May Centerpiece
I realized just today that I haven’t shown my May centerpiece and tablescape to you all yet. I went simple this month since our table seems to be taken over by projects these day. April showers bring May flowers so my table is covered in bright flowers.
Check out my napkin rings. Can you guess the secret item I used to make them?
Shower curtain rings! For $1.50 I bought 10 shower curtain rings and used them as the base for these napkin rings. Throw in a $1 set of flowers on sale at Michaels and some floral tape leftover from another project and I have a cheap napkin ring with plenty of leftover supplies for another month.
To make these super easy napkin rings, you’ll want to cut off your silk flower’s stem and wrap it around the shower curtain ring. Wrap the floral tape around the stem to secure it and continue your way around the entire shower curtain ring. Then just slide your napkin inside your ring and enjoy your work!
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April Centerpiece
This month’s centerpiece theme is based around Easter. I’m loving purples and greens this year for Easter so I painted some dollar store Easter eggs with some Krylon Make It Stone spray paint. Then I topped them off with some acrylic paints and some watered down paints I misted on for a watercolor effect.
Then I took a flat wreath base and covered it with a mossy green yarn following this technique so I looked like I had a nice grassy base to hide some eggs. Then I plopped eggs all around and inside of my favorite scalloped bowl from Pier 1 for this super simple look.
For an added bonus, I folded up my napkins to look like little bunnies popping out of my dinner mugs. I got the technique from Better Homes and Gardens
Tomorrow I’ll show you a perfect breakfast treat in the week and later on I’ll show you my favorite carrot cake recipe. If you want to try either of these dishes, the first requires yeast, an orange, and baking raisins in addition to the usual baking items. The second dish requires carrots, crushed pineapple, coconut, walnuts, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.
What will be on your table for Easter weekend?
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Watercolor Easter Art
Looking for a simple Easter art project? This one can be done with supplies from the Dollar Store and it’s a great project to do with kids.
Supplies
You’ll need:
- watercolor paper
- watercolor paints and paintbrush
- white crayon
- glass filled with water
- pen and ruler
- frame
- tape and scissors
How To Do It
1. Split your watercolor paper into 9 sections using a pen and ruler. You want the sections to be taller than they are wide.
2. In each section, draw a pattern using your white crayon. It’ll be hard to see so use simple patterns or try to look at an angle in the light to see where you’ve drawn.
3. Wet your paintbrush and dip it in the paint until wet. Use one color per section of your grid and paint it up.
4. After the paint dries, draw a template of an egg and trace it onto each section. Cut out the egg shape.
5. Use your frame to determine how your eggs will be laid out. I had made 9 eggs but used my favorite 6 for my final design. When you find a layout you like, attach them to a background with an adhesive like mod podge or double-sided tape. Once you like the look, close up the frame and admire your work.
It’s not quite the watercolor masterpieces I showed off yesterday but it’s a simple way to add some color to your Easter decorations.
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In like a lion
For my March centerpiece I wanted to imply some movement. The zig zag lollies in these centerpieces remind me of pinwheels and windy days. Missouri is really seeing March come in like a lion. Yesterday we had crazy storms, tornadoes to our south and east and the winds keep gusting between 50-60 miles an hour. I’m just thankful we’ve been safe so far and I hope the rest of spring isn’t had like last year.
To make this centerpieces I primed and painted some garden pots in silver. Michaels is having a sale on them this week if you want some of your own. I mixed and matched some papers leftover from my lollies and cut it to fit around the rim of each pot, applying it with mod podge. At the dollar store I found some floral foam and some marbles. I plopped the foam into each pot, added some spray painted kabob sticks attached to my lollies (instructions in yesterday’s post) and covered up the base with marbles.
It looks like spring to me! What have you been working on for March?
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Doily Art
Remember last week’s contribution to the 1% {P}Inspiration challenge? Well, I’ve done it again.
Before I show you the piece that inspired my latest piece of art, I’d like to mention that the plea for one of my friends to have a baby boy in that post was clearly desperate. It also worked. One of my dearest friends from college put out the word that she’s expecting and it’s a boy, not 24 hours after I made my post. Since that was so successful you’ll be seeing more pleas in here that will surely be answered by the gods of blogging. I’d like a cruise around Europe and plenty of cash to pay for everything ever. Hello? Is it done yet? Well, I’ve got about 24 hours so moving on to that art that inspired this project.
I loved the art made by this etsy artist. You can’t see it in the photo but she attaches plexiglass to the doily art she makes and these are freestanding forms that you can use to decorate your home. I saw the bunny though and thought it would be better behind glass so I started on a little project.
I first cut out some shapes, one of a rabbit and one of some ducklings. I recycled a little from my trip to the DaVinci Exhibit in St. Louis. I had bought some cute cutout paper from JoAnn’s ($1.99) that worked in place of doilies. I placed the cutout reverse-side-down on the paper and taped down just the edges. Then I flipped over the lace paper and used matte tape to completely cover the stenciled area. The result you’re looking for is something like this once you do all your cutting.
See how you can still see the tape? That’s very important in holding these little guys together. I chose some spring colored paper ($1 at Michaels) and placed it in a $1 frame from the Dollar Store.
And here’s the bunny
All together these two pieces of Easter art cost me $5 or $2.50 per frame. They’re a cute way to decorate for spring and having an Easter bunny and ducklings look quite nice in my kitchen.
What signs of spring are hopping into your home?
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Tissue Paper Flowers
This handy little craft project came in useful when I was coming up with centerpieces for a bridal shower. I wanted spring colored flowers for blue mason jars without all the price. I had heard of tissue paper flowers but I wasn’t convinced how easy they would be but I was convinced I could do a decent job. Plus, I could get all my supplies from the Dollar Store so if I failed I wouldn’t be out a ton of money.
Supplies
- 3 packs of tissue paper – $1 each (I chose 2 in fuchsia and 1 in soft pink)
- 1 pack green pipe cleaners- $1 each
- Package of floral tape (optional)- $1
- Paperclips (optional)
- Scissors
- Vase or jars
- Total=$5 + jars
Prep Work
Before beginning, you’ll want to prep all your equipment. Line up 8 pieces of tissue paper of one color and tape together along the edges every few inches. Take a cup and draw a small circle on the top piece of tissue paper with a pen or a marker. I chose a 2 1/2″ wide cup to trace. I managed to get around a dozen circles onto the tissue paper. Then I cut through all 8 pieces of paper for each circle. A paperclip will be very handy to hold these circles together while you cut out all the pieces. Each vase will hold about 7 groups of those 8 circles so do some simple multiplication to see how many packs of tissue paper you’ll need and how many circles you’ll want to cut out.
Assembling the Flowers
Step 1: Make sure all your circles are cut and placed in stacks of 8.
Step 2: Use the metal part of the pipe cleaner to poke through the stack of tissue paper, just off-center. You’ll want about 1 1/2 inches to come through.
Step 3: Loop the pipe cleaner back through the tissue paper using the metal part and just off-center again. If the pipe cleaner has trouble ripping the paper use a needle to pierce the paper before putting the pipe cleaner through.
Step 4: Wrap the extra end of the pipe cleaner around itself.
Step 5: If you want a more flower-like look, wrap the pipe cleaner in floral tape. This is best if you are using a clear jar or vase. The floral tape sticks to itself so just wrap it tightly on an angle.
Step 6: Repeat on all the other circles and set aside till all are ready.
Shaping
Step 7: Crinkle the innermost layer of tissue paper up very tightly. Don’t worry about making it look perfect, just make sure it covers the green of your pipe cleaner. Repeat on layer 2.
Step 8: For layers 3-6 crinkle a little looser focusing more on making a puffy shape than a flower.
Step 9: For layers 7 and 8 you’ll just want to crinkle the tissue paper.
Step 10: Now starting from the outside in gently unfold the tissue paper layers and loosen them until they start looking like a flower.
Just plop 7 of these beauties in a jar and you’ll have a gorgeous centerpiece. Here I’m displaying mine in my votive holders that I’m using as a vase.
I think these would be beautiful with yellow and white or in a centerpiece for spring or Easter or you could use them for a bridal shower like I did. For less than 10 cents a stem this is an easy way to decorate without wasting your money.
How would you use these flowers?
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