Featured on U Create!!!

I am a little behind posting but am so excited to tell you that K.I.S.S. was featured on the super-cool blog, U Create this weekend!  How great is that?

If you haven't visited U Create,  do it right now.  It is an A-List blog loaded with inspiration and great ideas!  I am thinking of painting a rug with her this month.  Do I dare? Stenciling is not my strong point, but it looks so amazing.

Thanks for the feature, Kari!

Etsy Love: BeifioriEmbellish home decor, clothing and accessories

The beiFIORIEmbellish shop is my latest crush on Etsy.  Marilyn is the fabulous owner who makes and sells clothing, accessories, totes and home decor.  She had me at burlap.   I love her very reasonably priced pillow covers.


Here is a small sampling of her other fun products.  You can check out all of her products in her Etsy shop by clicking here.

Pretty Place Cards Made Fast

Friends, there is something you should know about me.  I frequent the Templates and Clip Art section of MarthaStewart.com the way celebrities frequent rehab.  It is one of my favorite spots for inspiration and quick, pretty projects.

In other news, I recently helped put together a party for the women at my church.  Cupcakes in every variety were on the menu for the evening ( you can find the recipes here).  I needed a quick way to label the different offerings- after all, we wouldn't want someone mistaking Red Velvet for Rocky Road, that would be sheer madness.  So Martha came through for me with her printable place cards.  The only problem is that they were designed to be printed as blank cards and filled in by hand.  With a dull Carnation Pink crayola as the only writing apparatus currently in the house, this wasn't going to work.  Besides, I wanted to use a pretty font, print them, and be done.

So I took Martha's pdf into my own hands, and five minutes later, I had my pretty printed place cards.  They are so versatile.  They could be used for weddings, birthday parties,  gift tags, organization projects, dinner parties, showers- the possibilities are endless. Oh, and Martha has many styles of place cards too.

Here is a quick tutorial, using Photoshop Elements,  to show you how to change the color and add text to those Pretty Place Cards and put them to work for your next creative endeavor.

1. Go to the Place Cards Templates Page on MarthaStewart.com and select "Templates in Color."

2.  Save the file to your computer (I'm using a Mac, so your screen may look slightly different if you are on a PC, but the steps should be the same)

3.  Open the file in Photoshop Elements. Be sure to select page 2, which has the most vibrant color,  and then click "OK."

4. From the Enhance menu select "Adjust Color" and from that menu, select "Adjust Hue/Saturation"

5. Move the slider bars to adjust hue, saturation, and lightness until you get the color you want.

6.  Select the Text tool from the side menu and place your cursor inside the place card.

7.  Add your text, adjusting the font and size if you like.

 

8.  Print  your place cards ( I used a textured card stock)

9. Marvel at your quick cleverness and for heaven's sake, have a cupcake!

I'm sharing my project on  Savvy Southern Style and these fun blogs this week!

Bathing Suit Season {gasp!}

Friends, it's coming and there is nothing we can do to stop it, so we may as well embrace bathing suit season (and a big bunch of celery).  Have you seen Shabby Apple's swim line?  It's so feminine and fun.

The Lampone is my absolute favorite ( i am a pink girl through and through)

I love the retro look of the Venezia

I love the texture and the color of the Isola

Pinwheel Flower Tutorial

Supplies

denim fabric scrap
pen
scissors
hot glue
something small and round to trace
button or bead for center of flower


1. Fold your fabric in half, and trace a circle on it.

2. Cut out both layers together


3. With the two circles still together, cut the fabric, almost to the center in 7-8 spots around the circle

4.  Glue the two circles together with a small dot of glue in the center

5.  Add buttons or beads to the center with hot glue and fluff your petals so they stand out

Melted Flower Tutorial

Melted Flower Tutorial

Supplies
Hot glue
scissors
pen
glasses in various sizes or other round items to trace
tea light or candle
scrap of of fabric about 1/8 yd ( always use a fabric with polyester in it for this project.  I like satin.)


1. Trace circles in graduated sizes onto the back of your fabric (I used a variety of cups for my templates).

2.  Cut out all of your circles, being sure to cut off the pen marks.

3. Light tea light and set it on a flat, heat-safe surface.

4. With the right side of the fabric facing up, (tracing marks on the back) hold the edge of the fabric circle over the flame to melt and ruffle the edges.  Continue melting the entire perimeter of the circle    ( you may want to practice on a scrap first).

5.  When each circle has melted edges, glue them together (biggest on bottom, smallest on top)

6. Add a center ( fabric, buttons, beads, etc.) with hot glue

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!