Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello friends!  Happy Valentine's Day! 

I have been truly slacking in the Valentine craft arena.  I look around blogland and see all the amazing Valentine's projects and I haven't been inspired to do any.  I didn't want to force myself to do a project just so I had something to post about, so I have just been enjoying all the fabulous creations from all of you :)

I did however decide to make some special Valentine's for Charlee to take to school with her.  I have always been the mom that picks up some princess and superman Valentine's from Target and we are good to go.  This year, I wanted to do something different. 

I found this great idea at Making it Feel Like Home and thought it was the perfect thing!  Simple, cheap and fun!

So there you have it...my one and only Valentine craft and I can't even take credit for the idea ;-)  Hope you all have a great day full of LOVE!!

Candy Topiaries

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  The sun is shining and everyone is good and healthy at our house, which means it is a weekend of cleaning, tree decorating, catching up on projects and finishing our outside lights!
I thought I would share with you today a very simple Pinterest inspired topiary that I just completed.

I started out with 2 clay pots (that only cost me 0.25 cents!) and spray painted them gold and a top coat of glitter. 

Then I cut a Styrofoam ball in half and hot glued it inside my pots.

Next I took my spray painted sticks and hot glued them inside the Styrofoam.  I put my other Styrofoam balls on top of the sticks to make sure they were centered.   I then covered them in colored duck tape (this is definitely a must do or you will have white spaces showing in between your candies.

I used Snow Drops that I got on clearance at Craft Warehouse to go inside my pots...

Now came the super tedious fun part!  Simply hot glue the thousands of candies...

Yes, I see the one escapee at the bottom ;-) 

I followed up the finished look with a coat of Polyurethane spray to keep the candies from melting and getting all sticky.

Here are my disclaimers if you choose to do this project yourself...

The large one is super top heavy because the genius making it didn't realize how heavy a million candies are for one piece of Styrofoam!  If I were to do it again I would advise a shorter or wider stick and something heavier in the pot to keep it down. 

Also if you are a perfectionist this may not be the project for you.  The little mints don't like to line up perfectly the whole way around.  I don't mind it at all, since I usually prefer things with a little bit of flaws ;-) but it may make some of you OCD gals crazy! 

Last bit of advice...make sure you buy way more candies than you think you will need.  I way underestimated the amount of mints I would need to make these.  I originally purchased 3 bags of red and green mix and I only had enough red to finish half of the little one.  I ended up going to the store 3 times for mints! 

I will also fully admit that I have one more topiary sitting in my garage waiting for mints, but I have no motivation to do it right now because it took me so long to glue the little suckers on ;-) 

Most of you probably have a lot more patience, skill and common sense than I do and would most likely breeze through this project though...

I will also be linking up to these fabulous parties...
http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/
; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/; http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/ ; http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com; http://vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com ; http://kissedbyafrog.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.happyhourprojects.com/ ; http://www.homemakerinheels.com/ ; http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/; http://littlebighouseontheprairie1.blogspot.com/; http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/; http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com; http://todayscreativeblog.net/;http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/; http://www.thegunnysack.com; http://caribbeanmissionarywife.blogspot.com; http://athomewithk.blogspot.com/; http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2011/12/christmas-blog-link-party-christmas.html; http://jane-adventuresindinner.blogspot.com/

Bottle Aprons

I am so sorry that I have been MIA the last few days.  We have had the lovely stomach flu going around our house, so I have been a little preoccupied :-(  I won't gross you out with the details on my cleaning and hair washing duties to get the smell off of my children, ha ha - so on to my post...

Apron creations for all your naked soap and lotion bottles...

Last year around this time was my very first experience with blogs.  I somehow stumbled across Lemon Tree Creations and sat back admiring her skills, wishing I had that type of creativity and craftiness.  Well, low and behold she did an adorable project that even I could do!  She made these adorable little aprons that I just had to try.  They turned out fairly well for my first crafty project.

Sadly, over the year I am somehow down to only one little apron and all my other bottles are nekkid :-(  I thought this would be a prefect time to create some new ones so I could share this project with you all, in case you never saw it in the past.

Yes my neighbors probably thought I was crazy doing a photo shoot with soap in aprons in my front yard ;-)

The best part is that you can use any fabric and ribbon you want to coordinate them with your decor or for the current Holiday season! 

I will also be linking up to these fabulous parties...

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ ; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/; http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/ ; http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com; http://vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com ; http://kissedbyafrog.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.happyhourprojects.com/ ; http://www.homemakerinheels.com/ ; http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/; http://littlebighouseontheprairie1.blogspot.com/; http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/; http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com; http://todayscreativeblog.net/;http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/