Ornament wreath

Here is how the wreath started:

You take a wire hanger and ornaments that do not shatter and thread them onto the hanger. I went to the Dollar store and just picked through what they had. I bought about three different sizes and used red, green, silver and gold. In the tutorial they say to hot glue the tops on but I couldn't get them off to glue them. I did lose some ornaments later when I was moving them around but only about three popped off. I couldn't see a hole so I just let it go.

This is what the wreath looked like when I ran out of ornaments:

Back to the Dollar store I went hoping they still had some more ornaments that I had bought. Thank goodness they did and here is what the finished wreath looks like:

I just used a command strip to hang the wreath over the fireplace. I know it turned out great when even Charlie is impressed with my work. He even brought Henry over to look at it.

The whole project probably cost me under $10 and maybe took me less then an hour. I used close to 80 ornaments but they were all in packs of 5's or 7's and then the really small ones I used as fillers were packs of 14.

I'm really happy I decided to do this craft. It was fun, easy, cheap and looks great!

Berry Monogram: Pintastic!

As I was pulling together our winter and Christmas decorations last year, I realized that we no longer had a wreath for our front door. Living in a condo with shared stairway access means that we need to keep door decorations on the smaller side so that whatever hangs does not get banged up as our neighbors pass by with bags. This Berry Monogram tutorial I had pinned earlier in the year seemed the perfect solution, and fed my love for monograms: http://www.ourunexpectedjourney.blogspot.com/2011/11/let-decorating-begin.html



I found the letter at JoAnn's for around $2, an $0.89 bottle of red acrylic paint and purchased a berry garland to cut up from the floral department. In all honesty, I purchased two garlands plus some berry picks, not knowing how much I'd need. Let's just say I have enough leftover to make at least one more of this project (or three). One garland would have been plenty!

At home, I painted the monogram red. While that was drying, I clipped different sized bunches of berries from the garland using wire clippers. When the letter was completely dry, I used a hot glue gun to attach the berries. As I went, I chose pieces/bunches that would conform to the shape of the letter and filled in the center after it was outlined. Wherever there was a bare spot, I simply broke off a few berries, added a dab of glue and squeezed them in for fullness.



Once completed, I looped the wired ribbon around the top of the B, tied a bow and added it to our wreath hanger. Easy and loved the finished product!

Project time: 1.5 hrs
Cost: $10 (using coupon/sales)
Supplies:
MDF Monogram
Berry picks or garland
Acrylic paint to match berry color (optional)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Wide wired ribbon
Wire cutters and/or heavy duty shears

http://pinterest.com/pin/267612402828631855/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fabric Covered Switchplate

I will apologize in advance because I do not have any up close pictures of the switch plates I made. This girl made them look super cute huh? Tutorial here

Well, I didn't have an x-acto knife (or however you spell it), so I improvised and used some old fashioned scissors. Bad idea. I highly recommend using a razor or something that provides a little more accuracy.

I will say, the tutorial on how to make these is spot on. If you follow the instructions, you'll get something that looks relatively close to the picture. I only had a few complaints about the project in general:

1. the outside edges are a little difficult to secure around the back without the raw edges being completely visible.

2. is fabric over a light switch plate really practical? I didn't really think about this until after the fact, but we use our hands (our nasty, disgusting hands) to turn lights on and off, and in the process, our grungy skin inevitably grazes the cover. Fabric (especially those of lighter colors) will quickly reveal this phenomenon.

I fabric covered the light switch plates in Lilyanna's nursery, and for now, they look super cute, but once she gets old enough to turn the lights on and off by herself, I can only imagine the filth that will accumulate on them. I would be interested to see if covering with scrapbook paper, or maybe a few extra coats of modge podge, would provide a more user-friendly outcome?

Oh, and then I came across this little gem. If you're going to cover your light switch plate, please do NOT do what this person did.

Flowerpot + Modge Podge + Pictures + Ribbon

So I've adored these cute flower pots ever since I first saw them.

Of course, I'm sure whoever made this original took the picture from the best possible angle, but from my experience, I was unable to recreate something that looked as neat and organized.

It's not awful, but since the edges are so tapered, I had a hard time getting the pictures to lay flat. Not to mention, when I tried to space the photos similarly to the original, I had a lot of gaps at the top. The ribbon on the top was also a big P.I.T.A. If you can see, it bunches up quite a bit due to the tapering effect of the pot itself.

Verdict: Eh, not really worth the hassle if you ask me. My mom loved it as her Mother's Day present, but it's certainly not a craft project I would choose to do again. BTW: that dry spot is not a result of the glue as it may appear. My mom JUST watered the plant before this picture was taken, so the pot itself was just not wet in this area yet.

Mirrors and Tiles

You see this? See how easy this is supposed to be?

WRONG.

You see the painter's tape holding up the topmost row of tiles? See how nicely it sticks?

Screw that.

Let's say you moved into an old house with one of those construction-grade giant mirrors stuck to the wall above the fireplace.

You've just repainted the living room, and this raw mirror edge looks terrible. Pinterest some ideas, and bam. There it is. "I can do this, looks easy!"

Now let's add you're really short, and very pregnant. And all you have is a wobbly step-stool. And a very short fuse.

If you attempt this project, make sure you get the adhesive mentioned in the blog. Tile grout is not an acceptable substitute, unless you like pain.

Start off with the bottom row of tiles so you can have a more accurate top row, and you're not stuck with an inch-and-a-half gap, debating whether or not to forcefully shove another tile in there or leave the gap like an anger-inducing elephant in the room.

The top row.

This is what happens when there's so much frustration, there's nothing left to do but take a photo.

Test painter's tape on something light stuck to your ceiling to MAKE SURE THE TAPE STICKS. Otherwise, you'll have tiles with bad adhesive sliding down the mirror every time you look away because that tape refuses to do its job.

Then you get mad.

At this point, you will do anything just to MAKE THEM STOP SLIDING. Once the bad adhesive finally gets tacky enough to set, you can move the pen/pencil/Sharpie apparatus over to the next section.

Nine hours later, you're finally done. And in the worst mood you've ever been in.

AND YOU CAN'T EVEN HAVE A DRINK.