Fabric square Valentine Topiary

How bad is it that honestly, I have never even thought to decorate for heart day before? Bad right? But with all this Valentine goodness floating in the blog world right now and the AWESOME new shelf the Husband made me, (which now doubles as my super mini fake mantel) I knew I had to get in on some of the awesome projects I have seen. I mean how could I just let that shelf go bare????

I started out with a pretty traditional topiary made from $ tree roses, glitter hearts, (also from $ tree) and a mini heart day pail from Target! How much do you all {heart} the Target $ spot?? We do! A LOT! But, then again we tend to like things that only cost a buck! On a side note: Why in the heck are Styrofoam balls so darn expensive??

I didn’t take pictures of the process of this one but it’s pretty self explanatory….

Here is the finished product

Since I bought two of the tin pails I decided I had to should make another topiary cause I can, and cause I think the first one turned out super cute! Right? But I couldn’t make the exact same one, unless I gave it as a gift, but I’m really lovin this heart day decorating thing and there was still room on my shelf soooo I was greedy and made another one for me!

A loooong time ago around the time I first discovered I was a little bit crafty, my MIL introduced me to the art of poking fabric squares into foam wreaths. I LOVED every aspect of this project . I wanted to make about a million wreathes for every occasion, but I think I only ended up making 2! (and I gave them away as gifts) It never takes very long for my crafting ADD to kick in and I was on to the next project. Now I’m glad I stored that idea in the back of my head.

Enter Fabric Square Topiary!!

What you need to make your own:

• Small pail or terra cotta pot. or any similar item you can think of we got ours from the Target dollar spot
•  Medium size styrofoam ball. I wish I could tell you the exact size I used but unfortunately I totally forgot to check. Sorry.
• Fabric of your choice I used a little over 2 yrds
• Pinking sheers
• wooden dowel
• small screw driver, skewer, or other object that can be used for poking the fabric into the styrofoam
• ribbon
• some sort of filler for your pail (we used conversation hearts in one topiary and shredded gift bag paper for the other)

First cut your fabric into squares. Approximately 2-3 inches, but it’s a pretty forgiving project so exact measurement isn’t really necessary.

 

Next comes the fun part! Place the middle of your fabric over your screw driver, skewer. (or any tool of your choosing that will do the job) Some people have a preference as to what side you put facing down but I like to alternate every few times.

Stick your fabric covered tool of choice into your styrofoam  ball making a puncture hole just deep enough so that your fabric will stay in the ball when you pull your skewer out. I have heard of people putting a dab of glue on the fabric so that it is more secure, but mine seem to stay in fairly well.

Just keep sticking, just keep sticking, just keep sticking, sticking, sticking (oops too much Finding Nemo) until your ball is all the way covered. Or you could just cover half of your ball and save a lot of time, but still have a super cute decoration….

The sisters liked it this way the best

Still super cute, but since I set out to cover the whole ball, cover the whole ball I did!

The sister also got laugh out of the mow hawk our ball started to develop!

 

When your ball is all covered it is ready to be turned into a sweet little topiary! Wrap some ribbon around a wooden dowel (for decorative purposes only) and stick partially into your covered styrofoam ball. Add some floral foam or any think similar to the bottom of your pail. Stick the free end of the dowel into the foam in the pail and fill the pail with shredded paper or something of sorts. And that it! Super easy, super fun, and way cute!

Oh I almost forgot! Since everything is better with sparkles I add a little lot of this!

I may still embellish it a bit but it does look pretty and sweet and simple just like this!

Here a couple of shots of the two of them sitting on their new home for the next month.

Notice the sneek peek of my Valentine subway art snug in it’s frame! Be on the look out for a printable freebie!

 

Check out the fabulous places I am linking this post up to

Before and After: Tiny Tapper

I’m going a different route here today at the In Place Of Her Crown blog.

Since the addition of my new baby, (the camera that is) I have been addicted to photography blogs. I recently stumbled upon this amazing blog called Pixel Perfect.  You really should check it out! The photos are amazing and the words are inspirational!

Today I decided to link up to Pixel Perfect’s before and after blog hop. I have to admit with all of the amazing edit entries I was a bit intimidated to link up. But, hey you have to start somewhere right?

The little sister received her dance recital costume last week and of course couldn’t wait to try it on! And I of course could not pass up an opportunity to use my new camera!

Here is the before SOOC version (taken with Cannon Rebel t1i)

 

And here is the edited version

Cropped, door knob removed, basic lighting and contrast adjusting, and finally my favorite part, pioneer women’s seventies action!

I love the way the edit brought more attention to her sweet little painted finger nails and the expression on her face! She’s such a little ham!

Don’t forget to check out the other AMAZING before and afters over at Pixel Perfect

 

 

Greeting Card Hoarders Unite!

I really wanted to share this idea sooner, but those nasty germs we had flying around here put a damper on my plans. Believe it or not I am just now finishing up taking all of the holiday decorations down? Crazy right? My house has been kinda funny. Half of my Christmas décor still out with little traces of Heart Day in the air!

The last thing to come down was my high school musical memo board turned Christmas card holder. Which you can find here.

I don’t know if your anything like me, but I Heart Greeting cards! So much that I hate to throw them away! Christmas Cards, Birthday Cards, Anniversary Cards, Valentine Cards, you name it!

Here is a great way to keep those cards as great mementos without just stuffing them in a box never to be seen again.

 

What you need:

Stack of greeting cards from any occasion

1 hole punch

Book ring

Punch a hole in the corner of each one of your greeting cards. Open up your book ring and add each card to the ring. That’s it! It’s that simple! Your kids will love having their own little book of Birthday Xmas ect. cards they can look back on for years to come!

We put our Christmas card “books” away each Christmas and bring them out the following year. It’s fun to look back at all the picture cards to see how much each family has changed.

The sisters really love their Birthday card “books” We leave them out year round in the bookcase and they have so much fun digging them out every now and then to relive the moment!

It may be too late for most of you to try this with your Christmas cards, but keep this idea in the back of your head for all those Valentine’s coming your way! *wink*

 

Here is where I’m linking this project up to…

Itty Bitty Doughnuts!

 

Yay! This post has been featured at I love nap time with chocolate sundaes!

OMGosh! I am so excited to share this with everyone here in blog land! 

 

Cute right? They are little itty bitty doughnuts! And you’ll love what they are made out of!  Want to learn to make your own? Keep reading!

 

The little sister got an adorable book (made by the American Girl Company) called “Tiny treats” It is full of recipes for sweet little treats, but on a major miniature scale. There are so many cute things I want to try with the sisters.

We started with the mini doughnuts because we happened to have every thing on hand.

Here is what you need to make your own itty bitty doughnuts…..

• Cheerios (we used honey nut)
• Powdered sugar
• milk chocolate chips (melted)
• tiny non perils
• shish-ka-bob skewer
• waxed paper
• optional:  tiny box & white tissue paper  (we handmade and folded our box out of white cardstock

 

Your Cheerios will become your “tiny doughnuts” Add a few to some powdered sugar and coat them well. “Tiny powdered sugar doughnuts.” OMGosh these are just so cute I’m bursting!

And who doesn’t love a doughnut topped with chocolate? Melt a small handful of milk chocolate chips and dip just one side of your Cheerio into the frosting.

Got sprinkles? We do, and what’s better than a doughnut topped with chocolate? A doughnut topped with chocolate and sprinkles!!

Don’t worry if you doughnut hole gets clogged with chocolate and sprinkles….. that’s where the skewer comes in…….

It’s all about the presentation right? (Even if you have two sisters like I do that are going to gobble these up in a second)  A mini doughnut box made just for your batch of mini doughnuts! LOVE IT!

And of course when you are done making your perfect Mommy doughnuts, (for blog purposes only) let your little ones did in and have a ball!!

What kind of itty bity doughnuts can you create????

 

Be sure to check out the fabulous parties I am linking this post up to!

7 year old manicurist, hit with the tummy bug, my special gift, and fun with Bokeh!

 

Wow what a week this family has had! So sad how our last few days of vacation were cursed by a HORRIBLE! Stomach virus! We won’t even get into that topic…….

Needless to say I have no craft, or anything real exciting to blog about, but still I feel the need to blog. The title of my post pretty much sums it up!

I’ve been playing around with the new camera and I LOVE it! I still need to learn to take it off auto a little lot more, but it’s been fun. My family thinks I’m a crazy camera lady. Just roaming around snapping pictures of random objects around the house.  “Mom!! Why are you taking pictures of my DSi games?”  “Mom!!! pictures of the stuffed animals? Really?”

Anyway since our tree is still up (due to the sickies we’ve had around here) I really wanted to experiment with Bokeh. The sisters were at school and my other Christmas décor has been put away so I decided to take pictures of the wonderful and thoughtful gift the husband got me for Christmas. Here are the shots I took….

Isn’t the husband the best? There is actually a tiny story behind this ring, but I won’t bore you with the mushy details! Instead just enjoy the beautiful Bokeh and the priceless manicure! That’s right ladies I have my own personal manicurist! Don’t be jealous! I have a personal masseuse as well but her prices jumped up to $100/hr. The manicure was free! *wink wink*

 

OH WAIT!!!!

I almost forgot I have a kind of craft to share with you!

The sister’s whole Christmas this year was pretty much based all around American Girl Dolls. The husband and I got them cubbies so that they could neatly store (read: learn responsibility) all of the accessories.

I decided to have some fun with my cricut and make a “special spot” in the play room just for AG stuff. The pictures are bad, (still learning that camera) and while it’s not really a creative craft I did have to get a little “crafty” to do it, so I think it deserves a spot on the blog!