A Forest Frolic

Spooky Halloween Wreath Tutorial - re-posted

I LOVE making wreaths!  The Fall wreath on my door I made a couple of years ago was faded and totally didn't match the spooky decor we put up this year.  Soooo, I thought, why not make a Halloween wreath and hopefully inspire someone to make one too?

I promise, it's not hard!  It just takes a little imagination, creativity and a few minutes at the craft store to pick up some supplies...

 

I chose a grapevine wreath, Styrofoam skulls, a little metal sign, some black leaf garland, and purple glittered black roses...but you can chose from a variety of items.  A garland of some sort and a couple of focal pieces usually works well, as you don't want it to be too busy.

I plugged in the hot glue gun and inserted wooden dowels in the base of the skulls while waiting for it to heat up.  If they are too long, cut them short enough to not stick out of the back of the wreath...

Then, hot glue around the dowel where it meets the skull to give it extra hold.  When in doubt, add hot glue (but not to your finger ;-) tee hee...

I decided to add black glitter to the eye sockets to jazz it up a bit...but of course adding glitter is always optional.  I prefer Martha Stewart's glitter and glittering glue but you could use any kind.  So, paint the glue first...

Then, pour the glitter in (I am never shy with it as you can see ;-)

Now, it's time to move on to the wreath itself. 

Start by hot gluing the end of the garland into the back of the wreath.  Please do this over a covered surface, so that if the hot glue drips through, you don't burn yourself or ruin furniture...

Then, you summon your nifty little studio helper, tee hee!  Yes, I do that whenever I can...so I can't take credit for the whole wreath, it's true. 

She winded the leaf garland around and around trying to space it out a bit until it reached the starting point...and then I hot glued that end the same way I did the other one...

It's time to add those spooky little Skelly's you made! 

Just pop the dowels through the bottom of the wreath and hot glue them really good in there.  I kind of pull the wreath apart a wee bit to fit in the tip of my hot glue gun...again, being careful the glue doesn't drip through to the front...

I found these purple glittered black roses that were perfect to add a splash of color!  So, I just cut off the stems...

...and popped them in around the wreath like I did the wooden dowels, hot gluing along the way...

For a final touch, I added the 'Ghosts were people too,' sign, by sliding it onto an broken branch and hot gluing it really good.  Then I covered it with a black leaf so you couldn't see any glue...

 

There were a lot of cute Halloween signs but I thought this one suited the purple and black skull theme!  Better yet, make your own little sign...oh, I should have thought of that earlier, tee hee.

Sooooo, here is the final Spooooky wreath...

I will say...if I were to do this one again, I might spray paint the grapevine wreath black before adding all the decor.  I think it would make it a little more spooky...oooh, and maybe sprinkle some purple glitter on it too ;-)  Glitter is a girls best friend...isn't that the saying?  Oh, wait...no, that's diamonds, tee hee.  Well, not this girl...I LOVE glitter!

So, I hope you've been inspired to try making your own wreath.  They are so fun and fairly easy to make.  Not to mention much cheaper than buying one already made (not that there's anything wrong with that because I've seen some really cute ones on Etsy ;-)  But, I think this cost me about $15 to make, yay.

Jamie :)

p.s. this was re-posted from Halloween last year (thought I'd give you new readers a fun tutorial to try...thanks for reading ;)

Homemade Chimichurri Marinade & Dressing

As I've mentioned before, I'm all about growing my own herbs, fruits, and veggies (even though I still have a lot to learn ;)  Every time I make a recipe that calls for fresh herbs, I end up spending too much on a big batch from the market, and then half of it goes to waste. 

Plus, having the girls help plant, water, and pick the herbs is a lot of fun and actually encourages them to eat them too...

...this pot has my favorite herb, cilantro, in it...along with parsley, basil, oregano, and those are actually two pea stalks growing from the right side (I was doing an experiment, tee hee ;)

So, I'm going to share with you my version of a Chimichurri recipe that originated from Pampered Chef as a steak salad marinade, but I've tweaked it and made it even more yummy in your tummy!

Pick your parsley & cilantro...

...about 3/4 cup of each (oh yeah, there is a glimpse of my new Lisa Leonard stamped ring, that my man got me for Mum's Day!  It has all 3 of my girls names stamped on it and I LOVE it so much).

Now, rinse them and get out the food chopper (or your knife, but I am way to clumsy to finely chop herbs ;) 

Seriously, I have been thinking of taking out insurance on my hands! In the last couple of weeks, I have gotten two hot glue gun blisters, a bad scissor cut, several minor scratches, and jabbed an embroidery needle straight through my finger!  I mean...do you know how big an embroidery needle is!?!  Ouch, is all I can say!  It took all I had to hold my breath and pull it out before my daughter could freak out anymore.  The funny part is...I had a thimble on, but on the finger NEXT to the one that got stabbed, hahahah!

Anyway, back to the recipe ;) 

Chop the parsley & cilantro to your liking, then combine them with:

about 1/2 cup of olive oil (I use extra virgin)

3 tbsp of red wine vinegar

2 or 3 freshly minced garlic cloves (the more the better :)

1/2 tsp salt

and about 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

...mix it up, and voila'...

I use this to marinate steaks with, but also as a salad dressing ...deeee-lish! 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do...please do let me know if you try it.

Jamie :)

How to Make a Whimsical Moss Terrarium

This is a project we have been wanting to do forevah...and we finally did!  Tell me that little shroom I made with clay isn't the cutest (no, I didn't make the wee little frog but I've had him for as long as I can remember and I just think he's adorable)...

Now, that the weather is warming up, we have been having gardening fever (even though we don't have a real garden, tee hee ;)  But, we have planted lots of herbs...cilantro (yuuummy), basil, oregano, parsley, peppermint and spearmint for my tea.  Then we planted our upside down tomatoes again this year and I even threw some chive seeds on top.

We also got some funny little pea pods and they have sprouted already...now, if the girls would only eat them!   We got some organic cucumber and squash seeds to plant and I'm hoping that our tentative move, will be perfect timing to plant them in our new yard :)

Anyway, on with the good stuff.  Making a moss terrarium of your own is so easy and fun, very inexpensive, and it's very easy to take care of.

First you need a glass jar of some sort.  We got a terrarium jar from the craft store, but you could use even just a bell jar you have around the house.

Then, you'll need to put a thin layer of pebbles or stones on the bottom.  We used some that I use for crafting, but just some rocks from outside would be fine too...

I couldn't find 'activated charcoal,' so we picked up this 'activated carbon' from the local pet store for about $6, and it has worked just fine...

  Put a handful of the carbon on top of your rocks.

Then, layer in a relatively thick layer of soil...

And for the moss, we cut a piece slightly larger than our jar. 

Where did we get our moss you ask?  Well, my daughter remembered seeing some near her school playground that was just getting trampled by the kids...so we felt the need to 'rescue' it, tee hee.

So, you put it on top of the dirt (I love the forest clover already growing)...

 

...then, I took the back of my trowel (or you could use the back of a spoon), and kind of just tucked in the edges of the moss...

...and voila'...

 

Now, for the fun part...decorating it!  I made a little clay mushroom and painted and glittered it, then dug through some trinkets I've had for ages and found a perfect little frog and a cute little statue of a man reading, then we put some shells from our recent beach trip in there too...

We have our terrarium sitting in our sun-room and it's gotten many compliments from friends and visitors and we love it so!

As far as taking care or your moss terrarium...it only needs to be spritz with water about every 2 weeks, so this is an easy way to bring some nature into your home, even if you don't have a green thumb! 

Keep it out of direct sunlight and if it builds condensation on the glass, just take off the lid until it evaporates.  See...easy peasy ;)

For more fun DIY and handmade goodness, check out these sites and have a lovely day...

 

Jamie :)

I Made a Skirt, yippee!

Oh yes I did...and I couldn't be more thrilled!  I actually made a piece of clothing and it wasn't hard :)  And, is that not the most delicious piece of fabric you have ever seen...

I have been wanting this Alexander Henry fabric on my last couple of trips to the store, but didn't buy it because I was trying to be good...ya know, since I didn't 'need' it and all ;)  But when I came across this tutorial on 'Freshly Picked' I knew that was the fabric I wanted to use to make this skirt for my 5 year old. 

I also plan on making one for baby girl and even myself if I have enough fabric left.  And I wouldn't dare make a matching skirt for the 9 year old...she MUST pick her own fabric she says, tee hee.

Here, I am making a french seam...

See how it kind of overlaps itself to lock in the stitching...

Then, press and pin the bottom seam...

...and stitch away...

Then, comes the part where you put so many pins in the elastic waste-band...

...that it ends up looking like a porcupine (oooooh pretty colors)...

 

 After stitching the waste-band on and pressing it, this is what you get...

A gorgeous twirly skirt on a gorgeous little girl who could not wait to put it on (hence the Hello Kitty non-matching shirt, tee hee)!  I'm thinking these will make cute gifts for some little girls on my list, yay! 

So check out the tutorial if you want to give it a shot, and click on these buttons if ya need more crafty inspiration...

 

 Jamie :)

A Wallet & Clutch (Giveaway) Made of Paper & Vinyl

Do you want to learn how to make this adorable wallet?

Well, Click Here for the tutorial & printable templates on MarthaStewart.com.

OR LEAVE A COMMENT TO WIN THE CLUTCH BELOW!!

(this is the back)

...'follow' me by adding me to your reader or signing up for my e-mail...

...tweet about it...

..facebook about it...

...check out My Shop & tell me what your favorite item is...

(Please leave a separate comment for each, since I'll use the random number generator)

Yippeeee......that's 5 chances to win!

I happened to catch the tail end of her show a couple weeks ago and I'm so glad I did, because I've been needing a new wallet and this one is just perfect, and fairly easy to make (I used some of Martha's Woodland Critters paper that I had). 

There was a lovely lady that has a shop on Etsy doing the tutorial.  Her shop is called DearSuki, where she sells handmade wallets, card cases, & passport folders...so If you don't want to make your own, check out her cute shop :)

I thought it'd be cute to try something different too, so I made this clutch with some of my favorite Dear Lizzy paper (I just used a 12x12 piece and folded where I thought appropriate)...

(this is the front)

It's just perfect to hold the essentials, tee hee... 

So, for the wallet, you need to print the templates and cut them out...

...collect your paper, vinyl (I used 16 Gage because that's what Joann Fabrics had, but you could probably get away with 12), your snaps with the tool and your hammer, and get to work...

She recommended using a non-stick presser foot.  But, I couldn't find one at either of the two fabric stores I went to, and was too impatient to wait for one in the mail, so I just covered the vinyl with wax paper...

If I plan on sewing vinyl again though, I will definitely invest in a non-stick foot, because the wax paper made this project twice as hard, and ripping it off can pull your stitches loose if you're not careful.

Then, just sew it up, get those snaps on...and voila'...

...here's the inside, with 6 credit card pockets and a cash slot (sorry for the horrible lighting)...

And for more crafty adventures, visit these cool sites...

   

 

 

Happy day to you...

Jamie :)