A Short Sunday Project

I still had a few other areas of the house I wanted to add a little "spring flair" to. One of them is the table/IKEA shelf my ginormous tv sits on.

My friend Rachael gave me this flower shaped charger sometime last spring, and I knew just want I wanted to do with it. I dug some yellow polka dot ribbon out of my bins, grabbed my glue gun, and went to work framing the center. I then just added some simple glittery alphabet letting in the middle.

The yellow candle was a housewarming gift from my friend Jess, and the candle stand was my free with purchase pick at Bath and Body Works a few weeks ago.

Tada! 

An essentially free new decoration that took less than 15 minutes. 

 (See my ginormous tv in the background?)

Spring Mantel

A whole weekend of spring decorating, and my mantel still needed some serious help! I decided to take an extra trip to Hobby Lobby on Saturday to see if anything caught my eye. I purchased a few items to take them home and see how they looked, but I wasn't in love with anything I bought. I then decided to just head over to the dollar store for fun. I picked up a few more items but still wasn't sure what direction I was headed. I came home and put everything I thought about including on the table. Here's how my thought process began:

Hot mess, huh?

I slowly started getting rid of some things and adding to other pieces. I went out into my garage and found a container I was looking for with extra decorations. I liked the "SPRING" banner and the burlap and ribbon runner, so I knew I wanted to stay with those items. After some re-arranging, here is what I came up with:

(Yes, I'm that OCD to have my books in descending height order.)

I like it! Those teal tins are from the dollar store (imagine that?!) as well as the moss. I made the paper flowers last year for my sister-in-law's wedding shower, and the candlesticks and candles I already had. The gray pitcher I found on a Target clearance rack for $5.19 a couple weeks ago, and the hydrangeas are from Michael's. Total cost was a little under $15!

Spring Decorating Continues

After the wreath went up, I had to figure out what to do with my "mantel". I loved the colors I used, but the orange color was a little off from the more pink color of the burlap I had purchased, and I just couldn't deal with that. I still wanted to use the beach glass color again, however, so I painted the inside of a pickle jar my mom gave me and added the orange hydrangea stem and the burlap. While I knew this wouldn't work for my "mantel", I still loved the look!

It now sits in the center of my dining table!

(Yes, I know I need to iron the gray cloth napkin under it- I'm just lazy sometimes.)

(That comment was particularly for my mom. Sorry, mom, I know better. I'll iron it next time.)

Spring mantel coming in my next post!

Spring Wreath

As soon as I got home from the store, I began working on my spring wreath. Wreaths are some of my favorite things to make, but they are definitely a process. I usually spend an absurd amount of time working through the items I want on the wreath, paint some things, cut, place, etc....all to then decide I don't want to use anything I just created :)

This wreath was no exception. I cut some burlap pieces into pendant shapes and painted "S-P-R-I-N-G" on each piece, but I decided not to use them (look for those later). I really loved the colors of the hydrangeas and the paint I came home with and wanted to incorporate both. I then remembered I had a "Welcome" wooden sign I had picked up at a discount craft store for around $.50. I quickly painted it in the beach glass color. The grapevine wreath I actually got from Goodwill for $1.50. It was the perfect size. Hydrangeas were my most expensive item (they were $6.99/stem at Michael's), but I got them while they were 40% off! I added a burlap bow at the top, and that was that!

Here it is on my living room floor, pre-attachment :)

 

I love the way it all came together! 

And my door is so bright and cheery. Perfect for the still mostly cold days.

Spring Is Coming!

Anyone else so excited for warmer weather? I know I am!

I went to the store tonight and purchased these items. Stay tuned to see what comes of them!

Welcome Yarn Wreath

Getting a head start on some items for my craft show coming up in the fall! 

I used a multi-colored yarn (no, I did NOT wrap each color individually like one friend suggested) to wrap the wreath and then a coordinating deep purple for the band. I popped that daisy flower off a stem and hot glued it to the wreath. The welcome sign is made of wood. I sprayed the wooden sign with spray adhesive, placed it upside down on a piece of scrapbook paper, and used an Exacto knife to cut the paper to size. I then used a small file to smooth the edges and added a layer of Mod Podge to keep it smooth. I like how it turned out! I also think it could be used for spring, fall, or both!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jayden and Regan!

Happy Birthday, boys!

At this point in time, Regan and Jayden are Star Wars obsessed. I don't mean they kind of like Star Wars- I mean they eat, live, and breath Star Wars. My sister asked them what they wanted for their birthday cake, and they said they wanted Auntie Abby to make them some Star Wars cake pops!

I've made all sorts of cake pops before, but I have to admit- I wasn't quite sure where to go with them. I looked at some ideas on Pinterest but decided I'd see what I could come up with on my own. 

The challenge began!

I used my usual recipe for cake pops, but instead of rolling them into balls, I formed them into more of a bell shape and dipped them in white candy melts. I have never had much success with edible writing markers (Bakerella claims they work, but I'm sorry- not for me!), so I had to find a new solution for the black marks to make them look like stormtroopers. I ended up using an edible gel, but it was still difficult because the gel seemed resistant to the candy melt coating. Oh well! It took a while, but I finally got it to work somewhat. 

So without further ado, here are the white stormtroopers!

I ended up with 10 stormtroopers and then made generic white and brown cake pops with colorful sprinkles to fill in. We had a great time celebrating the boys, but didn't think too hard about how we were going to fit candles into cake pops. We'll have to plan that a little better next time ;)

Happy Birthday, boys! 

Your auntie loves you so, so much!