Happy Friday everyone. It has been a busy week around here…B-U-S-Y. Busy not with fun creative and decorative stuff, but boring cleaning stuff – yep, cleaning, you know the water and scrub-brushing kind! You don’t read about that much here, but it does happen on occasion.

Now that it is nearing the end of May the start of outdoor living and entertaining has arrived. I had to get my butt in gear to get my deck, patio, and backyard in general – fit for outdoor living.  I prefer interior decorating over exterior any day, but I do love to be outside and want to make the outdoor space at my house as nice as afford-ably possible.  When it comes to getting the outside DIY done, the words – chores and drudgery come to my mind.    Tasks is how I have to think of them or I would be too overwhelmed by all that has to be done.  I completed one of these “tasks”  this week with the help of my daughter.

My backyard gets full sun all day, but we still end up with lots of mold and  mildew all over – YUCK-O!!!  It won’t come off with soap and water – the big guns have to come out and I have found the best big gun to get rid of all of it is with a few pumps of a trigger.

Here is the gross BEFORE of the rails around my deck.

This year I got to do this chore “task” in style as the makers of Bogs Footwear sent me a pair of their waterproof boots to try out.  They were the perfect footwear for the wet and messy job I took on.

The “big cleaning gun and trigger” I needed to use to get this job done – Clorox Pro Results Outdoor Bleach.  They are not paying me for this post. This stuff works wonders and makes cleaning my deck and outside furniture truly – EASY!  All you need is a bucket, sponge or scrub brush, rubber gloves and boots to protect your hands and feet. If you are going to clean something high, I would recommend safety glasses so that when you rinse with a  hose, the spray doesn’t get in your eyes.

Tilex brand also makes a Mold and Mildew formula. I have used both and they both do the job – excellently!!!  What I like about them is that bottle has a handle that you can carry around as well as a hose and trigger spray that makes it easy to walk around and simply spray all the yucky mold and mildew away.  I bought both at Lowes.

Once you have the mildewed surfaces sprayed, let it sit for awhile and then hose it off. If there are any stubborn spots, use a scrub brush.

My older daughter helped – she thinks the boots are ultra cool, and has been wearing them to garden over the last few weeks, too.  I picked out the Classic Mid Lanai 52483-400  that are just high enough that your feet stay dry if you step in a big puddle or are using a hose and not too tall that they would be uncomfortably hot as a higher boot would be in the summer months.

They are quite roomy and my feet stayed dry the entire time I worked, even with everything around me soaking wet.

AFTER spraying and rinsing the cleaner off, the deck rails were all white again.

I also needed to do the patio chairs.  I did the work, my daughter modeled so I could take photos.  :)

If you have mold and mildew problems, you know soap and water will not remove it. Before I found out how well the Clorox/Tilex cleaners work, I was ready to throw the chairs out.  Not anymore – they look as good as new after one treatment.   I am just thrilled to have them look good again.

I was also thrilled with the boots.  When I first took them out of the box, I could feel the high quality of the construction and knew they were going to be much better than the flimsy pair I bought at Target a few years ago.  They also smelled like tires – car tires so I knew they were going to be tough.

Bogs boots come in many different styles, prints, and colors – all are warm, waterproof, and ready for all-weather conditions.  They have men’s, women’s, and kids outdoor, casual, industrial, hunting and agricultural industries boots.

My daughter also wore them when she planting a veggie garden a few weeks ago.  She had been stomping in mud and muck and told me her feet stayed warm and dry, plus she never brought the caked-in mud into the garage or mud room because she simply hosed them off, soles and all while she had them on.   They looked like new after hosing off.

They are a little heavy, but once you walk around for a while, they are nothing but comfy and easy to work in.

They only come in whole sizes and fit true to size. There is plenty of room to wear thick socks if needed as I think they are a tad roomier than most boots. My daughter agreed with me. I also think my daughter

has taken ownership of them she likes them so much.  Of course I will let her have them especially since she has been such a huge help in getting the back yard summer ready.

It always takes some doing to get me going with the cleaning and drudgery tasks, but once I start I always seem to get on a roll and get it all done.   I am now rewarded for all my hard work  – My backyard, deck, and patio are ready for summer. I hope it is a good one with lots of perfect sunny days to sit outside and enjoy.

I started this morning and ate my breakfast outside – it was a perfect.  I have to thank Bogs Footwear and the Clorox/Tilex cleaners for helping me make it happen.

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Disclaimer:  Bogs Footwear supplied me with one pair of boots in exchange for a review.  See my disclosure policy for more information.

I have a hand me down stool in my studioffice that I use when I am at my work table. It used to have black and white checked fabric stapled to the top. I never painted it, but it sure was covered with paint from all of the projects I complete in my studioffice. I recently removed the paint and glue splattered fabric and was left with a plain brown wood stool.

As I am updating all the furnishings in the room, this handy plain stool has long been overlooked and was way overdue for some love.  I finally painted it pink and added some preppy ribbon around it to give it a new bright and cheery life.  It has a very rough finish and after painting it, I realized it was not going to look perfect, so I opted to age it to make it purposely look flawed and aged.  Old school meets new school.

I gathered and mixed all the leftover pink paint that I had on hand from other projects until I filled up a measuring cup. I then added 2 T non-sanded grout along with some water to make chalk paint. This is the color it produced.  Works perfectly for the color scheme I am using. I added a layer of paste wax over it and buffed it to a shine that brings the color to life and will help protect the painted finish.

Supplies needed:

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How to evenly place the nail heads around the stool

I eyeballed mine and it came out perfectly, but that was luck!  I could not figure out how to write this step here in the tutorial so you could easily do it yourself. I figured there was some way to do it mathematically. I asked my hubs and he started calculating, but then my daughter asked what we where doing and I told her my tutorial writing dilemma.   She said why don’t you just do this:   Slapping hand on head – “Now why didn’t I think of that” – “thanks Kelly”. XO

1. Measure the circumference around the seat with a piece of string.   Take the string and fold it in half, keep folding it in half, until it is as long as you would like the nail heads to be spaced.  Then mark the loops with a magic marker. When it is unrolled – you have a guide as to where to place each nail.  You can add as many nail heads or as little as you want. I didn’t want to hide the ribbon too much so 3 inches worked well.

To attach ribbon to seat edge:

2. Fold over one end of ribbon about 1/2-inch and hammer in first furniture nail head– but don’t hammer it all the way in, let it stick out a bit for now.  Continue adding the furniture nail heads around the stool seat.

3. When you get back to the first nail head, pry the first nail out and tuck the other end of the ribbon under the starting end of the ribbon. Pull taut and then hammer the nail in all the way. This will give you a nice finished edge.

The stripe in the ribbon acts as a guide making lining up the nail heads in a straight line easy. I put each nail tip into the thin pink stripe on the ribbon.   The nail heads I bought where a little soft and a few of them bent when I began to hammer them in.   When tapping with the hammer – keep it as centered as possible on the nail head so it won’t bend.  If it does- remove with the claw part of the hammer and use a new nail head.

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It is a beautiful day here today and I am going to unplug and go out and enjoy it.  Hubs and I are going to pack a picnic lunch and go on a long bike trail ride.  Before I go I wanted to share a few things with you.

My Best Ideas

If you follow me on Facebook, G+, or Twitter you may have seen the link I posted to see me in action over at ivillage.com. They just launched a new series called My Best Ideas where they showcase simple ideas to make life easier.   The Kisster sisters are the hosts. They are so cute. Watching them makes me smile since I have a twin sister, too.  They contacted me back in February and asked me what I would do with an earring that has lost its mate.  If you would like to see all 1:46 seconds of the segment here is is:

Last Minute Mother’s Day Gift Idea

Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift idea?    Grab some pretty fabric and Mod Podge to cover a flower pot bought at a garden center.  Christine Chitnis made these pretty pots.

No Fabric?  Try covering a plain pot with book pages.

Or gift wrap to transform a plastic pot into something decorative.

And lastly – Wishing all moms a very

Hope you have a wonderful weekend  – Enjoy!

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Remember the cute little brown table I found at the thrift store? I finally finished transforming it.

Before

My $5.90 thrift store find.

After

I removed the wheels and added ball accents to the top corners.  The wheels made it too tall next to the chair I placed it by. I saved them, if I ever want to use the table somewhere else.   The table was a bit beat up so instead of trying to make it perfect, I made DIY chalk paint and gave it a distressed white finish.  It is exactly the type of table I have been searching for to go with the big white chair in my family room.

I made a few variations for it.  Mirror inserts are one. I can just imagine some candles and greenery on the mirrors when the holidays come around.  The mirrors on  the top and bottom will reflect the light and add to the holiday glow.

If you want a distressed or aged patina on the furniture you makeover – chalk paint is the way to do it. Not chalk board paint, but paint that has a chalky finish that beautifully distresses and then gets buffed with wax. Annie Sloan is the brand that is just beautiful, but it is pricey.   This is my first time working with this type of paint. I am sold… and I didn’t even use the real stuff, I made a DIY version. Although I think the next time I will buy the Annie Sloan clear wax since the Minwax on white paint adds an orange tint on rough spots.  I had to redo them to get them white again.

I was inspired to paint this table a bright fun color like one of the tables from oomph.  I adore this site and browse frequently for inspiration.

But I could not commit to any one color, so I went about adding some color in a different way.  The table top is slightly recessed so I bought inexpensive hardboard and had it cut to size to use as inserts for the table top and bottom shelf.

I painted each one a different color so I would have lots of color options and never tire of the table.

I love color, but I also love change.  One day I may be in a pink mood…

and can simply change out the color when I am feeling more of a turquoise vibe, or just to fit my mood, day, or an occasion.

Materials I Used:

1. Carefully drill a hole in each ball. Make sure to keep the drill bit straight as you make the hole.   You want to go as deep as one half of the screw. Be careful not to drill right through the ball like I did.  Luckily I only needed four and six come in a pack. 

2. Insert a dowel screw into each ball.

3. I added the wood ball embellishment to each of the top corners. I painted the table before I purchased the wood balls and ended up painted the wood balls once they were attached.  You could attach them first and paint everything at once.  You can also see in this photo how the brown hardboard/mirror inserts fit into the top of the table.

4. -  1. Drill a hole into each corner. 2. Insert the other side of the dowel screw that is in the wood ball into the drilled hole.

It will look like this.

Repeat on each corner and then paint.

I made my own chalk style paint using this recipe.  I only needed a little bit of each color, so I cut the amounts in half. I used one bottle of craft paint for each board’s color.

I used a paint stick to stir the mix until it was fairly smooth; you can add a tiny bit of water to get a brush-on consistency.  I applied it fairly thick since I knew I would be sanding it smooth once it was dry.

After the paint was dry, I distressed the edges by rubbing all over with medium grit sandpaper wrapped in a sanding block.  I sanded the edges and cleaned all the sanding grit off with a damp rag.   I applied a thin coat Minwax with a soft cloth all over the table and boards.  I let it dry overnight and then used another soft cloth and  buffed the waxed surfaces to give them a nice glow.

The application of finishing paste wax truly makes the finish look professional.  Chalk paint requires no priming or sanding before painting, which saves a lot of time, but it does require the wax finish which is another step, so it is just a time trade-off. I loved working with the paint and will definitely use it again.

Basic white

Painted inserts

Mirror inserts

I am loving my $5.90 table.  I am happy I decided to duck my head into the thrift store “just real quick” one day a month ago because you never know what you will find.  It is always hit or miss, but you have to keep looking to find the treasures.

More to tell you…

I have a new post up over on My Colortopia on how I painted the  doors in my foyer to match my staircase risers.

I also wanted to announce the-

Winner of the $100 Home Depot Gift Card

Congratulations!!!

Stay tuned. If you didn’t win this time, I will be having another $100 Home Depot Gift Card next month to help you celebrate Father’s Day.  XO

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If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I love to be outside and have this thing for outdoor lighting. I think it can make or break the mood of an evening spent outside so I am always looking for new ways to best light my deck and patio for different occasions.

I cannot take credit for coming up with this idea for this trendy outdoor light.  I have to thank the creative team at Lowes that puts together their free Creative Ideas Magazine for the idea.

I am at Lowes almost every day.  It is really close to my house which is good and bad, but it sure helps when I need to pick up supplies for my projects.  Last week when I was there, I picked up a copy of the latest issue of Lowes Creative Ideas.  When I got home and flipped through the pages and saw these DIY globe lights, I knew I had to make one.  Since Lowes is so close, back I went to buy a glass globe. They had one left so I think I am not the only one who loved this project idea.

They used twine and paint to make their version, but when I went to my basement to get some twine, I didn’t have any.

I could have gone back to Lowes to get some, but since I am a DIY loving girl, I searched through my stash and came up with something else to use.   I found gold hardware store chain that I used to make jewelry and some jump rings. I am calling  the one I made the glam version.   :)

To make an Outdoor Hanging Light you will need:

1.  Measure around globe and cut a piece of chain to that size.

2. Attach it with a jump ring. Make sure it is very snug. I initially made it too big and ended up removing one more link so it was snug.

3. Figure out where and how low you want it to hang and cut 3 pieces of chain the exact same size. Count the links if necessary. If one of the chains is longer, the globe will hang crookedly.  Attach each chain with a jump ring evenly spaced around the chain which goes around the lip of the globe.  Then attach the ends together with another jump ring. I used a very large one as this will be what you hook the globe on to hang.

4. To keep the globe from getting wax in it, you can use battery operated candles, tea lights, or even place a tea light in a glass votive for extra protection.  You can also fill the bottom with sand to help keep the candle secure.

I hung this on the pergola on my deck to take the photo, but I think I am going to  move it to the side entrance of my house and hang it on a wall mounted swing arm style plant hanger for added impact.

Later in the week I was at Home Depot to buy some Glidden paint and found these outdoor glass light covers.  I usually use cleaned out pickle jars for the candles I use on my outdoor tables, but these are prettier and only $3.50 each – plus they complement the hanging globe light.

I placed tea lights inside each. They just glow – so pretty.

Lowes is not paying me to write this post. I just find their magazine very inspiring. You can pick up a free copy at Lowes or sign up to get a copy of Lowes Creative Ideas  delivered right to your home.

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This giveaway has ended.

Mother’s Day is on Sunday May 13. That is next weekend!  Have you gotten your mom anything yet?

The wonderful people at Home Depot have partnered with me and are planting ideas for Mother’s Day this spring with customized gift cards that moms can use to create their dream garden, flower bed or outdoor living space.  If mom isn’t into gardening, then perhaps she could use a new lamp, rug, or paint supplies to redo a room in her home.

The Home Depot gift cards make gift-giving fast and easy, and are the perfect last-minute gift, plus you can add the personal touch by choosing from dozens of unique designs or customizing one online with your own photo and message.  Now that is SWEEEEEET!

Look how clever this gift card is -  It acts as a plant stake!

The Home Depot gift card can be used toward the purchase of merchandise at homedepot.com and any of The Home Depot stores.

$100 at Home Depot!!! It could be yours to give Mom or to keep as a Mother’s Day gift to yourself.  All you have to do is enter for a chance to win.

Giveaway has ended.

-Simply leave me a comment on this post.

I will choose the winner using random.org at the end of the day Tuesday May 8th. If you would like to find out more information about The Home Depot gift cards you can follow The Home Depot on Twitter and Facebook.

Good Luck!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend. XO

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The Home Depot partnered with bloggers such as me to help promote their gift cards. As part of this promotion, I received a gift card(s) to share with my readers. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products. The Home Depot believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.The winner of this giveaway will be randomly chosen and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.

I am no Bakerella, and Joy the Baker has no need to fear as I hardly ever enter my kitchen to cook or bake. I do make a good cup of tea though and frequently throughout the day need to enter the kitchen to “put the kettle on” as my Irish friend, Neve says :)  All kidding aside, from time to time I need to turn on the oven for more than a frozen pizza when  I need to bake a cake and decorate it in a festive way to help celebrate certain occasions.  Recently I was reminded of a way my mom used to decorate cakes and immediately wanted to share it with you.

Nine times out of ten every cake I have ever made comes out a bit – sad, lopsided, or burnt on the edges. It never looks like something you would see on a food blog or in a magazine.   After it cools, I say to myself  “Oh, I will just disguise all the imperfections with lots of icing”, but then as I begin to ice – the top slides off – yes it has happened, or the crumbs from the cake mix in with the icing – not pretty.  My mom wasn’t a baker either, but she always wanted everything to look nice and festive. One year when I was a teenager, she came up with the easiest way ever to decorate a cake for my younger sister’s birthday.

My mom found curled ribbon gift toppers at the dollar store and used them as the perfect way to decorate a cake when you are not a cake decorator, have no time to get out piping bags and food coloring, or want to do something a little different.  The dollar store carries every color imaginable so you are sure to find a color to fit any occasion or theme.  3 come on each card. I used all three to make each cake topper shown in the photo above.

She glued the center of the curled ribbons to the little white plastic risers that hold up the inside center of a pizza box so the pizza cheese doesn’t stick to the inside lid.  When the glue was dry, she pressed the legs of the riser into the center of the cake to secure the ribbons.

Those  risers are hard to come by nowadays, so I used what I had plenty of – birthday cake candle holders. They are much smaller, but work just as well. If you don’t have any – all you need is something that has a flat surface to glue the ribbons to and a thin section to press into the cake.

To glue the curled ribbons to the candle holder:  Center first section of ribbon  onto a candle holder. Use hot glue to secure. Hold it in place until it is cool.

Add the second bunch on top of the first, but in the other direction so the center of each bunch of curled ribbons intersects on top of the candle holder.

Glue the last bunch on top of the second, but on the diagonal so that the ribbons are evenly placed around the candle holder.

Once the glue is cool, press the candle holder into the center of the cake and arrange the ribbon curls if necessary.  All imperfections hidden, just festive and ready to WOW the crowd.  When it is time to cut the cake, simply remove the ribbons and place around the sides of the cake plate so the cake still looks festive.

If the cake is for a birthday, use tall candles so the flame will be high above the ribbon.

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I was hoping for a bright sunny start to May, but it is stormy and overcast here today.

May 1 for me is a little bit like New Year’s Day – in that it is a time of transition – transitioning to living and spending more time outdoors. It feels so energizing to know I can take a walk without a heavy winter coat and eat meals outside once again.  The best part for me though…

…to be able to have all the windows open in the house.

Last Thursday night I needed to buy more white tissue paper for the flowers I made for my dining room and when I went to the garage to get in the car to drive there – the garage was empty.   I forgot that my daughter took my car and my hubby was out, too.  If it were still cold outside, I would have just had to wait to go get the paper, but since it was nice and still light out, I hopped on my bike and went to the store. It was not a hard ride and I was back home within an hour. It felt so good being able to get out in the fresh air like that – on a whim, no planning at all – plus I was able to start making flowers.

Transitioning to spending more time outside also adds to my “To Do” list.   I have many projects lined up and the materials to do them all ready– I just need to tackle them one by one to get them completed. In a perfect world I would be able to focus on one at a time, but I usually end up jumping around from project to project because I want to make sure I thought it through first and then go back to it when I know that I am sure.  Another reason I end up jumping around is that life gets in the way of your plans and you have to stop doing one thing to take care of another.

That is the case with what I have been working on behind the scenes. I have been helping my older daughter declutter her room. She hasn’t truly lived in her room since she left for college 7 years ago.  She lived at home for a few months after graduating while waiting to start her service in the Peace Corps. That was two years ago and now she is embarking in a new direction come August – her own apartment and medical school.  She has been home for a little over a month now getting used to life back in the states and going through the process of editing and decluttering all of her belongings. When she moves into an apartment she told me she wants it to look decorated – not just a Hodge-podge of stuff.  I had to smile at that description and I will be very happy to help her out.

We have a staging area set up in the basement for items not only for her apartment, but my youngest daughter’s, too. She is graduating from college in 3 weeks and will be bringing home the contents of her apartment with her.  It will all go in the basement staging area until she needs it again in the fall.  I am sure once she gets home, she will go into major declutter mode, too.    She is going to work as an intern on a farm for 5 months and won’t need much in the way of furnishings until the fall.  She will be living in a tent with no electricity  The most important furnishings for her are going to be the battery operated and crank style lamps and solar charger her sister used in Africa to see in the dark and stay connected to the world.

You may recall when I posted a tour of my house for the Parade of Homes House Tour.– I intentionally taped off their rooms since they were truly lacking life – both rooms – just museums of their childhood, because that is what they have become.  A curated collection of their lives well-lived frozen in time.  The stuff that they needed to grow up with, but no longer need in their grown-up lives.

When they were teenagers, I let them each decorate their rooms as they wanted. I helped them paint and showed them how to hang their stuff on the walls. The rest was up to them.  They asked my opinion from time to time, but they created the rooms they wanted.  I never had my own room as a child and dearly wanted one so that I could have a place to call my own.  That is why I wanted them to create the rooms the way they envisioned. I also think it is the reason, I love my studioffice so much. We all need that space, even if it is a teeny tiny space we carve out somewhere to help nurture us and our creative spirit.

She is using the guest room as her staging area to bag and box up all the unneeded stuff. There is a lot of it!  I can see she is enjoying the process and it is making her feel good.  That is what a good decluttering can do  – make you smile and clear the way to happily move on with life. I see her smile from time to time when she takes something off the shelf and remembers playing with it – a fond memory, but the object can move-on now to make someone else happy.

She found a place to send her trophies where they refurbish them for kids activities and programs that can’t afford to buy them new. It is called Lamb Awards.  It is the only place she could find that accepts them anymore. Most have stopped the service as they received too many. At Lamb Awards you have to tell them what you have and wait for them to tell you when to ship them. You do have to pay $21, so you have to really want to give them a new home and help an underprivileged kid out.

Even her cat, Trax is getting in on the action.  “Hey, look at me – if I stay still enough to resemble one of your many stuffed animals and figurines will you pack me away in a box, too?”  He loves boxes!

She told me she would repaint the room, but I told her if she could live with the color for a few months, it would be easier once she moves out. I will probably paint it a neutral color so if we move the room will be ready to go.

Here is the first area that has been decluttered.   She brought 3 pieces of fabric art home with her made by African women.  I helped her make wood frames to staple each piece on. She then glued ribbon all along the sides. This is the largest of the three.   The saying is true – That the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like me, she has a thing for the color purple, too.

Once all the stuff is bagged up to take to the thrift store the guest room will be nice and neat for approximately 3 weeks before daughter # 2 comes home and will want to do the same with the unneeded stuff in her room.

Perhaps I should give the room a new name – as it hasn’t seen many guests lately –0nly piles of unneeded stuff.

While I haven’t been helping my daughter, I have been working on the brown table with the wheels I found at a thrift store. It is almost done. I will post about it later this week.

I also have new post over at Momtastic with a tutorial on how I made Dalmatian blinds for a child’s room.

I hope you enjoy May Day!  It is getting a little brighter here – maybe the sun will show after all and I can spend some time outside enjoying the spring splendor that is popping up all around.

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I know terrariums and succulents are all the rage right now, but I have to admit – they hold no appeal for me. I love nature and like to bring living things into my home whenever I can, but I go for it in the way of flowers.   Big flowers with huge blooms like hydrangeas and peonies.  Ooooh…la…la…  I love ‘em!

With hub’s unemployment I haven’t bought any fresh flowers and rely on fake to give me my flower fix. I even stopped buying massive flats of annuals that I normally do every Spring to plant outside because of the price.

Last week while on Pinterest I came across this photo and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind ever since.  I was in desperate need to have these flowers in my home.  I love everything about the room, but the simple white flowers – became an obsession! I had to have them, but how?

Linda McDonald Design

I know I could never find them fresh in my area this time of year and even if I did they would cost $20 or more, so I decided the only way I was going get them was to go fake, but even fake are expensive.   Instead, I did a little Semi-Homemade makeover on fake flowers I bought at the dollar store.

This is what I created by taking apart dollar store flowers and styling new blooms from tissue paper. I am very happy with how they turned out.  Total cost:  $4.00.

After seeing that Pinterest photo I knew white blooms would make my dining room look a teeny tiny bit more like the room in the photo since it is done in all neutrals.

1. Lay 5 layers of tissue paper cut to 8” x 14” on top of each other.  Accordion fold,

2.  Find center and staple. Then wrap a 5” piece of wire around.  Round edges with scissors.

3.  Carefully begin to spread out each layer of tissue paper to start forming the flower.

4. Fluff so that most of the petals are to one side, unless you want to make pom-pom flowers to hang.

5.  You can see the fake rose bouquet I bought at the dollar store in the left hand side of the photo below.  Pull off all the flower heads.  You will expose the wire stem tops.  You want to attach the tissue paper flowers to these wire stems.

6.  I poked the tip into the center of the tissue paper flower and then wrapped the wire around the stem to secure. You could also bend the tip of the fake flower stem to create a hook to wrap the flower and the wire around.  I did a few each way. Cover the wire with florist tape.

In this photo you can see I have most of the tissue paper flowers attached to the fake bouquet stems.

BEFORE: White Rose bouquet I took apart on the right.    AFTER: Tissue paper flowers  on the left.

I used the fake bouquet because the work of arranging the heights of each stem/bloom is already done for you. You could also gather up a bunch of branches from your yard and attach the paper flowers.

To make them look more realistic – put water in your vase.

There are so many ways to make gorgeous bouquets of paper flowers. Look what Aunt Peaches did with coffee filters.

Aunt Peaches

Pretty roses from tissue paper.

The Domesticated

I made a frilly one for the ribbon spool gift box in my last post. It resembles a mum.

1.  Fold over a piece of tissue paper lengthwise.  If you want big blooms – just make the space between the folds larger.  If you don’t want loop for the petals – trim the top of the folded paper so there are no folds.

2. Use scissors to cut the paper every 1/4 –inch along the length.

3.  Roll it up and place a staple on each side of the roll to secure.

4. Cut the excess paper away under staple. This will let the flower sit flat on a gift box.

5. Loopy flower. The purple and white flower is more frilly since the folds were cut off along the top of the length of folded tissue paper.

While I was exploring Pinterest, I also came upon a few more photos that had gorgeous flowers that I loved.

This table is just dreamy.

Style Me Pretty

I will have hydrangeas in my garden this color, but will have to wait until June for them to bloom.

Armonia Decors

I also have peonies planted in my backyard, but…

Chic Costal Living

they are only this far along.  I will have to wait for a few more weeks before pretty pink blooms show up.

Now all I need is a way to have this outdoor urn overflowing with affordable colorful flowers – paper won’t work outside – any ideas?

If you don’t mind a fake plant or two in your home, you may like the topiary I made using fake greenery.

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Mother’s Day is on May 13th. That is less than 3 weeks away. Earth Day was three day ago. To celebrate each I made a gift box in honor of my mom using recycled materials– empty ribbon spools that I normally would have thrown in the trash.

My mom is no longer here on on earth, but I do like to think about her on Mother’s Day even though I no longer need to give her a gift.   She loved creative things and always preferred handmade over store bought gifts. Every year as I was growing up,  I would try to come up with something special for her.  She often liked how I wrapped the gifts, better than the actual gift.

I used an empty ribbon spool to create a pretty and functional gift box.  I made a few to show you that there are many different ways to embellish these ribbon spool boxes to fit perfectly with your mom’s personality.  The cost to make this is next to nothing.  Gift wrap, tissue paper, small snippets of ribbon, and a bead or button.

I love coming up with ways to recycle packaging – like these ribbon spools. I use lots of ribbon and hate seeing the spools go to waste. They look a little sad without ribbon, but with a few pieces of decorative paper they will soon be providing lots of personality  -  enabling you to give your mom or teacher a gift with present presence.

Materials Needed:

1.  Carefully remove top and bottom circles from the spool. They come off fairly easily.  If they are damaged you can discard them and use a piece of cardboard instead.  Trace one end of cardboard tube two times on the center of the spool circles or a piece of cardboard and cut each circle out.

2. Cut two pieces of decorative paper (I found this black and white houndstooth at Marshalls) about 1- inch larger in diameter than your cut cardboard circles. Use a glue stick or spray adhesive to attach center of wrong side of paper to each cardboard circle. With scissors, cut tabs around paper and then glue them down around the cardboard circles.

3.  Cut 2 circles from paper the same size as the cardboard circles.   Glue one over the tabbed side of one of the circles.  Don’t cover the other circle yet.

4.  To cover tube: Cut paper wide enough to go around the tube and slightly overlap. For height – cut 2-inches longer than height of tube. Center the paper over tube so there is excess paper on each end of the tube.

Use glue to attach paper to cardboard tube making sure there are no air bubbles or wrinkles.  Cut excess on top into tabs.  Fold down the tabs and glue.

5. For the bottom – use one of the covered circles -and fit to the bottom of the tube.  Cut excess paper into tabs. Fold tabs down around bottom and glue to secure.

 6. Glue last circle over the bottom.

 7. It should look like this.

 8.  For the lining: Use the same paper or a second coordinating one. I color copied a vintage floral hankie.  My mom loved lilacs  – these violets were the closest I could find. 

9. Cut the paper to the height of the tube and wide enough to cover the inside of the tube,  Attach with glue.  (The two cardboard covered paper circles in the photo are for another project I will show you soon)

10.  To make the lid:  Use the other covered circle.  Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to travel from the bottom of the tube up and to the center of the top. Glue one end on the top and then  cover with the the cut paper circle.

11.  You can also make the ribbon extra long and make a loop on the opposite side of the top so you have one continuous piece of ribbon running under the top. I chose to use a different ribbon for the loop/latch.  I cut a 3-inch piece, made a loop and glued the ends down under the paper.

12. It looks like this.

13.  Run glue along the outside side of ribbon.

14. Place ribbon inside tube and press in to secure.  Place a small dab of hot glue under the top edge where the ribbon acts as a hinge.  The glue stick doesn’t have enough holding power for this which is why hot glue is needed. Let the top hang down as shown until dry.

15. It should look like this.  Hot glue a button on the outside of the tube where the ribbon will latch and loop around.  I used two buttons.  This is the first, I placed a flower rhinestone one on top of it to add more depth so that the ribbon loop had something to go around.

I made paper flowers for the gift boxes shown in the first photo, but you could embellish the tops in many different ways.  If you would like to add your mom’s initial you can print these labels from Martha Stewart.  There is a free printout for every letter.  Click here to go to this page to print out the monogram labels.

After cutting out my initial, I cut out a piece of black paper slightly larger and glued them together.  I used scallop scissors to scallop the edges and then attached it to the top of the gift box.

On the smallest box, I used a button on the ribbon. Under the ribbon tab is a sticky back Velcro dot.  I used a bead and a button with an inset center to loop the ribbon latch around.

Here is a recap of how the inside of the gift box looks. This spool is very short so it is easier to see how it all goes together.   As another variation you could leave off the top and create small bowls to hold paperclips, jewelry, or other small items.

To see how I made the pink flower you can follow the tutorial in this post:  How to Make a Tissue Paper Flower Valentine Box. I will show you how I made the purple and white one in my next post.

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