Flamingo in Purple Gems - Diy

Sunny tropics and sandy beaches spring to mind at the very sight of this flock of bright pink flamingos at the Dollar Tree store.

I had a chance to see flamingos up close while vacationing in Aruba a few years ago.   They were literally right there with us on the beach!  How cool was that!

When I saw those plastic pink flamingos at DT I knew what I wanted to do.  Glam them up a bit with purple glass gems!

First let me tell you to not even think of using a hot glue gun to do this.  It's a waste of time.  The gems fall right off leaving the blop of glue in it's place.
Try E6000 or any waterproof glue that's clear, thick (so the gems won't move while drying) and permanent.  

The original metal legs are attached on the side when you purchase the bird.  I had to replace them with a pair of garden stakes to support the weight of the glass gems.

I started gluing the gems on at the bottom where the holes are located for the legs so I wouldn't cover them up.

And I left the beak as is - yellow and black.

I glued clear glass gems over the eyes so that the eyes appear magnified.

                                  A whole lot of whimsey!


                The finished flamingo adds fun and frolic to my garden!

                            A colorful splash that's a pure delight!

My purple gem flamingo is irresistibly charming and guaranteed to impress!

                       I wonder what the neighbors think?



Take a little time to enjoy,

Pergola Transformation

Ever since we had our stone patio built, I've been secretly wanting a pergola added over the curved wall.  My hubby wasn't really sold on the idea since it doesn't provide immediate shade to the area.  But when I showed him some pictures of what it might look like, he became interested.  Coming up with a plan proved to be a bit difficult. We searched the internet looking for pictures of pergolas built over low curved walls. Didn't think this would be hard to find, but it was. We ended up designing our own.  The company we finally settled on was willing to do whatever we wanted (amazing, but for a price). In the end, we have something simple, but striking and reasonably priced   .   .   .

              A decorative feature that enhances the look of the patio.

The area last summer

Late fall 2012

                                                         May 2013  Work Begins:

                                                              Inserting the columns

                                                           Adding a decorative panel

                                                                       Support Beams

                                                                        With Rafters

                                                                  Pergola with Stringers

  

                                                 The finished look with a day couch added.

 I love the look that the addition of the pergola creates. It really does transform my patio. I'm still tweaking the area, but I now have a comfy place to hang out, and for the Jasmine vine my niece Patricia gave me last year to grow and expand, and a wonderful spot for my hummingbirds to visit.

Take a little time to enjoy,

                                                                                   

                                                     

http://satoridesignforliving.com/2016/05/outdoor-extravaganza-link-party-2016/

Word Cloud Art for Mother's Day

I love Word Clouds!  They are fun to make and can be so personal.  In case you didn't know, word clouds are visual images made up of words from most anything - poems, thoughts, stories, favorite sayings, famous speeches, news articles, slogans, themes, random words, and even personal love letters, creating different images and shapes using these words. 


For Mother's Day I created a Rose Word Cloud for my son's godmother, Sandra, using Tagxedo.  Tagxedo is a free program where you choose your words, shapes, colors and fonts and it creates a fun word cloud.  There are a few word cloud programs out there, but this one allows you to save your creation to your hard drive, print it, or publish it to the web. Would you believe that you can enter your blog address and it will make a cloud of all the words from your site?  You can easily go in and remove any words you don't want.  So many options.  You can print, save, and share the html code.  Tagxedo word clouds can also be transferred onto products to be given as gifts or for personal use.  In making the rose word cloud, I entered words that described Sandra.  I didn't get carried away coming up with a lot of words, although I could have, but it really is unlimited for the amount of words you can use. The words I used were individually sized into the selected rose shape. I also was able to select from many different fonts, and colors to use.  Once I was satisfied with my creation, I saved it on my hard drive.

I then had the word cloud rose imprinted on a travel mug here (she loves to have coffee when she's out and about) to give as a gift to her.  This is such a unique way to make unusual gifts. It's virtually unlimited in what you can do!

 I printed my new artwork on photo paper and glued it on a decorated card I made and printed out.  So personalized!

           

 

"A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words"

I won't overwhelm you with the steps it took me to make the word cloud. It really was quite easy, just too long to list.  Visit tagxedo.com  and try it out - you won't be disappointed!


Take a little time to enjoy,

My Linking Parties:


By Stephanielynn  for the Sunday Showcase Party ,  The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday ,   Sewing Barefoot for The Weekly Creative, Alderberry Hill for Make the Scene Monday , The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday , Feeding Big and more for In and Out of the Kitchen Monday , A Humble Creation for A New Creation , I Should be Mopping the Floor for Mopping It Up Monday ,  Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday , Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday , Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday , Home Coming for DIY'ers , I Gotta Try That for Linky Party Monday, Pursuit of Funtional Home for Monday Hop , One More Time for Share It One More Time , Twelve O Eight for Pretty Things Linky Party Monday ,  Be Betsy for Brag About It Tuesday , Kathe With A E for You're Gonna Love It Tuesday ,    The Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips Tuesday , Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday , A Stroll thru Life for  Tabletop Inspire Me Tuesday , Cedar Hill Ranch for The Scoop on Tuesdays ,Homework for Inspiration Board Tuesday , My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures ,Romance on a Dime for Take on Tuesday , Debbiedoos for Tuesdays Top Talent Pinterest Party , VMg206 for Brag About It Tuesday , Primp for Primp Your Stuff Wednesdays , Ginger Snap Crafts for Wow Me Wednesdays ,  Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays ,The Shady Porch for Rock and Share Wednesdays , View from River Mountain for Show It Off Wednesday , We Like To Learn As We Go for What I Learned Wednesday ,  DIY by Design for Swing into Spring , All Things With a Purpose for Thursday Link Up ,  CSI Project for Challenge of the Week Thursday , Dysfunction Junction for Linkin With My Ladies Thursday , Glued To My Crafts for Thursdays Obsessions , Lamberts Lately for Create It Thursday , The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays , Marigold's Loft for Tutorial Thursdays ,  No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays , Stone Gable for Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits on Thursdays , Chic on a Shoestring Decorating for Flaunt It Friday ,  Happy Go Lucky for Shine on Fridays ,  Jennifer Rizzo for Fabulously Creative Friday ,     My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday , French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday , Common Ground for Be Inspired on Fridays , The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday , Craftberry Bush for the Inspiration Gallery on Friday ,  Diana's Rambles for Pin Me Linky Friday 504 Main for Tickled Pink Fridays , See Vanessa Craft for do something crafty Friday ,  Shaken Together for What's Shakin' Friday ,  Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special, Love of Family & Home for Inspire Me Please Weekend , A Bouquet of Talent for Life on Lake Shore Drive on Saturdays , Classy Clutter for Spotlight Saturday , Crafts a la Mode for What To Do Weekends , Just Us Four for Pinworthy Projects Party Friday , Natasha in Oz for #Say Gday Saturday Linky Party , One More Time for Share It One More Time Saturday ,  Serenity You for Serenity Saturday , Tutus & Tea Parties for a Pinteresting Party Saturday ,








                                                           

Paper Mache Solar Lanterns

There are lots of cute solar lights and lanterns made out of all sorts of material for the summer, but have you thought about making one out of paper mache?  Nothing like your very own handcrafted paper mache lantern! 

So easy to make  .  .  .  although a bit time consuming.   But the end results can be quite beautiful!  And best of all, the lanterns work great as an everyday light source, party and home decorations, and most importantly,  outdoor lanterns for the summertime. 

Material for an Outdoor Lantern:

• Newspaper
• Balloon
• Plastic cup/bowls/masking tape/paint brush
• Paper mache glue and or outdoor mod podge
• Primer/sealer
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint
• Xacto knife
• Design pattern
• Texture Stone spray paint
• Solar lights (dollar store) or led candles

Instructions:

Mix paper mache glue:
    1 part flour
    2 part water
    pinch of salt and stir well

 Step 1   Tear newspaper into small strips

 Step 2   Blow up balloon to desired lantern size.  For the openings, use a small bowl as a template and place on the round bottom portion of balloon and draw around edge using a black marker.  Do the same on the closed end with a smaller bowl. Next, attach a large plastic cup using masking tape to support the balloon and to hold while applying the strips.

Step 3   Coat a small section at a time with glue and using a paint brush to pick up and attach the strips, brushing the glue on top of the paper(less messier than using your hands).  *Lay all strips in the same direction for each layer, alternating direction or color of paper. 

Step 4    Glue on at least 5 or 6 layers between the black marked areas.

Step 5     Once your last layer of paper strips is applied, coat the final layer with glue to seal (I used outdoor mod podge). Allow to dry completely.  I let mine dry 3 days because of rainy weather.
By the time the paper mache drys, the balloon probably has shrunk. Not to worry, the form keeps its' shape.

Step 6    Pop the balloon and remove the remnants.

Step 7     Trim the edges to make them even.

Step 8     Overlap the edges of the openings with additional strips of paper and glue and let dry.

Step 9      Paint the entire lantern with white primer and allow to dry.

Step 10     Use a stencil or pattern that you created to make a decorative design for your lantern.  I used a 5 petal flower pattern that I had folded and cut out.

Step 11      Draw the pattern on heavy duty paper or cardboard and cut out using a xacto knife. Position on lantern with masking tape and trace.  Carefully cut out pattern with an xacto knife. Seal the cutout edges with glue and let dry.

Step 12       Spray with textured stone paint and follow directions for usage, sealing and dry time. Textured stone paint is amazing and gives an actual "stone" finish.

Place the top of solar lights (remove stick base) or led candle/lights into the base and  .  .  .

   

light up that area or decorate!

 So cool!

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!

Clay Pot Sunflowers

                                                                                                   



Don't you just love shopping at the Dollar Store?  I know I do.  There's always something  that catches my eye for making craft projects. The package of little clay pots I found recently are no exception.  Right away I knew I was gonna make something out of crepe paper rolls, a pk of asst. styrofoam balls and flower pots.  Spring is here and even though it's been a bit chilly and rainy to be outside, there's nothing wrong with making something in anticipation of warmer weather.








To make the clay pot sunflowers,
take the largest of the styrofoam balls and with the palm of your hand, mash down the foam ball on a hard surface until flatten like in the picture. This will be the "center" of the sunflower.













Using your thumb, press into the center of the flatten styrofoam ball to make a slight depression.













Paint the flattened ball with brown acrylic paint and


fill the flower pot with crumbled newspaper.












Cut out a cardboard circular disk and place on top of the crumbled newspaper.













Glue the painted flattened ball to the cardboard disk.











Fold several pieces of crepe paper together and cutout lots sunflower petals. It's so much easier and quicker to cut the petals freehand.

Did you know there are lots of petals in sunflowers?  I read somewhere that there are at least 34-38. Wow!




















Glue (used tacky glue) the petals continuously around the perimeter of the pot. 









Place shorter versions of petals toward the center.








Layering as many petals as you like.
















For the stem, I painted a dowel rod green and wrapped a cut piece of coat hanger wire (heavy duty to support pot) around the rod and inserted the wire end (hot glued) into the small opening of the pot. Doing this allowed the pot to be placed at an angle.

A skewer would fit into the hole and wrapping with wire could be eliminated by slightly tilting the pot and attach it at an angle through the pot hole to the stem, but I wanted to use something larger than a skewer for a more proportioned look.





Insert the rod (hot glued) into a larger clay pot filled with florist foam.




 Glue artificial leaves to the stem.



Cover the foam in the pot with moss.







Decorate the larger pot.  I glued flat clear gems around the rim to add a bit of bling, but it's unlimited as to how you can decorate your own. You might want to decorate the pots before putting everything together. 















    The clay pot sunflowers look even cuter when you make more than one.

 I'm loving these little clay pot sunflowers!    Don't you want to make some?


Take a little time to enjoy!