Saturday, April 26, 2025

How to Make a Gorgeous, Decorative Bow Willow Wreath

7:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me bowdabra bow, Willow wreath No comments

This post first appeared on Bowdabra.com where I'm on the design team.

A natural and unique decorated willow wreath is the perfect way to welcome warmer weather or any type of celebration, for that matter! It's a simple, yet eye catching way to highlight a gorgeous Bowdabra bow, too!

Materials:

Willow Wreath
Flowers and stems
Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Bowdabra /Bowdabra Wand
Bowdabra Bow Wire
2.5" wired ribbon
Scissors

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:

Let's begin with a willow wreath - which is a gorgeous, hand woven natural rattan wood wreath! It's also a step above the usual brown grapevine wreath you see so often!

Start by positioning and gluing on flowers and stems along the bottom of the willow wreath. The selected flowers should complement the ribbon you are using.

Starting at the half way position of the willow wreath . . .

gluing on flowers and leaves covering the bottom half.

To Make the gorgeous, decorative Bowdabra Bow that will cover the top half of the willow wreath:

Begin with the Bowdabra bow making tool by folding an 20″ length of bow wire in half and placing it in the Bowdabra, tucking ends under. This length will be enough to make a loop to hang your wreath! Next, leave the ribbon on the roll and crease about an inch from the end of the ribbon and insert down into the Bowdabra. Then fold over a five and a half inch loop, twist and press into the Bowdabra.

Fold and twist ribbon to make a matching loop on the opposite side, down into the Bowdabra.

Check to make sure the loops are the same length (5.5") by holding them up against the Bowdabra tower.

Then make four more loops - two at 4.5" and two at 3.5"on either side for a total of six loops.

Scrunch all the loops down using the Bowdabra wand.

Cut off the excess ribbon with scissors and thread the two loose ends of the bow wire through the loop, pulling tightly and tie in a knot at the back, gently pulling it out.

To finish the bow, take a small piece of ribbon - enough to go around the center of the bow - and fold it in thirds, creating a finishing strip.

As an afterthought, I decided to add ribbon tails which is so easy to do after the bow is made. Just cut a 15" strip of ribbon. Fold in half to find the center and squeeze together against the back of the bow and in between the finishing strip, bow wire (for hanging) and gluing the finishing strip in place.

Dovetail the ends by folding the ribbon together and cutting at an angle from the bottom corner tip up to the fold. Then fluff the bow and straighten the tails.

How gorgeous is this!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Dimensional Decoupage Eggs

Easter is almost here so instead of dyeing Easter eggs, how about decoupaging faux eggs with lovely paper napkin flowers and then creating a beautiful raised effect using the napkin flower designs on foam sheets to create a dimensional or 3D impact! It's an exciting way to add depth and texture to paper mache, plastic or wooden eggs and it looks quite unique, too! Sounds cool, doesn't it! And the fun part, you can display them all spring, use them for special occasions, and save them to decorate your home every year! Plus it's a delightful technique to learn that's not just for crafting eggs, but other items as well!

Hello and welcome to our monthly Creative Craft Hop! We have two wonderful hosts - Donna @ Modern on Monticello and Sara @Birdz of a Feather who take turns every other month! The talented and creative Donna is our host this month!

I'm so glad you are here! If you're coming over from Ann @The Apple Street Cottage, wasn't her Galvanized Flower Pot gorgeous! Ann has a knack for creating the most unique upcycled items!

Decoupage eggs is one of my favorite crafts to do! And when you add dimension to them, it takes the craft to a whole new level! So let's get started!

Supplies:

6" Faux eggs
Multi-purpose white paint
Paint brushes (sponge, bristle)
Plastic cups
Printed flowers paper napkins
Small sharp scissors
Mod Podge decoupage glue (Matte)
Parchment paper
Foam sheet
Plastic (Ziplock) sheet
Iron
Ball Stylus
Foam sponge (thick)
Fabri-Tac glue
Seed Beads

How To:

Let's start with 6" faux eggs - two pink and one paper mache I found in my stash. The pink ones had labels from Hobby Lobby. I have no idea where I got the paper mache one - it was there in my stash, too! I just know that I love the size of the three - but they needed to be painted white, first. I used a round sponge brush and placed the eggs on a plastic cup to help hold them in place when painting and drying.

The sponge brush left the paint on the eggs with a slightly textured finish when dry. Which I liked!

While the eggs were drying I got out three floral napkins from my stash. The first two had lovely, colorful iris flowers on them.

and the third napkin consisted of bright pink poppies!

I started with the napkin on the top left. First, cutting out the iris flower using small sharp scissors.

Then separating the printed layer from the white layers.

Next, paint a thin layer of decoupage glue on a painted white egg,

then lay the cut-out design on top,

smoothing out from the center of the design and out to the edges with a paint brush dipped in mod podge.

Use parchment paper to help smooth the wrinkles out and let dry.

Add additional napkin designs as desired following the same previous steps.

To add the dimensional pieces, place a white foam sheet on work surface and paint on a layer of Matte Mod Podge just enough for the pieces being used.

Place the flower design right side up on the foam sheet and smooth out using parchment paper and let dry.

Once the foam sheet design is dry, cut out.

Then lay right side up on a hot iron a few seconds until the foam flower petals begins to curve.

Remove the curved petals foam flower and place on a thick piece of foam. Then, using a ball stylus, press the flower down in the center to give the flower more depth. Once that's done, flip the flower over on the foam and continue using the ball stylus to round out the petals for additional dimension.

Satisfied with the look of the flower, add Fabri-Tac glue to the center of the foam on the back and . . .

attach to the center of the same likeness of the decoupage flower on the egg. Continue gluing on more floral foam pieces of the flower for a gorgeous dimensional look!

And finally, glue on a seed bead to the flower centers for added dimension.

How gorgeous is this!

I repeated the same process for the two remaining napkins using similar steps - so I won't bore you going over the same process creating them!

I had fun putting the second dimensional decoupage egg together using a bit more foam sheet floral pieces for additional dimension as seen here:

And the third napkin in pink poppies ended of being a bit whimsical with more petals and lots of seed beads in the center! I think it's not quite as dimensional as the first two. It's probably due to the type of napkin flowers used. The busier or more intricate the flower pattern, the better!

The finished dimensional decoupage eggs sitting atop glass candleholders!

I hope you enjoyed how I made these dimensional decoupage eggs!

Up next is our wonderful host, Donna @Modern on Monticello sharing her lovely backyard fairy garden painted border decor! Be sure to check Donna's post out and all the creative crafters' projects listed below.

DIY Simple Bath Board

Repurposed Egg Cup Tea Light Candles

DIY Garden Stakes

DIY Soda Can Bracelet

Spring Galvanized Flower Pot

Dimensional Decoupage Eggs

Painted Border Art Decor For Backyard Fairy Garden

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Kenya Snack Souvenir Zipper Pouch

7:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me DIY Zipper Pouch, Do It Over Designers Blog Hop, paper 18 comments

Welcome to our "Do It Over Designers" Blog Hop! In case you haven't heard, the "Do It Over Designers" is a group of creative bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/ DIY, hosted by Anne @The Apple Street Cottage. It happens the 4th Saturday of every other month and it's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Once in a while, Anne will choose a theme for us to do over. This month it's PAPER! Thanks Anne for hosting this wonderful blog hop!

First off, I apologize for this lengthy post! Not to worry, though, I'm only sharing a portion of our trip! We recently got back from an almost month long cruise that started in Doha, Qatar after we spent a few days in Dubai before sailing. From there we cruised to Abu Dhabi and back to Dubai. After Dubai we spent four days at sea on our way to Port Victoria and La Digue, Seychelles where we spent a couple of days before heading to Mombasa, Kenya! It took us two days at sea to reach Kenya! Getting off the ship we were greeted by Kenya dancers which was quite exciting to see and hear!

I thought I had hit video to show a bit more, along with the music, but apparently I didn't. Anyway, what a fun way to be greeted! We were scheduled to go on an almost ten hour long safari in Kenya! The ship arrived at 7am and was suppose to leave Kenya at 7pm.

But those of us on the safari enjoyed it very much! I think there were at lease ten trucks (going in different directions)!

We got to see lots of elephants, rhinoceros, zebras, giraffes, and a variety of birds - but no lions. At one point, our truck was charged by an elephant and the driver quickly stepped on the gas! I guess we were too close to her baby. There were also lots of fascinating termite hills along the way . . . I had never seen or heard of termite hills before, but take a look at this one:

They are supposed to be great for the ecosystem in Kenya - supporting plant and animal life there!

We realized later in the day we were not going to make it back to the ship by seven! Notice the expression on my face! Yep, that's me wondering where our driver was!

All the trucks were to meet at a diner along the safari route to make sure we were together and have a caravan of trucks back to the ship. Here's a pic of some of the trucks and our driver! LMAO!!!!

It was cool to see the caravan and be apart of that! And you know the ship was not going to leave without us, lol! It was a fun time with lots of new memories added to our bucket list!

Going to Kenya and being on a safari was a dream come true for my hubby, Gerald. As a young teenager, he and a group of friends made a pact back then that whoever became a millionaire would take all of them to Africa. Needless to say, no one became millionaires and unfortunately, most of his friends who made the pact are no longer living or in good health. But I did correspond with the wife of one of Gerald's childhood friends and asked her to check with her husband to see if he remembered the pact and he said he did! We are going to have them over soon to share our photos and experiences with them!

Anyway, getting back to my "Do Over" souvenir project that I created from a potato chip bag. While on the safari, we stopped a couple of times for refreshments and restroom breaks. While there, I got a couple of bagged snacks, potato chips and a bag of cashew nuts. Of course I had to read the bag labels to make sure I could eat what I was buying. I have to tell you I was truly impressed with what was stated on the back of the bags:

The manufacturers seemed quite concerned with the sustainability and quality of their product. And impressively, they were all made in Kenya! Also, satisfaction and allergen advice was also listed - something that I could not find on any of the Fritos Lays snack variety bags we have here in the states.

We bought the usual souvenirs like t-shirts and a few handmade trinkets, but I decided to make a Kenya Snack Souvenir Zipper Pouch with the potato chips bag I had. To me, the bag was something really authentic from Kenya! I also kept a cashew bag, but I tore the opening at an angle when I opened it and haven't quite figured out how to make something out of it.

I know we've all seen pouches made out of chip bags. There are lots of DIYs online - but I had never made one. So here goes!

I just needed a few supplies in addition to the chip bag:

Scissors
Wipes and Paper towels
Duct Tape
Zipper
Stapler & staples

How to:
Fortunately, I did manage to open the top of this bag without tearing.

Then I took a sharp pair of scissors and cut straight down the middle of the bag on the backside until I reached the sealed bottom portion . . .

where I was able to gently cut through the sealed portion.

Then I took my time trying to separate the sealed bottom edge.

Thank goodness I was able to neatly open the bottom of the bag to reveal chip crumbs inside. Naturally!

I used a Lysol wipe to remove the crumbs followed by a . . .

paper towel to dry the inside foil.

Then, I began applying duct tape in strips over the foil lining of the bag. Don't you just love the color and pattern design of the duct tape! It really matches the outside colors of the chip bag!

Adding one strip at a time to cover . . .

all of the foil lining.

Then turning the bag over and cutting off all the exposed overlapping duct tape.

It was really hard at times to not get the chip bag wrinkled from the stickiness of the duct tape.

Next, lay a zipper right side down on the edge of the right side of the chip bag. Be sure to line up the zipper evenly to the edge of the chip bag. and begin stapling about midway on the zipper to the chip bag . . .