#FlashbackFriday to the my favorite holiday!
I'm really not entirely sure why but the 4th of July will always be my favorite. Something about red white and blue, fireworks, sitting in the grass, parades, family, summa time. THE BEST. Last summer I made this simple patriotic door decor for our little farmhouse. The flag is made from paint sticks. I also loved doing the little hand painted details on the burlap banner. Festive but simple.
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This little wreath is what started it all. This spurred my new found love for all things felt. It is currently my favorite medium to work with! (See my other felt crafts: valentines banner and baby hairbands.)
Have a anniversary coming up soon? Want to give a simple but meaningful gift? Still need something for (late) Valentine's Day? Last February I started doing these simple watercolor couple's portraits. It does a lot to say "I love you" without the clutter of a teddy bear, and lasts longer than chocolate. These portraits can be painted as couples or as families. They are simple because I don't do faces. It is a great way to capture a special moment in your life; graduation, engagement, honeymoon, even a fun weekend as a group of friends. All I need is a picture of your group to reference. I can add titles or names upon request as well.
I have also begun to paint watercolor homes and temples. I gave one to my father for Christmas. It would be perfect as a gift after moving as memory of the good times that were had in the home. Love is in the air! I was ready for some color in our home again because these winter months can be so gloomy after Christmas. So rather than using the traditional pink and white for decoration, I threw some purple in the mix. On the pennant section that I sewed I did an ombré effect to gradate from light pink to purple. I used my multicolored felt collection (surprise, surprise) to make a chain of hearts. AND my new favorite part- I made felt balls out of wool! I obsess a little about this. It seems like no one knows were true felt comes from. It comes from wool and when wool fibers are warm, wet, and agitated they condense to make true felt. (Not the fake cheepo stuff from Walmart.) So I actually bought special needles, and like 50 colors of natural wool roving to make felt balls from scratch. I'm SO excited to use these felt balls for many of my future projects. It is a fun new medium to learn to work with. This Valentine's Day banner worked well for us as a backdrop for a cute Valentine's picture. (Heads up fellas- every lady wants a cute v-day pic with her sweetheart. You're welcome.) It could so be cute for posing behind little children too. Just spice up your place with this little pastel garland in the center of your home.
Thank me later XOXO. I have two perfect DIY gift ideas for runners. As my father was preparing to run a half marathon, I made him a "race survival kit". He loved this gift because not only were these things that he needed in his race preparation, but also he felt my support in a creative way. These were the things included in the shoebox: 1- Chocolate- because you “RUN for Chocolate” 2- Pasta- Time to Carb up 3- Band aids- "bye-bye blisters" 4- Nuts- You know you’re a little “nuts” to be doing this… 5- Sports drink- #Hydrate 6- Power bar- … for the last minute power you will need 7- toe clipper and cream- "Every step counts- take it one foot at a time" 8- race bib- (with inspirational quote) Later on, after his race, I made him a display board for his medals and bibs. It has hooks and clips to keep them all together, and a positive running quote. This gift keeps on being used! Now rather than keeping the race medals on a closet door handle he can display them proudly in his home office.
#FlashbackFriday to fall décor! It's hard when you first start out and you don't have ANY decorations. Worst of all is that we don't hardly have space to decorate in our small apartment. Personally I love fall leaves and pumpkins, and I wanted to figure out how to decorate without limiting myself to only Halloween or Thanksgiving. My solution? A hanging colored leaf wall. I cut out different leaf shapes in different felt colors. THEN I literally walked through the woods and found some cool branches, and sewed them together. All you have to do from there is hang up the branches (which I used later for Christmas décor) and tie the felt leaves to them at different heights. I used thread so that the string wasn't as visible. This was a fun feature in our home because as we moved around the leaves would spin and twirl with the breeze. It was like the colorful leaves were eternally falling in our house. :) Another thing I did was sew a few colored felt balls that matched the leaves onto a stick. I kept this little stick in a small flower vase to tie it all together. Andddd I couldn't help but make a quick pumpkin pie banner for thanksgiving that I saw on Pinterest.
With the leftover felt scraps I made a small leaf garland for the opposing wall (not pictured). All these things along with some small gourds and carved pumpkins on the doorstep made for classic fall décor that lasted me more than two months! Something that is really popular for weddings right now are thumbprint "guest books". My friend Baylee was getting married and asked me to paint her a tree. You can have the guests stamp their thumb as a "leaf" on the tree and sign their name. Eventually as the night goes on, the tree will fill to be colorful representation of those that came to support you on your special day. It is a fun interactive way for your guests to get involved at a reception. It is a meaningful piece of art that will look great in a new home. Unlike a typical guest book that will end up sitting on a shelf somewhere, this will last as a timeless memory of all your loved ones. **Disclaimer- if interested let me know several weeks before the wedding as this takes many hours to complete.
Over the summer I found an inner passion for making felt flowers. After over pinning many ideas and searching the local fabric store for felt scraps I spent hours making a felt flower wreath for our home. When I found out that my sister-in-law was going to have a little girl I knew exactly what I would make for a newborn gift. We arrived in the hospital to meet my little niece in early October, and I brought some felt flower headbands that I had made. Well it was a kind thought but, originally I made the flowers much too large for a newborn baby head and the elastic much too small. So eventually Rachel (Her blog HERE) asked me to make some more headbands for little Ella. This time I used some nylon bands (etsy link) that would fit her a lot better. This time I focused a lot more on little rosettes and neutral colors so they could match many different outfits of hers. When I was little my mom would always dress me with little bows and flowers in my hair, so I really think these headbands are perfect on little girls! I would still wear these if I could get away with it. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing any of these styles. They are great for gifts at baby showers, a great way to dress them up for baby photo shoots, and the perfect way to show femininity when she has no hair.🙈
Colors and flower details may vary. I painted this simple watercolor calendar for 2017. You are welcome to print it for your own personal use. Just comment on this post so that I know who is using it. Enjoy!
Inspired by "a little heart", I decided to learn how to paper cut: Each paper cut is hand drawn then each shape is carefully cut out to create the image. My projects thus far have consisted of a letter of the alphabet and then some theme cut out of that letter to be displayed.
These paper cuts are great to hang in a child's bedroom, to display as a family last name in living room, give as a gift, etc. My little sister makes the most delicious and beautiful cupcakes, seriously. Check her out (HERE). For her birthday, I made a paper cupcake banner. Each cupcake was individually designed and cut differently to create a colorfully coordinated 3D masterpiece. Then they are all strung together to be displayed as a festive birthday banner. This idea could be done with infinite possibilities. Imagine a banner of different cars for a little boy's birthday. A string of detailed letters spelling out a name. Cinco de Mayo party? I'll make little paper tacos. You think it, I'll make it.
My grandma always seems to already have 5 of any thing she might possibly need. Here are two gift suggestions. A "Grandchildren" display board. I painted this wooden decoration for her last year and she hung it in her office. It's fun way to have pictures of the grandchildren displayed. I just used a simple polaroid-like frame for the photos. This one was done in age order. Depending on the amount of grandchildren you could also do this in multiple rows or in calendar form for birthdays. Another suggestion I have for a grandma gift is a simple mode-podge photo with lettering. I painted this piece of wood black, and added a family photo of our wedding on top of it. A wooden "family" word was added at top for embellishment with silver paint pen detail. Seriously so simple, but she LOVES it. She kept giving compliments to me on how it was the best gift. This could be hung on the wall, or stood on a table. Wood shapes and embellishment options may vary.
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Aspire to Inspire. Archives
January 2020
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