Easter 2010

We are heading out of town for a quick Spring Break get away Monday morning. I'll be back on Wed, but in the mean time, I do have Talented Tuesday set to post Monday evening.

In the mean time, here are a few photos from our Easter! Keep in mind, I'm no Betty Crocker. ;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and an enjoyable (or enjoyed, if it's passed by already!) Spring Break!

See you guys on Wednesday!

Talented Tuesday!

Interested in sponsoring next week's Talented Tuesday post with your own crafts, shop items, or a tutorial? Check out the details here!

For today's post, I'm featuring a trio of Dollar Store crafts I did over the weekend. All small, quick projects, but fun! First up is a craft I made for this week's challenge over at Dollar Store Crafts. The challenge required the use of place mats. 


We've seen purses, pillows, even diaper wipe covers made from them. I didn't want to do something I've seen before, but I was stumped. Finally, I saw something in the store that was perfect- belts. Thus, my idea was born.


Dollar Store Beach Bag


You'll Need:
2 woven belts
2 woven placemats
Scissors
Sewing Machine
10 minutes- yes, 10 minutes.

1. First, cut the end tab and the buckle off the belt. I cut a bit of excess off at the buckle, in case I find a use for them at some point.
2. Pin the placemats wrong side out together, end to end. Sew the short ends together. 
3. These belts were so thick, I could not pin the belts into place. I had to hold them into place as I sewed. I did my best to match them- you'll see how well THAT went later. I just sewed them so that the two ends were both on the same side of the placemat- it forms an upside down U so that the "handles" go all the way down the bag. Did that make sense?
4. Once the handles are sewn on both sides, turn the bag inside out again, and just do a quick zig zag across the bottom. I clipped the corners to try and get straight corners when I turned it right side out. I failed.

Notes-

This was SUPER easy, and is somewhat customizable, though it really depends on the colors of place mats available at any given time, and the availability of the belts. You could mix and match colors, or check your local thrift store, as well.  

Costs:

$4 total- $1 each for place mats, and $1 each for 2 belts.

Want some cute Flip Flop appliques on your bag? Check out the tutorial I made for that! I added cute little Flip Flops to my bag today, and posted all about it.



Next, how about some SUPER quickies?


Flower & Butterfly Magnets

You'll Need:

Sheer Butterflies (2 large for $1 or 3 medium for $1 at DT)
Ribbon & Flower sets ($1 for 2 ribbons & a few assorted single color flowers at DT)
Hot Glue
Magnets (a great way to use up promotional magnets!)
Wire Cutters

1. First, the butterflies each have wire on the back- clip that off with the wire cutters, or OLD, CRAPPY scissors (not new ones, or good ones!!)
2. Add a dot of hot glue to a magnet, and press the butterfly onto a magnet.
3. For the flowers, I did 2 layer, 2 color flowers. Glue a small flower onto a larger flower, then glue it onto a magnet.

 Costs- $2

These will be another magnet set for my niece Alex's magnet board that I made for her birthday!

And for 1 last Dollar Store craft...

Bunny Picks

These are something cute I found on the DSC's website, and they were too adorable not to make! Especially since I had EVERYTHING on hand! I had extra egg picks from making a quick wreath, so waste not, want not!

You'll Need:

Egg Picks, or Plastic Eggs
Pom Poms- White & colors
Googly Eyes
Hot Glue
Felt- White & colors

1. Cut bunny ears in 2 colors, with white being smaller than the color. Glue the smaller portion onto the larger portion.
2. Glue the ears to the egg on the backside, so the white middle is showing to the front.
3. Take 2 white pom poms and 1 colorful pom pom. Glue them together in a triangle.
4. Glue the triangle to the bottom front of the egg, with the color forming the top point of the triangle.
5. Glue two google eyes to the front of the egg, above the triangle.
6. Lather, Rinse, Repeat! You're done!

Costs:

FREE or up, depending on what you have on hand! I was able to make 5!

Don't they look cute in my flowers? I had stuffed all the fake flowers I had into a vase simply for storage. I did the same with the bunnies, but now? I think they'll wind up going on the table on Easter Sunday.

This post is linked up at the link parties listed here. 

Now... without further ado.... Talented Tuesday!

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The Rules

1) Post a blog about something you've made- a refurnish, recipes, a craft project, a sewing project, room decoration, anything you've done!

2) Add a link to your blog post- not to the blog itself, but to the individual posts! You can post more than one project, just add more links! The links should look something like:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/love-banner.html

and NOT like this:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/

3) Add the code below to each post you link to the MckLinky, so that others can post their projects here as well! The list will accept new links through Saturday, so if you make something new, come back and post it! Don't forget to look at the links on the list, and let people know where you found their post at!

This MckLinky will remain open and accepting links through Thursday evening!! 

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<a border="0" href="http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv318/princessspanky/tt1.png" /></a>

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Hoppy Easter!

Typo, but it stays. :p

Over the past week, I've been doing a LOT of web searching for easy Easter crafts, and came across a cute wreath. I remembered the basics, but of course, can not remember where I found it (I really need to start book marking these fabulous ideas!).

If anyone knows where I might have found this wreath, please let me know so I can give props to the mad genius behind it!

Michelle helped me find it! The original was done by Cindi over at This Is My Life.

Easter Egg Wreath

You'll Need:
Cardboard (the lid to the empty take out pizza box laying next to the trash may or may not work, I admit to nothing)
Regular sized plastic Easter Eggs- I used 29 for the bottom, and 11 on the top row
Easter Grass
Fake Flowers*
Ribbon*
Glue gun & like 5 sticks of glue

*optional- the wreath I saw didn't have either, but I did add flowers to mine, and considered a bow, but felt the wreath was busy enough on it's own.

For this, I dug out my "Box O'Eggs"

.....yes, I really have a "Box O'Eggs". I'm -always- in charge of the egg hunts at various relatives houses, and have amassed quite the collection. Unfortunately, I seem to have an affinity for odd eggs. I had no where near enough plain, regular sized eggs. Plenty of jumbo eggs, lots of minis, and a lot of shaped things- like peep shaped containers, and Spiderman shaped eggs, etc.

I had to make a run to DT just to make the wreath, even with a box of eggs this big.

1. Use a plate to draw the outer circle of your wreath shape on the cardboard you choose which may or may not have come from that pizza you grabbed when you felt like cheating for dinner the other nigh which probably came from a cardboard box you were right to save. For the total width of the wreath, you'll want it about 2 to 2.5" wide, so hunt around for various items, or just eyeball it for the inner circle. I had a foam wreath form, and used the inner circle to make my inner circle.
2. Take out your eggs, and hot glue the rounded "butt" end of the egg, and slap it on the form on the outer circle, with the point facing outward. You'll want to only use about half the space, because you will be adding an inner layer next.
3. Once you have filled up the outer circle, do an inner circle. If you find some areas where they don't have enough room, add a bead of glue to the outer eggs, and glue them straight to those.
4. Now the messy part. Take your Easter grass and the glue gun, and squirt glue into the center spaces between the inner and outer circle of eggs. Drizzle glue around the inner sides of the eggs as well. Then, stuff it with Easter grass. It doesn't have to be perfect. I tried using a pencil to shove it in place, but it created a bigger mess of glue and grass. Keep doing this until there is grass in ever space of the middle section. 
5. Start gluing your eggs again- you want to place eggs along the top, all around where the grass is, so that each egg is resting between the inner and outer layer. 
6. Once the top layer of eggs is complete, it's time to give your wreath a hair cut. I strongly recommend doing this over top of the trash, because it's messy. Just clip and trim until you are happy with the amount of "hair" left over.
7. I had some yellow and pink flowers hanging around, so I took the heads off, and glued them in little spaces all around the wreath. You could use bigger flowers, or skip it all together, but I like them. Of course, once I was done, I found my purple flowers. Oh well!

Because of the cardboard form, this is likely not a weather-proof wreath for outside, but it sure is cute for inside! I considered using a "real" wreath form, but I think it would have been much harder to fill out with rounded objects on a rounded surface.

Total costs:
Eggs:  $4 spent on a total of 72 eggs (18/$1 at dollar store), but only used 40 eggs- $2.22 worth
Wreath Form: Free (after a fashion...)
Grass: $1 (thought I had some, but I couldn't find it)
Flowers: On Hand, or $1 at dollar store

A fairly inexpensive wreath. Probably even more so, had I not been so picky about my eggs. I had enough medium eggs, if I had used patterned, printed, eggs with cutouts, clear eggs, metallic eggs, etc. But, I wanted plain, solid colors.

Dollar Store Arrangement

Today, I worked on making a light box for taking better photos. In the process, I had to test out lots of photos, readjust settings, and photograph various items.

I came up with this arrangement during one of the "photo shoots", and just love it! I have to find space for it somewhere, now!

 

Of the items pictured, only 1 was bought at Goodwill- the little sundae dish that the candle is in. The rest is all Dollar Tree.

Total spent:

Plate- the most gorgeous shade of Robin's Egg blue, $1

Plate Stand- $1

Blue Bird- $1

Candle- $1 (very complimentary color to the plate, but I don't like the smell so much)

River Rocks (hidden in with the candle) $1

Moss- $1

Daffodils- $1

Tall vase/candle/thingy- $2 ($1 for the candle stick, $1 for the candle holder turned vase thingy)

Ok, I lied- the eggs were from Hobby Lobby, and were cheaper than $1.

But, this arrangement can be easily made with items on hand. I had picked up the plate to make a cake stand. I can see now, though, that I'll be needing another plate for that. The sundae dish I've had kicking around for a while, waiting for a purpose.

The bird I bought, cause, well, it's cute. And already distressed. And it fits that whole Pottery Barn feel of my Easter decor this year. The candle was bought at the same time as both the plate and the birdie. The plate stand I've had for a while, though I never used it for the reason I bought it. It works great for displays, though.

The daffodils were bought to make a wreath, and a few got put in with the vase. The eggs were bought for the vases, as was the moss.

I do feel I must find a place for this whole arrangement for Easter, though. Somewhere that neither cat nor kid will knock it all over and break it. Like Mars. Or possibly Jupiter. Cause, ain't no place in my house where said cats and said kids won't knock it over. 

 

Another arrangement from earlier. I loved it- till I made the one above. I prefer the one above.

Glassware for Easter

Earlier this week, I made a new glass pedestal vase to mimic a Pottery Barn look. After I was done, I took some time to decorate the other pedestal vases I had for Easter as well. All of these vases were made using items picked up at either Goodwill or Dollar Tree. I always look at Goodwill first, because the glassware is cheaper. But, if I can't find what I need, I go to Dollar Tree.

To make one like this, find a candle stick of some sort, and a vase or candle holder you like. I use E6000 to glue the stick to the bottom of the vase or candle holder, then let it sit over night to dry. It's nice and sturdy!

 

For the tallest one, I picked up a prayer candle at Dollar Tree (which are hard to find- DT doesn't get them in often, and when they do, they go quick!), and glued it into the vase. This leaves space between the candle and the vase to add decorative touches for each season or holiday.

I added moss to all of them, and added more to my Pottery Barn knock off to fill it up higher. I then took a branch of narcissus flowers I had gotten at Dollar Tree, and plucked some flowers off, to put into the vases. 

For the Pottery Barn look alike, I kept two of my speckled eggs in there, and added a narcissus and a flower bud. I put the third egg in the smaller one, again with a narcissus and a  bud.

  

  

  

  

For my 4th jar, I went more traditional with bright spring colors. This jar is likely an old filled candle, with a lid, though it was empty when I found it at Goodwill. 

I re-used the same fluff I used for a Valentine's Day candle, added 3 unpainted plastic eggs, then used some cloth ribbon I found at Goodwill to tie a bow around it. It didn't quite look finished, so I glued a button to the middle.

All of these vases and the jar are able to be redecorated for any holiday with ease, and were quite cheap to put together. On the basic glassware itself, I haven't spent more than $6 on all the parts and pieces.

Never forget- while the Dollar Tree is cheap, you might find exactly what you need (or exactly what you never knew you wanted!) at thrift stores even cheaper! Decorating for the holiday does not have to cost money, and you don't need the same knick knack, plastic, light up stuff that everyone has.

Pottery Barn Easter For Less

Jess over at Mad in Crafts is a Pottery Barn for Pennies guro. Seriously, she should be hired by PB. Anyway, I saw some of her stuff, and started to peruse the catalog a bit more. Now, I'm not really a PB kind of girl, for the most part. It's just not my overall style. However, every now and then, something cute sticks out.

One of the projects Jess made for her "Dollar Barn Easter" collection was the splattered eggs, similar to the ones shown below (which sell 12 for $14, AND are not shipping until the end of April- you know, AFTER Easter).

I found the perfect vase at my Goodwill AS-IS center, which clearances out items that don't sell in the regular Goodwill's.  Here's my end version:

So, how much did I spend?

3 Eggs: $.09 total ($.67 for 2 dozen at Hobby Lobby, regular price)
Vase: $.29 (Originally $2.17 at Wal-Mart, priced $.99 at Goodwill, marked down to $.29 on "clearance")
Candle Stick: $.29 (Heavy, wrought iron- marked $.99 at Goodwill, marked down to $.29 on "clearance")
Moss: $.10 (A bag from Dollar Tree, but I used barely any- the bag still looks full)

So, for $0.77, I was able to recreate the full Pottery Barn look, and I love it! The Hurricane vase shown on the PB website runs $29-$59, depending on size. The filler is another $14. I'll count myself lucky to have escaped with a very similar look for under $1!

Here is the before of the candle stick. It was spotted with rust, and had a tacky gold paint job. I didn't achieve exactly what I was hoping for, but I prefer my own paint job to the one it came with.

 

For the eggs, I sponge painted them cream first, letting the colors show through in some spots. I then splatter painted them with a mix using burgundy, golden yellow, and a touch of black to get a brownish shade. 

This post is linked up at the link parties listed here.