Twig Wreath from my Dreaming of Summer Display

This is probably one of the most versatile crafts I have ever done. This wreath was first made in January when I needed a little something to decorate with. I traced two different circles on cardboard and then cut out the wreath shape. Then I started glueing on pieces of branches that I cut up. But as life goes I never finished it. When St. Patrick's Day rolled around I decided to add some ribbon instead of more twigs to finish it up. I loved the way it turned out! I just used scotch tape to tape the ribbon on the back. That way it is an easy fix when I go to change it up! 

Then I changed the ribbon for Easter~totally a quick and easy way to change the look! 

After Easter I started putting together my summer display and used a tan ribbon and a ribbon that says "treasured moments" on it. After I took off the Easter colored ribbons and before I put on the summery colored ribbons I spray painted the twigs white! 

I hung it up and then hung the coffee filter flower on top of it! 

Soooooo gorgeous~ I just love it! 

Hey Mister Easter Bunny! (A note for my husband)

Hey darling Easter Bunny! I have been such a good girl, I cook you carrots, and make you carrot cake, I am in a hoppy mood most of the time, and while we haven't exactly mulitplied like rabbits, we have three handsome young bunnies, I take great care of our little bunny hut and I hope we are hopping hoppily ever after for a long time to come! Soooo......you could put any of these in my basket and I would be very hoppy!

I know my special somebunny is thinking Scentsy and that would make me very happy indeed! So I thought I would help him out and make a post of some of my favorites!

Hampton

(Hmmm....dreamy! Imagine this with different colored ribbons tied around the top for different holidays or seasons!)

Farfalle

(I love the rustic look of this one! Would go perfect with my home!)

Morocco

(Very traditional looking, I really like this one too!)

My favorite yummy scent is Welcome Home. Oh man, it would be welcoming to come home to a house that smelled so good!

And here is another idea! Right now Clinique is having their Bonus Days sale! You know how I love a good freebie with purchase. Well you simply can't beat Clinique at that game. And just think of all that free swag you could put in my basket if you hopped on in and bought me some foundation, which I always need by the way!

With much love, Mrs. Easter Bunny

TCT #1 - Fuzzy Chick Magnet (and a freebie if you are quick)

TCT? Yeppers! Another one of my days of the week themes that I am going to try! Toddler Craft Tuesday! I have a busy busy busy little man who is getting into trouble more often than not! So I am going to try to do more crafts with him and hopefully share my ideas here on my blog!

This idea was found here at Fisher Price although I tweaked it to fit what I had on hand!

First I cut out the chicks using my cricut at 5.5 inches, I used the Animal Kingdom cartridge. Using the shadow feature makes it easier for the little guy to not break the chickies legs off!  I cut up the yarn in advance while he was in bed although I quickly realized how good he is with scissors this week and next time I will have him cut the yarn himself! 

 The next day during one of our "Mommy and Mikey" times he assembled! Fun and Easy! We are learning about ovals so I drew a oval on the belly of the chick and asked him to put glue in the oval and pat the yarn down. It was so fun to watch him assembling and say "pat pat yarn" "pat pat yarn"! So cute! I glued magnets on the back so that they could be displayed on the fridge.

I asked Mikey which chick he wanted to give to Nana, he shook his head, I asked him again, shook his head, finally I said, well do you want to give any away or keep them all? He said this one is for POPPY and this one if for Emmy! I guess Nana is out of luck, good thing she lives with Poppy so she can have a cute baby chick on her fridge!

We also played in the beans lots this week. Such good practice with "measuring" and using those fine motor skills! And of course my little man is darling in the following bean pictures!

***If you would like your child to receive some fun mail, leave me a comment saying how many little kids you have. I will send out a kit with the cutouts and yarn and some fun stickers to the

first two comments! I realize that this is not a large giveaway but all kids love to get mail.***



Easter Egg Topiary Tree Inspired by PB

I was laying on the couch DYING  recuperating from strep throat a couple of weeks ago when my Pottery Barn Catalogs came in the mail. My sweet hubby brought them over to me on my deathbed  couch and as I turned through the pages, drooling over all the pretties, these caught my eye BIG TIME!

But even though I was delirious with fever I knew I  would never pay $89.00 for an Easter decoration. I don't pay $89.00 for anything. Cuz I am cheap frugal! However all that couch laying paid off for me because the wheels starting turning on how I could make my own! And if you love it as much as I do I have made up a little tutorial. But first  just for a little comparison - The total cost for this project was around $15.00 and my topiary is 40" tall, Pottery Barn's is only 30" tall for $89.00.

Supply List:

Tomato Cage

Hanging Basket

Newspaper

Glue

Green Paint

Plastic Easter Eggs (the kind that split in half long-wise) I used about 40 whole eggs so 80 halves

Moss (I got mine from the dollar store)

Glue Gun - with lots of hot glue sticks

Craft Paint in Pastel Colors (optional)

Ribbon or Twine

Step 1: Using hotglue, glue your tomato cage upside down on top of your hanging basket pot. The reason to use a hanging basket pot is that it has slits in it for the hangers to go in and they come in very handy to tie your tomato basket to. After the glue has set up. Tie the tomato basket to the planter pot for added stability.

Step 2: Tie the pointy ends of the tomato basket together very tightly and securely.

Step 3: Mix some white glue with water until the thickness is just a little thinner than milk. I use a big dishpan to mix mine in. You only need 1/2" or so in the bottom of your dishpan.

Step 4: Cut your newspaper into strips about 4" wide works well.

Step 5: Get your newspaper strips wet, just one at a time, and then drain the extra water/ glue mixture off. Wrap the wet newspaper around your tomato cage starting from the bottom and working your way up. You will want to make sure you overlap the edge of your planter pot just a little bit because the  newspaper shrinks up as it dries. I used clothespins to help hold the wet newspaper onto the tomato cage. 

Step 6: Let this dry and repeat until you have a nice hard shape. I let mine dry overnight between layers and I put on about 4 layers.

Step 7: After all the layers are dry you will need to paint the entire newspaper form green. This will help you when you are glueing the moss on so that you can't see any newspaper through it.

Step 8: If you are painting your plastic eggs you will want to do that now. I couldn't find any that opened the right way except for these lovely camo ones from the dollar store so I used acrylic craft paint to paint them. I did three coats to make sure they were covered really well.

Step 9: Using hotglue attatch your eggs to your topiary form covering as closely as you want. I didn't space mine as closely as the PB picture.

Step 10: Now it is time to fill all those spaces in with moss. This step takes a while and it takes alot of hotglue! I worked on mine in spurts.

I  am so pleased with how it turned out. It is not a carbon copy but it is so awesome to find something you love and use it as inspiration for a project of your very own. The Pottery Barn picture was just a jumping off point. Something to get me thinking, and I LOVE the results.

My Sweeter than Chocolate Bunny!

While thrifting a few days back I found this very ordinary looking glass bunny for 99cents. I am a little low on Easter decorations so I put him in my cart. After a little paint I think he turned out pretty cute!

I spray painted him Espresso, applied a Crackle Medium and some white paint. So quick and so easy. A couple of points if you have not worked with a Crackle Medium before. You can use spray paint for the base but not for the overcoat. So I was fine in using brown spray paint underneath but it wouldn't have worked if I used white spray paint after the Crackle Medium. Another thing, sometimes people tend to rush the top step (just to see if the stuff works) well don't! It says to let dry so let it dry! And don't overbrush it, just brush your topcoat on and leave it alone. I have learned this the hard way! I let it set about 45 minutes with good results.

The whitish paint I used was Light Ivory by Americana, I use it all the time and buy tons of it. It is so close to white but it's not! LOVE IT!

I am still having a hard time believing it is spring even though the weather here is exceptionally gorgeous! Oh and here is the bunny before his transformation.