DIY Hat and Hair decoration thanks to Dollar Tree

Getting ready to go out can sometimes mean taking it to the next level. Recently I attending a car tour with my husband and decided to wear my favorite dress. I needed some accessories though. I decided to wear my straw hat , but I really didn’t think the flowers on it matched the dress much less anything in my wardrobe.  So I hit the local Dollar Tree and picked up a couple of bunches of orange and white flowers, a headband , and some ribbons. I spent $5 and ended up with extras after the fact.

Anyway, here is my quick hat fix and headband

1 roll of grossgrain ribbon is usually more than $1 so I was happy to find 5/8” ribbon in white.

1 very plain straw hat, I removed the old blue and ivory bud flowers

My hot  glue gun doesn’t see near as much time as it use to but sure comes in handy when I need to do something quick.

I lined the end of the ribbon up on the patch where the previous flowers were to cover up the left over bits.

I placed the first flower and worked out from there.

I added 3 more flowers in white and orange to balance it out.

The finished product. I love the over the top flowers on the simple straw hat.  Read through the rest of the article to see me in the hat.

Now, I knew I would have 2 events to attend the weekend I made the hat for so I decided to mix it up a bit and do simple headband while I was at it.

I  decided to go with an orange headband to keep it a little more subtle instead of the bright white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took 1 flower off its stem and flattened it the best I could, then a bit of hot glue and attached it to the headband.

A quick and easy  headband  and I’m ready to go. I like it simple and easy, and simple feminine touches can make such a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Spool Ornaments

This year I really wanted to focus on homemade decorations and a more "green" holiday.  I have a stash of old wooden thread spools and thought it would be fun to hang them from the tree.
Nathan didn't think they would look good plain so we decided to jazz them up a bit. Not sure how it was going to turn out , I only pulled out 8 of the spools... I tried to get a good variety.

Using out stash of Elmer's 3D glitter glue we started adding glitter to the spools instead of thread. The green spool screamed green glitter.

Between Nathan and Mommy we glittered all 8 of the spools in no time.
I love the way the glitter sets up on the spools.

One thing we had to do as they were drying was turn them every so often to keep the glue from puddling.
The natural wooden spools create a nice contrast to the glitter.

I am still trying to decide on a hanger for the spools once we get our tree, I will either use a bead and ribbon to hang them or strategically space them on a garland.

This post is not a sponsored post, just something Nathan and I were playing around with and enjoying the Elmer's products we have been introduced to.

Thankful for you cards with Elmer's Craftbond and 3D #gluenglitter Pens #cbias

The boys and I made thankful turkeys during craft time this week for part of our homeschool craft time, so when the chance to make Thanksgiving cards came up I thought that would be another great craft for us. 
  
Kiddo and I headed to Walmart to pick up a few supplies including Elmer's Craftbond gluespots, Elmer's 3D Classic Glitter Colors Jumbo Pens, Elmer's Craftbond Sparkle Glue shimmers, and neutral cardstock. 


 We also shopped around for holiday decorations for an upcoming bazaar I will be working at.  We found the adhesive without a problem, but had to look a little harder for the cardstock.


 I didn't want to buy 12 x 12 as I have a ton and knew the project would be easier for all of us if I used 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. We finally found a reasonable package in the office supply section. 

Shopping at night was a new experience for Kiddo, we usually shop at Walmart after church on Sunday or Monday mid morning. He wasn't sure about the dark and rainy parking lot, but was content once we were back in the van and ready to head home. 


Thursday morning we got up and collected all our supplies to make our Thankful for you cards.
Here is a list of the supplies we used.
8 1/2 x  11 neutral cardstock
Elmer's Craftbond gluespots
Elmer's 3D Classic Glitter Colors Jumbo Pens
Mrs. Grossman's velum stickers
Sizzix large Maple Leaf die 
Creative Memories (c) Tag punch
brown calligraphy pen


I try to keep my crafts simple now as I am usually working with my 2 boys.


We took the 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and cut it in half (8 1/2 x 5 1/2)
Next fold the piece in half so your card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 with the hold along the top.

We used the Elmer's Craftbond gluespots to place the large leaf die on the card and added a vellum leaf sticker.

Using the Elmer's 3D glitter glue pens we wrote each person's name across the large leaf. 






We wrote on the tags .... "I'm thankful for you because...". The boys will write a personal note to each person later. 

 We glued the tag inside the card, where the boys will write their note to each person. 










These Thankful cards will be place cards for Thanksgiving dinner with my family hosted here at our house. Kiddo and I had a lot of fun making them and I know Cameron will have fun writing inside each card when he comes home.

For step by step instructions and to view the rest of the photos check out our google + album 

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer's #gluenglitter #collectivebias #CBias all opinions and ideas are that of the writer.

Paper Crafting, Scrapbooking, Etc...

I am currently purging my office... This is a project I have attempted and failed at so many times I've officially lost count. So far, I have managed to recycle, burn , or throw out 4 banker's boxes full of stuff. I'm working on 2 more boxes before the end of the day. Tomorrow's focus will be sorting to donate to our homeschool co-op as well as the boys' youth group and maybe the church's children's department.  I've decided to focus my supplies on papers that I WILL use on scrapbook layouts, stickers that the boys and I WILL use for either school or picture art, Vintage bits and pieces that will work for ATCs and finally things that will inspire me. If it doesn't fit into one of those categories then it is out of here... I need this space to inspire creativity and a sense of peace. I hope to have pretty things out where I can see them instead of crammed in boxes hiding.  So far, I am feeling better about this attempt then I have in the past so that should keep me going.