Family Fun website. I did my Pop Art on a portrait of my 4 month old son wearing his shades and hat. It gave out a smooth cool vibe which I thought went well with the Pop Art look.

To do this DIY Pop Art you will need the following:
Photograph
Colored paper
Scissors
Glue
Card stock or matte board
Double sided tape

1. You will need to printout four black and white copies of a photograph of your child's face on colored paper. You might have to play around with the contrast if it isn't strong enough. I decided to make copies on lime green, hot pink, yellow, and orange paper.  I then cut the images out as shown below.

2. Then glue them to pieces of contrasting colored paper as shown.

3. Finally, mount the photos on card stock or matte board with double-sided tape, and it's ready to be framed!

Me and My Shadow Box

Shadow Boxes are fun keepsake projects which lets you turn cherished momentos into art work.  It also allows you to see them in a daily basis rather than stored and hidden somewhere.

I have saved a few items from my daughter's birth which I knew I wanted to incorporate in her room:

• daughter's first top
• daughter's first knit cap
• daughter's ultrasound
• daughter's and mother's hospital i.d. bracelet

I simply used old handkerchiefs I had lying around for the background.  You can use scrapbook paper if you have that on hand or even gift wrapper.   I got my shadow boxes from Pottery Barn Kids.   I plan to update these shadow boxes as she gets older as well, so they will definitely be on her walls for years to come.   They are not that difficult to do and is a great project for those who don't have a lot of time.

Shadow box opens up, and I just place items inside.  I set them using pins.

Finished product! Very simple.  Took me a minute to do.

Wala! Another shadow box.  This also only took a minute to do.

DIY Mother's Day Herb Window Box

Mother's Day is around the corner and I have been trying to figure out what to get my mom.  One afternoon I was browsing through the William Sonoma catalog and something caught my eye, a herb window box!

That's something my mom would love. She loves gardening and cooking. I was originally going to buy the herb window box as well as the herbs but I thought maybe I can do a do-it-yourself (DIY)  herb window box instead so I decided to head to the nearest home garden store, Lowes.

Herb selection at the Garden Center

When I arrived at Lowes I went to their herb garden section to pick out a few of their herb plants.  I got some basil, thyme, & rosemary. Next, I picked out a small box planter to put the herbs in. I didn't know they had such a selection. Since my mom likes simple things, I chose a simple box. Finally I got a small bag of potting soil and headed towards the cashier.

It only took a few minutes to put together.  I just need to get a Mother's Day card and my DIY Mother's Day herb window box is complete!

Mother's Day herb window box

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!