I saw this beautiful twine holder at Target and I knew I needed one because I use my twine for DIYs allll the time and I can never find where I’ve hidden it. Alas, $30 for a twine holder seemed a bit steep. So I decided to make my own version – a DIY twine holder. And I made 4 holders for half the price of one! Plus, now I’m ahead on some DIY Christmas gifts!

Materials Needed for DIY Twine Holder:

• 4″ wood plaque
• 3″ wood disc
• ruler
• pencil
• drill + bits
• stain
• rag
• gloves
• lamp stem
• rub ‘n buff
• paint brush
• hot glue gun
• E6000
• twine

Follow along with the video below for step-by-step instructions:

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I recently heard about dying eggs with silk fabric and I knew I had to give it a try. I love how these silk dyed eggs turned out! (Although last year’s decoupage eggs are still my favorite way to decorate eggs for Easter!).

My original intent was to thrift some old silk ties for this project (you need to make sure you are using 100% silk), however I didn’t like the colors or patterns I saw at the thrift store. And they were a little on the pricey side. So I did end up buying these silk fabric scraps, and I love the colors and patterns of the scraps. Plus, they were already cut to size, so a little less work! So while I think it’s a much better idea to thrift ties, if you’re going to buy, these are a nice set.

I also decided to try using plastic and real eggs, blown out. The other silk dying projects I saw all used real eggs that were just boiled. I wanted to be able to keep mine to use for decor from year to year, so I blew out my eggs before dying them. I also wanted to see if silk dying would work on plastic eggs. And it does, but the colors weren’t as vibrant on those eggs. So I would recommend using real eggs. And blowing them out first, so that you can reuse the eggs from year to year.

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These giant plaster Easter eggs are such a fun craft to do and they turn out amazing! They can be used as Easter decor, a vase (my favorite) or even as an egg Easter basket. Any would look so cute as a centerpiece for an Easter table setting!

They do break very easily though, so keep that in mind when making these (you can see it in the video). It’s a good idea to make extra, so that if they break, you still have something to show for it!

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It’s almost Easter and I’m way behind on projects because wedding projects are taking over my life. (Which is amazing but also geez louiseee!) But the least I could do is revamp my mantel after my Valentine’s Day decor. So a simple DIY fabric carrot garland was in order! Since our local craft store has a bunch of vintage-inspired fabric, this was perfect! These types of fabrics always remind me of my mom, which I love. I used the fabric carrots, some moss, origami bunnies, and some of the old string eggs to decorate.

Materials Needed for DIY Fabric Carrot Garland:

• fabric (various orange and green)
• iron
• carrot template
• pencil
• scissors
• sewing machine
• poly-fil
• embroidery thread

Follow along with the simple sewing tutorial in the video below!

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I’m deep in wedding planning these days – so you’ll probably see more wedding projects coming at you soon! The first thing I finished was this sweet bridesmaid proposal box for my bridal party! I have known the majority of my bridal party for over 25 years so I had a bunch of photos and memories to use to make these boxes extra special. I didn’t want to spend too much money on them… because wedding budgets are wild. So I personalized each box with letters, a framed magnet photo, a mini bouquet, photos of us all throughout our friendship and some small gifts of things that remind me of them. I think they turned out great, they felt really special and they gave me a chance to reflect on these beautiful friendships. If you want to make something similar, I’ve shared a bunch of links and ideas below!

Materials Needed for Bridesmaid Proposal Box:

• gift boxes
• filler
• handwritten bridesmaid proposal on handmade paper
• personal letter on kraft paper stationary
• printed photos edited to look like polaroids and tied up with twine
• gold frame photo turned into magnet – frames, magnets, glue
• mini bouquet of dried flowers
• cotton bags filled with small gifts – or you can use kraft paper to wrap up slightly larger presents. I bought things like our favorite childhood candies, games, or little minis that remind me of them.

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It seems as though I’m on a quest to try decoupaging any and everything! Last Easter, I shared the decoupage eggs. At Christmas, I made decoupage ornaments. And now a decoupage pleated lampshade! What’s next?!

I saw a decoupage lampshade on Pinterest, and knew I had to give it a try. I already had quite a few thrifted lamps with plain white pleated lampshades, so the only thing I needed was paper napkins. The blue floral napkins are from TJ Maxx, and the beige gingham napkins from Michaels (linked below).

This project is so easy and quick to do! Up close, you can see some of the wrinkles and imperfections in the napkins, but from further away, the lampshade looks perfect. And I don’t mind the little wrinkles, it just adds texture to the shade. And for only a few dollars, I think it’s a great way to to update a plain lampshade!

My gingham shade was a little bit more of a struggle. I didn’t realize as I was doing it that I was slowly going downward. So it has a slight slope to it. But I still love it and the extra pattern it brings into the space!

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If you’re looking for a really simple, easy way to decorate for Valentine’s Day, this heart paper chain garland is for you. It almost feels a little too simple to share, but I also think it’s really cute. And a good reminder that crafts don’t have to be overly complicated, and can be budget friendly too! 

I decided to make this heart chain garland because I had leftover strips of paper from making the paper bow garland. And rather than just tossing them in the recycle bin, I decided to make something with them. I also found this cute gingham paper and couldn’t resist making a couple strands from this paper too!

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I stumbled across these little heart charms on Etsy a few weeks ago and I knew I needed to turn them into something sweet for Valentine’s Day! You know we’ve always loved our brass projects, so I turned these into a sweet little brass heart garland and hung it up with some velvet ribbon and a crocheted yarn garland. Paired with my giant bows, my Valentine’s Day decor is coming together! This one is super simple and I’m for sure going to use it every year – plus I got two long garlands out of one order of the brass hearts. Perfect!

Supplies Needed for DIY Brass Heart Garland:

• brass hearts
• 26 gauge gold floral wire
• pliers/wire cutter

Follow along with the video below for the tutorial!

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Simple paper crafts bring me lots of joy. I love being able to make something that’s cute or fun from a piece of paper. Or napkin. Or bag. And this paper bow garland was so easy to make and I love seeing it hanging on the mantel.

Years ago, we shared how to make paper gift bows and this is a very similar craft. And you can definitely use these paper bows as gift toppers, not just as a garland. For this craft, you just need paper, scissors and glue, that’s it! This would be another fun one to do with kids. And I can’t wait to try it out for Christmas. But if you’re looking for something fun and easy to make for Valentine’s Day decor, these paper bows are perfect!

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Valentine’s Day is coming up fast and if you’re looking for a quick and festive snack to make – this is it! It’s super simple but very delicious! I made a big batch to try it out ahead of time and brought it into work. It was gone in minutes and everyone asked for the recipe so I considered that a success. So here is the creamy strawberry dip that is sure to be a hit for Valentine’s Day or really any day! It can work with so many different dipping snacks but it was absolutely perfect with the butter cookies – gives a bit of a strawberry shortcake taste.

Ingredients Needed for Creamy Strawberry Dip:

• cream cheese
• sour cream
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• cool whip
• fresh strawberries
• snacks to dip (graham crackers, butter cookies, more strawberries, chocolate, pretzels)

Print

Creamy Strawberry Dip

Course Appetizer, Dessert

Ingredients

Creamy Strawberry Dip

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
• 8 oz cool whip

Dipping Snacks

• butter cookies (my favorite with this dip!)
• graham crackers
• pretzels
• fresh fruit
• chocolate

Instructions

• Combine cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and strawberries in a large mixing bowl and beat until mostly smooth. (If you want a chunkier dip, you can leave the strawberries out of this step and add them with the cool whip – I feel like adding them in to this step gives it more flavor.)
• Fold the cool whip into the cream cheese mixture until fully incorporated.
• Top off mixture with a little bit of diced strawberries if desired and serve with your snacks for dipping.

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