Wood You Like To Craft- Mother's Day Projects

Hey Everyone!  Its Wood You Like To Craft week again and this month we are all doing Mother's Day Projects.  There has been some seriously cute ideas so far but today its my turn to share my Angel Mother....

Click on over to check out all the details.

And don't forget to see what everyone else made while you are over there.  You won't be disappointed!

A Basket Wreath

A tisket, a tasket, I made an Easter Basket!

 Isn't it fun?!

I wanted to make an Easter wreath that would last all spring.  I had in mind something that looked like a basket full of flowers.  So I had the idea of taking a wire wreath form and wrapping it in burlap to mimic the basket shape and adding a whole bunch of flowers.

I love how it turned out!

 I think it still has that Easter feel with the basket, but it'll look good until I get around to replacing it.  Love that!

The bow tucked into the corner is probably my favorite part.

The day I made this I met with a few friends from my neighborhood and we all made wreaths, but I forgot to bring my camera.  So I don't have picture instructions, but I'll do my best to describe the process.

You start out with a wire wreath form.... one kinda like this.

Then get some burlap ribbon or strips of burlap.  I couldn't find ribbon so I ended up getting some burlap fabric and cutting it into strips.  Start by wrapping half the form to make the handle of the basket.  Then take strips of burlap and wrap the burlap all the way across the front of the  frame and hot glue on the back.  Continue down the second half of the wreath to create the basket.

So now you have the basic basket.  You can now add your flowers and embellishments!  I just tucked the flowers into the different strips of burlap, hot-gluing and/or tying it to the back. 

I hope that made sense!

Anyway... It took me about an hour from start to finish and I love it! I hope you'll give it a try!

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events:

Lucky Yarn Wreath

Yesterday I was in the mood for a quick craft so I decided to make a new wreath for St. Patrick's day.  It was super easy and turned out pretty dang cute if I do say so myself.

All I did was take a straw wreath form (or you could use foam... whichever is cheaper) and wrap it with green yarn.

And wrap and wrap and wrap.  I enlisted the help of my five year old for this.  He held the ball of yarn and did the wrapping while I adjusted the spacing and kept everything tight.  With his help we had it done in about 30 minutes or so.

Then I hot glued a great big green and white bow on the top.

My secret to perfect bows is wired ribbon.  It makes all the difference!!!

The letters for the word "lucky" I found at Micheal's already painted white and glittered.  As much as I love painting its sometimes nice to find stuff already done!

I just hot glued the letters down another piece of the green ribbon and secured it to my wreath with a few sewing pins.  Like this...

That way if i ever want to remove the lucky banner and use the wreath for something else I can.  I'm not sure I ever will but its nice to have options!

And that's it!

A super cute new wreath for my front door in a little over an hour. I love crafts like that! 

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events:

Inspiration File

Hey everyone! I have a couple of things to share this week, first up Craftily Ever After made the CUTEST clay pot nativity with her scout boys.  I think these are one of the cutest kid Christmas crafts I've ever seen and will definitely make a set with my kids next year!



Then WipperBerry shared a tutorial on these adorable ribbon trees.  There has been a ton of tree forms around blogland this season, but I think these are my favorite...ever.  In fact I will probably unwrap my yarn trees next Christmas and make some like this.  Love!

And last but not least, How Does She shared a fabulous ham recipe.  We are all about the ham over here.  This looks particularly delicious and I can wait to try it!

If you were featured you can grab a button from my sidebar.  Merry Christmas!

I'll be HOME for Christmas.

I wanted to show off my home all decked out for Christmas so you guys can get an idea of the final product of all the little things I've been showing over the past month.  I decided the best way to go about that is to take you on a video tour.  So here we go!

And for those who don't want to go on the tour, here are a few photos to sum it up.

And the classic Christmas tree at night shot, in all her glowing glory. 

Merry Christmas!

   

Raffia Wrapped Stars

Another one of the things I was inspired by in Pottery Barn's catalog was the lighted snowflakes and star votive holder.

My original plan was to make a few lighted stars.  But then I started worrying about how I was going to hang them (I knew I wanted them hung from my curtain rod) and still get access to a plug.  I thought about going the battery powered route, but then found out that a string of battery powered lights uses 2 C batteries and has a ginormous box that I would have to hide.  So in the end I decided to keep it simple and nix the lights.

Here is what I came up with.

Wanna know how to make your own? I actually made these several weeks ago and have since seen a few variations around the blog world but here is how I did mine.  While it was a relatively easy and inexpensive project, it was a bit time consuming so you are warned.  Lets get started.

I started with 5 three foot dowels. (A)  This will be enough for three stars.  You need to cut your dowels down into 1 foot sections, or whatever size you want your stars to be. (B) I used my pruning sheers to cut them and it worked like a dream.  I then printed off a "prefect star" from the internet because I was worried about my angles being off and used that to line everything up. (C)  You just hot glue the dowels wherever they touch to get your star frame.  Remember that some of the dowels can go behind.  The more connection points the better. (D) You may notice in the pic that I used some wire on the joints, this was total overkill and I only did it on one. Once complete, these babies are surprisingly sturdy.   You then take a chunk of raffia and start wrapping, using hot glue to secure as needed. (E)  About an hour and several blisters later you will have this. (F)  It needed a hair cut so I trimmed a few of the stragglers. (G)  Then just tie a loop of ribbon to the top so you can hang (H) and then repeat two more times. 

If you want to attempt a lighted star, just wrap in Christmas lights before you wrap in the raffia.




So there you have it, raffia wrapped stars!  I know I've said it before but who needs Pottery Barn?!

Linking to THESE weekly parties and events:

Inspiration File

Its a big one today.  I have found a bunch of things I want to share with you (and remember for myself) so here we go.

First up, I discovered a new "must read" blog this week, Grand Design.  Now there are a bunch of great things on her site, but I came across this one and about died.  You can make your own "mason jar" snow globes.  I know, I know...who knew?!?  I TOTALLY want to do this!


A few weeks ago A Little Lovely showed this reindeer re-do.  Its an old decoration from her Mom and turned out so cute.  I think what I love about it is that anyone with some wood cutting skills could do a knock-off.  I hope to develop some of those wood cutting skills over the next year so I want to remember this cute little guy for next year. 

Now here is a super cute kids craft idea from Impress Your Kids.  Mini Pot Trees.  My kids love to paint and would think this was the coolest thing ever.  I think we might have to make these for the kids to give to the Grandparents.  How fun would that be with a picture of their little face on the star with the year written somewhere.  Okay, I've convinced myself, we are making these.

Here is another adorable Christmas tree idea from Lemon Tree Creations.  I think they are too cute for words and look fairly simple to make.  Definitely gift worthy.  Love them!

Poppies at Play made the cutest printable gift tags.   As in seriously adorable.  So hurry over and print some off so that you can finish your wrapping.  Thanks Andy!

Now, I am more then just kinda in love with Crafts & Sutch's sweater snowman.  Don't you just want to squeeze him?!  Another super fun, inexpensive and totally gift worthy craft idea. 

Now for a couple of recipes.  First up, The Scrap Shoppe has been featuring a bunch of recipes that look amazing, but I really want to try this Watergate Salad.  I have a weakness for jello salads but this one looks so pretty and delicious!

And finally, Craftaholics Anonymous made Pumpkin Fudge.  Uhh... hello!  She describes it as creamy, melt in your mouth pumpkin pie without all the baking, but she had me when she combined the words pumpkin and fudge.

Wow! I told you it was going to be a lot! Great projects though huh?  If you were featured you can grab a button from my sidebar if you'd like.  Thanks guys!



Yarn Cone Trees

I have seen so many adorable cone trees lately! So when I decided my mantle needed more height I jumped on the band wagon and made these!

Now, I didn't bother to take pictures along the way, but I will tell you how I did it....

I took some foam cones and wrapped them with yarn.  The End.

Seriously, it was that easy.  I did use a little hot glue to keep things in place along the bottom and the top.  A also stuck a couple star picks I got at Micheal's into the top.  These were the easiest project ever.

I just love the texture from the yarn!

They added the height and color I needed.  Love them!

So have you made any cone Christmas trees yet?  Well, what are you waiting for!? Get to it!