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09 February 2012

valentine’s day crafts : DIY roundup

:: Just a sweet little reminder that if you like this blog and feel I’m deserving of a Top 25 Vegan & Vegetarian Mom contest on the Circle of Moms, you can submit your votes daily until the 14th of February. You can vote every 24hrs ;) xoxo

I think Valentine’s Day is my favourite holiday to make decorations for. I mean, who doesn’t love their home dressed up in hearts? I think it’s the one theme that can stay up all year long. Are you in the mood to make some cute Valentine’s Day crafts? I hope so ;) Here are some to get you started ;)

Valentine’s Day Crafts

{ DIY Roundup }

Heart Flower Bouquets via Maya Made
DIY Romantic Heart Paper Garland
Sew Hearts by Red Bird Crafts
Homemade Paper Heart Garland (via howaboutorange)
DIY Heart Candy Gift Tags by Fellow Fellow for Fossil
DIY Photo Heart Garland (via scrappergirl)
Salt Dough Cookie Hearts from Lifeologia what we turned into stick on decorations and magnets
Personalized Porcelain Coffee Mug from Lifeologia - A cup filled with Love – yes we’re making more of these – this one broke ;(

We are planning to do some crafting for Valentine’s Day this weekend. Are you planning to make something, or have you already made some pretty crafts? If you did share in the comments ;) xoxo

Do you even celebrate the big day of LOVE? I find that I’m more involved in this holiday now that we have a child ~ which is surprising since this day is seen as a romantic day for couples. Sure, we’ve had our share of romantic dinners, chocolates, jewellery and lingerie ~ but over the 15 years the traditions changed – and evolved into less-existant celebrations! ;) It’s a cute holiday with a great reminder to love each other more, hug a little harder, and reserve a special time for each other. Now that we’re a family, we celebrate with heart-shaped pancakes, extra kisses, and drawing hearts on napkins and making some pretty crafts ~ oh which will we choose?

Have a LOVE-ly Weekend!

Speaking of Lovely things ~ today is the last day for the Love’ly Giveaway!!!

Tags: crafts

3 comments

24 January 2012

a portrait of a heart

We enjoyed another craft day over the weekend with a little sweet ‘heart’ theme again. My daughter had so much fun doing this ‘canvas’ heart from dried beans and grains. It was messy but good fun. And we now have a beautiful eco-friendly heart canvas to hang in our kitchen – the ‘heart’ of our home.

We have embraced eco-crafting fully and just enjoy creating something from things we already have. In this case I used an empty pizza box, flipped inside out and used that as our ‘canvas’ base. The decorations were all natural beautiful textures of millet grains, lentils, black and white rice, ground walnut shells (birdcage litter).

Supplies : pizza box, an assortment of dried beans and grains, good quality non-toxic glue and brush to spread it evenly and a hot glue gun. A sheet of extra cardboard for the pizza box as a filler helps it to keep shape. paper towel, large cardboard to work on (as this is a little messy), a box to catch grains that fall off, vacuum for clean up.

What to do: 1 – 3. open the pizza box inside out and hot glue the two side panels. 4. insert a sheet of folded cardboard so it fills the inside of the box so it doesn’t warp in. Not shown: If you plan to hang your piece and need a hole in the back, make it now by punching in a nail a few inches from the top in the centre.

5. paint a heart shape with the glue. 6 – 7. sprinkle your choice of grains 8. press down with a paper towel to get more grains to hold onto the glue. 9. shake off excess. (we had a bit of an accident with the glue splattering too much, but all worked out fine, we wiped off the extra rice from the centre and proceeded with the next.)

This is one of those project that is meant to be rustic – so the imperfections just add character to your own work of art. Embrace them ;)

10 – 12. continue as before, painting a heart with a glue, sprinkling grains, pressing and shaking off excess.

Our heart consisted of : the orange heart = split red lentils. black heart = black rice. brown heart = walnut ground shells (we already had a bag of this as birdcage litter). white heart in centre = white rice. background = mixed hot cereal grains, but millet would work well.

When my girl had the heart shapes in place, she leaned back looking it over and exclaimed “this looks like a portrait of a heart” ~ hence the name of this craft ;)

This was so much fun! My four year old was so focused and led the entire craft project on her own. I helped a bit with brushing the glue closer to the finished hearts etc. – but this was really her independent work. What a little treasure she created ~ it will go up in our kitchen as soon as we make a good home for it – to symbolize “the heart of our home”.

ps. remember this is kinda messy. have a vacuum standing by ;)

I hope you’ve enjoyed our eco-craft of our ‘Portrait of a Heart’. I hope you’ll create your own messy craft with the kiddos in your family. This is a beautiful craft not just for Valentine’s Day but to leave out in a special place all year round. xo

Tags: crafts

14 comments

29 November 2011

make your own pottery-like vase

One quiet evening, when piano music replaced the rustling daytime noise and a hot camomile tea was steaming up on my kitchen table…. I started to create a simple object from items I had on hand. This craft project wasn’t planned ~ it just happened and evolved into a beautiful piece of art. I had a nice evening to myself and a pretty table accessory by the morning. Simple is always beautiful.
Create a simple Salt Dough recipe by combining your ingredients: 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1-1/2 cups warm water. I like to dilute the salt in the water first to remove all the crystals. Keep some flour and warm water on hand. A sprinkle of flour will prevent from sticking and a little warm water will act as glue. Knead out into a shape that would roughly cover your bottle or jar. With your hands, start wrapping and shaping the dough all around to cover your glass. Pay attention to the thickness of your dough so that it’s even all around and covers the glass nicely without any thin see-through spots. Using the extra dough, you can create shapes, flowers and designs that would get added to your vase. This dough forms easily (like playdough) and it’s simple to create unique shapes and designs.

Once your design is ready, place the item on a baking tray and place in a preheated oven to 250 F. and bake for about 2-3 hours (depending on the size). Watch so it looks dry and does not start to yellow. Turn oven off but leave the piece still in the oven to cool completely, even over night.

Once it cools down completely you can paint your design. I chose a simple white acrylic paint as I wanted to preserve the clean simplicity of the design.

I hope you like this project and you will try it yourself. These would be beautiful as gifts for the holidays and a great fun project to do with kids. I will to do a project like this with miss Gabriella very soon ~ we’ll see what creative spin a 4 year old will put on this ;)

ps. these are not forever, they may crack over time with the change of temperatures or direct sunlight etc. But they are lovely to make and definitely add a great unique touch to a vignette. It’s practically free to make them so it’s still very much worth it ;) Once you’re done with them, just soak and peel off the baked-on dough and give the glass bottle yet another new life. xo

salt dough ball photo from here

Tags: home

8 comments

28 June 2011

pretty peonies

Love them. They are so delicate and pretty and the fragrance just sweeps me off my feet…

You may have noticed on my post yesterday, I had a little peony bouquet on the breakfast table. Those were brought in fresh by my husband on the big anniversary day ;) Score! How did he know that would make me happy? They certainly are special, they were in my bridal bouquet after all – and since then, especially, they are magical.

Well, the peony craziness continued around the house, filling up the rooms with the most beautiful aroma. Ahhhh….. I just wish they lasted forever….
I picked up this cool vintage/ rustic milk bottle carrier at a local shop, and since then, I never run out of ideas on what to put in there. This time, of course huge buds of peonies poured out of recycled juice bottles.

The look: a rustic, modern and chic centrepiece.

And a little bouquet went into the living room also, of course.Now you get a glimpse of my new sofa! The re-decorating is coming along…. I’m just stuck on the wall frames – but that is a whole other post ;)

Have a lovely day everyone. Thanks for stopping by ;) xo

Tags: crafts

11 comments

14 April 2011

diy roundup : upcycling egg cartons

It’s mid April, and I can’t believe how fast time is flying. Spring isn’t showing its full beauty yet, at least in these parts. But Easter is still happening right on schedule and it’s just around the corner. It’s next weekend! Oh my!

With all that excitement there is, of course, some necessary fun crafting to be had in time for the big Holiday. And what better supply to use – than the super-economical, eco-friendly egg cartons!

Take a look at these super awesome craft DIY ideas and tutorials (links below) using egg cartons!

Aren’t these awesome? I love the simplicity of the material, how it comes free with the purchase of eggs, how easy it is to work with and how versatile. You could totally create a designer decor piece (like the lamp, hello?), or just do a cute craft project with your kids. Here are the links for each tutorial:

1. Egg Carton Flower Wreath (using this tutorial)

I love this wreath – I will try to do this with my daughter. So simple but has so much impact and fun if you include the kids.

2. E gg Carton Daffodils

These daffodils are so pretty, who knew that the egg carton shapes would form so beautifully into daffodils.

3. Egg Carton Flower Pendant Light

Now this is eggstra crazy. A pendant light? Wow, is all I gotta say ;)

4. Flower Fairy Lights

This is one of my favourite projects ever, but these egg carton shapes look a bit european or something. They have a very distinguished shape which I don’t think is around these parts. Very pretty though. Definitely on my To Do list.

I hope you’re inspired with today’s upcycling roundup. Are you planning to do some crafting for this Easter? Perhaps with some egg cartons??? ;D

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valentine’s day crafts : DIY roundup

Valentine’s Day Crafts

{ DIY Roundup }

a portrait of a heart

make your own pottery-like vase

pretty peonies

diy roundup : upcycling egg cartons

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