Flower Pins

I was at Michaels a couple of weeks ago and bought these cute little flower pins out of the DOLLAR bins (the red polka dot might have been a little more). What a great way to add a little personality to an outfit without having to make it yourself. Here are a couple of ways I used them...

Love, love, love black, red and white

Seashell Mirror

I have been working on redecorating my daughter's room for the past month. We do a little here, paint a little there when we have the time so slowly but surely we are making progress. I'll post pictures when it's all put together.

I had purchased a black scroll mirror from IKEA about a year ago, thinking I would hang it up in my daughter's room. But when we painted her room in ivory/aqua it just didn't work anymore. Spray paint to the rescue!!! I spray painted the frame in a silver metallic which totally changed the look...in a good way! My daughter came up with the idea of adding the seashells. We rummaged through the bags of seashells that the kids have collected over the past three years from our Outer Banks beach vacations and found our favorites.

Every time she looks at herself in the mirror she is framed out with shells that she personally hunted for on the beach. I love the personal touch!

Birthday Wreath

Tomorrow my son, Nick, will celebrate his "Double Digit" birthday! I can't believe I just wrote that. 10 years old....already! He's gone from this.....

 To this....

We are so thankful that God blessed us with such a fabulous son! We love you!

Now on to the Birthday Wreath...I decided to make a Birthday Wreath that I can hang on the bedroom door of whoever is celebrating their special day. Nick gets to take it for a test run.

I combined my three favorite wreath elements...fabric, balloons, ribbon. I started with a straw wreath, first adding a pipe cleaner hanger. I used fabric squares in shades of red, yellow, blue. I poked them into the wreath with a small Phillips screwdriver. You could add a dot of hot glue to the tip before poking it in for added holding power. I then added the balloons (from the Dollar Store!) using floral pins. I finished by filling in the gaps with various shades of colorful ribbon, also attaching those with floral pins. The embellishment at the bottom of the wreath is a birthday table decoration from the Dollar Store. I cut it into pieces and hot glued it on to the wreath. The metallic party horns were also a birthday find from the Dollar Store. I covered up the hot glue with a fabric flower. The flower center is a Nerf disc that happened to be laying around. I love the limey green against the red!

Balloons, fabric squares, ribbon strips

So colorful!!!

There are several tuturials online on how to do fabric wreaths, balloon wreaths and ribbon wreaths which is why I didn't go into too much detail. 

Tissue Paper Flowers

Last summer I was the set coordinator for a women's event. When you only have a budget of $250 you have to get creative. These little beauties saved my life! When you can get a variety box of 450 sheets of tissue paper from www.nashvillewraps.com for about $30 you know you can count yourself among the "Frugalistas!"

There are several tutorials online for making tissue paper flowers so I'm not going to go into the basics. However, I will tell you how I made the cocktail umbrella centers.

I had a box of these cocktail umbrellas lying around. I have no idea where they came from but they were exactly the colors I needed. I knew I had to think of a use for them so after a couple of days of mulling it over in my head...SHAZAM!...centers for the tissue paper flowers!

Step 1: Turn on a good movie. Step 2: Open an umbrella, apply a tiny bit of Super Glue to the center "pole." Even though the little rubber ring helps to hold up the umbrella, you will need the glue. It makes them all look uniform and even. Step 3: Hold for a few seconds until it adheres and won't slide back down. Step 4: Let it dry. Step 5: Cut a styrofoam ball in half. Step 6: Using only one half, poke the umbrellas into the rounded side of the styrofoam, arranging them so you have full coverage and can't see much of the styrofoam anymore.  Step 7: Push back the tissue paper layers from the center of the flower. Step 8: Glue the styrofoam down into the center of the flower.

The more I made the more creative they became. Just by rounding the edges of the petals or by cutting them into a point you can get all kinds of different looks. The top picture shows one where I alternated layers of light pink/dark pink.

Here are a few pics of the set elements. I love the color explosion!

The centerpiece of the stage...a giant mirror! The theme was "Reflecting God's Glory."

There were two smaller oval mirrors on stage left and stage right

Found these glitter butterflies at Five Below

Valentine Fabric Wreath

Can you say "Valentine's Day" or "New Baby Girl"??? I had a straw wreath lying around my craft room looking all lonely and naked so I raided my fabric cupboard in search of pinks, whites and fuchsias. I didn't have any fuchsia so I headed on down to the Dollar Store. SUCCESS! I found these cheap little fuchsia tulle dress-up skirts in the kid's section. They even had little rhinestones glued to the skirt.

Here you can see some of the fabrics and textures. Fuchsia and pink tulle, white tulle, pink satin, a swiss dot, and a sweet girlie calico. Vary the shades of pink as well as the prints (bigger, busier prints vs. simple, "open" prints). It looks great when they all come together!

I cut approximately 4" squares out of each of the fabrics using pinking shears. Then came the part that gives the palm of your hand a workout. Poke the fabric into the straw wreath using a small screwdriver (right side of fabric facing you so when it's poked in you it folds up and you see the right side of the fabric). I actually put a dot of hot glue at the tip before poking it in for added holding power.

Keep poking until the front and sides of the wreath are filled in. You don't have to insert the squares right next to each other. Once inserted the fabric spreads out at the top which provides coverage. To finish it off I used a pink satin ribbon to make a hanger.

Pasta Garland

Here's a great holiday decorating project to do with little ones. I made these pasta garlands with my daughter about 9-10 years ago and they have survived remarkably well. The spray paint must have really strengthened the pasta because very few pieces have broken over the years.

I chose Rigatoni and wheel shaped pasta for my garland but there are so many shapes to choose from. Pick one you like. I spray painted the rigatoni with gold paint and chose traditional jewel tones for the wheels. I think the spray paint even had glitter in it. Spray paint one side of the pasta, wait until it dries, then flip the pasta over and spray paint the other side. I bought a gold string at my local fabric store to string the pasta. Tie a knot in one end and start adding the pieces. When you get close to the end of the string or decide its long enough, tie off with another knot. So simple, so easy!

Because of the variations in pasta and colors, you can really get creative. You could spray paint rigatoni in white and red, then alternate them on a white string to make a candy cane stripe. You could even spray paint pasta in black/orange and make a garland for Halloween. How about pastels for Easter?! See what I mean? Go crazy!

"Twas the Night Before Precept"

I've been teaching a Precept Upon Precept Bible study on Revelation for the past year and a half. Next week we will begin Part 4, the final installment. It's hard to believe that by the time we are done we will have spent two years on one book of the Bible! It has been an amazing experience. For the last class before the holidays I decided to write my own version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Twas the Night Before Precept

'Twas the night before Precept
Laundry, homework begun.
Days Three, Four and Five
Were still left to be done.

Colored pencils lined up
On the table with care,
In hopes that some study
Would soon go on there.

The children competing,
Playing games on the Wii,
While my husband watched football,
Green Bay vs. the Chiefs.

I poured me some coffee,
Got a tasty snack,
Settled into my chair,
Put my things in a stack.

Observation worksheets,
A commentary book,
Booted up the Bible
Downloaded on my Nook.

I began asking questions,
"Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?"
The truths I discovered
Made me, out loud, shout, "Wow!"

Because in that very first verse
I observed, took apart,
God's Word came alive,
Went deep into my heart.

I read and I saw things
I'd never noticed before,
Because I was usually in a hurry
To get out the door.

I had no idea
That I was missing so much
Of what God wanted to teach me
From His amazing Book.

So I will keep studying,
Do my best and work hard,
Because the Messiah is worthy.
His hands bear the scars.

When the Lamb's book of life
Is opened that day
I'll know it was worth it
To study this way.
     Kristin Pearson