February 2012 – Created by Jess

Felt Hearts Flower Pot

This craft is another creation put together with stuff I had in my supply stash. I had purchased some small paper mache boxes shaped like cupcakes. I decorated them last year but wasn’t too happy with them, the lids didn’t fit very well. I decided to toss the lids and just use the bottom like a flower pot. The base was already painted pink and I had added red flocking powder to the trim. I gave it one more coat of the flocking powder, using Elmer’s glue as an adhesive. With that finished I pulled out the other things I would need to finish this idea, wire for stems, styrofoam to fill the flower pot, sticky backed felt hearts, and some glitter.

The flowers are super easy to make, use already cut felt hearts with sticky backs. I cut long lengths of the silver wire, you’ll trim them down when you assemble the finished piece. Simply place the wire between two matching hearts and press together, done! Once I had all of the flowers together I used hot glue to attach the styrofoam chunk inside the flower pot. I cut a pink paper circle to cover the top. Using Elmer’s glue, coat the paper circle in a layer of glue and sprinkle with glitter. I used a pink and white glitter mix. Once that dries you can hot glue it onto the styrofoam to cover your flower pot top, make sure to glue down all around the edge.

I decided I wanted a little decoration to tuck in with the flowers, kind of like the card you get when you order real flowers. I used a cream colored paper and some rubber stamps to make this one. I stamped the border in red ink and a cute little bee in black ink. I colored the bee with marker and stamped the words, “BEE MINE” in red ink on a separate piece of paper. I cut out the words and inked the edges black, then glued them onto the background. I punched out a small circle of the same cream colored paper and sandwiched a wire between it and the little bee tag.

Now it’s time to assemble your flower pot. I used a little metal piercing tool I have to poke holes into the glittered base, this make the wire insert smoothly. I continued to punch holes and insert and trim my wires to different lengths until all were in place. I punched one last hole for the little tag and left it a bit longer than the tallest flower. I put a small dot of Elmer’s glue on top of each hole so that it would sink down and dry to hold the wires in place. That’s it! A very easy craft to make, no special skills needed. You can even mix things up and use paper flowers or other shapes besides hearts. I thought this made an adorable Valentine decoration!

Pink Elephant Wreath

If you’ve read my blog before then it’s not a surprise that I love making wreaths. I especially like to cut out a base using cardboard from an empty cereal box. Using boxes you have lying around is a great way to make a simple wreath for any occasion. With the supplies you have on hand this project can be done for free without making a trip to the craft store. Over a year ago I bought a really cute pack of chipboard stickers that I just had to have. I’ve only used a few of them since then but still really like them. Some were just so large I didn’t know how to use them. One of them is pink elephant that is very cute. I decided that because I’m in the Valentine crafting spirit I could put the elephant to use. Having decided to make a wreath, I went digging for other red, white, and pink things to decorate with. I had a package of paper flowers that I hadn’t found a use for yet, perfect!

I cut out two big circles from the cereal box and glued them back to back. Next I picked out a printed paper that would cover the front and back of the wreath. I glued the red striped paper down to each side and then cut a hole in the center of the wreath using my craft knife. To hang the wreath, I cut a length of sparkly red ribbon and tied the ends together and looped it onto the wreath. Time to decorate! I chose to use my hot glue gun for this because the quick drying time is great and the hold is strong. I started hot gluing my paper flowers at the top of the wreath and worked my way around until it was covered. I did all of large flowers first and then filled in areas with the smaller flowers. I glued some small flowers onto the a few large ones to accent them. With all of the flowers in place it was time for the elephant, I left the paper backing on the elephant sticker and used got glue to attach it to the bottom left side of the wreath.

With all the main pieces glued down, I added embellishments. I went through my binders and picked out pink, red, white, and purple things. I used hot glue to add my buttons, gemstone flowers, hearts, and pearls. Adding a little bit of sparkle and dimension all around the wreath really brought out the flowers and made them stand out individually.

Now I have a cute wreath that is suitable as a Valentine decoration but can be hung up all year round. I hope that this project inspires you to use the things you already have to create something wonderful and new. Thanks for reading!

elephant wreath — Pretty in Pink Elephant Wreath

Light bulb of love

A few days ago I came across a great tutorial on saleenamarie.blogspot.com to make light bulb decorations with heart shaped filaments. I’ve seen this craft before and always wanted to try it out. I didn’t have any regular light bulbs in my house because I’ve replaced just about all of them with compact fluorescent lamps. I was thinking about saving this craft for later when I remembered I have two plain glass Christmas bulbs left over. I figured I could make my own version of those small round little light bulbs.

To start, I removed the ornament cap from each of the glass bulbs. I had some aluminum sheets that I cut strips from and embossed with lines. I curled each strip around a thick marker to make the base for my light bulb. Using some thin silver wire I shaped my heart filament and twisted the ends together for the stem. I made a decorative base to glue my finished light bulb to out of chipboard. I inked the edges and the top and bottom areas that would be exposed with dark brown ink. I cut a circle out of paper printed with gears for the top and glued that down. I punched a hole in the middle and stuck my filament down through it to a height appropriate for the bulb. I secured the wire to the bottom of the chipboard with tape and then glued my brown velvet circle onto the bottom. With the base complete I just had to glue the silver piece to my glass bulb and then glue the finished bulb onto my decorated base.

I think my replica light bulb is pretty cool. I got to try something new and use up some leftover Christmas ornaments in the process. Someday I’d like to use real light bulbs and make some interesting little things to go inside of them. At least for now I made my own version and am happy with it. I hope you like it!