Mothers' Day text art ( guest post at thrifty decorating )

Hi friends!   I am over-the-moon excited about this project.  It was so much fun! Warning: You will become addicted to this project and begin searching for additional mothers to make artwork for. I went completely overboard making up designs.  I did a guest post on this project at the fabulously thrifty blog, Thrifty Decorating ( thanks, Nikki!) and have also posted the full project below.

Mothers' Day Text Art

Mothers' Day is sneaking up on us, friends, and I have a fun and simple idea to honor the mother(s) in your life and win you some major brownie points.

I consider myself a student of Nate, meaning I watch the Nate Berkus Show religiously.  If you are a fan too, you've probably heard him preach that your decor should be more than random pretty objects, it should have personal meaning.  I wholeheartedly agree.  So I took inspiration from one of my favorite trends, word art and number art, to create some decor pieces for moms that would have real meaning.   I made text art out of their children's and grand children's names and birth dates.  The concept is pretty basic, but the possibilities are limitless.  Combine some pretty fonts with great colors and the names and/or dates that are most important to your mom, put it in a pretty frame and you've just guaranteed your spot in the will.

Here's what you need to make your own Mothers' Day text art 

• A word processing program like Microsoft Word or Neo Office or Photoshop (you can download a free 30-day trial!) 

• A printer or access to a copy/printing store
• White card stock
• Picture frame

There is not a formal tutorial for this project.  The only instructions are to open your word processing program or Photoshop, type your names and/or dates,  and play with different fonts, sizes, colors and placement and just be creative and have fun.


Tips for Making Mothers' Day Text Art

• Start with great fonts. The font(s) you choose will set the style for your piece.  Your choices are endless from retro, to distressed, handwritten, modern, or calligraphy styles- find the ones that reflect your mom. Sites like dafont.com have a lot of great fonts to download for free!  Here are some links that explain how to install a new downloaded font on Windows or Mac (it's much easier than you think).

• Don't be intimidated.  Say it with me, "I can do this project!"  You don't need a background in graphic design or amazing computer skills to make text art.  If you can type, change the size and font style of your words, you can do this.  If you need some creative inspiration to get you going, check out sites like tinyprints.com or photoaffections.com that create invitations and announcements, they have great ideas for word art.

• Choose your frame first.  The frame you use will determine the size of your artwork ( 5 x7, 8x10, etc).   This is especially important if your frame is an irregular size. The frame can also help you choose the style and colors you use in your artwork.

• Print wisely.  Print your artwork on card stock to give it a more professional look. If your artwork has a lot of color (see image below), that will require a lot of ink, I recommend taking it to a copy or printing store where they can print a nice smooth copy, free of flaws (and save your toner cartridge on your home printer).  It cost me about 70 cents per 8.5 x 11 sheet to print my artwork on card stock at my local copy store.

{ fonts are Walkway Semibold and Jellyka Bee's Antique}

Here are some examples of Mothers' Day text art I have created.  I have used a good old word processing program for some and Photoshop for others, but all designs are very basic. I am happy to answer any questions you have, so feel free to contact me. Below each example I have listed the name of the fonts I used in case you want to download them (fonts without links are standard fonts already installed on most computers).

 {Fonts are Lobster and Jellyka Bee's Antique}

{Font is Walkway}

{Fonts are Hoedown, Jellyka Western Princess, Orator Std, Zapfino and Carnevalee Freakshow}

{Font is Payday}

 {Fonts are Honey Script, American Typewriter, Viper Nora, and Budmo}

{Font is Viper Nora}

{This is a great design for a mom with LOTS of grandchildren.

Fonts are Callie Hand and Fairfax Station}

{Font is Viper Nora}

{Fonts are Walkway and Payday}

This weekend I will also be sharing some fun and simple ways to frame your Mothers' Day text art.  I am also hosting a giveaway for a burlap pillow cover from beiFIORI Embellish which you are welcome to enter.    Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, friends!  

 I am linking up with Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style andthese awe-inspiring blogs.

A home for the leftover jelly beans

Hello, friends!  I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  I am a little sad that one of my favorite holidays is over, but am taking comfort in the grocery store clearance aisles full of Easter candy. Speaking of left over candy, how about a cute way to display it?  My mom, the craftiest of crafting divas, took a page from our beloved Martha's book and made these sweet little favors to adorn her table for Easter.

Martha Stewart-Inspired Daffodil Candy Cups

Supplies

• Patterned paper
• Mini cupcake liners
• Left-over Easter candy
• Scissors
• Adhesive
• Printer

Martha came through for us again with her great templates.  My mom printed this template from MarthaStewart.com, traced it onto patterned paper and cut it out.  She glued a cupcake liner to the center of the flower and filled it with sugary goodness.  It doesn't get much simpler or much cuter.  It's a great way to add some color and Spring whimsy to the table especially since things are feeling a bit dull with the Easter decor gone.

Easter wheat grass centerpiece tutorial

I am rather preoccupied with wheat grass at the moment. While wheat grass centerpieces for Easter are certainly not a new concept, I tried to find a unique way to display this Easter staple. So, using some vintage and vintage-inspired elements, I created this fun wheat grass table scape.

Friends, do not be intimidated at the thought of growing wheat grass. Speaking as a woman who has killed cacti and every other form of plant matter, I must tell you, it is nearly impossible to ruin wheat grass. I've grown it from seed multiple times this Spring. It is cheap, easy fun (you may have all of the supplies already on hand) and what I didn't anticipate is how much four-year-old would love being involved. So let's gather the supplies and the kids and get started!

{It takes about 9-10 days to get your wheat grass to the display stage. If you want to have your centerpiece ready in time for Easter weekend, start the growing process between
April 11 and April 13.}


Easter Wheat Grass Centerpiece Tutorial

Supply List

• Potting soil

• tiny rocks or gravel

• paper towels

• scissors
• grosgrain ribbon (my aqua and hot pink ribbon is from Wal-Mart)
• 1 cup of hard red wheat ( available in health food stores for about 95 cents/lb. My 1 lb bag was enough for multiple projects). 

UPDATE: Do not use dry-packed wheat from your pantry or food storage. It won't sprout.

• 7-9 tea cups or other fun small containers for planting ( I found my cups at a thrift store for 50 cents each. Do you love them?! I do!)

• A fabulously spray-painted Blue Ocean Breeze vintage-inspired dollar store dessert stand (read here how to make it) or use your own cake/dessert stand to display the grass.

For this project, I grew wheat grass in soil and on a paper towel. Did you know you can grow it on just paper towels? Neither did I until I started experimenting. I love the paper towel method because you don't have the mess of soil and it gives you so many unique options for displaying it. For this project, start both your soil-grown and paper towel-grown seeds on the same day.

Growing Wheat Grass in Soil

Kids can complete most of these steps with your supervision and they love this project because the grass grows so quickly, it actually holds their interest.

1. Soak 1/2 cup of seeds in water for 24 hours (you can leave it for up to 48 hours if you tend to get distracted like me, and still plant it).

2. Put some gravel or very small rocks in the bottom of your container for drainage (I tried skipping this step once and my grass roots got moldy)

3. Fill it with soil, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the container and add a little water ( if your kids are doing this part, they may need a little help measuring, as you'll see below ;)

4. Spread your seeds on top of the soil. You want your grass to be dense, so the whole surface of your soil should be covered with seeds, but they shouldn't piled on top of each other. You may have left over seeds depending on the size of your planters.

5. Cover the seeds with a very thin layer of soil- just enough so they aren't exposed.

6. Water twice a day.

7. Within about 48 hours, you should see little green sprouts- very exciting!

8. Transfer your planters to a sunny spot (near a window) and keep the soil moist. Watering 1/4 cup per planter, twice a day, worked well for me.

9. By day 10 you should have a very healthy crop of grass

(this photo is of grass on day 12- very long)

10. Give it a hair cut (my daughter loved this part) and show it off.

Growing Wheat Grass on Paper Towels

Again, get the kids involved in this!


1. Soak your seeds (1/2 cup) in water for 24 hours

2. Stack 3-4 thick, absorbent paper towels on top of each other and cut in a circcular shape that will fit on your display plate.

3. I used a cup to trace and cut a circle in the center of mine to accommodate the center column in the desert stand display.

4. At this point, I would recommend transferring your paper towels to a regular plate that is easily movable and washable. You can transfer the grass to the display stand once it has grown.

5. Wet the paper towels

6. Spread the seeds on top of the paper towels. You want your grass to be dense, so the whole surface of your paper towel should be covered with seeds, but they shouldn't pile on top of each other.

7. Cover the seeds with 2-3 more wet paper towels

8. Wet the paper towels several times (4-5) a day for the next two days. Do not let your paper towels get dry, they should be thoroughly wet, but not so wet that there is excess water on the plate (drain the plate if you have excess water).

9. When you see tiny white little sprouts, transfer your plate to a sunny place, but keep them under wet paper towels.

10. Within 1-2 more days, you should see little green sprouts-hooray!

11. Once you see green, remove the top paper towels, but continue to keep the grass wet, watering 1-2 times a day.

12. When you start to see the little white roots poking through the bottom of the paper towels, you can cut an opening in the paper towel ring open, cutting any roots in your way. Do this so you can slide the grass ring around the pillar on your display tray.

.

( I put the baby bottle in the center of mine to prevent the grass roots from covering up the the circular opening in the middle.)

13. By day 10 ( or possibly sooner) you should have a pretty decent crop of grass in need of a hair cut.

(image of the bottom root system of your paper towel-grown grass- Is this cool or I have morphed into a wheat grass geek?)



When you have a lovely crop of wheat grass with a fresh hair cut, stack your tea cups on the top of your display tray and slide the grass ring around the base tray. Tie a piece of ribbon around the grass if you like.

Enjoy your Easter weekend knowing that you do, in fact, have a bit of a green thumb.

I am linking up to Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style and these sensational blogs this week, I hope you'll pay them a visit!

Easy Easter Silhouettes

{no fancy digital cutters required}

Is there anything you can't do with a silver serving tray from Dollar Tree? It is my little black dress of crafting materials. I am using the trays in approximately five different projects right now.

This Easter decor project is a little bit vintage with fancy trays and silhouettes, a little bit modern with graphic paper, and a lot of easy.

{ I like just the rabbit alone, but I got carried away and ended up with the Easter trio}

Here is my tutorial, it's so quick and easy, you'll be finished before you can say "Chubby Bunny" with a mouthful of Peeps.

Easy Easter Silhouettes Tutorial

Easy Easter Silhouettes Supply List

Three small silver trays from Dollar Tree

One can of spray paint (satin finish)

Two yards of grosgrain ribbon

Pencil

Scissors

Glue dots or Mod Podge (matte finish)

Printer

Glue gun and sticks

Patterned paper (below are links to the paper I used)

Bunny paper from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts

Chick paper from Stella & Rose by My Mind's Eye

Egg paper from Letter Box Response by American Crafts

Directions for Easy Easter Silhouettes

1. Spray paint your trays and let them dry (it takes a few coats)

2. Open these sweet little Easter templates from MarthaStewart.com (Thank you, Martha, dear!)

Bunny

Chick

Egg

3. Print the bunny template

4. To make all three silhouettes the same size you will need to increase the chick to 135% and rotate to landscape, then print

5. Increase the egg to 135%, then print

6. Cut out the Easter templates and trace them onto patterned paper

7. Cut out Easter silhouettes

8. Attach silhouettes to the trays using either Mod Podge, glue dots or other adhesive of your choice.

9. Hot glue a piece of grosgrain ribbon ( mine is 19 inches long) to the back of the tray to hang it from.

10. Hang your happy Easter silhouettes in a row with tacks. I'm leaving it up to you to decide which goes first, the chicken or the egg?

I am sharing my project on these fabulous blogs this week.