Favorite House Friday

How cute is this house? I love the happy yellow, the huge front porch and the balcony. I can just imagine sitting on that balcony on a warm summer evening, sipping a glass of wine and enjoying the beautiful view it has of the Puget Sound. 

I have a pretty, simple topiary project for you today. This darling topiary can add a touch of color to your mantel, your thanksgiving table, or a corner of your home in need of more personality.

Here are the supplies you need:

*Styrofoam ball (2)

*glue gun-a lot of glue sticks

*spray paint

*chestnuts(or any nuts) and uncooked pinto beans

*a pot

*twigs and moss (I took from my own yard)

This project cost me $0. And took about an hour or less.

 I had all supplies already and most were either found in my pantry, storage from other projects, or my yard.

How great is that!

Carefully glue on your nuts until they almost completely fill the styrofoam ball.

-It looks ugly right now doesn't it...just wait it will get better-

Fill in the holes with glue and add the pinto beans

-still looks a little ugly, getting better, but bear with me-

Spray paint the topiary any color you wold like, I prefer a creamy white color. 

Add one styrofoam ball to the bottom of your pot (I glue gunned it in).

 Gather and cut your twigs to desired length. I spray painted mine black to match my pot.

Add glue to the bottom of your twig and place it down into the styrofoam ball.

 Keep adding your twigs until you have enough to support your topiary.

Add moss and a ribbon.

 Place your topiary on top of your twigs. 

You can add a little glue to the top of the twigs before you place the topiary firmly on top.

Isn't this cute! I think it would make a nice hostess gift for thanksgiving dinner.

*Alison*

Child's Chalk Board

Do your children love to play school? I can't wait for my kids to home from school and see this finished project.

This is my absolute favorite project I have ever done!


Do you remember when Molly and I went thrifting a few weeks ago and came back with this "lovely" horse picture? Let me refresh your memory. 

Sorry this picture is a bit fuzzy but you get the idea of the loveliness of this original artwork.

My son's room has one really large wall with no furniture against it. I had a picture hanging there but it was not to scale with the wall and it always bugged me.

I remembered the horse picture in the basement. 

I decided to paint the frame to match the curtains in my son's room.

 I taped off where I wanted my stripes to be and spray painted it red. Once dry I peeled the painters tape off and carefully filled in the stripes with craft paint.

I had this up against the bathroom door all day to continually work on it. Every time one of my kids would go to the bathroom they would say "Look at me, I am in a picture!"

I sprayed it with protective clear coat after it dried. I painted the horse picture with magnet paint followed by chalkboard paint on top (this was going on in the basement). Let me warn you, magnet paint really smells bad.

Once the frame and the chalkboard were dry I screwed them together from the back. I added a little wooden basket I had in the basement, added ceramic white knobs and strung wire from two of the ceramic white knobs.

Best of all, this project cost me about $20 (for the frame and the ceramic knobs). Everything else (basket, chalkboard/magnet paint, wire, and of course the craft paint) I had at home from other projects.

*Alison*

scroll down to see what the was linked to.

Wool Felt Topiary Ball

Sometimes one idea leads to another...

When Molly told me she was creating a felt wreath I immediately thought I wanted to make a felt topiary. We will see how many other holiday ideas will involve felted wool. During one of our morning runs, this is our "company meeting time", we came up with at least five other ideas.

I used the same technique Molly used to create her felted wool wreath.

Here is what you need:      *Large topiary ball form (these are very inexpensive)

                                            *Scissors

                                            *Pins

                                            *Felted wool (mine was $2.99 a yard, takes 2 yards)

                                            *Ribbon       

                                                 It is as simple as that!

Trace or free hand a flower on felted wool.

Fold and pin felted wool to topiary form.

Continue until you have the entire topiary ball covered. Make sure all of your pins are well hidden. The pins will hold the felted wool firmly into place. Add a ribbon of choice and you are done! You can use the same technique using tissue paper and that would be such a darling decoration for a child's party or even a wedding/baby shower.

*Alison*

Wool Felt Wreath

Are you ready for another Christmas idea? I'm all about thinking ahead this year.  Actually, I was intending for it to be a Christmas wreath, but I like it so much I think I need to change the ribbon so I can keep it up all year. 

Okay...let's get to work! Here's what you need:

Wool felt (I used about a yard and a quarter for mine)

Scissors

Hot glue gun/glue

Straight pins 

Foam wreath

Step 1: Cover the back of your foam wreath with felt. I simply traced the wreath onto my felt, cut it out and hot glued it on. 

Step 2: Cut out little petal shapes like this: ( I just free handed it)

Step 3: Fold your petal into quarters like this:

Step 4: Use your straight pin and attach to wreath:

Step 5: Keep going- this part takes a while!

And the final product....

                                                                                                                  -Molly