I happened to be out in my barn/garage while I was showing a friend a few furniture pieces I thought they may be able to use. As I looked around, my eyes spied something very neat and the wheels in my mind began turning, wondering if I could use it in my home. 

I had a few different ideas but I settled on using it as a picture frame to hang over my buffet in my dining room. Why? My front, back, and dining room doors are all glass paneled and I thought it was a nice "nod" to them as well as the giant window/picture frame I have hanging in my living room. This frame I found was from a glass panel door but only this frame remained of it. {My loving hubster painted it for me in our chilly basement.}

The hooks and ribbon you see are part of the original design in this home. The house was built in 1892 and the walls {save for the ones that have been redone} are all plaster. In an effort to not crack the plaster, builders put up picture rail molding, giving the home owner a way to hang art/photos without damaging the walls. {I bought the hooks and ribbon on Amazon.} I just used 2 screw eye hooks on either end of the frame and tied the ribbon to them. {I was really worried that it would take too much ribbon to use only two eye hooks.}

As for the paper heart garland, this is a very simple DIY project that requires just a few things:

• Paper
• Paper cutter
• Tape
• Needle & Thread

 I cut six pieces of paper per heart. They were each 1/2 wide. Two pieces were 6.5" long, two were 8.5" long, and the final two were 10.5" long.

Then, I began to put the heart together, folding the first and shortest pieces end to end, like tear drops, and then holding the two tears together {pictured below}.

Once the first heart is made, add the second longest pieces of paper to either side and then the third.

When this was done, I secured the pieces together by wrapping scotch tape around the tail of the heart. And when I was satisfied with my stack of hearts, I grabbed my needle and thread to begin threading the hearts for a garland.

I didn't cut a specific length of thread since I didn't know how much I would need. Rather, I left the thread on the bobbin, carefully pulling more as I needed it, and I thread the needle through each heart. {I should add, I only went through the top of the largest heart.} Once each heart was on the thread, I eyeballed how much "tail" I would want left on the garland and cut the thread when I was happy. 

{I'm all about "winging" and "eyeballing" things.}

 Grabbing my scotch tape one last time, I secured the garland to the top of my frame.

And I LOVE it.

I already want to make a bunch of different garlands to change out on my new frame.

I'm forgetting to tell you something...OH! There is no glass in the frame. I printed 5x7 copies of the photos I liked and used command strips {made for posters} to secure them to the wall. :)

Have fun making your paper heart garland!

A Paper Heart Garland And A Glass Panel Door Frame Is Now...{#DIY}

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I wanted to give something personal for Mother's Day this year. {Yes, I'm 32 and still making "crafts" for presents.} I saw great garden totems at an antique shop that sold for $40 a piece and my creative brain knew I could make my own for far less. {Try $40 for 2!!}

 I started by gathering glass pieces at my local thrift store. This takes a bit of time and looking at things differently, but it certainly is do-able, fun, and worth every minute.  I grabbed a bud vase first and went on from there to create 2, one of a kind designs for 2 very special moms.  You'll have to turn things end on end to see how they can work together. {I'm about to show you how I created mine.}

After bringing home my glass pieces, I hand washed them, making sure to remove the stickiness left behind from the price tags.

Once the pieces were dry, I took a cotton swab and cleaned all the surfaces with rubbing alcohol. {You don't want anything left on the surface where you will be using the adhesive.

Speaking of adhesives, I decided to go with Loctite since it works on glass and is OK to get wet {i.e. rain}.

Now the fun begins! I stacked up my pieces and figured out how I wanted them to look when they were finished. Knowing the finished look I was going for, I began to glue pieces together. Now, this is a process that takes all day long as the glue takes 2 hours to set {and 48 hours to cure} so it's done a little at a time. I split the glass pieces into sections on the totem and glued them together.

The top of one totem

The bottom...

 And pretty soon, I had parts of the totems waiting to be added to others.

 What you see above {from left to right} is

• a shot glass in a bowl
• a votive holder in a dish
• a shot glass on the bottom of a votive holder

For one totem, I wanted the top to look like a flower. I took a small shot glass, turned it upside down, and glued it to the inside of a votive holder I found. That votive holder is glued to the bottom of a shot glass and the top of that glass is glued to the bottom of a glass dish. The totem is beginning to come together. 

Here, the totem is ready to be glued to it's base {a plate on a bud vase} as soon as the glue is set.

 Here's a photo of the second totem I made. From top to bottom, I used a sugar bowl {glued shut}, a bowl, a shot glass, a plate, and a bud vase.

The finished totems! 

I should add, I purchased garden stakes {the kind that are used to stand up trees or tall plants}, had the hubster cut them down and paint them. Then, we wrapped clear tape around the middle of the stake to help keep the vase from bobbling around.

And for added inspiration, once I had the knack of the glass totems down, I realized I could do a lot more things with different pieces. For example, here is a candle holder I made. A little imagination, a little glue, and a little spray paint go a long way in creating a whimsical gift! {I bought a small votive holder to go inside the mug as it's easier to clean out when changing candles. I also finished the piece with a clear coat to keep the paint from chipping.}

**Helpful Hints**

• Look for pieces that fit together well and will stand sturdy
• Look for pieces with flat bottoms or flat tops. These help when gluing things together
• Think outside the box! Play with things and see how they can fit together.
• Have fun! Really!

Dress Your Garden ~ DIY Garden Totem

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Are you looking for a completely cute but inexpensive gift to bring to a teacher, friend, or hostess? I have JUST the idea for you {and it's not too shabby, if I do say so myself}.

I wanted to come up with something clever that was my friend's style so I could have something to give her when my family went to her home for a visit. I know she likes the paint chip DIY projects on Pinterest and I prefer to bring flowers. Combine the two things and, "Voila!" you have yourself a neat little DIY gift.

What you'll need:

• Paint chips {good news! These are free! Just don't go crazy, mmmkay?} I used the Behr paint chips that are short and wide.
• Scotch Tape
• Floral Tape
• Straight Drinking Straws
• A Vase {I picked mine up at the dollar store!}
  
  And should you choose to make a little personalized note like I did, you'll need a machine that can embroider letters.

1. Take the paint chip and cut some fringe on this. Now, I did this by hand with scissors but some crafters have handy, dandy paper cutters that may be able to do this a lot faster.
   When I cut the fringe, I tried to make sure the cuts ended at the same point and were about the same width. 

    2.   Tightly roll up the paint chip, colored side in, along the portion that was not cut.

  3.   Holding the rolled up paint chip tightly, tape it into place.

  4.   Gently pull out the separate pieces to open up the flower  and then run your thumbnail along the back of each piece to give it a slight curl.

**For variation in size, I cut some paint chips to be a little smaller.

**Now...it's time to grab your floral tape and straws.

  5.    Put the straw in the bottom of the flower and...

tape it into place.

  6.    Twist the floral tape tightly around the base of the flower and all the way down the straw.

At this point, your flowers are good to go! I had to add a finishing touch to my project, though, as it was for a dear friend. So, I grabbed yet another paint chip and headed to my Brother Laura Ashley Innov-is  machine. 

This is what I made. {The scripture referenced here says "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you".}

  

So, by selecting "Character/Decorative" on the touch screen, I found letters to use, 

typed it out,

and that was it! I trimmed the threads, cut it down to size, added a couple hole punches, and tied it with ribbon to the vase. 

And that is my finished look!

Alright, now. Go create some of your own and have fun!

Paint Chip Bouquet DIY

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Every year I make cakes customized to my little ones' likes and requests. This year, for Alex's 5th birthday, I made a black Angry Bird cake. And while I was chatting with him about how we could make this cake for him, he reminded me that angry birds MUST have pigs to go with them.

Well, I put on my thinking cap and came up with and idea on how he could have both the bird and the pigs without

 1. Breaking the bank
 2. Becoming too great of a project for me

The green pigs would be cookies...and not even cookies I had to bake. Thank heavens too...the pigs were more tedious than I imagined they would be...but they were worth the effort.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

• White fondant
• green, black, and yellow food coloring gels
• Use these to make A LOT of black, a little green, and even less yellow fondant
• Vanilla or Butter Cream Frosting
• A rolling pin {to roll out fondant}
• Powered sugar {for rolling out fondant}
• Oreo cookies
• Cake mix {I made 2, 8 inch cakes}
• Circle cutter {for the cookies and eyes}

Green Pig Cookies:

I started with a pack of Oreo cookies, some vanilla frosting {you can also use butter cream} and white fondant that I tinted green with food coloring. The white fondant can be bought by the box in stores like Michael's and Party City. {$6-$8 a box and also available in other colors from Wilton}.

I grabbed my clump of fondant, which I had colored green, and rolled it out. I used a fondant rolling pin and powdered the pin and rolling surface with powdered sugar.

I lucked out when I found that a Play-Doh cutter would make circles that perfectly covered the face of the Oreo cookie, leaving just the edge visible.

The trick in getting the fondant to stick to the cookie is in using frosting as "glue". I spread a small layer on the fondant and then centered it on the cookie.

After the cookies had their fondant circles, it was time to add in some detail. I used only my fingers to pinch a bit of fondant from the clump and make ears and a nose. Then, using the tip of a steak knife {if you'd like to be safer than me, you can use a skewer or anything less...um...stabby}, I gently carved into the fondant to make the details in the ears and nose. THIS was the tedious part because I tend to be a perfectionist and had to make them look "just so".

Oh! I should add...keep a small dish of water nearby for adding fondant details. By wetting the back of the detail pieces, you'll be able to stick it into place and it won't budge once the water dries. You only need a little bit.

 I grabbed white for the eyes and looked at a picture of one of the Angry Bird pigs to find out where I should place them.

Finally, I used a bit of the black I made {adding black coloring to white fondant} to finish the eyes. 

That's it! The pigs were ready to meet their match! 

For the black Angry Bird, I made a double-layer cake. Sometimes people ask how I make the layers flat for stacking so I thought I'd share that with you. ...I think it's pretty simple.

After the cakes are completely cooled in their pans, I grab a bread knife and lay it on the edge of the pan. I use the pan as my guide as I slowly cut off the top of the cake. 

Then I take the layer off...and eat it like a giant cookie. LOL.

No, really...

K...the top layer is off and then I just take the cake out of the pan, face down, frosting the "bottom" of the cake. There are far less crumbs and mess this way and the cake isn't rounded or tilting to one side, more importantly.

Bakers call frosting the cake "dirty icing" but I'm going to go ahead and say...

Frost the cake.

Earlier I mentioned tinting white fondant with black coloring to make it black. Just be fore-warned...you're hands will turn black too.

See?

K...now that the fondant was black, I rolled it out so that it would completely cover the cake with fondant to spare. It's far better to have more than enough than not enough.

After covering the cake and trimming the excess, I used my circle cutter to cut out 2 white circles and hand-cut a rectangle in black fondant for the feather on the bird's head. Then, I rolled a small bit of black fondant in my hands and flattened it out to make a pupil for each eye.

I used one of my kid's toys to prop up the feather as I wanted it to curl upward when it dried.

Finally, it was time to grab my yellow fondant and make this bird Angry! I rolled it out, cut a square for the top of the feather, 2 large, long ovals for eyebrows, and cut out a beak shape, free-hand. I wet the backs of the shapes and put them on the cake. 

 I was finished! And Alex LOVED his cake and cookies!!

P.S. The Oreo cookies taste like they just have an extra layer of filling with the fondant on top. Yum-to-the-O.

Angry Birds Birthday Cake and Cookies {Step-by-Step}

• angry birds angry birds birthday cake angry birds birthday. birthday birthday cake cookies DIY Green Pigs pig cookies pinterest tutorial
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