Cherry Blossom Mirror

This was my first attempt at etching a mirror.  While the process is the same as glass etching, I felt like there was more to consider when etching my mirror.  I wanted to preserve the function of the mirror, so I tried to etch on the side.  I worried about the placement of the etching because mirrors are for looking at, whereas things like cookie jars look nice etched, but their appearance is not their sole function.  Maybe the more-complicated-feeling came from the sheer size of the mirror that I was etching.  I've never etched anything even half as big as this mirror.  Eventually I decided to do something simple, cherry blossoms.  The image that I used was from Martha's site and the mirror is from IKEA.  I'm probably going to give the mirror as a gift, so the photos are of the mirror on our table, as I didn't want to hang it on the wall.  Please let me know what you think--I'm not sure about this one!

I'm linking up to:

Cherry Blossoms. Sigh.

Disclaimer: Please forgive me for the quality of these photos.  Should I have waited for morning to take the pictures? Yes.  Is natural light always the better choice?  Yes.  Do I feel bad about it?  No, because I spent the day with my kids and will do so again tomorrow.  Crafting, for me, is an after-bedtime hobby.  Just pretend the pictures look amazing, okay?

I love cherry blossoms.  I want them all over my house.  I love the trees, the sticks, and the flowers themselves.  Unfortunately, I don't live in DC.  And cherry blossoms aren't exactly a year-round flowering plant.  What is a girl to do?  Yup, you got it, buy the plastic ones.

So thus was born our Tree of Kindness.

Next to my cherry blossom and pussy willow branches, I placed a small crystal bowl filled with tags.  I cut out (Thank heavens for punches!) the tags, then punched holes in their tops, then tied a loop of thread through the hole.  Each time that you do something nice for somebody else (it doesn't have to be family only--Kind deeds at school count too), you write it on a tag and hang it on the tree.  

I have found that when I give my children an outlet to share their acts of kindness, they spend real time seeking out opportunities to do something nice for somebody else, just so that they can share it.  We have a similar tradition that we do at dinnertime.  We go around the table while we're eating, and each person shares something nice that they've done that day.  Even if the kindness is acted solely to be able to report something at dinner time (or write it on a tag), at least they are thinking about being kind.  I'm hoping that this will encourage my children (and myself) to act a little more kindly to the people around us.

Here's my favorite:

Prayed for Abbie's finger.

That's my six year old, praying for his little sister.  She burned her finger on a tea kettle.  So sweet.

Spring Wreath Tutorial

I searched high and low for a spring wreath to hang on my front door.  I searched craft blogs and stores, but found nothing that I loved.  (I really have to love it if it's going to be on my front door.)  After a very successful Goodwill trip on Saturday, though, I at least had something to work with. Here's what I did:

Materials:

Twig Wreath Form (Mine was in the shape of three hearts)

Silk Flowers (Number will depend on your base--I used about 30)

Miniature Rose Blooms--2 colors (Again the number will depend on the size of your wreath)

Small Half-Pearl Beads (One for each silk flower)

Ribbon (About as thick as the outside width of your wreath)

Twine

Glue Gun

Step 1: Keep kids busy

Wreath Base (69 cents at Goodwill)

Step 2: Using your glue gun, cover the outside of the wreath with ribbon.

Step 3: Hot glue the silk blossoms to the front of the wreath.  My wreath base had small sticks, equally spaced, around the wreath.  I glued one blossom to the top of each of those sticks.  At the center of each heart, I used a large bright pink blossom, instead of the small yellow ones that I used around the rest of the heart.

Step 4: Ask your kids what you should do next.

Step 5: Follow their advice.  Glue a half-pearl to the center of each blossom.  ("What about jewels?")  I used a larger pearl for each of the large pink flowers.

Step 6: Cut miniature roses from their stems.  I cut them right at the base of the bloom.

Step 7: Cover the bottom of each rose with hot glue.  Then place it into your wreath, holding it in place for about 10 seconds to be sure the glue will hold.  Please just trust me on this.  I tried a gazillion ways of getting the roses to stay in place in the wreath.  Don't put the glue on the wreath and then the flower on the glue.  It won't work.  I promise.  Just use a lot of glue on the bottom of your flower and you'll be fine.

Step 8: Completely stuff the wreath with roses.  Seriously pack them in.  When they dry, they'll shrink.  I know you don't want holes in your wreath!

Step 9: Tie two twine handles, one along the front of the top of the wreath, and one towards the back of the top of the wreath.  If you only use one piece of twine to hang the wreath, it will tip forward or backward.  Again, just trust me.

Step 10: Twist the front twine handle with the back twine handle.

Now hang your wreath!  You did it!

I'm linking up to:

Flower Sand Box

On our last Ikea trip (dangerous!), I scored some red and beige sand bags, and some beautiful red flowers.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get the giant vase to go with them.  Crud.  Yesterday, though, I decided the time had come to do just do something with them.  It's been long enough.  I'm talking years here.  Seriously.  

Luckily, I had this gorgeous glass "thing," that was my grandma's, sitting in our basement.  My grandma had some amazing stuff that we were blessed enough to receive after she died.  How wonderful to be able to fill our home with things that remind me of her.  Anyways, the flowers I had were going to be way too tall for this glass container.  So I cut off the plastic stems, then hired my hubby to take care of the wire cutting that was inside the stems.  I poured the sand in colored layers into my container, then decided the zebra look wasn't as cool as I thought it might be, so I blended the sand with a giant spoon.

I have a current obsession with buttons, and thus had to find a way to include them!  I wrapped thick white satin ribbon around the top of the glass.  The angle of the glass, though, prevented the ribbon from laying flat.  I twisted the ribbon in two places, then hot glued it to the glass.  Voila!  I placed red buttons on each of the twists, and white buttons on the seam where the ribbon ended.

I wanted the top and bottom to match, so I wrapped the same white ribbon, folded in half to fit the right width, around the stem of the glass.  Then I put another red button on that seem, because you can never 

have enough buttons!

And here it is!  I'm so pleased with the final product.  I placed it in our dining room, on top of a piece of furniture that was my grandma's.  Our dining room is tan and red, so it fits in perfectly.  I love it when things work out!

And don't you love the name of my post?  I asked my 4 year old what I should call this post--She said, "Flower Sand Box."