Spring Wreath ~ AKA, my front door is no longer naked!

I have to admit, my front door was naked!

You see, I took down our Christmas wreath and never put another one up.

Every time I looked at our poor naked door I thought to myself, "That door needs a new outfit, a brighter one"

So my spring wreath was created.

Now, I know that what I created was/is not earth shattering, or even a new idea, but I love it none the less, and perhaps you too will be inspired :)

Here's what I used:

A large grapevine wreath
Fabric
Buttons
Coordinating thread
and some Hot Glue

I took a long strip of fabric

(it was about 3 ½ inches wide and unfortunately, I forgot to measure the length, 

but the longer and wider the strip, the larger the flower)

Folded it in half and sewed a running stitch from the beginning to the end of the fabric strip.

Gathering the fabric as I went

Until I had sewn and gathered the entire strip

Next I manipulated the fabric strip into a flower shape,  

sewed a coordinating button on and moved on to the next flower.

All together I made 6 flowers, and using hot glue, I glued them onto my wreath and tied that baby onto my naked front door with some pretty blue ribbon.

Ahhh, I feel so much better, now that my door is dressed!

I also embraced my wishful thinking and added a new message to my front porch chalkboard

And I'll pay no attention to the fact that I woke up last Saturday morning to more snow on the ground and this week the temps are suppose to stay in the 40's.

Here's to Wishful Thinking!

Cute Headband

I saw these flowers on the Hope Studios blog about a month ago. 

*** This is a Hope Studios Picture ***

Loved them from the moment I saw them and thought.... hmmm... wouldn't these make darling headbands for my girls?

Answer: YES!

Off to JoAnn's I went.

Supplies I used:

Satin ( I used 3 colors, cream, grey and pink)
Candle
Scissors
Needle and thread
Small beads
Inexpensive elastic headbands

Instructions:  I did not take pictures of my steps so go to Hope Studios by clicking here to see her beautifully detailed steps!

1. Cut your satin into many different sized circles. I stated with the biggest one and went from there using all 3 of my colors ~ no rhyme or reason ~ just make sure they gradually get smaller.  The more circles you use, the fuller your flower will be.

2.  Melt the edges of each circle using a candle.

3. At this point I grabbed my elastic headbands and  using the needle and thread, starting  from the back (I went through the headband and through all of my circles) pull the needle through to the top circle (smallest one). Once you are here, slide 3 beads onto the needle.  Continue sewing back and forth through the circle and in my case headband layers until you feel it is secure.

VOILA ~ a darling headband!

Check it out:

Teacher Gift

Sassy wanted to make an end of the year gift for her teacher. This is what we came up with:

Tissue Paper flowers (in a handpainted "vase" filled with chocolates):

Supplies:

colored tissue paper ~ you use 9 circles for each flower

cup or bowl with about a 4 inch diameter do trace

pipe cleaners

empty can (whatever size you want)

acrylic paints

paint brushes

chocolates (or whatever you want to use as filler)

Directions:

1. Trace your cup or bowl onto the tissue paper (since you need about 9 circles for each flower we stacked them so we only had to trace one).

2. Cut out your circles (leave them stacked so you only have to cut once).

3. Take one pipecleaner and poke a hole through the center of your 9 circles. Then fold the top over so it doesn't slip out of the tissue paper.

4. Loosly gather your petals up and wrap pipecleaner around the bottom of the flower.

5. Gently seperate the "petals" and twist a bit to form your flower.

6. Repeat for as many flowers as you want.

7. Paint any design or pattern you want on your can (Sassy painted bees ~ as her teachers theme for the year was "busy bees") using your acrylic paints.

7. When the can is dry, put your flowers in and fill with chocolates (or whatever you wish to use) to hold them in place.