Yes, another Burlap Wreath! And again, under $20!

What can I say? I'm on a roll! I have been merrily making burlap wreaths for about a week now. I am covered in burlap lint and have several glue gun burns, but I am excited to send out my wreaths and to grace my front door with this one! Burlap Wreath #2!

It's not quite Fall yet, but I feel the cool air and shorter days beginning to grace us. So for a simple and shabby look at my front door, I experimented with combining the idea of the burlap bubble wreath and the burlap rose wreath.

My Pins of Inspiration!

http://www.babblingsandmore.com/2011/09/burlap-wreath-giveaway.html

http://somekindoflovelyride.com/2012/05/05/super-easy-burlap-wreath/

Both blogs have some seriously cute ideas! Visit their sites for more!

Supplies:

1) a wire wreath ($2.99 at Hobby Lobby)

2) Burlap ribbon about 4 inches wide. ($4.99 a roll at Hobby Lobby and I used 2 and 1/2. I also got them 50% off)

3) Glue gun and plenty of glue sticks

4) scissors

5) burlap in different colors such as orange, brown, and cream.( I had left over from my previous wreath and burlap is about $3 a yard and you'd need less than half a yard. I also got the orange burlap from Hobby Lobby but in the ribbon form.)

6) Pearl pins(walmart for 2.77, but I had plenty left from previous wreath)

7) Floral wire

How to bubble:

1) Unroll one of the burlap ribbons and on one end, weave some floral wire in between the fibers. Secure this end to the wire wreath. I started on the outside.

2) Now pull the ribbon over and under, back and forth, between the wires. Push up to keep it tight.

3) Just keep going until you r ribbon ends and then secure this end with more floral wire. 

4) repeat 1 thru 3 until the entire wire wreath is covered in burlap bubbles.

You can visit   http://somekindoflovelyride.com/2012/05/05/super-easy-burlap-wreath/    for more specific photos and directions. 

For the flowers:

1) Visit this tutorial: http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/burlap-roses-tutorial . She explains it better than I ever could!

2) Hot glue flowers to wreath and pin the middle with the pearl pins.

For the Bow:

1) Take a piece of the orange burlap and fold ends under, meeting in the middle.

2) Take some twine and wrap int around the center. Hot glue gun in place.

3) Cutting two more orange pieces, hot glue gun underneath and cut the "V" ends.

4) Hot glue the bow to the wreath or secure with floral wire.

Ta Da!

This wreath took me an hour total. about 30 minutes to do the bubble part, and another 30 for the roses and bow. Super easy!

                                                       

Now onto my last wreath! Happy Pinning!

                               

DIY Burlap Wreath! For Under $20!

I LOVE Burlap! Almost as much as I love Chevron prints, and that's saying something. Combine the two? Heaven on Earth!!! Ha! What can I say? Its really too much fun! Burlap can be so diverse, and when dressed up, made to be country or shabby chic. Add some lace or pearls and ta da! BUT it comes with a warning...ITS A MESS! Ha! A lesson I quickly learned. This however, does not detract from my love of it, or from the list of craft ideas I want to try!

My first attempt with burlap was this wreath and I absolutely love how it turned out! Even more so, I LOVE the price tag! Less than $20 to make myself instead of spending upwards of $40 on Etsy or in a craft store. It also did not take that much time or effort. Maybe two hours and a few glue gun burns.(Glue guns aren't my friends. ha!) I could not wait to hang it up! It rests proudly on my living room wall! Here's the How To....

Supplies:
1) Your choice of wire edged burlap, 1) patterned and one not.(I got my Chevron print and regular at Hobby Lobby at 40% off. Was $6 for 15ft. Generally sold in the ribbon section.)
2) Brown and cream regular burlap sold by the yard.You will only need half a yard of each at the most.(Walmart sells it for $2.98 a yard and Hobby Lobby for just over $3. So for half a yard of each $3 total!)
3) Your choice of twine. (I had some left over form a different craft.)
4) Pearl pins. (2.77 at Walmart)
5) Straw form wreath. (I got mine from Hobby Lobby for $3.99. You could also use foam or anything like it. The cheaper the better!)
6) Hot glue gun and plenty of glue sticks!
7) Scissors

How To:
1) Plug in hot glue gun and heat up.
2) Cut your cream and brown burlap by the yard into strips of varying lengths and widths.
3) With your wire edged patterned burlap, hot glue gun one end to the wreath. Then start tightly wrapping it around the straw wreath form. (A small side note, I left the plastic wrap it came with on. The straw is poky!)
4) When you have covered the full wreath, hot glue the other end down. Securing it in place.
5) Make your burlap flowers in different sizes and colors. Here is a great tutorial that explains it better than me! http://www.katiesrosecottageblog.com/2012/01/burlap-rose-tutorial.html
6) Pin the flowers in the middle with the Pearl pins and secure in your desired pattern onto the wreath.
7) For a little added dimension, add some twine flowers as well. I just looped the twine to look like a daisy and hot glued the middle.
8) To make the bow, use the plain wire edged burlap and wrap twine in its middle. I recommend the wire edged because it holds its form, but the regular burlap would work too.
9) I used a small strip of the same burlap to hang it with. I hot glued the bow to this piece.
10) Hang on your door or in your house!

Me and a friend of mine had a wreath making day and I am working on finishing the other. Will post some photos of that one soon!

My pins of inspirations! I kinda combined the two!

http://pinterest.com/pin/56787645274625920/

http://pinterest.com/pin/26740191510853546/

My Chevron burlap wreath was inexpensive and fun to do! I recommend it to all! On a scale of easy being 1 and difficult 10, its a 2!

Happy Pinning!

Buttercream Frosting using Regular Sugar!

Ever go to make something you're craving and realize your missing a major ingredient? You're either left making something completely different or not at all? My 7 year old daughter is big into the show DC Cupcakes. She just loves it. I had this little idea to see what would happen if I let her go at it and make a batch of cupcakes from scratch. I got all the ingredients out and let her read the recipe, and away she went. She was beyond enthusiastic! Then I realized that I had no Confectioners Sugar(aka Powdered Sugar). Uhhhh.... what exactly do we do about the frosting? So I turned to Google. I found a few chat rooms and baking boards. One of them had a recipe for Buttercream Frosting using regular sugar instead of confectioners. So we decided to give it a whirl. It turned out sugary sweet and a perfect consistency! Loved her expression when she ate her first bite! She felt very proud of herself.  Maybe I have a baker in the making and I won't ever have to bake again. Ha! :)

The recipe was not a Pinterest one, and in truth I have no idea who to credit. It was a person named RLI R on a Yahoo Answers board. Whoever you are RLI R, you saved the day! :)

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup flour

1 cup butter(2 sticks) at room temp

1 cup granulated(regular) sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

Combine milk and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. 

Cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy. Add the vanilla and cooled flour mixture. Continue to beat at medium speed until frosting is very fluffy and sugar is completely dissolved. (If you take a little of the frosting and rub it between your thumb and pointer finger, you'll be able to tell if the sugar has completely dissolved. If it hasn't, just keep beating.

Makes 3 cups. Enough to fill, border, and frost a 9 inch cake.(I had tons left over since ours was just 24 cupcakes!

Look at that proud face! :)

Try it! Its just as good as confectioners recipes! I honestly couldn't tell the difference, but I am not a professional. It worked great and we enjoyed our treat! What more could one ask? :)

Happy Pinning!

From Boring to FABULOUS!

Phew! I just finished a time consuming project! We moved about 4 months ago and I am still working on making this house our home. It's all in the details right? There was a large blank wall behind our love seat and it was just begging for something interesting! I had revamped an old dresser(older post) to hold our DVDs and it sat along that wall, but it was very blank with just a boring mirror and some frames. Was no show stopper! I craved something eye catching and fun. I had those family photos from the spring and hatched a plan for a family wall. I perused Pinterest and found some fabulous ideas! Here is the result!

I bought the rod from Rodworks online. Its a rod that is actually made for hanging photos which is handy! I had thought about just going to Walmart or Target for a window rod, but they hang out from the wall several inches. This rod saved me that hassle and only cost me $24. I went to Michael's while they were having a frame sale and got the 11x14 frames 50% off.  I added nick knacks I had on hand and some I bought on clearance at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and World Market. I shop sales and clearance to keep it in budget and you don't lose any value. I'm getting better at it! Then I ordered the Vinyl sign thru Etsy for $19.99. This process took me a few weeks since I was just slowly accruing pieces and ideas. We also painted the wall a cream color. I think it turned out pretty darn cute! Total cost was about $75-$100 for everything. Not bad! It accents the entire living room that it faces into, and I am very happy with how it turned out. Another project down!

Here are my Pins of inspiration!

 http://countrygirlhome.blogspot.ca/2011/10/my-new-hand-crafted-sofa-table.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/22869910577493787/

Both these are so cute and trendy! Visit their sites to see how they did theirs!

Happy Pinning!