Musings of a Glamourpuss

DIY Lampshade

2012-02-10T15:43:00.001-05:00

The Perfect Mani / Pedi

2012-02-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

You can use this method for both manicures and pedicures; however, my pics are pedi only!

Prep: Remove all previous polish. Soak your feet for 15 minutes in warm water. Pat dry and gently push your cuticles back. Trim, shape, and file nails.

Supplies:

4 sided nail buffer (I used the Sally Hanson La Cross buffer found at drug stores, Walmart, etc.)

polish

top coat

Step 1: Buff your nails to remove ridges and create a smooth surface.

Gently buff over surface of nail with the coarsest side of nail buffer. Make sure you don't press too hard - gentle to light pressure is best.

Repeat with all sides of buffer, working from coarse to fine grit.

Using the smoothest side of the buffer, gently go over entire nail surface. This should bring a lovely shine to the nail. Use a bit of water to remove the nail dust and particles, and to clean nail. Repeat for all nails.

Step 2: Apply polish.

This is a super fabulous how-to from Lacquerized.

Use a base coat if you wish. I used two coats of quick dry polish and my favourite topcoat, Seche Vite. I love it because the nails stay wet-shiny and super smooth! I love the fresh-from-the-salon wet look.

And now for the moment of truth (drumroll, please)...

Here are my toes, 5 weeks later:

Yep, some polish has chipped off. There has been a lot of growth. I definitely need a redo. BUT, they are shiny and smooth! Ha!

Linking up with some great parties!

Free Valentine Printable

2012-01-30T12:25:00.002-05:00

My mom was going through some old papers and found this verse laid out to show the word VALENTINE. She thought I might like it. I thought it was really cute, so I remade it in a more modern way.

Enjoy!

6 x 8 Valentine printable

Free for personal use.

Goal Lists and Blog Critiques: Do Both!

2012-01-25T16:37:00.001-05:00

So January is generally when goals are made, dreams are dreamed in technicolour, and hope for the future is at an all time high. I usually make a personal goal list every December/January for the new year. I don't always accomplish everything on my list and some make it onto the following year's list.

A sample from last year's list:

Accomplished: Read 100 books

Not Accomplished: Ahem, those last 15 preggy pounds

This year, my blog made my goal list: I would like to see growth as well as an improvement in content and display. I found a couple of blog checklists that gave me a few ideas and I have implemented a couple of them. (The LinkWithin gadget is one - I had seen the suggestions pop up under posts on other blogs and wanted one so badly for my own blog! Checked off the list now.)

But, then I found a fabulous blog critique party and joined! It was GREAT! Two lovely bloggers, Alyx and Stephany, were kind enough to send me wonderfully constructive advice and a great review of my blog. All the participants used this blog critique checklist. It is awesome to get honest advice from another blogger! I could ask my hubby but he would tell me it looks great no matter what (and I am sure that, to him, it does), so getting input from others doing the same thing is so helpful.

For example: I have a widescreen monitor at home. And at work, I have a double monitor setup and both monitors are widescreen. So when I widened my blog a couple of weeks ago to enable the words in my top ten posts to show up as actual English words (like Millennium Falcon) instead of

lle

Well, because I am never on a regular sized monitor, it never occurred to me that making my blog fit my widescreen monitor may be a problem on other monitors. Lesson learned! (Fix coming soon!)

I give this blog critique party two thumbs up, and I would definitely do it again!

Aaaaand, because I can't leave without a picture, my sweet lil dancer had her first ballet lesson last night. Here she is!

Unfortunately, joyous pirouettes and excitement didn't happen. We left early in tears... Oh well, next week's class cometh. Fingers crossed!

DIY iPhone Icon Magnets

2012-01-20T10:30:00.000-05:00

My hubby was very sweet and cut out over 20 tiny little icons for me, and the top 20 were chosen to become magnets. (Those are his ~~hairy~~ manly hands!)

Glass squares or tiles can be purchased as is, or you could use pieces from a sheet of glass mosaic tile - just peel the tiny glass squares off the backing.

Cut the magnets (I used a long strip piece) into squares that are slightly smaller than the back of the glass squares. (Don't want any magnet overhang!) Use hot glue to attach magnets to glass.

After the glue is completely cool and hardened, attach the picture. I used a mixture of super tacky craft glue and water (1:1 ratio) and, using a paintbrush, lightly covered the top of the glass with the glue mixture.

The picture went on immediately and was straightened into place with a toothpick. I had to work quickly in order to place the picture accurately before the glue dried, which was super fast! I then repeated this with the other 19 tiles.

Using the same glue mixture, I painted a light coat over each picture ensuring the glue mixture went right to the edges of the glass. Let it dry thoroughly.

Repeat!

Let cure for 12 hours, then pop them right onto the fridge! Great gift idea for the family techie! (Or the one who thinks (s)he is! Ha!)

Linking up with some great parties!

Candy Flavoured Body Scrubs

2012-01-19T21:45:00.000-05:00

This is a fun gift that I love to make as much for myself as for someone else!

I bought cute little glass jars that resembled old fashioned candy jars. The blends were mixed in a bowl, then spooned into the jars.

Each jar got a different candy flavour: Candy Cane, Creamsicle, and Caramel. The scents were completely made with essential oils and enhanced by the types of sugar that I used. Grapeseed was my oil of choice as it is one of my favourites!

I cut the ribbon pieces and punched out the labels.

A dab of hot glue attaches the two ribbon ends together.

Another dab of glue to hold the label in place.

Put them in an organza gift bag, tie with matching ribbon, and glue a tag onto the ribbon. Ta da!

Linking up with some great parties!

Party How To: Single Serve Veggies & Dip

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Step 1: Fill shot glasses with 1 tsp dip.

Step 2: Add thinly sliced veggies.

Step 3: Add to your party table!

Linking up with some great parties!

Free Valentine Printable

2012-01-15T05:30:00.000-05:00

10 x 10 printable, print size is adjustable

Orange Girl's Bedroom Reveal!

2012-01-14T21:02:00.001-05:00

This room had a tall order:

1. It must be orange

2. It must have Nemo

3. It must grow into a teenager's room (the little lady is not into her tweens yet!)

4. It must have space for a desk for homework time

5. It must be very soft to touch

6. No overt girliness

7. No ruffles

8. Open windows (i.e. no drapes or curtains, just wooden slat blinds)

9. Pandas and polar bears should feel comfortable alongside the Nemo collection

10. Bamboo (for the pandas, of course!)

11. Storage

12. More storage

Wow! Well, we started with the orange base, and I felt like a black and white print would be a good choice to encompass the animal side of things. A zebra print on the pillow and throw blanket (which can double as a cozy rug) took care of that! A bright orange furry pillow at the back of the bed is perfect for reading.

Plain black bedding became the base and a selection of fun pillows brought in everything else, plus a good supply of fuzzy friends brought in for a cuddle. The photo collage frames on the wall above the bed show some of her favourite things, with some frames repeating the zebra print.

The first thing we utilized in the way of storage was this memo board, made from white cotton canvas and black grosgrain ribbon with white stitches on the each side. The tiny glass beads even tie into the room. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you will see what we hid in the glass beads! {Tutorial on the memo board coming soon.}

My friend's dad refinished her childhood bedroom furniture in black and it has lots of shelving which was a bonus! All those Nemos and other friends needed a place to live, after all. We hung some zebra prints here also.

There was just enough space here for something. Some new shelves were built, and a desk added into this tiny nook for a homework centre. Furry friends have a good view of the bed and windows.

And last but not least, a tiny corner for one of her bamboo plants and her bow holder that I made a couple of years ago. I love how it still fits her and her personality!

This room will be easy to transition into a teen room as {some} of the animals are replaced with older girl things. The orange, black, and white will still be fresh and, best of all, it will continue to grow with her.

She loves it, and I am so happy we were able to give her a room that is perfectly her!

Linking up with some great parties!

Spiced Pumpkin Gingerbread Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Drizzle

2012-01-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

I have been working on using up all the leftover bits and pieces out of my fridge. I had an open can of pumpkin pie filling that I needed to use up, but I was not wanting to make a pumpkin pie. I have been thinking about coffee cakes for the last day or so, and this is the result! It is super moist and wonderfully flavoured with classic gingerbread cookie spices. Plus the cinnamon caramel drizzle just sends it over the top!! Plus, I figured it was a bonus that the kids really liked it (I didn't mention the pumpkin haha!).

Ingredients:

1 generous cup pumpkin pie filling

1 egg

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

2.5 cups flour

1 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp cardamom

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, blend together pie filling, egg, oil, and vanilla.

2. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl until fully combined. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

3. In a small bowl, blend sour cream and baking soda together well. Mixture will begin to expand. Add half of this mixture to the pie filling mixture and blend well. Add the remaining dry ingredients and blend, then add the remaining sour cream mixture and blend until everything is fully incorporated.

4. Grease and flour bundt pan. Fill the pan with mixture and place in the centre of the oven. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into coffee cake comes out clean.

5. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then insert over drying rack to cool further -or- place directly onto serving plate if serving warm. Pour 1/2 cup cinnamon caramel sauce over top of coffee cake. Reserve other 1/2 cup for drizzling over individual servings. Enjoy!!

For cinnamon caramel sauce:

In small saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Whisking the whole time, cook until bubbly then cook 2 more minutes. Slowly add 1/4 cup milk and keep whisking. Cook until sauce is smooth and all sugar granules have dissolved. Yum!

Yield: just over 1 cup sauce.

Linking up with some great parties!

DIY Soft Light Sabers

2012-01-11T18:21:00.001-05:00

For my son's Star Wars-themed birthday, we set up several different types of games, all with Star Wars flavour! One of the games was a light saber duel, and we needed something that could be used without harming any of the kids. We also still needed some kind of party favour. Enter the soft light saber, a toy that is still getting lots of use in our house a year and half later!

Supplies:

foam pool noodle

electrical tape in 1-2 colours

duct tape in black

magic marker

Directions:

1. Cut the pool noodle in half.

2. Wrap one end of the pool noodle with three strips of duct tape, creating the light saber handle. Wrap each end of the duct tape in coloured electrical tape.

3. Use the magic marker (we used fat Sharpies) to darken the cut end.

4. Have fun!

Linking up with some great parties!

Bling Light Switch Cover

2012-01-09T23:54:00.001-05:00

I have been procrastinating on this girly toddler room for quite a while. Apparently so long that she really cannot be called a toddler anymore. So little girl room it is. I finally have got some things going on in here, this being my absolute most favourite of late!!! (I think it warrants extra exclamation marks! Ha!)

Supplies:

Light switch cover

E-6000 (or other craft glue)

bling! (I used several sizes of clear rhinestones)

Directions:

Glue rhinestones onto light switch cover. Start with the large and medium sizes around the interior of the switch plate and work your way to the edges. Use the super tiny size rhinestones to fill in any blank spaces.

Once finished, I waited 24 hours before hanging to ensure the glue was solid and no rhinestones were falling off. This is going in the Chanel-inspired girly girl room. I can't wait to tackle more!

Linking up with some great parties!

Neon Pancakes -aka- Pancake Tribute to the 1980's!

2012-01-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

Prep your favourite pancake recipe, and separate batter into bowls.

Preheat your frying pan or griddle while adding colour to each bowl. I use Wilton gel colours. They are super bright and you can get big colour impact with a tiny bit of gel.

Get a large spoon in each bowl. (Alternately, use one empty plastic squeeze bottle for each colour.) Spoon (or squeeze) your base colour onto the griddle. Working very quickly, add some of each colour to each pancake. I did 3 pancakes at a time, and only had about 30 seconds to get all the colours into each pancake. You will likely not end up with perfect circles here so if you have OCD tendencies, you may want to skip this! Ha!

And flip to cook the other side. You can tell I started with green!

Ta da! It is like the 80's threw up onto your pancakes! Notice the size similarities to 80's shoulder pads... He he!

Of course, my kids have no clue what the 80's are, so they just thought they were getting super awesome pancakes!

Linking up with some great parties!

Vertical Gardening

2012-01-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

I know it is barely January, but I am already thinking about my garden and how I can add some wow factor to it. Our lot is postage stamp sized, so not too much can happen.

Last year at my favourite garden centre, there was an amazing display wall with vertical plantings of succulents. I fell head over heels! So gorgeous and such a statement! My hubby does not know it yet, but we will be having some sort of vertical garden happening this summer, ha ha! Get out those power tools, baby!!

Here are a couple of vertical gardens I have been checking out lately:

I think this is called a cucumber teepee. I grew two cucumber plants this past year and used one of those round tomato cage things (can you tell I am new at this?) and thy grew like crazy all over the place. I like this idea for veggies that like to climb. Plus it looks like it would be simple to harvest it all as well. I don't have the space for a teepee this size, but still, this idea is definitely a keeper.

Photo from Veggie Gardener.

This is another great idea for veggies. Last year, in addition to cucumbers, I also planted cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and black tomatoes. I was so excited to try the black tomatoes but, even though 9 or 10 lovely tomatoes grew, I only got to try... zero. Yep, none of them made it into the house thanks to a little animal family. Not sure if it was a mouse or rabbit family but, nonetheless, I got none. The cherry tomatoes grew really well, so well that they knocked over their tomato cages several times. And the red peppers were okay even though they were completely crowded out by the cucumbers. This garden looks like a great solution though. I just love that the veggies aren't on the ground for lil critters. I am not being stingy here, but geez, my garden is supposed to actually help feed our family and not just exist solely as a critter buffet! Ha ha! Plus, the veggies are so easy to see, which would be helpful when I ask the kids to go pick the veggies!

Garden photo from Gardening with Kids.

I. love. this! It is housed in a restaurant in Palo Alto, but can you imagine a small version for home? Love the black, love the chalk writing, love the amazing amount of herbs, love it all!!

Photo found at Food Gal.

Love this! And it's even in the kitchen! It looks like it's up against the side of the fridge perhaps. How wonderful to grab fresh herbs daily, and I would expect that the scent would be heavenly! Plus the pop of green is just a bonus.

Found at Design Squish here.

How cute is this one? I love the vintage vibe from the old window. The plants peeking out can have such variety - I think there are actually some strawberries on the left side in the first or second vertical panel. I could see this up against my fence near my lavender plants!

Photo found at Restored Style.

I saved this one for last! It is just breathtaking. Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing this every day! J'adore!

From NY Times.

Check out some other vertical garden photos pinned to my Gardens board on Pinterest. Now I am off to dream of green!

Piña Colada Smoothie

2012-01-02T22:06:00.000-05:00

After a green Christmas and a green New Year’s, our weather has finally decided to be normal and bring on some snow. Hubby is outside shoveling for the second time today, and I am sure it is going to be all hands-on-deck shoveling in the morning if the weather channel is right. So I guess that means a 50-50 chance, right? Ha ha!

Even though it is the middle of winter, I wanted to feel a bit of summer today and, as such, decided to whip up a smoothie reminiscent of hot summer nights!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 banana

1/2 cup pineapple

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup coconut milk

6 ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

Pulse in a blender until ice is crushed. Super yummy!

Linking up with some great parties!

I Don't Have a Mantle to Decorate

2011-12-10T13:09:00.001-05:00

Today is the final day of Creating Christmas! It has been so fun to hook up with The Girl Creative - thanks, Diana!

In our old house, we had a lovely wood-burning fireplace. I loved to roast marshmallows, curl up with a good book, and just watch the fire. Plus it was super cosy! And I loved the fact that I had a mantle to decorate at Christmas.

I love checking out all the beautifully decorated Christmas mantles on blogs and Pinterest, but... I have no mantle to decorate! I make up for it by decorating the tops of bookcases, dressers, china cabinets, etc.

I simply swap out some of the everyday decor with Christmas balls and ornaments. This is my grandmother's china cabinet that she gave us a few years ago. The tall candlesticks, both red vases, clock, and black tealight holders are there year round, along with some other things I have removed until January rolls around again.

I added a clear vase full of ornaments, a 3D silver star, and red Christmas balls on top of the black tealight holders. I also added sheer burgundy ribbon around the tall candlesticks and a bottlebrush wreath to the cabinet door. Now it is festive!

To this dresser, I added a bowl of Christmas balls with a few picks and a glittery ornament. Even a couple hints of Christmas will add so much!

As we wrap up Creating Christmas week I hope that you have all been inspired to stop pinning and start creating! I’m excited to see what everyone has been working on. This Christmas Linky Party is no ordinary party. This is a blog hop. And what that means is that there are 18 FABULOUS bloggers that are hosting this party at their very own blog. Whether you add your project link here or at any of the other 17 co-hosts blogs, it will show up on one huge party list! Awesome!

If you haven’t already, please take the time out to visit the other co-hosts and go through their Creating Christmas posts. There is some really neat projects! The Girl Creative, Que Linda Crafts, The Cottage Market, Love Lindsey, Domestic Mischief, Chicken Scratch, Love Sweet Love, Randee’s Organized Chaos, Musings of a Glamour Puss, Anastacia Knits, Southern Scraps, Modern Yet Old Fashioned, Broken Treasures, Alyssabeth’s, Domestic Deadline, Life on Walnut Street, 52 Mantels, The Glamorous Life

The Rules are SiMpLe:

Add a link to a project that YOU have created!
Visit the 2 links ahead of you and check out what they’ve got going on. Leave some comment love. Tis the season for giving after all. {wink wink}
HAVE FUN AND BE INSPIRED!!

Michael's Knock Off Chenille Chain Garland

2011-12-09T18:36:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Day 6 of Creating Christmas!

I was at Michael's the other day checking out all the Christmas fabulousness, and saw these:

Chenille Chain Garlands! These are made exactly like the paper chains you made probably every single year when you were little. Except these were basically made with pipe cleaners!

All you need is a pair of scissors and your pipe cleaners, and you are good to go!

Cut into desired length. I cut mine in thirds.

Make a loop and twist the ends around each other.

Thread a new piece of pipe cleaner through your loop, and loop again. Repeat.

So cute for a kid's tree! I think it would be awesome in metallic colours like copper and gold!

Linking up with some great parties!

Pompom Ornaments

2011-12-08T00:24:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Day 5 of Creating Christmas! I can't believe the event is half over now!

The whole idea behind this event is to create and not just pin! Ha! I must admit I have pinned every day this week... but I also created every day as well, so I guess that is okay. Ahhh, Pinterest is just soooo addicting! (P.S. You can check out my Pinterest if you click the link on in right column!)

Without further ado, here is my Christmas creation:

Supplies

Hot glue gun

Styrofoam ball

8” piece of yarn

Pompoms

Directions

1. Glue pompoms onto Styrofoam ball, making sure each one is securely attached before letting go! I held the ball in my hand to hold the pompoms tightly against the ball to ensure the glue was really working well! I didn’t want any pompoms popping off later (and they haven’t).

2. Glue both ends of the yarn to the ball for the hook. Make sure it is covered by a pompom.

These pompom ornaments are a perfect accompaniment to the homespun ornaments on my son’s tree. :)

Linking up with some great parties!

Homespun Style Ornaments

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Day 4 of Creating Christmas!

At our home, the main tree is finally almost done! Yay! And it smells so good! I love the Christmas tree smell; it just makes me want to curl up in a big chair with a hot tea and a good book with only the tree lights on.

We can't finish our tree for another day or two... Is it just me, or do the ornament hooks disappear every. single. year.? I even had the bag out to do two trees, then we were doing one additional tree, and off they went. (I had two brand new boxes of hooks in addition to all the other hooks in the bag.) Hubby had to go out to Walmart to get more, but they were sold out. So he went out again the next day to a different store and got me two boxes. They're all used up and I have another 30 ornaments or so left to hang... Gotta find those missing hooks! Ahhh!

Each one of our trees has a different theme and colour scheme. My daughter has her pink glam tree, my son has a vintage toy inspired tree, the upstairs tree is gold and natural elements, and the main {real} tree is almost always red with metallics. I thought I would focus my new-found ornament skills on my son's tree. It has all the wooden ornaments from my childhood tree on it like rocking horses, nutcrackers, and angels, as well as some miscellaneous things like s'mores ornaments, Starbucks mittens (from gift cards) and hot rod car ornaments. It's really cute, but I wanted something else to add to it. So here is what I did...

SUPPLIES

yarn

buttons (if desired)

hot glue gun

styrofoam ball

DIRECTIONS

Begin by gluing a tiny length of yarn onto the styrofoam ball. Begin to make a tight circle of yarn, gluing as you go.

Keep wrapping and gluing, wrapping and gluing. When you are almost done, cut a separate length of yarn about 8 inches long and glue both ends together to the ball. This will become the hook for the ornament. (Alternately, once finished, just loop a length and glue it down. Trim the end off.)

Finish wrapping and gluing.

Glue buttons on the yarn if you would like. My buttons are actually vintage buttons from my grandmother's button box.

You can also wrap the yarn in different patterns, just be aware that the time will increase depending on the complexity of your pattern. I made one with different sizes of circles and it took me about 3 times as long to cover the whole ball.

I also made one that resembles a ball of yarn. I just wrapped the yarn in various directions all over the styrofoam ball, making sure that no white spots were showing. Then I tied several loose pieces around the outside in order to have little yarn ends poking out here and there.

Linking up with some great parties!

DIY Gem Ornaments

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hooray! It's Day 3 of Creating Christmas! I am so glad to be a co-host with several other lovely ladies and The Girl Creative!

Without further ado, here is today's Christmas craftiness!

I had some leftover gems from this project, so I thought some coordinating ornaments would be cute. My daughter's tree is pink, pink, and more pink with silver. Her ornaments are sequined and the lights are globe-shaped. Some of the gems are teardrop shaped and her garland is silver cubes, so we are really rocking the geometric shapes here! Ha!

Simply put an ornament hook through the gem hole (resize the hook to fit) and hang it on the tree!

So easy and cute. I think this would be really precious done on a tree with only beads and pearls.

Linking up with some great parties!

Old Christmas Decor in New Ways

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

It is Day 2 of Creating Christmas!

This Christmas I am aiming to reuse the decorations that I have in ways I have never used them (or at least, not recently). Here are some samples of things I made today...

A tealight holder became an modern-style ornament display for a windowsill.

When I decorate for Christmas, I sometimes reuse currently displayed vases or jars which means I have to store everything that is normally in the container. I had dumped out a vase of red glass stones to be used for Christmas balls instead. I was planning to store the glass stones until January but hey, they're red and it's Christmas! I tried them in a couple of places, didn't like them, and into a jar they went.

I pulled out my sleigh (that was filled with silver bead garland from the year before) and emptied it out. I thought about filling it with some wrapped stocking stuffers, but I did that a couple of years ago. So I left the sleigh and went back to the beads.

I thought the beads and glass stones might look cute so I grabbed an empty vase and started stringing the beads in. I added a couple of stones every once in while. A sparkly red glitter Christmas ball went on top. It's cute! I am not sure where it is going to go yet, but I think it's a keeper! Just something a little different.

Then the sleigh came back out and I saw some beaded stars that my daughter had unwrapped right next to the beaded fruits. In went one apple, one pear, one cluster of grapes, and two stars. I had one star left so it got hung on the side of the sleigh.

I placed the sleigh on a half wall and wanted a little something extra with it so I found some metallic XL tulle (leftovers from here) and some bits of raffia for a base. Three gold mini balls in matte, shiny, and glitter were the finishing touch. I think this is my most favourite way I have ever used the sleigh!

Linking up with some great parties!

Lace Christmas Tree T-shirt Tutorial

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

It is Day 1 of Creating Christmas!

I was planning to do a green lace tree on a white shirt with red beads but when hubby went out to the store to get me a shirt, they were all out of the white type I wanted. So he came back with a light pink shirt and a striped pink/white shirt. Oh well! Thanks anyway, Baby! So instead of classic Christmas red, white, and green, I give you vintage Christmas in pink, ivory, and tan!

Supplies:

t-shirt

lace, ribbon, tulle, or other

thread

needle

sequins, beads, pearls, flat gems, etc. (if desired)

Directions:

1. Lay out the shirt to figure out where you want to put the lace tree.

2. Cut the first length of lace. This will be the base of your tree, so make sure it is the longest piece.

3. Sew the first piece on, slightly angling it like a smile. Add more pieces of lace, overlapping each piece as you go. Each length should be slightly shorter than the last. I used four different types: three laces and one metallic tulle.

4. Add rosettes near the neckline to be the tree topper. To make the rosettes: Knot the thread then sew a loose stitch along one edge of the lace. Pull the thread to make the lace gather into ruffles and sew off the end with a knot when you have enough gathered lace to make your rosette.

(You could also use a vintage brooch {which I almost did!}, buttons, or cut a star out of felt.) Also, you could add beads, sequins, etc., to be the ornaments. I was going to do this, but once the tree was made, I liked the simplicity of it as it was.

I just can't get over how cute this is!

Hair Extensions Giveaway!

2011-12-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

Run, don't walk!, over to Tatertots and Jello as Jen is hosting an amazing giveaway from Hello Gorgeous Hair Extensions! These clip-in extensions are made from human hair.

Check out the site; it's amazing stuff! :D

Fingers crossed!!

Christmas Tree Crayons

2011-12-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

I wanted to make new crayons from the huge amount of broken ones we have! I have seen so many crayon-makeover tutorials around the blogosphere, but this one is different because (1) they are Christmas trees, (2) I used glitter!, and (3) they are gradient-friendly! Ha ha!

Supplies:

crayons

silicone ice cube tray

glitter

lots of little people to peel the crayon papers off!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 225 F. Peel the paper wrappers off the crayons and chop into small pieces.

Assemble similar shades of colours together; pack tightly into a silicone ice cube tray. Add a pinch or two of a similar shade glitter.

Place in the oven for 5 minutes. Check to see if the crayons are thoroughly melted. If so, remove carefully and place on counter to cool completely. If not, leave tray in the oven and check every minute or two until fully melted. Once cooled, pop out of the tray and enjoy!

I think they are so festive!! I am going to do a couple trays of these for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers!

Linking up with some great parties!

DIY Floral Arrangement

2011-11-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

Supplies:

Bowl/vase

Floral foam

Filler (flowers, sticks, etc.)

Something to cover the foam

Directions:

Step 1: Fill your vessel with floral foam. I just grabbed this bowl from the kitchen because (1) it was white, (2) modern lines, and (3) it was there!

Step 2: Start inserting the main pieces. I trimmed branches from one of my bushes outside last year and spray painted them white after they thoroughly dried out.

Step 3: Once the main filler is all in, add in the special pieces. I used two peacock feathers that I trimmed down to size.

These are cute glitter-covered gold branches that I cut apart into little sprays and added in all over. They went in last as they were the shortest.

Step 4: Cover up the floral foam with something cute! Marbles, moss, fruit, pebbles... the possibilities are endless!

Here is the finished product! (Yes, more decor for the bathroom! I have to put something in there while the plans are coming into place!!)

Linking up with some great parties!