Adventures in Craftiness: Mother's Day Floral Mug Arrangment DIY

I’m so excited to share this tutorial with you. This projected did double duty for me. Not only was I able to create a really fun and easy Mother’s Day DIY but I knocked out one of my class assignments as well! I realized that I might not be the best photographer in the world and maybe it’s not my “calling” but I feel like I do a pretty good job of depicting steps, like these. I don’t know you tell me.

How to create a Mother’s Day Floral Mug Arrangement.

Materials.-Faux flowers of your picking.-A pretty mug.-Floral foam, or stuffing and tissue paper.-Scissors or wire cutters. (I highly recommend wire cutters, trust me, I know from experience.)


Step One.Fill your mug with stuffing (or floral foam.) Make sure that it is pushed in very tight and compact.


If you are using stuffing over it with one or two layers of tissue paper. The tissue paper will help keep the flowers in place.


Step Two.Cut a flower steam to the appropriate length. Use your mug as a guide.*NOTE: It is best to cut your flower steam long at first and test it in the mug o make sure you get the proper position for your flowers.


Step Three.Use your first cut flower as a guide to create the length of your other flower steams.


Step Four.Arrange your flowers in your mug to your liking. Push them through the tissue paper and make sure they are in a secure location. Make sure they are packed tightly together so that they don’t move.


Step Five.Use small filler flowers and some leaves or greens to fill out and complete your piece.


Your done! Take it to mom and let her enjoy!


I hope you enjoyed this really easy tutorial. There is no real right or wrong way for creating this piece. Your mom will love it knowing that you put the time and effort into creating it yourself. I think the best gifts are handmade. Don’t you agree?

If you make one of these little darlings, I’d love to see your creation. Please share!

Adventures in Craftiness: Spring DIY Round Up

Well, hello all! For the next few days I may not be around as much. I’m super excited about one of our good friends from Pittsburgh coming into town to visit us! Being able to hang out and talk to someone who is over the age of three years old all day is going to be great! Not to mention I missed her ^_^. So we will more than likely be gallivanting around the Phoenix area, due to this I probably won’t be posting all weekend, oops. I’m hoping to at least get my homework done (I probably should have done all of this in advance but I’m a slacker.) So, to keep you entertained while I’m gone I comprised a list of some spring type DIY tutorials from some of my favorite blogs. I’ve wanted to make these for quite some time but haven’t gotten the chance. If you get a chance to make any of these lovelies I’d love to see your creations! Hopefully that will give me some inspiration to make them myself.

First, lets start with the lovely Samantha at Argyle Owl.

I love this picture clothes line tutorial, it's adorable!


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Someone (and I can't for the life of me remember who) posted this DIY link on twitter and it's so cute!

You can make your very own cloud modile at Crafted Love! I want to make one for Aurora's room, I think she's love it!

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Since I'm in baby mode I love Maryam's cheap screenprinting tutorial at Pamplemousse!.

If I don't end up making one, I might just have to buy one from her lovely etsy shop.

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When talking about great blogs, with great tutorials I have to bring up A Beautiful Mess. Viviana did a great blog tutorial that I've been wanting to make for months!

I think someone with even my poor sewing skills could handle this one and I've wanted to make a little plush dool! How cute are those owls?

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Over at She Breathes Deeply, Elycia did a cute little fabric hair piece.

She has such darling designs at her Etsy Shop. It was so nice of her to share this one.

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I love seeing quest blog posts, and I hope I get the chance to do it one day. Sunshine and Carousels featured Veronica of Crack the sky for a little Valentine's Day head band tutorial.

You can also check out some of Veronica's lovely head bands at her Etsy Shop!

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One of the first blogs I ever stummbled across was Sweet Fancy by Fallon, the creator of Olive on Etsy. I just recently redicovered her DIY Wrapping Paper Wall Art that I have to give a try!

I love coming across things that you forgot about, it's like a whole new treasure!

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If you are looking for a great blog with great tutorials you need to stop by Art as Usual. Everytime I turn around she has something new and creative to try. One of the first DIYs I saw on the blog was the Collaged Wire Bird Cage.

This little guys says spring to me for sure.

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Well, that's all for now. If you have a spring inspired DIY you want to share let me know! I might just be doing a round two version. Have a great weekend everyone!

lots of love!

Adventures in Craftiness: Mini Wreath Ornament

I have been kind of obsessed with ornaments this year for whatever reason. You may have seen my past two Do it yourself darn it! Take One and Take Two and this is my contributions to your holiday DIY festivities. This could be great as last minute hostess gifts or perhaps a craft for the little bit older kiddies to do during holiday gatherings.

Things you’ll need:
*Floral wire
*Wire cutters
*Your favorite adhesive (I like E600)
*Ribbon or Yarn
*Scrapbooking goodies, buttons, stickers, feather or whatever your decorating heart desires.

Cut a length of floral wire to your desired amount. The more wire the thicker it will be. You can free hand the circle you’ll be making for your mini wreath ornament or you can use of cup to guide you.

Next start wrapping your wire around itself until you get reach the end of your cut wire.

When you have wrapped all of your wire cut off any excess that you don’t need and it should look something like this:

Wrap your desired yarn or ribbon around what will be the top of your wreath. Make sure to leave some some length to create a loop for hanging your mini wreath.

Now comes the really fun part! Decorating! If you needed a great way to keep some of the older kids in your life occupied during holiday celebrations you could pre- make the wreath and let them decorate like crazy! I picked out a really great scrapbooking flower and sticker (A for our last name Amelio). I also sewed two buttons together with embroidery floss. Play with your decorations until you get them where you like them and glue them down.

Let dry and TADA! Your very own holiday goodness!

Have fun with your design too. Make it as colorful and unique as you are!

Happy Reindeer Trails!

Adventures in Craftiness: Resin Experiment.

Every since I saw the episode on Thread Banger by The Naughty Secretary I’ve wanted to try my hand a making resin jewelry. It’s always seemed very intimidating. Every time I went into a craft store for a new project I would stop in the isle that had the resin, look at it, think about it, and keep moving. I finally decided to just do it! I’ve been collecting beer bottle caps for a while and figured I’d try my hand at making some magnets first. I’m so glad I did, it’s a snap! As long as you follow the instructions it’s so easy!

Materials:
Casting Resin (I used Easy Cast )
Bottle Caps (Beer, soda, or even water bottle caps)
Measuring tools that you don’t plan to use for anything but resin.
Funky Paper (Old magazines, craft paper, or little doodles)
A Pen
Craft Scissors
A plastic cup or that you don’t plan on using ever again
A Straw and/or something to sire with



First I traced the bottom part of the bottle cap onto paper and cut out the circle on the inside of the line. I then placed them on the bottom on my bottle caps. If you wish you can glue them down (I would recommend this because my started floating to the top at one point and I had to push them down with my straw.)

Next I mixed my resin. The instructions for my kit called for a well ventilated area, which is a very good idea. Even though the casting resin I bought is low odor, it still smells! The instructions for my kit indicated to mix one part resin to one part Harding solution then mix well for two minutes.

After my two minutes were up I carefully poured the mixture into my bottle caps, and then I waited. It takes 24 to 48 hours for the resin to fully harden.




You can make all kinds of fun things with these little guys! Get some magnets or jewelry making supplies and have at it!


I hope this helped! Don’t be intimated by trying new things, it’s so much fun and easy. As long as you take your time.


Happy trails!

Adventures in Craftiness

Hello all!

I’m excited about this post! This is my first attempt and a mini tutorial. I worked really hard recently on a yarn wreath that I love and I took pictures of the process I went through. I wanted some kind of decoration for Halloween and I didn’t want to go out and buy a whole bunch of stuff so I dug through my craft boxes and came up with something very fun and crafty!

What I used:
1 foam floral wreath (I found mine at the dollar store)
Warn (any color, mine was a mix of white and black)
Glue (I used E600 industrial glue but hot glue could work too)
Straight Pins (the kind used for sewing)

Extras:
Ribbon, Buttons, Faux Flowers, Jewels, trinkets, whatever you have laying around.

Step one:
I diligently wrapped warn around the foam wreath making sure it was very tight and stayed secure. I used both the white and the black at the same time to give it a meshed look. You can use only on color or different colors for your desired look.

Step Two:

I began by wrapping a sheer ribbon around my wreath for added detail. I also started placing flowers and moving them around to see where I would want to place them. I used straight pins because of the round form of the wreath they tend to fall off and I wanted to see the overall look.

Step Three:

After rearranging several times I decided to add some buttons to the mix. I also took apart the flowers and places jeweled buttons in the middle to give it some sparkle. After I got the exact look I was going for I used my E600 industrial glue and picked up each piece and adhered it to the yarn wreath. I then added a loop at the top for hanging that is secured by glue and a straight pin.

FINSIHED!

After everything was completed I let my pieces dry and then hung it outside! VA LA! Beatuiful no?

Not interested in making your own yarn wreath? Just ask me and I’ll come up with a custom wreath just for you! Also, here are some great places to buy your very own for the holidays!

Agnes is AMAZING! When I saw her featured artist aritcale on etsy I could not believe how good her work is! She would be my #1 choice for décor for sure! Visit her etsy shop: KnockKnocking

Okay, I love Jody’s work, she has a great blog and a great etsy shop! If you get lucky she can have some great yarn wreaths like the one in the photo above for sale in her store now! Visit her shop: thelittleprints

Some other great wreath shops:

Itz Fitz

AnnaHailey

Goodie True Shoes