Typically I buy those store-bought packs of kid Valentines and attach a lollypop, but my daughter was asking for something a little more special for her besties.  I came up with this inexpensive paper treat box made from cardstock scrapbook paper and embellished it with washi tape.

They’ll be perfect for inserting a few sweet treats and a Valentine too.

To recreate, here’s what you’ll need:  11 x 11” cardstock scrapbook paper, scissors, double sided tape, measuring tape, pencil, washi or decorative tape, embellishments (optional).

First, fold your 11” x 11” scrapbook paper in half and cut into two 5½” x 11” strips.  With a measuring tape and pencil, mark the points 2”, 3”, 6 ½” and 7½” on the strip.

Cut out the 1” x 3” section then fold at the four horizontal marked points.  Next, cut the box tabs at the 6½” and 7½” folds and fold the vertical sections to form the shape of the box as seen below.

You can also refer to this diagram.

Download a copy here!

Once you’ve made the cuts and folds, your paper treat box will come together like this.

Use double sided tape on outside flap to secure sides of box.

Embellish with washi tape or other appliques.  (The washi tape adds a decorative element and helps keep the box together so nothing spills out).

That’s it!  How cute, right?

And who says these boxes are just for kids… make some more grown up versions for your adult friends or office mates.  These will be filled with chocolate and handed out to a few deserving mom friends of mine!

The same design works just as well for cute gift or favor boxes too – think baby or bridal showers, kids birthday parties, etc.  Inexpensive too, since most cardstock scrapbook paper is around a dollar or less.

Have fun creating some of your own!

xo,

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So last weekend I decided to do my thang  and mimic the look of these beauties with a few supplies from the craft store.

To make these yourself, here’s what you’ll need: wood jewelry boxes from craft store, small Phillips head screwdriver, paint colors of choice, wood filler, painter’s tape,  medium and small paintbrushes, fine sanding wedge, high gloss coating.

First, remove the jewelry box clasps with the screwdriver but keep the open-and-close hinges in place. Fill the holes with wood filler (or wood putty) and sand the box to get it smooth.  Paint the boxes with your base color of choice, but be sure to use painter’s tape in the opening, otherwise your paint will seal the box shut.

Once your base coat is fully dry, give it a light sanding if necessary to get rid of heavy brush strokes and tape off the box with painter’s tape to form your stripes.

Do you know the best way to get perfectly painted stripes?  I learned this from readers (thank you!) and wrote about it here.  Use the base paint to seal your painter’s tape, then paint over it with your stripe color.  Peel up the tape while the second coat of the stripe color paint is still wet, it works every time!

I took my time with the stripes, painting the horizontal ones in the morning and waiting till they were fully dry, then finishing the vertical ones at night. Allow the paint to fully cure (at least 12 hours) before giving it the protective coat.  The final step is to give it two coats of a high gloss, if you want a super shiny finish, or you could just leave them more matte, your call.  I tried Martha’s High Gloss for this project, and it was pretty good, giving the boxes a nice glossy shine.

Allow the nesting boxes to fully dry, and there you have it, lookalikes for a fraction of the cost.  Are they perfectly smooth like the real thing?  Nope.  Is there some visible wood grain?  Yep, a little.  They’re certainly not as perfect as the expensive lacquer versions but they look just as pretty to me.

I’ll use them to store keepsakes, cards, or other tiny things.  The little one now holds all my business card contacts in my office … sweet!

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Plus there’s the whole kids home from school this week and climbing the walls and they’ve already played with their toys 3½ times and watched those two movies I bought, and they’re all “Get out of my room, stop touching me, Mom we’re boooored”.  So bottom line: momma needs a little aromatherapy. 

I go to Whole Foods maybe five times a year, and I stay away mostly because their prices are kinda obscene. My friend Staci calls Whole Foods ‘Whole Paycheck’ and that girl is right on. But the only place I could think of in town to buy the trifecta of ingredients for this latest concoction (essential oil, sea salt, and body oil) was Whole Foods, and since I’m a one stop shopper with kids in tow, I made the trip. 

I took some pretty pictures (with the lens I mentioned here) of the process and officially apologize for the next sentence which sounds like a commercial. A gentle rub with sea salt will exfoliate the skin and the essential oils possess beneficial moisturizing qualities and antioxidants!

To make your own, first equip yourself with some decent containers. Canning jars, old jelly jars, even plastic containers with lids will do.  I chose these 12 oz. glass jars with plain lids from The Container Store since I wanted to give two away as gifts.

Next, gather the following ingredients:

18 oz. coarse sea salt

18 oz. fine sea salt*

4 fluid oz. grapeseed oil*

½ fluid oz. lavender essential oil

dried lavender buds (optional)

*You can skip the fine sea salt and go with just the coarse sea salt, but the mixture of the two is really nice.  Also, look for other natural unscented body oils like almond, avocado, or even vegetable glycerin.  I found all of my ingredients (except the lavender buds which came from my garden) at Whole Paycheck.   

Mix these ingredients together to make 36 oz. of lavender sea salt scrub . . .

Spoon your scrub into your clean glass jar . . . BTW it smells amazing! 

Make a label (or use mine available here) and package up a few for your friends…

. . . or keep it for yourself and float away to heaven… ignore the kids, the dishes, the laundry pile, the To Do List, and the husband knocking on the bathroom door with the “Honey, have you seen my gym shorts?” for a solid ten minutes. Baby, you’ve earned it.  

The two sea salts cost $4, the grapeseed oil was $5, and the large jar of lavender essential oil was $22 (I mistakenly bought the larger one because I misread the price tag and wasn’t paying attention at the register because my kids were asking me if they could have a bag of chips or something… )

But you should be able to find 2 oz. of lavender essential oil for about $10 so not including the jars you can make about 36 oz. of sea salt scrub for less than $20.  A decent price difference when you consider the cost of retail versions. 

Float away to paradise y’all.

Over and out.

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#1:  Budget Bathroom Cabinet Makeover

#2  New Tile Backsplash (Installation)

#3  No Sew Cloth Napkin Pillow Covers

#4  Paint Stick Starburst Mirror

#5  Goodwill Glassware to Colorful Dessert Stands 

#6  Patchwork Picnic Blanket

    #7  Recycled Wine Barrel Planter

 #8  Framed Ferns 

#9  Sisal Rope Bowl

#10  Wood Cutting Boards

#11  Reversible Cloth Placemats & Napkins

#12  Sparkling Wine Glass Charms

#13 Pine Outdoor Bench

#14  Jute Twine Chair Makeover

#15 Faux Bois Vases

For more DIY Projects from the past year, be sure to check out the Project Gallery.

Another fun Before & After roundup tomorrow, see you then!

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Cake circles and red striped fabric come together to form these charming and inexpensive peppermint striped placemats by Heather at Commonplace Beauty.

Glittery string snowballs made by Kelly hang from elegant branches in a rattan vase over at View Along The Way. 

These mini yarn wreaths by Smile Like You Mean It had me at hello, and would you guess they’re made of shower curtain rings?  For realz.  And totally genius.

Yummy Mummy created her own recipe labels for homemade scones in a jar, what a thoughtful gift idea and the scones look divine.

How pretty are these hand sketched tangerine chevron stripe ornaments from The Lucky Lass, hey Beth you were ahead of the 2012 Pantone Color of the Year! 

Craft a sweet little illuminated holiday house with scrapbook paper and a battery operated tea light with Indyspotting.

Diane at In My Own Style fashioned some simple yet colorful ornament trees with using a knitting needle to hold them all up, so smart!

Jody at Homey Home Design crafted this felt wreath pillow, inspired by a version from Pottery Barn. 

I love these simplistic hymnal trees from Plum Doodles, they make me want to break out into a rendition of ‘O Tannenbaum’… 

Want to know how to make this whimsical and delicate music sheet star ornament?  Krista Sew Inspired shows you how.

Charm your gift recipient with this secret sliding door gift card holder, treats included too!  What a cute idea brought to you by Positively Splendid. 

Vintage postcards grouped together form this Santa tree over at Confessions of a Plate Addict, and I love how they’re embellished with glitter. 

I was completely charmed by this mitten advent calendar garland by Ms. Layla at The Lettered Cottage, that girl’s got skills! 

I also adore this photo garland with the burned edges swaged across Sharyl’s mantel at The Little Brown House.

Jenna from SAS Interiors stitched up some simple Christmas stockings with drop cloths and embellished with snowflakes and ornaments, so pretty!

Another gorgeous stocking alert, this one brought to you by Handmade & Homegrown.  Don’t miss this lovely trio of stockings made with linen, burlap, and ticking with gold accents. 

Donna crafted a twig garland which adds a wonderful natural element to her already amazing staircase.

Two of my favorite decorative accessories combine to form this pinecone map ornament by Turtles and Tails, very clever indeed. 

I also love these damask and burlap bird ornaments by Harbour Breeze especially the varying textures and natural colors.

Scented bay leaf trees deck the hall table over at Sand & Sisal.

Here’s a fun idea… use coins to embellish letters and give them dimension and detail, just like Dacia from Lemon Drop Life. 

Love love loving the glitter and variation on these handmade Christmas letters by Ashley at The Handmade Home, seeing them really does brings me joy.  :)

Jen from Tatertots & Jello is so smart, she built this beautiful advent calendar ladder which is also great for suspending holiday cards too! 

Red and white Holiday cheer and Christmas subway art brought to you by Balancing Home makes it easy to add festive sayings to your frames during the season.

Finally, a little trick with cardstock and a craft punch allows you create your own custom (heart) shaped holiday bokeh thanks to Lil Mama Stuart, so whimsical and fun!

So cool right?  Hey there are over 750 more craft-astic links at the Holiday Craft Link Party for the next time you get the itch to create something homemade for the holiday season… whether it’s tomorrow, or Christmas in July, or next year, because before you know it, it will be here.  To see them all, just click the button below!  

A HUGE thank you to all of you who linked up your creations to the party … the collection grows larger every year, and it’s the one link party I look forward to most.  I applaud all of you for taking the time to create and beautify your spaces for this most wonderful time of the year.

Cheers and happy crafting! 

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These are so inexpensive to create, and you can make them any height you want, tall ones from poster board and smaller ones with cardstock.

Supply list : white paper cupcake liners (I used 50 jumbo liners from Safeway for $1.50), white 12 x 12” cardstock or poster board, clear packaging tape (not shown), hot glue gun, and mini ornaments (I used a $1 gold grape flourish and pulled it apart).

Here’s the easy step-by-step: 

1.  Roll your cardstock or poster board into a cone shape and secure with packaging tape (if you’d like to insert an ornament on the top leave a big enough hole).  2) Fold the cupcake liners into quarters, then snip the edges to separate the layers into frills.  3)  Begin at the base to hot glue to your cone.  $) Once you’re finished gluing the layers, embellish with mini ornaments secured with hot glue.

These do take some time (my 14” version took 30 minutes to hot glue) so a forest would take awhile, but it goes by fast if you’re watching TV or a movie.  They’re mighty cute in a wintery vignette! 

I have two more ornament projects to share, one rustic, one glam, and I simply cannot wait to see what you all have crafted this season too!  Here’s a handy button to add to your post for tomorrow’s par-tay! 

Holiday Craft Party posts at 8 a.m. EST on Monday, see you there! 

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I’m pretty much obsessed with any decorative object that looks like bark, especially if it’s white, so I thought to myself why not make some faux bois vases for the holidays. For this project, I worked with two products I’ve combined in the past: glass and silicone.  Remember these dessert stands?  I still have them. I learned with that project that silicone and glass bond really tightly together.  For Like Ever.  In Hollywood terms, like Paul and Joanne and unlike Kim and Chris.      

I used the same combination of products to create these fun ceramic look vases, but this time I used the silicone to create the bark like look. They turned out pretty cool.

To recreate a similar version, you’ll need four things:  a glass cylinder vase, DAP household silicone sealant, frosted spray paint; and white spray paint or primer.  

To begin, make sure your glass is free from any debris then free form your bark like design with the silicone.  Use a cotton swab to clean up or correct any areas you want to redo.  If you’re hesitant to make it up as you go, search for ‘faux bois’ images and you’ll come up with various sources of inspiration.  The more imperfect your design, the more natural your “bark” will look in the end, so go for it.  Imperfect is what you want. 

Some asked why silicone and not hot glue for this project?  A tube of silicone with a tip is easier to control, but more importantly, it adheres more permanently to glass. Hot glue will come off glass if pulled at or if it gets wet, but silicone will not.      

Free form your design around the entire vase with the silicone, then allow it to cure for a full 24 hours. That’s the hard part, the waiting, but you must wait for that silicone to fully solidify.

After 24 hours, your vase is ready to be painted. Turn it upside down on a tarp and coat with 2 coats of quick dry frosted spray paint*. Once it’s dry, apply 2-3 light coats of white spray primer or paint.  Keep your spray application light to avoid drips and allow to fully dry between coats.    

*I’ve tried primer directly on glass before and with some (like Zinsser primer) it works okay, but I’ve found through experiments that a coat of frosted glass spray paint (which is designed specifically for glass) works best as your first layer for greater durability. After a coat of frosted glass spray paint you can choose any spray paint on top of that (brown or white). I chose primer instead of white spray paint only because it has a flat finish, but you could use satin or gloss spray paint and it should work just fine.   

That’s all it takes to turn a basic glass cylinder into a faux bois ceramic look vase. 

These bark like vases look great with any kind of blooms, from your spring tulips to your summer wildflowers, to branches or evergreens in winter.    

   Lovely for a mantel or centerpiece in any season!   

A couple of extra giveaways are coming up this week, plus a few of my ideas for great gifts, be back soon !   

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I haven’t decorated at Christmas with very much red in years past (call me a rebel) but red and I are no longer estranged. This holiday season you’ll be seeing plenty of crimson at my house so let’s start with this fun and easy craft project: paper straw snowflakes!   

If you want to make some of your own, here’s what you’ll need.  For a large 10 inch snowflake: 5 pipe cleaners; 8 paper straws; 24 beads; center embellishment; ribbon or string.  (For smaller snowflakes, cut 4 paper straws in half for a total of 8 stems).  The baker’s twine and paper straws were ordered online (see sources below) and all other supplies are from Michaels.

First things first. Take four pipe cleaners and twist them around each other at the center to form the basic snowflake shape. Next, cut your straws to desired length, allowing about one inch on top for the bead detail. Slide them on your snowflake. 

Clip two inch sections from remaining pipe cleaner and twist around the ends, then add craft beads.

To cover the twisted center, add a little embellishment ~ you can find many variations at craft stores.  I chose… dun dun dun… a snowflake.

Hey guess what. You’re done!  What? That only took a few minutes!  How cool is that?   Now fasten some ribbon and suspend your creation wherever you wish to add some color and whimsy, on your tree, above your mantel, suspended from doors, whatever!

Smaller versions make great little decorations on your holiday packages too. 

I found my red paper straws at Sweet Lulu, but who says you need to use red?  Go crazy, pick blue, green, or pink, how fun!  You can also find red stripe versions on Amazon, they’re available at Z Gallerie and on Etsy too. Red baker’s twine available at several Etsy shops and also on Amazon as well.

Let the holiday decorating begin . . .

xo,

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I had an idea the other day for a craft project that I wasn’t sure would work, but in the end turned out so cute I had to share.  It’s an ornament tree made from dowel rods and marabou feather boas.  How fun is this?

To recreate your own, here’s what you’ll need. One wood bun foot; one ¾” x 36” dowel rod and six ¼” x 36” dowel rods from a home improvement store; white paint (or primer); saw to trim ¾” dowel rod; sharp clippers for ¼” dowel rods; power screwdriver with ¼” drill bit; hot glue gun; 12-15 feet of marabou feather boas from a craft store.  Optional supplies: craft glue, glitter, and tree topper. 

The first and most challenging step is to decide where to drill your holes for your dowel rods.  After much experimentation, I determined a simple crisscross pattern worked best.  Forgive my disproportionate diagram, but kinda like this:

Here’s the basic how to!

1) Paint bun foot base (and dowel rods if you want) and allow to dry. I used white spray primer. Determine placement of dowel rods and drill through ¾” trunk dowel rod with ¼” drill bit like the above diagram. Trim your 36” trunk dowel rod to desired height (mine is 24”).  2) Once you drill your holes, screw the painted bun foot base into ¾” dowel rod.  Use hot glue to further stabilize dowel rod to base.

3) Saw or clip  ¼” dowel rods to desired length and insert into ¾” dowel rod. Optional: use craft glue and glitter to cover rough edge top of bun foot. 4) Tie and wrap marabou feather boa around dowel rods to form ornament tree. Tuck ends of boa under wrapped sections.

At the end of the season, you can unwrap the feather boas, remove the branch dowel rods and store it for next season.

For a final detail, I hot glued a little white bird on top too.  Sweetness!

Those are just a couple of faux presents wrapped in leftover paper and my old ornament wreath.  I couldn’t resist a seasonal vignette but it didn’t last.

Because every girl needs something feathery in her life, my seven year old announced the tree would be hers and promptly carried it off to her room where (according to her) it shall live there, but with her ornaments instead. I’m just glad it found a loving home.

Happy Ho Ho Ho (a little early)    

xo,

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The idea of dot painted porcelain dishes sat with me for weeks until I decided to play off the same idea and make some accent plates of my own. These versions have a delicate falling leaf design, as an autumn themed appetizer plate or for our Thanksgiving place settings. 

Get all the details on how to dot paint porcelain over at Ashley Ann’s, she has a detailed step by step. Basically, it’s the process of using paint pens designed for porcelain or ceramics to create your design, then baking your finished design in the oven. You can find inexpensive plain white dishes in a lot of places from Walmart to Target to IKEA.

I’m experimenting as Thanksgiving gets closer with some leaf designs formed with a gold paint pen for ceramics.  I used craft foam leaves as a template to form my pattern.

Porcelain paint pens are a fun tool for personalizing and doodling on simple plates with your own original design.  They’re also an opportunity to create something special for that host or hostess on your list.

I also made myself this little mug with the same idea – it will be cute to hold pens on my desktop too.

Just to show you how easy it is, here are six more hand painted porcelain dish ideas I found online to inspire:

From top left: Dot Painted Dishes by Under the Sycamore; Hand Drawn Details on Accent Dishes by BH&G; Circle Painted Dishes by A Merry Mishap; Peacock Dot Dish by Birdhouse Family; Hand Painted Herringbone Mug by Wit & Whistle; Dot Painted China by Martha (she offers a few templates to work with too).

Imagine the possibilities!  This is proof how stimulating and addicting Pinterest really is. Too much sometimes, right?  Darn you Pinterest!!!  Sometimes I just can’t sleep with all the ideas I find over there. 

Have you recreated anything you’ve seen on Pinterest lately? 

*** 10.26.11 Update:  Hey friends!  It has just come to my attention from some very thoughtful readers (thanks Jules and Kris) that the Pebeo Porcelaine markers although labeled “non-toxic” are not recommended for surfaces that come in contact with food, aka not “food safe”!  Say what?  Apparently, it says so on this website. Doh. That’s me, blushing a nice shade of pink in embarrassment.  Glad I found out now, guess there aren’t going to be any leafy accent plates on my table.  Better safe than sorry!  So do as they say, not as I do, and keep your designs to the outsides of bowls and mugs kids.  Over and out.    

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