Pretty Egg-citing!!

Ok, I couldn't help that one. Sorry. But here's what's exciting:

I made a Spring wreath! OOOHHHH!! Springy!

Why is this exciting? Well, mostly because I like it, but also because I normally ignore Spring (decorating). Love the season alot-alot, but normally I don't do anything about it inside the house. I especially ignore Easter. But for some reason this year, I'm completely excited about it and I went a bit insane at Target last night buying treats and goodies for the kiddos. I overbought by quite a bit, I know, but I couldn't help myself. Geez, I wonder what's going on with me..

Anywho, back on track. The wreath I made was sort of inspired by Inspireco (go figure!)and her Surprise Eggs. We bought those little plastic eggs this year, to put in a basket. But then I saw these and I said "Wow, those are better", so I thought we'd use them in the basket instead of the eggs. But then I was stuck with the eggs. So when I saw the Surprise Eggs, that made a lightbulb go off. But instead of using books (which would have been pretty, but I wanted color), I used scrap book paper. Now that paper is a little thicker than a book's pages, so it doesn't curve to the egg as well as a piece of paper from a book would (I discovered), but if you cut it into small enough and narrow enough strips, it does well. I am happy with the way it came out, and I thought I'd share how I made the wreath in case you like it too and want to make one of your own. It's simple and fun (and messy too!). Here's how:

1. Buy plastic eggs, or find the plastic eggs that your kids squirreled away under their beds and in their toy boxes from last year's Easter basket. It doesn't matter what color they are or if the tops and bottoms match. Just get some and put them together. I used 12 on my wreath. I'm betting, though, if you wanted an "eggier" (eggful?) look, you could fit 15 or 16, if you cluster them.

2. Get some other supplies. You would need:

A) Scrapbook paper or tissue paper (but be prepared to layer and layer that--it'll turn transparent with the glue), or even colored copier paper. Or use fabric. I LOVE fabric (didya know??) The point is to cover the "plastic-ness" of the plastic eggs. I used 6 pieces of 12"x12" scrapbook paper from Michaels (the ones they sell in those trays, if you've been down the scrapbook isle, you've seen them--there are tons of the darn things). The 6 sheets covered all 12 eggs, with plenty to spare. I will say that the only thing to avoid with selecting papers would be any paper with a large, busy print. The strips are too small to accomodate them and it'll just be a jumble. So a tonal print or a small print would be the best, I think.

B) Mod-Podge (or you could use the white glue thinned with water, if you wanted)

C) A paintbrush

D) Scissors

E) A hot glue gun and glue sticks (because the gun works better if you have glue for it :) )

F) A 12" wreath form (if you get a bigger form, you will need more eggs). The form I used was a styrofoam half round form.

G) Something to cover the wreath form. No matter how you set your eggs and flowers, some of the wreath form will show. And let's face it--styrofoam is NOT pretty. So, covering the form is a good idea in case any of it peeks through. I covered mine with 4" eyelet lace, because it worked for what I was doing and I had it on hand. But the form could also be covered in silk leaves, layered on top of one another and glued to the form, it could be wrapped in raffia, ribbon (the 12" form would need about 10 yards of the ribbon, if it were an 1" wide, so plan accordingly), or tissue paper. Anything you can either wrap around it, or glue to it.

H) Silk flowers -as many as you like. However, make sure you pick a flower that is larger and one that is smaller. An example of what I mean would be pick a spray Rose for the larger and Baby's Breath for the smaller. The spray rose is not large, but compared to the Baby's Breath, it is. You need a difference in scale to give it dimension. Generally, I use three types of flowers in anything I do with flowers (the exception was the Valentine's wreath, but that was ALL flowers, so it's a little different). One is a "background flower", which is the one I have the most of, and is usually the largest in scale (here it was the white daffodil). The second is the "focal flower", which may be a large or medium flower, usually of a different color for punch (here it is the pink rose). The third is the "fill in flower", which is the smallest flower and whatever color compliments the other two (here that is the daisy, which you see here and there).

I) Now this largely depends on personal preference, but for those small touches of gingham on my wreath, I used one roll of 1/4" narrow ribbon. It was about 3 yards. I used the whole roll. If you didn't want gingham, don't use it, but a colored ribbon is a good idea to get extra touches of color into your wreath that don't come from the eggs or the flowers. It can give the wreath the "pop" of color it might need, and could be any color or pattern you like.

J) Ribbon for a bow on the bottom and, if needed, the hanger. I bought a 5 yard roll and had quite a bit left. I think 5 yards is a safe amount.

K) A 12" piece of crocheted lace trim or a small doily (if you want to use it).

3. With all your supplies at hand, go ahead and cut your pretty paper into skinny strips. With the scrapbook paper I used, I cut a strip 1 1/2" long by the whole length, and then I took that strip and cut it into little tiny strips that would be maybe 1/8" x 1 1/2". You could also tear the paper into small pieces, if you like that look. The scrapbook paper has a white edge when you tear it, though, so you may see too much white and not enough color. The tissue paper and copier paper should tear beautifully.

4. Use your paintbrush to paint the Mod-Podge (or glue with water) on the eggs. Do a section at a time, this is super messy. Be prepared to be covered with Mod-Podge. Adhere the paper strips to the Mod-Podge on the egg and to each other. Overlap. Change directions. Make sure your edges are down, though, the scrapbook paper did tend to curl up on the edges a little bit. I held it down with my fingers, and it got the message. Cover one section at a time until the egg is covered.

5. Repeat step 4 until all your eggs are done, or until your fingers are so covered with Mod-Podge you can no longer bend them. :)

6. Let the eggs dry and go get a cup of coffee or tea (that's the best step yet, isn't it?)

7. Cover the wreath form in whatever you chose to cover it. Be sure you hot glue the ends of whatever you're using down well. You don't want it flapping back up. The styrofoam will hot glue really well, but you'll have to hold onto the thing you're adhering for a minute, so it doesn't let go. But once it's on, it's on.

8. Place your eggs and glue them to the form wherever you like, pretty side up (because inevitably, one side will be prettier than the other).

9. Fill in with some of your silk flowers. I usually put down the larger ones first, to fill up the space. 10. Fill in with your 1/4" ribbon. To do this, I made lots of little bows. Some were small, some were a little larger, it was random. I then tucked the little bows here and there and everywhere. They added a nice pop of color in addition to the flowers. 11. Fill in with the rest of your silk flowers. Here is where I would use the smaller ones and the "focal" ones. I do this on purpose. For one thing, it brings the wreath out more (literally, as in towards you), and two, it buries the ends of the larger flowers and the middles of some of the bows, so all you see are little loops and ends. It just looks prettier. 12. If you are using the crocheted trim, fold it fan style, and either stitch it together or hot glue it together. Either one works fine. Be sure to fold the ends of the trim to the underside. 13. Attach the crocheted "fan" you just made to the bottom of the wreath with a good dollop of hot glue. 14. Make a bow out of your ribbon.

15. Attach bow with another good dollop of hot glue. Then you can either let the ends of the ribbon fall, or you can attach it to the bottom of the wreath in different places, so it doesn't hang. It's completely up to you.

16. To make the hanger for the wreath, cut a length of ribbon to whatever length you need (because I don't know how tall your door is or where you'd like it to hang on that door) times 2 plus 3 inches for the form. Make a loop, flip over your wreath, and attach it.

17. Let the hanger dry well, and voila! You are done! Congratulations!
Can you see that I tucked the end of the ribbon bow up? This one just seemed to want that.

That's all there is to it. It's a relaxing, very creative project, with a really pretty outcome. I hope you will try it out!
Have a great day and good crafting! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me and I'll help you out. Thank you for stopping by!

Slowed Down

UGH! This broken toe has slowed me down, and more than I would like. I'm not a person who likes to slow down. I am busy, busy all the time, if I can be. So this has been a bummer with a capital B.

Luckily, with all this "resting" time my toe is feeling much better. I'm only limping around a tiny bit, and that's mostly when I'm wearing shoes. I was able to walk around quite a bit more today than yesterday (though my foot is pretty tired now), and I think tomorrow will be even better. Yeay! Back to my normal routine! The lovely sunshine we've had has made me want to be productive, even though it's 30 degrees outside. But the weird daylight savings time has unsettled me, to be honest. It's just not natural. It looks like Spring out, the sun is out longer, but last night it snowed. (((Shudder))) Freaky. I do not like it, Sam I Am.

I did get a couple of things done in the last few days, while I was "taking it easy". For one, I finished that blue and yellow quilt.

Ta DA!!!

I couldn't pick which one of the bad pictures was the best, so I put them all in. I am going to call it "Picnic in the Sunshine". I like it, it's cheerful.

I also read a book:

Is it wrong to say I really enjoyed it? I really did. I thought it was well-written, and gave an interesting perspective on Anne Boleyn's ambition. Who's to say how ambitious she really was? Was she really that driven, I don't know. But I found this an interesting slant to it. I have read a number of Alison Weir books, one of which was The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth and though Anne Boleyn was talked about quite a bit, the books are from the perspective of history. It was interesting to read about it from the perspective of it all happening right then and there, though I know it was fiction. The author did take a bit of the book from actual fact, and that was really good.

I also could completely sympathise with Mary Boleyn, who just wanted to be live in the country and own land and whatnot. (Don't we all, Mary? Don't we all?) I enjoyed reading about her "escape" from courtier life, and found some times when I was holding my breath, wondering what was going to happen (even though I already knew). I think that's the mark of a good author, and I will be looking for another Phillipa Gregory book soon.

Oh, and no, I haven't seen the movie. I heard it was pretty bad. I think I would like to see it just to compare/contrast the two. This book is long--660 pages or so, so I'd be interested to see how they "squish" that down. The book was good--I would recommend it!

That's it for me! I hope you all have a great day!

All Cooped Up

Oh, let me tell you, this broken toe thing is for the birds. I have been stuck in the house since Wednesday, and I have things to do, but can't go and do them. Not to mention that my daughter has a cold and has been out of school for 2 days, and so all I can do is listen to the two of my children fight all day. Ugh. Not loving it.

Anyway, because I am stuck in the house, I took some random pictures of the finished bathroom to show. I hope you like it!!

The light fixture over the mirror

The light fixture in the center of the room (I LOVE this one)

The trim over the baseboard heater (yes, I did trim over the baseboard heater. I'm a detail type of girl!)

My beautiful shelf that is sadly empty right now. This is one of my favorite things. It was thrifted at a flea market, and was dark brown before I painted it. It's been used for knick-knacks and as a spice rack, and now I put it in the bathroom for---I don't know, something. It cost practically nothing when I bought it, and I love it so much it's not even funny. Isn't it odd how that happens sometimes?

Pictures on ribbons, with covered buttons on top.

Closeup of one of the covered buttons and the crown moulding. Pretty!!

Towel holders with towels...

Box/shelf that I made to cover up the pipes and outlet for the washer (which was not so pretty to look at). It has a pretty orchid on it, which you can see....

...kind of here, in this bad picture of the curtain I made for the window. It wouldn't be a good post without a bad picture, right?

Closeup of the top fabric of the curtain.

Slightly better bad picture of the curtain

Another bad picture of the curtain

And now, some really detailed shots of random things. I love that macro setting!

The mirror frame

The pretty orchids (ooh, there they are! See? I told you there were orchids in those pictures!!)

The milkglass soap dish with pretty scented soaps in it (I LOVE LOVE milkglass)

Faucet handle

Towel ring

Oooh, a better picture of a piece of the curtain! This is the top part

This is the bottom part.

Those last were nice pictures, right? The light in that room is tricky. It's on the west side of the house, so it only gets good light in the afternoon, but then the light is either too direct or behind the trees behind the house, so I never can win. Oh well.

Thanks for taking this little tour with me! Have a great day!

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Otherwise entitled:
Why Your Mothering Instincts May Kill You
By: Me

If you have kids (or know kids), you know they get hurt. And if you have my son, you know he can get hurt-quite a bit. He's a busy boy, and doesn't look where he's going half the time. So if you're his mother, you are attuned to listen to those cries that are hurt cries and to come running when you hear them.

That means at any time of day-or in the middle of the night.

Last night I went to bed like any other night. An hour later, I was awoken by a terrified cry from my son. That's just as scary as a hurt cry, maybe even scarier, and makes the mommy auto-pilot kick in lightening fast. This is not a time when you think rationally. In fact, I don't even know what I was doing. I just know I heard that cry and a thousand thoughts raced through my head:

"He fell out of bed"
"The house is on fire"
"There's someone in his room"

And I RAN. Ok, well, first I must have gotten out of bed somehow (I don't remember doing it), and then I ran to the door. Well, actually I fell at the door. I don't remember doing that either. What I do remember is a very loud crash, then laying on the floor and reaching for the doorknob to open the door and thinking, vaguely "Ow". And hearing my husband behind me, saying "Ouch. That hurt. Are you ok?".

I don't know if I answered him. I must have been half asleep. I remember being desperate to get the door open. I did, and I must have run down the hall to my son's room, but I don't remember that either.

The next thing I DO remember is getting into his room and running across it to him, in his bed. And I remember thinking he hadn't fallen out of bed at all, and he wasn't hurt. But then I heard a beeping sound, so immediately I thought the house was on fire. And I was totally confused, because the alarm didn't seem to be coming from the smoke detector.

Luckily my husband had gotten there, and was thinking more clearly than I was (which wasn't at all, really). He found where the noise was coming from and saw that my son had squirreled away an alarm clock in a basket of toys (he's a big time squirrel-er) and it had gone off. My son was scared because of the sudden noise.

It took me a few minutes to grasp that my son wasn't in any danger--that a clock had just gone off. I really do think I was half asleep all that time. But as the reality that everything was ok set in, and the adrenaline wore off, two things became obvious to me. One, that I was shaking uncontrollably, and two, that I was HURT.

Remember how I said I fell? Well, I didn't fall, I FELL. And I must have hit things on the way down. As I sat there, making sure that my son was ok and was going back to sleep, I realized that I had a sharp pain in my calf, my knee, one hip, one foot, some ribs, and a couple of fingers. I don't even remember falling. All I remember is reaching for the damn doorknob from the floor.

As my husband and I headed back to our room, I looked at the spot by the door. A few things that were on a hope chest in the room were on the floor. I must have fallen on them. I don't even remember. I was in a lot of pain, but too tired to do anything about it. I went back to sleep.

Fast forward to this morning: I woke up with a huge bruise on the outside of my right calf, the inside of my left knee, a cut on my left hand, a bruise and scrape on my right rib area, a mother of a bruise on my right hip, and a broken toe. Yeah, no kidding. What the hell did I do?? Near as I can figure, I got out of bed, ran full tilt into the hope chest's corner (thereby bruising my hip--you ever do that? If you have, you know the spot I'm talking about, right on the bone), and knocked whatever was on there, off, and then fell over it. Landing would account for the bruises, but the broken toe? Maybe I ran it into the bottom of the hope chest. This is all I can figure.

But my little boy is safe and unhurt, and thankfully the house is not burned down. I, however, have seen better days. I am some lovely colors today, and I can't walk on my right foot. Ah, the joys of motherhood!!