{DIY} Confetti Garland

Do you ever have left over confetti?  I always do, and most of the time I just don't have the heart to throw it away (does that make me a packrat?...oh well..).  So, I was digging through my Halloween decorations the other day and I came across a bag of old Halloween confetti.  It is probably about 6 years old - yikes.  So, I decided to put it to good use and create this sweet little bat garland.  

Simply thread your machine with two different colors of thread - I used silver and black - and then feed the confetti through as you sew.  

Obviously this works best with the larger pieces of confetti.  You can make the garland as long as you like, just keep feeding the confetti through.  I suggest using a new needle - and then throw it away when you're finished, this process will make it dull. 

I found that adorable printable at The Graphics Fairy.

This garland was the perfect addition to this little corner -it's starting to feel a little spooky in here!

Happy first few days of fall!

xoxo

jessica

{DIY} Felt Trees

I was browsing the Garnet Hill website when I came across these little lovely trees.

Sadly, they are no longer available on the website, so I headed out to Michaels.
 It turns out they're really inexpensive and easy to make.

  
If you didn't use hot glue, they would be a great craft for kids too! 
Here are the supplies:

 my total cost: $3.61

(I already had hot glue at home)

Step 1:  Make the paper cones.  At first I wanted to use styrofoam cones, but they're kind of expensive so I decided to make paper ones.  Roll the paper so it forms a cone and put a dot of glue at the bottom to hold it in place.

Step 2:  Cut off the excess along the edge, then glue the edge closed.

Step 3:  Make the bottom edge even so that it will stand straight.

Cute little trees!

Step 4:   Fold the felt in half width-wise, like a hamburger bun.  Cut from the edge to the fold in an arc, be sure the top of the arc is at the fold.  Cut them about 2 1/2" wide - I was able to get three strips out of one piece of felt.

Step 5:  Keeping them folded, and following the arc, cut a scalloped edge along one side.

Each strip should look like this once you open it.

Step 6: Starting at the bottom of the tree, hot glue the strips to the cone.

If you like, you can cut out a felt star for the top.

And there you go! 
Whimsical felt trees for your mantle or a shelf! 
Happy crafting!
xoxo
jessica

{DIY}Funky Floral Birthday Number

As you know, this past weekend, we celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday!  It was a lovely party.  My job was to create a decoration using the number 80.  I had several ideas and played around for a few days until I found my vision (and something that wasn't going to take me 80 hours to complete...) 

Would you like to make one too?

It would be perfect for any birthday party.

Here is what you will need:

cardboard (I used an old box)
cardstock in your party's color palate
bowl of water
several pipe cleaners
permanent marker (optional)
scissors
green (or other color) fabric scraps cut into strips
hot glue
hot glue gun
fabric scraps for the rosettes
Something to trace for a circle - I used a canning jar rim

As you probably know, there are bunches and bunches of tutorials online for making fabric/paper flowers.
As I said yesterday I decided on a version of paper flowers here.

I made a variation of her scalloped puff flowers.  Unfortunately, I don't have any kind of dicut machine - that would have made this project a LOT faster - but I just got out the scissors and started snipping.

So this is the first step - make all of your paper flowers.

Step 1:  Trace your circle onto the cardstock, but instead of following the smooth curve of a circle, add little scallops all the way around.  Then cut it out.  You will need 2 large scalloped circles and 2 small scalloped circles.

Yes I was to cheap so thrifty that I didn't want to buy any more cardstock, but I needed bright pink.  So I colored some paper with a marker.  On the two light pink circles I colored the outer edge - it gives it a neat effect when it is all scrunched up.

Step 2:  Dip the card stock in a bowl of water for 5 seconds.  I was worried it would make them fall apart, but it didn't.  If you are using really thin paper you may want to just drip a little bit of water on them.  Stack them together.

Step 3:  Using half of a pipe cleaner, poke a hole through the center of the flowers (you may need some scissors to help).  Tie a "knot" at one end of the pipe cleaner so it won't slide through the hole.

Then scrunch all the paper up toward the center and wrap the pipe cleaner tail around the bottom.

Gently fluff the paper out until you are happy with your little flower - let it dry, and it will magically stay exactly how you want it.

Then just keep making flowers until you have enough - I made 20. 
Now it is time to make your number.

Step 1:  Heat up your hot glue gun.  While that is heating, draw a large number on your cardboard box and cut it out (sidenote - this totally counts as your workout for the day!)

Step 2:  Cut your fabric into long strips about 2" wide.  Start gluing them all over the number - scrunching it as you go.

Don't you think it kind of looks like grass?  It gives a nice texture for the background.

Step 3:  Place your flowers around and hot glue them to the number.

For a finishing touch I curled little strips of cardstock (use your scissors like with ribbon - then shape it with your finger).  I also twisted some pieces of faux bois paper to imitate twigs.

My hubby and I also made the frame - I just bought some trim at HD, he cut it and assembled it for me, then I painted it blue.  It may seem like a lot of work - but it had a huge impact and cost me about $10. 

I was going to share with you my tutorial for tissue paper flowers - but we'll do that next week as this post is already really long...hope you all have a great weekend!
xoxo
jessica

Fresh Floral Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday.  She is an amazing lady.  I've posted about her here and here and here.  As far as being 80 goes, I think she has more energy than me :)  She is very special to all of us, so we wanted to really show her how much we appreciate her.  The party was a surprise and we told everyone to bring a plant for her flower garden instead of a present. It was a huge success!  We had a great turnout and lots and lots of plants.  Here are the details, with a few tutorials coming up later in the week.

Cake Table

These fake flowers were from the Dollar Tree.

 

Decor

My Aunt made bright, colorful table runners for all of the tables.

On the table runners, we put potted plants and lanterns.

For the cake table area, I made this 80 decoration.

 

Streamers.  

Get the How To Here.

Food

The Gifts

We laid out plastic plant stakes for everyone to write their good wishes on.

 

Then when we helped her plant her garden, we put the stakes all throughout the garden.

Favors

My Cousin made these wonderful bird seed favors.
We hung them from mountain laurel branches we had gathered earlier that day.

 
Get the how to here.

After everything was ready, it was time to party!

Surprise!

I made this party skirt for Charlotte using Simple Simon and Co's tutorial here.

Four Generations!

 Grandma and her three children - my momma on the far right.

Charlotte and my dad - her Poppa J

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

xo
jessica

p.s. How do you feel about the extra large pictures in this post? 
Is it better than the regular size or is it too in your face? 
I  might switch to using extra large all the time so be honest :)