Fall Leaf Candle Holder.

I found this image on Pinterest but there were absolutely no instructions. So I set out to get my supplies and create my own directions to completed this cute Fall decoration!

So I went to the store to gather my supplies

For this project you will need: 

Mod Podge (Purchased at Crafts 2000 for $4.99)

Foam Brushes (left over from wedding projects - available at most craft stores)

Smooth Mason Jar (Purchased at Pat Catan's for $1.57)

Leaves (real of fake) - I wanted to have Maple leaves as they are my favorite. We don't have any maple leaves at our new home :( so I was able to find the large package of leaves. There were 100 leaves in the package, and got them for just 99 cents! That's a bargain!!!

Hot Glue Gun - if you don't have one, you purchase one at any craft store and even some grocery stores have them as well!

Be sure that you get a smooth mason jar, so that the leaves can smoothly attach to the jar. 

Use the foam brush to put Mod Podge on the Jar and begin attaching the leaves and covering them with Mod Podge to be sure that they are adhered to the jar. 

I started to get frustrated because the leaves would not attach to the jar. SO I used a combination of the Mod Podge and Hot Glue. 

I used the hot glue to attach the "points" of the leaves to the jar. 

After the Jar was covered with the leaves evenly, I went back and tacked them down anywhere I needed to in order to be sure the leaves were secured. 

I used the foam brush to dab on Mod Podge and made sure to cover all the areas, including the bottom. 

Once the jar was covered with leaves and then coated with Mod Podge. I left it to dry so that the glue was dried before I added the votive and candle to it. 

After about 4 and a half hours, the majority of the Mod Podge had dried and there were just a few wet spots. 

As you can see, some of the leaves still have edges sticking up. I like the way it looks, but it you want it be clean and have all the leaves flat to the jar, then you may want to go back and add some more hot glue and Mod Podge to help with that. 

I'm going to let it dry a few more hours before I put that candle into it and try it out.

After about 7 hours, I checked the jar, and it felt completely dry. So I decided to give it a try. I put a votive with a vanilla candle. And lit it. It was so pretty. The perfect addition to our new house to decorate for fall!

Happy DIYing! :)

Sand Dollar & Abalone Shell Decorated Frame

My mom took my best friend, Amy and I to Florida during our senior year of high school. She then again took us after we had completed college to celebrate one last time. During both of trips we all enjoyed collecting shells out of the surf. My mom talked about how beautiful the abalone shells were, and I love the beauty of the sand dollar. So I decided to decorate a frame with Sand Dollars & Abalone to give to mom for her to put her favorite photo from our wedding.

So I gathered my supplies

A Frame (from Hobby Lobby $5.99, and I bought it when it was half off, so it was only $2.99)

Hot Glue Gun (available at most craft stores)

Abalone shells pieces (collected from our trip to Florida)

Sand Dollar pieces (collected from our trip to Florida)

In case you aren't sure what abalone looks like. It has a sort of purple, blue, green iridescent color to it. It's very beautiful. 

And lots and lots of Sand Dollar pieces we found on our many walks on the beach. 

The first thing I did was lay out the pieces of abalone to spread them out throughout the frame. Since I had a lot more Sand Dollar pieces, I wanted to make sure that I used all the abalone. 

I started gluing down the pieces of abalone, and pieces of sand dollars that fit in the corners of the frame. 

Adding pieces and starting to fill in areas to be sure everything was covered. 

Pretty well filled in, just had to add small pieces to fill in.

Ta-da! Completed! Full of beautiful pieces of abalone and sand dollars. I can't wait to share this with my mom! 

Deco Mesh Winter Wreath (Step-by-step directions)

A lot of my ideas stem from something I see on Pinterest or TV, or stores. I have always wanted to have wreaths to hang on my front door for the Holidays. Now that we have our own house, I figure its the best time to do it. I found these pictures on Pinterest and wanted to do something similar to them. 

However, this picture did not give directions for how to make the DecoMest Wreath. I had created a wreath for our wedding reception using Burlap, so I thought I could probably handle it, but I am glad that I searched to find a tutorial to help me. I came across this tutorial Clumsy Crafter to help me get started. I really just used it for the starter steps on the Wreath. After that, I kind of made my own rules to make it work the way I wanted it to!

The supplies I used were:

*Wreath (with pipe cleaners), these are available at craft stores with or without the pipe cleaners

*Hot Glue Gun & Extra Glue

*DecoMesh (I used two rolls)

*Ornaments

*Tinsel

*Deco Tubing Ribbon(Not Pictured here) 

*Scissors

*And Possibly extra Pipe cleaners (I didn't have these, however, they would have probably been helpful!)

I purchased all of these items after Christmas last year and got them between 60% and 80% off. 

Because of that, this project cost me about $12! Be on the lookout for those after Christmas sales!

And, really the only thing you have to have is the wreath and the DecoMesh. You can add whatever you would like to it, make it your own!

I began by bunching up the Deco Mesh to attach it to the wreath. 

Then I attachted the DecoMesh to the Wreath Frame with the pipe cleaner. And started moving around the wreath attaching.

I did this all the way around the wreath, however, I did not measure, which is the beauty of DIY projects, it doesn't have to be perfect or exact! 

I left between 4 and 6 inches between the pipe cleaners to add fullness to the wreath.

I went around attaching another layer to the pipe cleaners giving it more fullness. 

I went around a third layer on the outer layer of the wreath adding to the fullness. 

I moved onto the inner part of the wreath. Doing the same thing. I had two different kinds of DecoMesh that I had purchased to give the wreath some more character!

After going around three times, this is what I had achieved. I had to fluff it out some more, but over all, it looked pretty good. 

There were a few bare spots so I cut some pieces and pipe cleaner-ed them into place to fill those voids. 

After filling the voids, I had a much fuller looking wreath. 

Here you can tell the difference in the two Types of DecoMesh. One has more of a shine to it, you can mix them together like I did, or use just one type. Totally your preference.. Remember, make it your own!

I then went back and added some tinsel to it to give it another dimension of texture. I also used the pipe cleaners to attach the tinsel. 

After the tinsel was strung and the DecoMesh fluffled again.

Because I decided to used a Green Wreath Frame, I wanted to add some green and had purchased this Deco Tubing Ribbon after Christmas last year ( I figured I'd use it on something!) If you like things to be super matchy-matchy, then I would suggest getting the same color wreath as your DecoMesh. 

 I attached it with the pipe cleaner and just wound it around the wreath until I had the pop of green I wanted. 

After I had it all wrapped around, I  tied it to the back of the frame.

Then I placed the ornaments on the wreath to see where I liked them. 

And after I figured out where I wanted them, I hot glued them right onto the DecoMesh. 

After I got it home, I decided that I wanted to add a bow to the bottom on the wreath. I used some blue Deco Mesh Ribbon that I had left over from my wedding. It fit right in with the colors of the wreath. 

DecoMesh is difficult to make into a bow, so if you have never made a bow before, I wouldn't make your first one using DecoMesh. 

I started out making it "bow" like.

I kept wrapping it around. 

I gathered the ends together and glued it down to hold it into place. 

I wrapped a small piece around to create the illusion of a bow, and added some tails to it to complete the bow. 

Glued it right on!

Added a pipe cleaner hanger (I bought some tinsel pipe cleaners at the Dollar Tree. $1 for a pack of 45)

I wrapped it around to be sure it was secure! 

Ta-da! All finished! Can't wait to be able to hang it up, and it will work all winter because of the Silver, Blue and Green! :)

My biggest caution is to be sure that everything is securely attached before you pick the wreath up, you don't want anything to fall off and break.