Valentine Picture Tree

We can't go into Target without heading straight for the dollar bins,

 especially when it's filled with Valentine's stuff. 

They had the cutest little Valentine trees,

 so two quickly went into our carts. 

They had a lot of potential! 

Here's a picture of the original tree....

 

Very cute...and very red.

Nothing that a little spray paint can't change.

We ended up painting the trees with Krylon Brushed Nickel spray paint.  

 For the ornaments, we had so much fun playing around with

a box of epoxy resin that Nicole bought three years ago. 

 At Hobby Lobby we found some embellishments and

metal bottle caps in the jewelery section  to make our resin filled ornaments. 

First we printed off thumbnail prints of our family members we love..

that includes Nicole's cats and squirrels. 

Yep, if any of you are new... Nicole is a squirrel whisperer

that has rescued several dying baby squirrels. 

We decided to make our own picture ornaments instead of hanging Valentine ornaments. 
It was the perfect opportunity to use that box of epoxy resin. 
It only took us three years to figure out what to do with it and these were perfect!.
We had tons of fun playing around with it and are already thinking of other ways to use it.
We used a product called EnviroTex Lite Pour-On in high gloss finish.

It was our first time playing around with it and we of course learned a lot. 

A little goes a looooonnnnnggggg way.

First, make sure your two part mix is correct with equal parts.

We marked with a sharpie equal spots down each bottle to help us measure accurately. 

Second, glue your pictures down. 

A glue stick might be a good idea so it won't ruin your picture. 

Third, there are tons of bubbles, so use popsicle sticks to continually press

the poured mixture to clear the air bubbles as the resin sets up.

 

Resin will be completely cured/dry in 72 hours.

Nicole wrapped her base with cream burlap while I gave mine

a pleated look with silver tissue paper.

We used the prettiest light pink pearls to dangle

from each ornament and matching ribbons for the bows.

Of course we had to add a little "frosting" of glitter too on the top of the pot and heart.

Two different but similar takes

and two very happy results!

I think these guys are staying up all year round,

they just make us happy!

This Ain't Your Momma's Gingerbread House!

We are SOOOOO excited to share this fun project!

So how many of you love making gingerbread houses each year

and then cringe when you end up throwing them away

after spending $20 on candy then feeling like your

torturing your kids by wiggling it in their faces with the words

"Don't Touch It!  It's a decoration!"

And when they finally can it's stale, nasty and who knows how much dust has accumulated

or sticky little hands and tongues have already tasted the treats....

(This is Nicole talking....Yes, I have issues....) 

We have been dreaming this one up for a while now,

but have had our hands full with boutique season,

so when we finally got together it was so much fun!! 

At Michaels, we found wooden puzzle dollhouses that looked gingerbreadish to us. 

We're not going to lie...they were a beast to put together with vague directions,

but the results are fantastic! 

So, if you have an hour...or two...to put together this puzzle, we highly recommend them!

Don't forget to use your coupon!

We used fake candies on all of the houses, so they would last year after year. 

We found all the candies at Hobby Lobby. 

They were going fast, so most might be gone this late in the season.

We added bottle brush trees and used lots of Snow-Tex and glitter.

Nicole's gingerbread house was quickly taken over by Little Pet Shops!

Her little girl was in Heaven playing with the houses!

You have to glue these houses together for stability.

Nicole used tacky glue and Candace used a hot glue gun and wood glue.

I love this dollhouse because the back is open, letting little hands play and it also is easy to use lighting.

Spray paint works best!  It's much easier to get into the nooks and crannies of the house.

We found a brown spray paint by Krylon at Hobby Lobby.

We used a knife to add Snow Tex (love that stuff!) to the roof line. 

and our fingers to spread it all over.

We gathered our candies and mini-lights, snipping off the ornament hole and cutting off each light.

To match the sugared candies, we put spray adhesive on each light and added glitter. 

We used hot glue to attach each candy and light.

A set of mini snowmen were added along with mini wreaths.  So cute!

Nicole's daughter quickly moved the pet shops in! Staging them just so in the house.

"This ain't your Momma's Gingerbread House!"

How cute the sleds look on the front porch!

Of course there had to be a Christmas tree for her friends!

  Her daughter picked out beads for ornaments and they glued them to the tree.

Candace gave her house a "minimalist" wreath...hee,hee!:)

We glittered all the trim work with modge podge and glitter.

Candace used some spray can flocking snow on my house and got a little carried away....

Maybe stick with the Snow-Tex.

Candace's boys have their own version of playing house.....toy soldiers and Halo guys...

death by the Christmas tree!

We hope you guys like it!

They were a lot of fun to make with the kids and will be enjoyed for years to come!

And hey, they were less than $20 a piece to make too!

Happy House Building!!!

:)Nicole & Candace

    

Oh My!

I have a good friend in my neighborhood that loved the ornament wreath I made last year. (The one that broke)  My friend decided last year to start building her wreath and oh how it puts mine to shame!  Everything she makes is big and beautiful, and her home is gorgeous! Her husband knows some car upholstery guys that cut her out a huge wood wreath form and batted it with car upholstery felt.  That's pretty smart!

My friend hit the after Christmas sales and picked up most of the balls for 90% off.  My wreath had at least 220 balls, we're thinking this must have at least 1000? She said that it measures 48" by 48"! Crazy!

I am so amazed with her skills!

Wow!

A Baby Jesus Ornament

You asked for it....

and we listened!

We got a lot of requests for a tutorial for our Baby Jesus Ornaments

we did up for our Holiday Boutiques

so here it is!

This ornament is super super easy to make

and pretty inexpensive to do especially if you are wanting to do a bunch of them.

We saw a version of this several years ago and always wanted to make something like it!

So here's what we came up with!

First gather your supplies:

Acrylic Craft Paint (flesh tone & brown/black for eyes)

Tiny Grapevine Wreaths 3" size

Cream Felt

Craft Wire (we love it rusty!)

Wood Split Balls 1" size

Excelsior (you could use moss too)

Wood Stars 1" size (could use mini ornaments)

Hot Glue Gun

Spray Glitter (optional)

  Begin by painting all those baby heads a nice flesh color.

Here's a quick tip:

Tape a piece of masking tape sticky side up onto your counter

and stick your baby heads onto it.

Now you can paint those heads easy

without them moving around or dropping them!

Pre-drill little holes in your stars so you can thread them through the wire.

I spray painted mine a pretty gold color and "antiqued" them

by misting some Brown spray paint over them.

We like to mist stuff to kinda mix up the colors.

It's a really easy technique and gives a fantastic result!

Plus if you "mist" it too much you can always go back with your original color to make it right!

Cut your wire in 18" pieces.

I know, it seems like a lot, but once you curl it you'll understand!

 A sharpie marker is a perfect diameter for this!

 Next take the felt and cut out a 4 1/2  x 4 1/2" square for the blanket.

Fold in half and and trim off the bottom corner at the 3" mark.

It will look like a diamond jewel shape.

Cut another piece 2x 3".  This will be the body.

We've used fiberfill in the past but it's a pain to work with

and rolling up the felt was so easy!

Just make sure you get some glue around the edge of the face

to hold the felt in place!

I always paint my eyes on last.

You are a miracle worker if you get that head glued on

and the eyes are actually in the right place.

We usually use the end of a tiny paint brush or a brad nail to make the eyes.

Then thread the wire through the sides of the wreath and twist securely in place.

You know us and our glitter.....

We just had to add a touch of it to really finish this little guy off!

There you go, one beautiful little Baby Jesus!

These are great gifts for your neighbors and friends!

This batch is for my little group of girls I teach in my Sunday school class!

Cutesie Wootsie VS Fancy Schmancy

I have envied Candace's Ornament Hanger from the moment I saw it!

Ooooh, the plans I had......

I finally got my version done!

Isn't it funny the things that inspire us?

For me it was some cookie cutters!

I traced them onto wood and cut them out.

And then I had fun decoupaging my left over scraps of paper and doo dads onto them.

And hello GLITTER GLUE!!!

I love cutsie wootsie stuff.....

So, Candace and I went craft hunting this week or better known as "shopping".

We are always looking for something fun to make and do together

and boy did we find some cute ideas!

We couldn't write them down fast enough!

Hence the conversation started about our styles and probably why

we have so much fun together making stuff 

is

I'm Cutesie Wootsie & she is Fancy Schmancy.

There's nothing wrong with either one and usually when we get together we find common ground.

But no matter what I do, I usually end up back at Cutsesie Wootsie.

So which one are you???

Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered