28 March 2013
EASTER TAG/STICKER FREE PRINTABLES
I've been in need of some simple little Easter tags this year. Here's a little something I put together for my needs. Maybe you could use it too. You can print them on sheets of sticker paper, or heavy weight paper and cut them out with a Fiskars Scallop Punch. Happy Easter!
25 March 2013
EASTER DIY WREATH
Our front door has no shelter. It's a faulty design on our previous owner's part. I think he was still in California in his mind when he designed the front entrance to this house. As a result whatever wreath we put on our door needs to withstand the elements. For Easter, that remains to be true as it is snowing outside right now and it's nearly April. My girlfriend, Tia had a great solution at our last DIY night. She suggested using Target's Christmas garlands. I happen to have two strands and have never loved them at Christmas time. So I'll try them out for Easter.
SUPPLIES
Green Styrofoam Wreath
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
2 Garlands
Plastic Pearl Eggs
PROCESS
1. Start at the seam of the wreath with a two inch glob of hot glue and secure one end of a garland to the wreath.
2. Wrap the wreath with that garland until it's at it's end. Hopefully you're at the half point of the wreath too. Glue the end of the garland to the wreath.
3. Start again with the second garland where you left off. Glue to fasten and wrap it until at the top and glue again.
4. Hot glue the pearl eggs to the wreath.
You can really use any garland and any decorative objects. These are the items I had and could find easily at Michael's. The whole project took all of 5 minutes. I'm really not kidding. Thank you Hot Glue Gun, I love you.
SUPPLIES
Green Styrofoam Wreath
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
2 Garlands
Plastic Pearl Eggs
PROCESS
1. Start at the seam of the wreath with a two inch glob of hot glue and secure one end of a garland to the wreath.
2. Wrap the wreath with that garland until it's at it's end. Hopefully you're at the half point of the wreath too. Glue the end of the garland to the wreath.
3. Start again with the second garland where you left off. Glue to fasten and wrap it until at the top and glue again.
4. Hot glue the pearl eggs to the wreath.
You can really use any garland and any decorative objects. These are the items I had and could find easily at Michael's. The whole project took all of 5 minutes. I'm really not kidding. Thank you Hot Glue Gun, I love you.
19 March 2013
EASTER BUNTING
I have some gold branches that I pull out every Easter season. I add some sweet little birdie clips from La Bonne Vie at Grand America and some little gold eggs from Jolley's Parmacy.
All was needed was some kind of beads or fabric bunting around it. So I cut up three different fabrics into 1.25"x1.25" triangles and started sewing them together. Easy.
Happy Easter!
All was needed was some kind of beads or fabric bunting around it. So I cut up three different fabrics into 1.25"x1.25" triangles and started sewing them together. Easy.
Happy Easter!
14 March 2013
ST. PATRICK'S DAY FELT GARLAND
This is my last minute jam. I have nothing for St. Patty's but I had some green felt, gold and green thread and a handful of golden felt balls. That's enough to pull together a little festive garland. It won't be up for long though, Easter is right around the corner.
13 March 2013
ST. PATRICK'S DAY TREAT BAG
We don't go all out for St. Patrick's Day at our house, but it's hard to pass up chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil! They make a great little surprise gift for the kids on the 17th.
SUPPLIES
Clear Cellophane Bags
Chocolate Gold Coins
Green Ribbon
Gold Metallic Shred
SUPPLIES
Clear Cellophane Bags
Chocolate Gold Coins
Green Ribbon
Gold Metallic Shred
07 March 2013
DIY FAIRY HOUSE
I'm not sure about those of you with girls, but our girls love fairies. At Grandma's house there is a fairy room (she was inspired years ago for the grandkids to come). But they started to really love fairies when their other Grandma gave them "Secret Of The Wings" for Christmas last year. It was a hit from the git. They love watching Periwinkle and Tinkerbell and all of her friends. I actually don't mind watching it with them. It's really cute and there's not a whole lot to fast forward. Vidia is a bit grumpy but we can talk through some of those parts and turn it into a lesson.
So we got hooked on all of the Tinkerbell movies. "The Great Fairy Rescue" inspired this little fairy house project. I love the house that Lizzy made in the movie. She handled it with such care and now I know why. They aren't so simple to put together. It took some hours to gather the fixin's with the kids and create. With Spring on its way, it will be an ongoing project including it in the garden.
SUPPLIES
Wood Structure - Birdhouse, or gazibo
Small Saw
Brown Paint
Sponge Brush
Scissors/Garden Cutters - Tough ones that can cut sticks
Twine
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Fixin's - Sticks. Pinecones. Leaves. Nuts. Acorns. Snail Shells. Pods
Rocks
PROCESS
1. I wanted a structure that they could actually use and have their fairies walk into so I needed something that was larger than a standard $1 birdhouse. I opted for a gazibo-like birdhouse from Joann's (although, I can't find it online). I also wanted wood so it wouldn't rot out too quickly.
2. Saw out one support post for a larger door and entrance.
3. Paint it brown so it blends well with the sticks and outdoors. My daughter loves painting so this was a good time to include her.
4. Measure one stick against the structure and snap or cut it down to size. If it's a bigger stick, you can score the stick with the scissors and then use the counter edge (if it's a tough material) to help snap it in half.
5. Cut a lot of sticks that same size. I probably used about 60 sticks.
6. Start gluing the sticks with the hot glue gun next to eachother, side by side. If they don't meet up perfectly, no worries, you can add another layer of sticks to fill in the gaps.
7. Between two posts, you can create a window by adding two small sticks horizontally and building the sticks on that wall up to the window.
8. With the wall in place all the way around there should be a large gap where the one support post was sawed out. This is for the door.
9. Take apart a large pinecone and cut off the raw eges of each "shingle".
10. Starting at the bottom of the roof, hot glue each shingle on, side by side, all the way around. Layer by layer until you reach the top.
11. Near the top, I left a space for some bark chunks to be glued into place. And then some rope bits around the "chimney". This was originally a hole in the top of the ball that held the rope loop in place. Later, I'll turn that into a more interesting chimney with acorns and stuffing for smoke.
12. For the door, I tied a large piece of twine around the last stick on the left of the large opening. One at the top and one at the bottom. I tied the knot in the center of the large piece of twine, leaving two even long strands. These are used to connect each stick to eachother creating a large swinging door. If you run out of twine, no worries, just tie on a new piece of twine and secure the knots with hot glue.
13. The last stick needs to connect to the stick on the right of the large opening. With the left over twine, I knotted the remaining until it was near the end and then a connected the top and bottom with a button. I'm actually probably going to redo this part because I'm not sold on how it turned out. But it works for now, the door closes.
Not shown: Insert some moss inside on the floor. Any wood parts that are still exposed can have leaves glued to hide them. You can then make a mini pillow, blanket, even a treasure box to carry the fairy items to the play area.
My hope is to create a little fairy garden within our garden, so that it is surrounded by plants, dirt and a little rock path. Maybe make a little postbox, fairy sign for the door and some furniture. I've seen all kinds of cute fairy house fixings out there so the ideas are endless. That's why this project may go on for a while. Once we get into the garden, I'll update.
Welcome Fairies!
So we got hooked on all of the Tinkerbell movies. "The Great Fairy Rescue" inspired this little fairy house project. I love the house that Lizzy made in the movie. She handled it with such care and now I know why. They aren't so simple to put together. It took some hours to gather the fixin's with the kids and create. With Spring on its way, it will be an ongoing project including it in the garden.
SUPPLIES
Wood Structure - Birdhouse, or gazibo
Small Saw
Brown Paint
Sponge Brush
Scissors/Garden Cutters - Tough ones that can cut sticks
Twine
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Fixin's - Sticks. Pinecones. Leaves. Nuts. Acorns. Snail Shells. Pods
Rocks
PROCESS
1. I wanted a structure that they could actually use and have their fairies walk into so I needed something that was larger than a standard $1 birdhouse. I opted for a gazibo-like birdhouse from Joann's (although, I can't find it online). I also wanted wood so it wouldn't rot out too quickly.
2. Saw out one support post for a larger door and entrance.
3. Paint it brown so it blends well with the sticks and outdoors. My daughter loves painting so this was a good time to include her.
4. Measure one stick against the structure and snap or cut it down to size. If it's a bigger stick, you can score the stick with the scissors and then use the counter edge (if it's a tough material) to help snap it in half.
5. Cut a lot of sticks that same size. I probably used about 60 sticks.
6. Start gluing the sticks with the hot glue gun next to eachother, side by side. If they don't meet up perfectly, no worries, you can add another layer of sticks to fill in the gaps.
7. Between two posts, you can create a window by adding two small sticks horizontally and building the sticks on that wall up to the window.
8. With the wall in place all the way around there should be a large gap where the one support post was sawed out. This is for the door.
9. Take apart a large pinecone and cut off the raw eges of each "shingle".
10. Starting at the bottom of the roof, hot glue each shingle on, side by side, all the way around. Layer by layer until you reach the top.
11. Near the top, I left a space for some bark chunks to be glued into place. And then some rope bits around the "chimney". This was originally a hole in the top of the ball that held the rope loop in place. Later, I'll turn that into a more interesting chimney with acorns and stuffing for smoke.
12. For the door, I tied a large piece of twine around the last stick on the left of the large opening. One at the top and one at the bottom. I tied the knot in the center of the large piece of twine, leaving two even long strands. These are used to connect each stick to eachother creating a large swinging door. If you run out of twine, no worries, just tie on a new piece of twine and secure the knots with hot glue.
13. The last stick needs to connect to the stick on the right of the large opening. With the left over twine, I knotted the remaining until it was near the end and then a connected the top and bottom with a button. I'm actually probably going to redo this part because I'm not sold on how it turned out. But it works for now, the door closes.
Not shown: Insert some moss inside on the floor. Any wood parts that are still exposed can have leaves glued to hide them. You can then make a mini pillow, blanket, even a treasure box to carry the fairy items to the play area.
My hope is to create a little fairy garden within our garden, so that it is surrounded by plants, dirt and a little rock path. Maybe make a little postbox, fairy sign for the door and some furniture. I've seen all kinds of cute fairy house fixings out there so the ideas are endless. That's why this project may go on for a while. Once we get into the garden, I'll update.
Welcome Fairies!