And of course I needed to add a 2nd tier to the fairy garden…
Tag Archives: Pinterest
Fairy Garden: Part III
Fairy Garden: Part II
Once you get started on creating this small world, it’s really hard to stop. Here you see the progression.
Back to Craftiness…
Since my travel wings have been clipped, I’ve been getting back to my crafty roots. I was inspired by the many painted rock ideas I saw on Pinterest so I thought I would get back into it after letting my project sit for a year. My goal was to complete enough rocks to decorate my front garden. I’m a few rocks shy of completion but I placed them all outside to see how the finished products look. Overall I say not too shabby. I used paint pens for the art which allowed for better control. I finished up by spraying them with Modge Podge acrylic sealer so they will weather the elements. Hope you are inspired to try painting some yourself!
Next up: DIY Fairy Garden
A Cactus for Christmas
The Christmas season always inspires me to dip into my craftiness arsenal in order to make gifts for family and friends. Pinterest is where I go first to look through my endless list of DIY ideas. I was particularly drawn to a link for mason jar terrariums. I decided to do my own take on the project and now have three nice gifts I can share with some friends.
List of items needed:
- Clear glass jars (size according to the plant you are putting inside)
- plants
- Decorative rocks or sand
- Long handled tongs
- Piece of paper or magazine page
I put some base rocks into the bottom of the jar. I kept the cactus in the plastic pot it came in to contain the dirt and help retain water. Using the long handled tongs, I positioned the plant in the center of the jar. Then I used the magazine page to create a tube around the plant. This prevents the rocks from piling onto the plant.
Then simply add the different rocks or sand as you desire to get a layered effect. When using smaller rocks or sand, you may get some pieces falling into the other layers, but overall I like the finished products. Happy crafting friends!
Paper Flowers
I finally got a chance to get back to some Pinterest-inspired projects. Today I decided to tackle making decorative paper flowers. The link on Pinterest made it look very simple. Items needed – magazine pages in various colors, shredding scissors, bamboo skewers, tape, floral tape. First challenge – no shredding scissors and couldn’t find them anywhere in Nuremberg (not exactly a crafty place I’ve learned). So I improvised and used a short pair of scissors and made the many cuts by hand. I also did not have bamboo skewers and could not find them in the market, so I used paper straws instead. The process of rolling the cut paper around the straws proved to be challenging. I had many failures and I’ve posted a few below. Once I finally got the hang of it, I think they turned out pretty nice. Now I have a decorative piece for the bedroom and one for the living area. These would make a lovely centerpiece for a bridal or baby shower – or simply a nice way to add a little color in your life!
Original Pin
Gathering the magazine pages
Folding and cutting the paper
Failed attempts
Success
Flowers for the bedroom
Flowers for the living area
Recycle Glass in an Artful Way
Another Pinterest-inspired project under my belt. I saw these yarn covered bottles and thought they were beautiful. So I thought to myself, “I can make those!”. I picked 3 different glass bottles – a Perrier bottle, a wine bottle, and a glass jam jar. I used Tacky Glue and a foam applicator to spread the glue on each bottle. Then you wind the yarn, being careful to hide your start and stop. The possibilities are endless. **Note to self – next time choose fatter yarn! The smaller the yarn, the longer it takes. But I think the results are worth it.
Original Pin
Soaking bottles in order to remove labels
the supplies
Jam jar transformed
wine bottle transformed
Perrier bottle transformed
The finished glasses
A new way to wear an old scarf
I am really drawn to scarves. I buy many of them and wear them infrequently. I find that I never know what to do with the long ends – knotting them can make the scarf seem too bulky and sometimes the ends just get in the way. I pinned this a few weeks ago and thought I’d give it a try. I think I found a new way to jazz up those old scarves in my closet.
original pin
My Turn
Feminize that slouchy tee
A few months ago I pinned this idea to my Fashion board thinking I’d alter several tees before summer began. Well, summer is almost over and I finally completed the first one. It was really easy – I’m not sure what took me so long! I find that most of the cool graphic tees come in men’s sizes. This is a great way to find the perfect graphic and alter the shirt to suit your girlish style.
Original t-shirt post in Pinterest
And here is my take on the tee:
Wall Art
As someone who enjoys scouring magazines and pulling out inspirational things, I am totally addicted to Pinterest. It is my virtual collage of inspiration. I regularly pin things that I’m sure some day I’ll actually make. After several months of pinning, I realized that other than the Good Thoughts Jar, I hadn’t worked on any projects. I woke up last weekend and decided that I was going to start working on projects, not just dream about doing them. My first project was inspired by a pin using wooden embroidery hoops and stretched fabric.
I’m currently living in an apartment with the standard beige colored walls. I have no headboard on my bed because the space is quite small. I decided to take inspiration from this pin and make a “Virtual Headboard” out of the fabric and hoops. Being the detailed oriented person that I am, I also needed to embellish them – plain old fabric just wouldn’t do. I took the color inspiration from my comforter and ran with it from there. I painted the hoops a chocolate brown to match my decor and used fabric, felt, metal brads, ric-rac, ribbon, and beads. Voila! The finished results along with detailed views. It makes me happy every time I walk through the bedroom.
Good Thoughts Jar
The pin that started it all….
I discovered this idea on Pinterest around Christmastime. I thought it was a wonderful way to celebrate gratitude throughout the year. The idea is that at the end of each day, you write down one good thought from the day. Some days I find that I have too many thoughts and it is difficult to choose just one. Other days, I struggle to find one good thought to add to the jar. Despite this, I have added a good thought every day for the past 8 months. On December 31st, I will read through all of the good thoughts to remind me what a wonderful life I actually lead. No matter what is going on in my life at that time, I will have 365 reasons to be grateful.
My Good Thoughts Jar as of August- 4 months to go!
Flirting with Creativity 