Christmas Crafts 2013: Candle Stick Jars Edition

The last of the gifts I made were inspired by Pinterest...candle stick jars.

When showing Barrett's mom my Pinterest boards a while back she commented that she really liked these jars and would want to make them, but would probably never get around to it. A little light bulb went off in my head...Christmas present!!!!

I showed a sneak peek of this process a few weeks ago with this picture...

I'm missing a few things in this picture...like the letters and the jars...but all of that turned into...

I went with red polka ribbon for the bows since red is in most holidays, but they can be easily taken off. The wooden letters are stuck on using glue dots so they can also be easily changed out. I painted all the wood pieces and the jar lids black and then put a layer of mod podge over them to help keep the paint from being scratched. I glued all parts together using E6000 glue. Between all the crafts I did this Christmas, I used an entire tube of that stuff!

The other letter combos I included in the gift were...LUV (Valentine's Day), BOO (Halloween) and THX (Thanksgiving). Now that I think about it I could have also included 4TH for the 4th of July. Eh...next time.

I also made a single candle stick jar for another Aunt.

I put her initial on the jar using shelf paper I cut with my cricut. Still haven't used real vinyl yet, but one day it will happen. I decided to just make her a single jar since she moved into a smaller house this year and I haven't seen what kind of counter space she has. Oh and you can pretty much put anything you want in these jars which is awesome. I know it looks like there is a candle in the jar right now, but really it's just green paper. It was hard to see the 'L' with a neutral background so that's why I stuck the paper in there.

I think that officially wraps up my crafts for 2013. I already have a craft I need to work on for 2014 that needs to be done by Jan. 18!! Ahhhhh!

Christmas Crafts 2013: Wreath Edition

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas yesterday!! I meant to post this picture yesterday, but time just got away from me...

Since all presents have been opened now, I can finally share the crafts I've been working on since Thanksgiving!!!

I made two new wreaths and re-made one from two years back that kept falling apart.

First up, a Fall-ish wreath...

My Aunt, who went with me to the ZTA casino night back in October, really liked the wreath I made for the auction and kept saying how she needed a Fall wreath. Of course, by the time I went to get the supplies to make a Fall wreath, all the Christmas stuff was on display. With the help of Elizabeth, I ended up getting this maroon-ish ribbon (I know it looks pink in the picture) and an orange flower and decided it looked Fall enough...ha ha.

Next up, an everyday wreath...

Another Aunt of mine, told me at Thanksgiving that she wanted an everyday wreath to hang on the front door of her new house. Again, with the help of Elizabeth, I decided on this gorgeous black and cream ribbon and cream colored flower. The bow and the flower can be easily removed from this wreath in case my aunt ever feels the urge to seasonalize it (yeah I just made up a word).

And now for the remake wreath...

Two years ago, I made my Mom an ornament wreath by just stringing the ornaments on a wire hanger. It held for about two days before the ornaments started to pop off. So this year she asked if I could work some magic and make the ornaments stay. Well the only way I know of to make the ornaments stay, is to actually glue them. So I took the old "wreath" home with me and decided to make it like the one I made for Barrett's mom last Christmas. I needed a few more ornaments to fill in the wholes, so my Mom chose the colored ones with gold glitter since Hobby Lobby didn't have any regular gold ornaments with a design on them. I actually really like the way it turned out. Now if only she hadn't picked such glittery ribbon, I wouldn't still be getting glitter out of my hair...ha ha.

Fall Mesh Wreath

I know everyone (including myself) is in full on Christmas mode, but since I can't share any of the crafts I've been working on (since they are all gifts) and I never shared my fall wreath...I've decided to share it now!

While strolling through the clearance isle in Wally World I came across orange and brown mesh ribbon. Thinking it was on clearance I put it in my cart telling myself I can make a mesh wreath no big deal (yeah sometimes I get craft cocky...ha ha)

Instead of buying one of the expensive already made wreath forms I bought a 16 inch wire form and added the pipe cleaners alternating between top and bottom.

I added the brown mesh first trying to make even puffs along the way. Then came time for the orange which I filled in the empty spaces with...so where the brown was looped at the top I looped the orange at the bottom. After securing all the mesh, I wasn't sure what else to do. I would have loved to add a cute fall sign, but it was two weeks before Thanksgiving and by then all the fall stuff in the stores had already turned to Christmas.

I remembered I had goldish-orange glitter ribbon that I had bought for a different wreath that didn't workout and when I held it against the shiny mesh ribbon I thought it would give the wreath just what it needed. Luckily I had just enough left to loop it through the whole wreath and make a bow.

I took it over to my Mom's house on my day off to surprise her when she got home! For it being my first ever mesh wreath, I think it turned out pretty good.

Fall Burlap Wreath For Auction

I was asked by my friend/coworker, Heather, if I would want to donate a wreath to the silent auction for her charity casino night. Of course I said yes, but then I had to decide what kind of wreath I wanted to make...decisions decisions. My first thought was to make a ribbon wreath because those are probably my favorite ones, but it was with Erica's suggestion that I finally decided on a burlap wreath.

I purchased all my supplies from Hobby Lobby and since it is the Fall season, everything was in stock! This wreath consists of 4 rolls of burlap that I folded two inches wide accordion style. I used a bronze colored wire hanger as the base and strung the burlap on.  The fall decorations consists of 4 different pieces I attached all together and then onto the wreath. This wreath, just like my personal one which you can see here, here or here, you are able to remove the decorations and change them out depending on the season or your mood.

Also, while making this, I think I discovered I may be allergic to burlap. Ha ha. I would sneeze several times and the day after I finished messing with the burlap part of it my eyes were really red on the sides, almost rash like, and hurt! But is that going to stop me from making more things with burlap?!?! Nope!

What do you think? Would you bid on this wreath? ;)

Framed Key and Handkerchief

After finishing the bubble burlap wreath, I needed a break from crafting for a few weeks. However, this past weekend I put my crafting shoes on and started working on some new projects. Two I was able to complete pretty quick and the last one (that you won't see today) is still a work in progress, but all three involve burlap.

First up we have a framed key. I'm not sure where I originally saw this idea, but I do know it was from a blog. I think it's such a cute and different way to remember your very first place! I bought the picture frame and burlap from Hobby Lobby. I taped the burlap down to the front side of the back of the frame to keep it in place and then used glue dots to secure the key. I was worried the key would be too thick and I wouldn't be able to get the back of the frame back on, but luckily everything worked out great!

Do you remember when I posted the picture of the vintage handkerchief my future SIL gave me when she asked me to be a bridesmaid? Well I said I was thinking of framing it and that is what I did. I orginally wanted to put it in a shadow box, but I wasn't a fan of how much those things stick off the wall. So I went with this clear box frame. I wrapped the white cardboard with the rest of the burlap from Hobby Lobby just like you would wrap a present. I then tried to iron the creases out of the the handkerchief with my Chi but didn't want to put too much heat on it since it is vintage and all. I then laid the some-what ironed handkerchief on the burlap and stuffed it all back into the clear box.

Finally, I hung them with my already existing picture collage. The spaces that they filled have been empty for a year and a half and I absolutely hated my collage, but hated a blank wall more so I never took it down. These two frames fit perfectly in the blank spaces and I'm starting to like this wall a little more. There are still a few spaces I want to fill, but can't decide what I want...maybe I'll figure it out just in time to take it all down when I eventually move. Ha!

Nail Files: Polka Dot Pinspiration

I pinned the left picture a few weeks ago and have been dying to recreate it, but just never found the time until last night!! My aunt gave me a nail art kit for Christmas two years ago that included a pen tip which worked out perfectly for the polka dots! I let my nails dry for about 3 hours and for some reason my right hand still messed up in the shower! Ugh! Oh well...I can just touch it up later I guess...ha ha.

Wedding Invitation Ornament 2013

Not knowing if any of my friend's friends were crafty too, I decided to go ahead and make her an invitation ornament and give it to her at her second shower. I had asked her for an extra invitation which probably seemed weird, but I assured her she would get it back one way or another...ha ha. You can check out the other one I made and how I made it here!

Bubble Burlap Wedding Wreaths

My friend who is getting married in October was talking about wanting burlap wreaths for her wedding and me being the crafter that I am offered to make them for her! I finally gave them to her last week at her showers so now I can share them with y'all! Let's start from the beginning...

Supplies...two 12 inch wreath forms, 2 yards of red burlap, 2 1/2 spools of red ribbon, sewing pins with the big heads.

I then cut the the burlap into 4 inch strips.

Then the strips into 4 inch squares.

Then it was time to make and pin the "bubbles" on to the wreath form that I had already wrapped with the ribbon. I took the right top corner of the square and brought it down to the bottom left corner. Then you take the right corner and fold it to the center and repeat with the left. Stick the sewing needle through all the layers and then on to the wreath. Repeat until your wreath is nice and full!

Yay! All the burlap is on! Now it was time to start gluing rhinestones onto the wood letters. I gave y'all a sneak peak of this process a month or so ago.

Before I glued the rhinestones on I had to make sure they would all fit right. So this picture that I previously shared is of the unglued rhinestones. Once I figured out the placement of all the rhinestones (over 1,160 5mm rhinestones) I glued them all on using E6000 glue. Unfortunately, during the gluing process some shifted on me so they don't look as perfect as before...ha ha. Once all rhinestones were secured I glued small wood beads on the back of the letters and ran jewelry wire through them and tied the onto the wreaths. 

Drum roll please.....I present you the finished wreaths!

I can't wait to see these hanging on the doors of the wedding venue...I may just have to get my picture taken by them!! ha ha.

Enagement Ring Cookies!!

I thought of this all by myself! I like to get creative with my desserts and hadn't made cookies in a while and I had never used royal icing before so I thought I would try it out. The icing isn't hard to make at all, but it did give me some issues...ha ha.

As you know, one of my goals for 2013 is to make one recipe from each of my cookbooks. Barrett's mom gave me a cookie cookbook (from Kohl's but can't find it online) a while ago and after flipping through it I decided on the Shortbread Butter cookie recipe. I used my large circle cookie cutter and my small circle cookie cutter to make the ring part. The diamond was made from the inside of the ring (the small cookie cutter) that I then made into a hexagon and smushed together with the ring part. I also used a small heart cookie cutter to make smaller un-iced cookies.

I decided to stick with white icing for the major color of the cookie. I poured most of it into a disposable pastry bag and snipped a tiny bit of the bag off at the end. I then piped the outside and inside borders. Once they were hard, I tried cutting a bigger hole in my bag so that the icing would flow out and would settle within it's borders. Yeah that didn't happen. I think my icing may have gotten too thick for that. So after ruining one cookie, I squeezed the rest of the icing back into the bowl and used a butter knife to spread the icing on. The borders did help some with this part. Since I still had some icing left, I decided to color it the lightest blue I could and outline the diamonds. Some turned out better than others.

While I was making these, Barrett (who knew I was making ring cookies) thought they looked like the boy/girl sex symbols...ha ha. Also, according to my brother if you just quickly glanced at them they looked like pacifiers. But most people saw them as rings.

They aren't too bad for my first time with both the dough and the icing, but I think I might stick to cupcakes for a while...ha ha.

Engagement Basket

Right after my brother told me he was going to propose, I knew I wanted to put together a little basket for them. I knew of a few things I wanted to put in there, but went on pinterest to get some more ideas. Now I couldn't actually pin the idea, because I didn't want his girlfriend fiance to see and get curious...ha ha...but I could take a screen shot of it!!

Above the pinterest version, below my version...

The contents...

1. Basket (from Target)
2. Her first family photo (the one and only from our cruise)(frame from Kirklands)
3. The Knot magazine
4. Photo of her and my brother from the trip (frame from Kirklands)
5. Bottle of Champagne (we actually toasted we Dom, so this is to be for a later date)
6. The Knot Book of Wedding Lists (according to the Pinterest basket this is the wedding bible found on Amazon)
7. Bride's and Groom's Instruction manuals (found on Amazon and they seemed pretty funny)
8. Ring holder (from Kirklands)
9. Jewelry cleaner (found at Walmart)
10. Stress Bull (not ball) donated by Erica...we got the stress bulls from the one and only conference we've gone to for work. Mine sits on my desk and his name is Tejas...ha ha.

Tomorrow will be all about the cookies I made for them to go along with the basket!

It's a Puppy Paw-ty!

One of my Aunts is involved in a foster program for Italian Greyhounds (IGs or Iggys). Back in January she started fostering a female IG named Chloe and then had what they call a foster failure. She fell in love with Chloe and decided to adopt her! Once everything was official, she wanted to have a welcome home/get to know you party. She had met a few other foster people from the group before, but was interested in meeting more and actually being able to have a conversation with them. Opposed to everyone being at a dinner and only being able to talk to the people right next to you.

Here's where I come in... After the baby shower I threw a month ago, she enlisted my help with this party. She had requested brownie pops, a banner and a diaper cake made of puppy pee pee pads...ha ha. After discussing a few things, I was also in charge of making dog treats (like I did for Christmas 2 years ago) and the invitation. Here's how everything turned out...

Created in publisher again!

29 pennants!!! That's quite a lot of cutting...luckily it went by fast.

Used 56 puppy pads...they came pre-folded so I only had to fold one more time then roll just like I would for a diaper cake. The top is a dog bone cookie cutter...ha ha

In the back, you can see the doggy bags that we made. They are filled with the dog treats I made (sorry no pic) and greenies. Also, check out all the gifts the new girl got...lucky girl!

And here we have the brownie pops...these little suckers did not want to work with me. I originally had 25 balls and during the dipping process they kept breaking apart or falling off the stick (which didn't happen last time) so I only ended up with 19 which was still plenty, but still...frustration station.

Easter Decor

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Mine was filled with crafts, movies, tv series and of course opening day of baseball!! (More on that tomorrow)

I haven't decided if I'm going to keep my Easter decor throughout spring yet...but I'm leaning towards yes because I feel like I didn't really get to enjoy it because St Pattys day and Easter were so close together. What do you think? Should I stick with the eggs or change it???

St. Patty's Decor

I know this is super late, but since I did put out some green decor I thought I should share :)

Camo Baby-Q Bash

This was more of a meet the baby shower. My cousin's wife was due in Feb, but the family couldn't all get together until March so we were expecting to meet a 1 month old. Instead, she had him in December so he was already 3 months old! But no matter what we were celebrating!



The invitation made with Publisher

This was the card I made for the gift I was giving them

This is the card I made for my Mom to give with her gift

Of course I had to get burp cloths made. I think I got them done back in October! Elizabeth and her mom did an awesome job (like always)!

When I was cutting letters for the banner I forgot I changed the phrase from welcome to hello so I had all these letters and nothing to do with them to I taped them to ribbon and put it on the back door...problem solved.

It was so bright outside that it made taking this picture very difficult. The banner reads Hello Baby Garrett. I cut the triangles by hand, the letters were cut with my cricut, ran the letters through my sticker machine, stuck them on the pennants, made to hole punches in each and used bakers twine to string/hang them.

My mom and I put this together. We tried to find plain white diapers, but I swear everything has a design on them. However, I really like these little tigers and they matched the decor :)

Camo Brownie Pops...I wasn't a huge fan of how they turned out but they tasted amazing!!! I think I like them better than cake pops!

Camo cupcakes...Camo wrappers, white cake, white icing with green and orange sprinkles. I tried a new way of using a pastry bag and it made clean up a breeze! I will never put icing directly in a pastry bag again. Click here to watch the tutorial!

Table layout (clockwise starting from the left)...gifts for the winners, pens and paper for the games, baby gifts, brownie pops, diaper cake, cupcakes and dinnerware 

Lastly, I decided on 3 games to be played. Name the baby animals, word scramble using Garrett's name and the baby food game. Watching my cousin without any kids taste the different food was hilarious!! Just by looking at the jars can you guess what all they had to taste?!?!

The shower went great! I think this is the last shower I will be putting together for a while since the next one should be up in Dallas in June, but we shall see! My mom keeps telling me I should be a party planner, but for now I think I'll stick with my day job ;)