Bunny Head Decorative Accent

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You see them in all the craft stores - especially this time of year - paper mache eggs! You can really get creative with what you can make with them! Here's a fun way to turn an egg into an adorable decorative bunny head! 

You will need:

Large Paper Mache Egg

Cardboard

Tacky glue

 Chalk paint (white, black)

Twine

Hot glue

Magic Marker

Air dry clay

Gloss varnish

Let's start with a plain paper mache egg! This one is 6" x 4.25"

 For the ears, you will need to make an ear template and cut out several pieces from cardboard .  .  .

 and glue together using tacky glue for thickness.

 Once the glue has dried, squeeze the cardboard ears to give them curvature .  .

 and then glue them on top of the egg.

Next, glue on twine around the edges of the ears to add dimension and let dry.

 Then handpaint the bunny head with several coats of chalk paint.

 Next, draw on mouth using a magic marker .  .  .

 curving the bottom up!

 And then ball up a bit of air dry clay and glue on and apply eyes with the end of a paint brush dipped in black paint.

 And for a nice finished sheen, sponge on several coats of  gloss varnish and let dry.

And finally, add a few foam flowers made from a previous project to dress the bunny head up a bit!

Just perfect as a decorative accent piece for Easter!

This post is part of the monthly Creative Crafter's Group! For March, we were challenge to make an Easter Themed Craft! I hope you enjoyed this easy to make tutorial! Please visit the other crafters participating!

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Scallop Seashells Designed Vase

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!

Welcome to our Monthly Challenge Blog Hop!  I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you a themed monthly challenge blog hop on the 2nd Monday of each month! The theme for this month is Coastal Crafts!  For this challenge we're creating a new coastal craft or project!

If you are into the coastal vibe theme - which is quite popular these days - here's a quick and easy way to add a unique nautical touch to your decor using a dollar store vase and a pack of small scallop seashells!

 Let's begin at the top of a clean glass vase:  Use super glue, or a quick grab  glue or even hot glue using permanent glue sticks like Gorilla to attach the shells .  .  .

 in a clockwise rotation, first at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 marks and then down on the glass. Filling in around the top rim and working downward in a decorative pattern.

 Once the seashell base is established, go back and fill in gaps and overlap with more shells creating a decorative scallop design.

Look how pretty this is! Don't you just love it! It's sure to add a coastal vibe and charm to any decor!

 Mixing beachy styles together for an interesting look!

Now on to our Coastal Crafts Blog Hop!

 Meet this month's co-hosts:

Across the Blvd | Purple Hues & Me

Slices of Life | Domestic Deadline

Chas' Crazy Creations | Sew Crafty Crochet

Coastal Bohemian | Vicky Myers Creations

You will find lots of interesting coastal ideas and inspirations here!

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Seed Beads & Ribbon Easter Egg Decorating

This is an update to a post from a few years ago.

While looking through my stash of seed beads for a color close to purple, I came across a huge bag of clear crystal filler beads used to make faux icicles. I wondered what would happen if I applied drops of alcohol ink to the little crystals.  And I soon found out!

By adding several drops of plum alcohol ink . . .

and shaking the container until the color was blended. 

Look what happen:

Aren't they pretty!!!!

Then I took a paper mache egg . . .

and painted it pink.

Sprinkled on some glitter and then spread silicone adhesive over the egg and added the pretty color crystals. 

This photo doesn't show how lovely the crystals really are on the egg. And then I thought how gorgeous the egg would look if I added a bow to the top .  .  .

So I got out my Bowdabra  and made a very fluffy bow!

And glued it to the top .  .  .

Then I found a stand that's really for hanging bananas -

but I didn't care!

I tied the bow ribbon on .  .  .

and wow!  Take a look!

Basket Update Foamiran Napkin Decoupage Flower

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

It's that time again for The Thrift Store Upcycle Challenge on the fourth   Thursday of each month! Here, a group of creative bloggers come together to   share their lovely transformations of a thrift store item. Who doesn't love thrift   store upcycle projects - whether it's actually creating one or admiring how an   item from a thrift store was transformed!

The Rules:

• Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
• There's no monthly theme.
• There's no budget to stick to.

                                                                            Meet the Hosts

Angela | Simply Beautiful By Angela - Gail | Purple Hues and Me 

Jenny | Cookies Coffee and Crafts - Michelle | Our Crafty Mom 

 Meredith | Thriftwood Home

  

   

One thing for sure, you can always find lots of baskets at the thrift store. They're usually plentiful in all sizes and styles for just a few dollars. And the best part, baskets are easy to transform with a little bit of paint and a few other enhancements! 

Take this worn out basket that I found at the thrift store. At the time, I had no idea what I would do with it - but it was sturdy, a good size, and looked unique!  I soon realized that it was perfect for our thrift store challenge!

First, after actually washing the basket - it seemed quite dirty in places - and letting it dry, I painted the green twisted twine, a Mulberry shade acrylic by DecoArt. Once the color dried, the basket still looked rather plain. So I decided to decoupage the basket wicker sides with flower napkins. I had decoupage a basket before and didn't have any problems then.

 Begin by separating the printed napkin sheet from the rest and then tearing out some of the flower designs.  

Then lay out the napkin design on the basket and lightly tap the napkin with a mod podge coated brush. Continue adding napkins to the basket using this technique.

 This is what the basket looked like after filling the sides in with the napkin designs.  I did not like the look - there were too many wrinkles! Perhaps the woven wicker was spaced too far apart and allowed the napkin to wrinkle in between - so I quickly washed it all off before it dried.

Then I thought about just making a flower to place on the basket. But I wanted to use the pretty flower napkins I had and wasn't quite sure how I could make a sturdy flower using a napkin. I knew how to make mod podge paper napkin flowers.  But I wanted something firm, strong and with dimension.  Then I had an idea of using foam sheets or formiran! I had made lots of foam sheet flowers, but never attached napkins (decoupage) to the foam sheets. Would that work? I looked on Pinterest and then google how to decoupage napkins to foam sheets but found nothing. 

So I decided to give it a try. There's never harm in trying something new! First, I painted mod podge on the foam sheet.

 And starting at the edge of the napkin, laid it down on top of the foam sheet.

 Once the napkin was down on top of the foam sheet, I used a plastic bag to smooth out the wrinkles and then let dry.

 It took several hours for everything to dry. And while it was drying, I made a template of a flower petal in different sizes. Once the napkin and foam was dry, I drew copies of the petals on the back of the foam and cut them out.

 Next, I placed the petals on a low heat electric griddle (or iron if you don't have a griddle) for a few seconds, letting the edges curl. 

 You'll know the foam is ready when the edges curl and it's time to remove it from the heat by quickly picking it up and using the tips of your of your fingers to shape the petals - by indenting and curling the edges over or even twisting!

Then glue the petal layers together at the center using hot glue.

 For the center, pour a generous amount of mod podge into the middle of petals and drop seed beads down into the glue. Mash the beads down into the MP and let dry.

This flower is too cute! Nice and firm and quite unusual - perfect to attach to the basket!

Use a permanent glue like DAP RapidFuse or super glue to attach the flower to center of basket.

And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!

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