My Spring Mantle

I love decorating for spring. So many possibilities.... Lots of bright colors, flowers, anything happy.... so i was pretty pumped to use all of those things for my spring mantle. 

I wanted to use as much fabric as possible.

SO I used embroidery hoops, and covered glasses with fabric for vases filled with the fabric flowers I made last year. {More on the vases later}

I also covered a small drinking glass in the polka dot fabric trimmed with ribbon to make a little votive. 

Once again, I used the yarn S. For our last name AND for spring.  

For the tabletop, I used little things from around the house. 

I think I've used this frame for printables for every season. 

I found this spring one here. I like that it's nice & simple. To contrast it, I used this springy scrapbooking paper to matte it. 

And to go along with it, I used my favorite little bird & nest from America. 

 I used the yarn wrapped bottle I made in the fall with a silk daisy from IKEA in it, and filled this vase with my random knick-knack orbs that I made last year. 

It's a hodgepodge of stuff, but I like it. 

Quite colorful and happy. 

{the pictures are so grainy.... our apartment is long & skinny, and only has windows on 2 ends & this is smack dab in the middle with terrible lighting. still trying to figure out the best way to take them without a flash, so either the ISO is really high (grainy) or the shutter speed is too low (blurry). i'll figure it out sooner or later.}

Joyfully Springy,

Linking up over at: {I Heart Naptime}{C.R.A.F.T.}

Bouquets of {Scrappy} Flowers

I found this tutorial a long time ago, and absolutely LOVED what she did. I finally got around to making my own a couple of weeks ago and although they definitely aren't as fantastic as her's, I'm pretty pleased. 

I have lots of fabric accumulating around here. Did I mention I went to the fabric market AGAIN a couple of weekends ago? I just almost said that I didn't buy anything as I went to help other people, but that's a lie.... I bought some jersey knit that is currently being made into a CUTE dress at the tailor. 

ANYWAY....

Lots of fabric.... so quite a variety of flowers. 

I'll spare the tutorial as I surely couldn't do it as well as she did. 

But after some cutting, ironing, sewing with contrasting thread colors, ruffling, and hot gluing, here they are.... 

She used sticks for stems, but with no yard here I don't really have access to sticks so what did I use!? Colored pencils! 

A couple of months ago, I made these decoupaged jars {that look like my magazine orbs} with magazine scraps and yarn, and they needed to be put to good use, so they are now the vases for my little bouquets of flowers. 

They're now making a lovely centerpiece on the table.... 

with my Magazine Orbs and this runner that I got from someone moving back to America. 

I like my random little eclectic centerpiece. 

Joyfully Fabricated,

linking up over at:
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Yarn Wreath with Interchangeable Attachments

I've loved all of the yarn wreaths floating around out there, and really wanted to make my own. Living over here doesn't make buying things like foam wreaths very easy, so I wanted to be resourceful with what I had. A friend sent me one earlier this year so I decided that I would make a white wreath, and per my best friend's brilliant idea, attach snaps to the wreath to make different attachments. 

Here is the wreath with my first attachment: 

I started out by making felt rosettes and arranging them together.

Then I hot glued them all to a piece of white felt. 

I wanted to add some little leaves with a little bit of dimension. 

It was super easy. 

Just tie a knot, stitch up and down one small stitch on the edge, then across to the middle, stitch up and right back down again, and then do the same one more time on the other end. 

When you pull it all tight, the little leaf puckers together at the bottom. 

Tie it off and....

Voila- a cute little leaf with dimension. 

Then I hot glued the leaves in. 

As I said, I made the wreath to have different attachments. I have these big plastic snaps that I bought at the fabric market. I sewed them onto the wreath by hand. I snapped the other half in...

and put a generous dab of hot glue onto the snap.

Then I just placed the attachment where I wanted it, and held it tightly for a minute for the glue to dry on the attachment. 

It  stays on nice and snug, and comes off with ease. 

Then I just found this fun little color block ribbon and tied it around the wreath. 

Ta-Da! 

I really love it, and am sososo pleased with how it turned out. 

I plan to make more attachments to enjoy all year round!

Joyfully Attached, 

I'm linking up over at:

{Under the Table and Dreaming} {I Heart Naptime} {C.R.A.F.T.} {Craft-O-Maniac} {Me Making Do} {Lolly Jane Boutique} {Sew Can Do} {A Diamond in the Stuff} {Get Your Craft On} {Debbiedoo's Newbie Party} {Blue Cricket Design} {Sew Much Ado} {Sweet Peas & Bumble Bees} {Somewhat Simple} {A Little Knick Knack} {The Shabby Nest} {Tatertots & Jello} {WhipperBerry} {Spring Has Sprung} {Point of View} {Nifty Thrifty Things} {Thrifty 101} {My Girlish Whims} {So You Think You're Crafty} {Not Just a Housewife} {Homework}

'Just Add Ice' Orchids

I have a love/hate relationship with orchids. Lets back up. You must first know that I have a BROWN thumb. I have tried SO hard to keep plants of many different kinds alive for quite a while now, to very little avail. I can't even keep these 2 little shrubbery tree things in pots outside of my front door alive! How hard can it be!? So orchids. Sometime last year after walking by dozens of orchids every time I walked into Kroger, I caved and bought one. How hard could it be to keep this one plant, with one stem and like 4 flowers on it alive? Very.

I think I kept that one alive for a month. Don't worry; I tried my hardest to keep it alive. As one poor little bloom hung onto the stem, I diligently tried to keep that little guy attached in hopes that the tiny buds further down would soon sprout. Nope. Everything died. But a friend told me that if you give it one really good watering and leave it alone, more buds will bloom. Nope. Nothing.

SO I tried again, but this time I was going to do some serious research to figure out how to keep it alive..... via google. Well I got more conflicting information than I bargained for, but I gave it my best. Died. Again. This time I did leave the country for a significant amount of time, so maybe I had an excuse. Maybe. I decided I was done. At $20+ a piece, this could have turned out to be an expensive ongoing failure. If I was getting another orchid, it was going to be made of silk.

I really, really love orchids; I think they are so pretty and so unique. So I bitterly keep walking past them every time I walk into Kroger, muttering something about "stupid high maintenance flowers" under my breath.

WELL last week, I walked into Kroger and saw the bright neon sign that said, "PREMIUM ORCHIDS $9.99!" Half price. That was enough for me. I picked one with 2 stems and light pink flowers.... a little different from the last 2. As I continued my shopping, I began plotting my strategy for keeping this one alive.

I got home and looked closer at the tag around the stem..... "Just Add Ice" ....hmmm.... I continued reading.....

"1. Place your orchid in a well lit area with in-direct sunlight.

2. Once a week, place 3 ice cubes in the pot.

3. Enjoy your orchid."

You must be kidding me! Could it REALLY be that easy!? We'll see! It makes sense to me from things I've read- about the "pace" with which to water them, to let the water "soak through".... whatever that means. I could never figure out the right water temperature and exactly how much water to use. Apparently COLD and the amount of 3 ice cubs suffices for a little pot.

So 11 days later, it is going strong on my kitchen table! If you see me on Mondays, make sure I've "iced" my orchid. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the trick. SO my new question is... Are these special orchids that you take care of this way? OR Is this the secret we've all been missing all along? Surely it can't be that easy. I'm assuming there's some kind of rule of thumb for how much to use according to the size of the pot.... clearly you shouldn't rely on me for any advice in this department. Go google it :) I'll let you know how mine holds up!

So go out and find a "Just Add Ice Orchid" and add a little joy to your day! They have gone back up to $20 at Kroger, but I'm sure you can find a cheaper one if you look around.

Joyfully,

Your brown-thumbed friend