Valentine Table Display

I finally got all of my Christmas decorations put away and quickly pulled out my Valentine's Day decorations.  I only have a few items, but really enjoy the simplicity that the colors of this holiday bring, especially during the dreary winter.

I had some artificial roses left over from a project I never started, so I finally put them to good use.  I used these styrofoam cubes (purchased for yet another project never started) to create a simple table display.

The roses were already trimmed from the bunch they came on and had a two inch stem.  I pushed them into the cube, making three rows of three flowers.  I put all the white roses in one cube, all the pink in another and all the red in another. 

 

I wanted to group these together, so I first rubberbanded them, then used masking tape to hold the three cubes together.

 

And last, I used a piece of scrap faux leather fabric to wrap around the styrofoam cubes, and added some coordinating ribbon for a neat finish.  I just used hot glue to attach the fabric and ribbon.  I love the way this simple display turned out!

 

Fall Leaf Garland

With Halloween over, I've started packing up the ghosts and pumpkins, but still wanted to have a few nice fall decorations around as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I had purchased a package of artificial fall leaves awhile ago that I used to spruce up my fall wreath. 

I still had quite a few left and decided to use them to create a leaf garland that I could hang in my dining room.  I had planned on sewing them together, but opted to use hot glue instead.  It worked pretty well and I still get that flowing look of leaves.  I really like they way the garland looks on my china cabinet.  Super easy, but very pretty.

Sweater Vase

Remember I made that twine vase to pretty up one of my many plain glass vases?  Well, I still have a few plain glass vases and decided to pretty up another one!

This time, I used an old cable knit sweater.  This sweater of mine had been totally spent, just didn't fit well anymore (after a dryer incident), and had a lot of pilling.  But, it was too cute to just throw away, so I decided to repurpose it.

So, I cut off one of the sleeves, slipped it over the vase, and gave my vase a new look!  I used a little spray adhesive to keep the sweater in place and trimmed it up along the bottom.  This was so simple to create and this vase will add a nice textured look to my fall and winter decorations.

Fall Wreath

I made my Fall wreath a few years ago and thought that it turned out really well.  I used a grapevine wreath as the base, then added a variety of Fall picks like fruit, leaves and berries.  Then I added a harvest colored ribbon for hanging and that was it.  I got lots of compliments on how nice it looked.  But, as I brought my wreath out of our basement storage, I thought it looked a little drab and bare this year.

Fortunately, I had some decorative touches on hand that I had purchased the year before for another project (that I never got around to) that would work perfectly to spruce up my wreath.  So, with my trusty glue gun and some bright sunflowers and leaves, my drab wreath looks much more refreshed and ready to take on this season of color!

Twine Vase

Sorry for the delay in craftiness!  With school starting, we've been working on getting back into our routines.  Then, the dreaded head cold hit our house, and we're still recovering.  But, now I'm back and ready to share a few fun crafts with you!

With Fall right around the corner, I'm eager to start pulling out my fall decorations and taking the time to create a few new ones.  I have a really pretty, but simple collection of fall foilage I like to display in a vase.  I have a bunch of plain glass vases to use, but was trying to think of a way to pretty them up a bit.

Then I came across a roll of twine in our junk drawer. We used to use it to tie up our newspaper for recycling, but it's just been sitting in the drawer unused. I can put it to good use! Plain vase + twine = pretty vase!

To get started, I cleaned and dried my vase and used a piece of large cardboard as my work surface.  I decided the easiest way to adhere the twine to the vase was with my glue gun.  My glue gun has two settings, and because I was working with glass I chose the lower setting.

I started at the bottom of the vase, gluing the twine around the surface.  I used the glue to cover continuously for the first 2-3 layers just to be sure things stayed in place.

After I got the first few layers complete I continued to wrap the twine around the vase, but now gluing every 2 inches or so.  At the end, I used a larger twine (sissal) to accent the top and bottom of the vase.  This was a very tedious task, taking me two days to complete.  I burned my fingers plenty of times too, but I got just the look I was going for.

I love the rustic look to the vase!  Not only will it work perfectly for Fall, but it will definitely blend in to our country-style home.

   

Sharing this fun fall project at some awesome craft blogs:

Kuzak's Closet

Under the Table and Dreaming

I Heart Naptime

Creative Jewish Mom