Lamp Makeover

Before you proceed... let me warn you that this lamp makeover isn't your usual glamorous lamp makeover project you see on other blogs. I'm a little challenged for time so my projects tend to lean toward simplicity.

Inspiration: Mess in Andrea's room, specifically the old headband Andrea's nanny placed on top of the lampshade.

Yep I saw it like that and thought that hmmm... it sort of looks like a mushroom character so...

With the help of a glue gun and some googly eyes, this old plastic lamp life came to life!

Decorative Thumbtack Christmas Ball

Finally! A craft project (albeit a very simple one).

So while I was stuck at home suffering from food poisoning yesterday (sigh... long story), I managed to finish my gold Christmas ball.

Here it is, sitting on top of the vase I "borrowed" indefinitely from my grandmother. I used EXACTLY 600 thumbtacks for this project. I know because, each box contains 100 tacks and I used 6 boxes.So the finished ball is a little heavy.

I used to see this project a lot around blog land a few months ago. There is a tutorial for this over at Landee See, Landee Do. I have to admire those who did more than one... this takes patience! Imagine carefully tacking each thumbtack 600 times! Though I guess others used smaller styrofoam balls.

Here's a photo of the ball while it was still in progress.

After I finished... er... I actually didn't know what to do with it. I initially wanted to stick a fabric poinsettia flower on top of the ball but it wasn't looking quite right (and it messes with the balance of the ball) so I scrapped the idea and covered the entire styrofoam ball with thumb tacks.

For now, I added it to my little ensemble on top of the shoe cabinet on our entryway.

I have some more Christmas DIY items on my list and maybe I'll find another place for it soon (sometime before Christmas, I hope).

Next on my list: WREATH! Stay tuned!

Cocktail Glass Candle Holders

You know those tall and elegant wood candle sticks that people always use for upcycling projects? I have always wanted one. Thing is, I don't know where to find them. I know there is a street in Manila where you can good antiques but I haven't had a chance to go yet. But I had an urgent need to redecorate (you will see why later) so I decided to improvise for now.

 I bought some cheap cocktail glasses:

The small ones are P30 ($0.70) and the bigger ones are P44 ($1)

Turn the bigger ones upside down and then glue the smaller ones on top and you get these:

Still not the candlesticks I wanted, but they will do. Add some vase fillers and small white candles and...

I have 2 beautiful decorative candles for less than P200 ($4)!

Now, let's go back to my urgent need to decorate. You see, the corner work area in our living room I prepared more than a year ago...

...has turned into this:

corner eyesore.

Notice those 2 white bottles? Those are the vodka bottles I posted last week. I already finished spray painting them white... but they are still a work in progress (as soon as I figure out what else to do with them). The 2 speakers are part of our home theater system, and the rest are Andrea's toys and other stuff around our house that found their way there. And can you find the laptop in all that mess? Right... it's right there under the table, on the chair.

To start, I cleared all the junk out of the table. Except for the speakers. My husband told me they have to stay there *sigh*. I took a cream lacy table runner (again, from my grandmother), a big white vase that my mother-in-law bought years ago, and my candle holders... put it all together and...

Better.

And if you're wondering about the work area concept? Well... this is really silly but I later found out that I can't get a good broadband signal from this corner of our house so turning this into a work area didn't really work.

I am linking up to the following link parties: (yey, link parties, I'm back!!)

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Around Tuit at Creating My Way To Success | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | Inspire Me Mondays at Singing Three Little Birds | The DIY Showoff | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy |  Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrilling Thursdays at Paisley Passions | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Finished on the 15th at FaveCrafts |

Still here...

... and still project-less :( I finished a refashioned blouse for my niece last week when she and her mom visited us at our house last week. But they went home with the top before I had a chance to take pictures! I made it from an old toddler long-sleeved shirt and my mom's old pajamas. Next week, when I visit them, I will demand for a photo shoot. It was the only project I finished last week. 

We were hit by a storm last week and that is not news when you live in the Philippines and monsoon season starts. It doesn't get so bad where I live but I saw on the news that some areas in Manila were flooded. The thing about me... I get lazy when it's raining. It's like I can't get anything started because... well... it's raining. Do you get like that??? I wanted to get some decorating done because since I put away my Easter decor, my tables and vignettes have become junk piles. 

But hey! I started work on a few things... 'started' being the operative word.

No... I don't drink much, but I did find these 2 empty bottles in one of our kitchen cabinets. I think these were from my husband's early 20's days. Isn't it great how he keeps junk stuff like these for years? You should see the closet in our guest bedroom! Or wait... rather... you should NEVER see it. Anyway, these 2 will be on my living room vignette... when I finish them.

I'm into bottles and jars recently. This one is pretty small... only about 1.5 inches high. I found it in my beading supplies drawer 2 weeks ago. My project using this bottle is almost finished so maybe I will be posting about it this week.

Guest Posting at Mine for the Making with my Vintage Style Eggs

I'm guest posting today at Mine for the Making as part of Kara's Spring Fling. I'm posting a tutorial on how to make this...

Vintage Style Easter Egg

... and a few other designs. If you haven't seen it yet, head on over at Mine for the Making to check it out.

Click here to go to the tutorial.

And check out the other cool Spring ideas from the other guest bloggers too! It's all about Spring this week at Mine for the Making.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Joining the Easter challenge at the CSI project

Easter Party Link-up at Someday Crafts | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Tuesdays To-Do at Blackberry Vine | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | The Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table And Dreaming | Linking Party at Passionately Artistic | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Friday Favorites with Inspiring Creations | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop at Saved By Love Creations | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello | Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings |

My Wreath Evolution

Wreaths aren't very big here in my country. We only have wreaths during Christmas. So when I first started checking out craft blogs, I was a little surprised to see that other people have wreaths for all seasons and occasions. The concept was new to me but I liked the idea of a non-Christmas wreath though. 

Let's rewind to a few years ago, before I discovered the joy of crafting. This mess was my first attempt at making a Christmas wreath. 

And see the wall behind it (it's the wall beside our staircase) was so empty except for our wedding portrait which, at the time, was the only item we have framed in our entire house. 

With all the inspiration I see on other blogs, I decided to try making a new wreath:

I have several of those wood wreath forms from old Christmas wreaths I found in a cabinet in our house when I moved in after my husband and I got married. I removed the old ribbons and other trim and kept the wreaths. I still have 3 more of those I think. I simply spray painted it white and added the flowers. It didn't turn out how I pictured it in my head (for one, I didn't have enough of those smaller flowers) but it was a good 'first' try (technically, second, but I am not counting the first one, haha).

Oh and the wall behind it, I now have a gallery of frames... no clear photo though, but you can see a little behind the wreath. Maybe next time.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Free for All at Young and Crafty | Sew Crafty Saturday at Wildflowers and Whimsy | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S. at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Just Somethig I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday To-do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Manic Monday at Sew Happy Geek | 

My Silly Bee

In case you noticed her... there's a bee posed at the foot of my Easter Egg Tree on my previous post. I made the bee a few weeks ago, before I started on all my other Easter decor. A few weeks ago... I had all these plastic eggs.. and all these materials and I was in the mood for some serious crafting...

...but I had no idea what to do. I had 'crafter's block'... you know, something like writer's block. I ran out of ideas. So I put all my stuff away and decided to make the beds in our bedroom instead. I noticed the bee in my daughter's pillow case looks like an egg. Without any other idea, I decided to try making a bee using one of my  yellow plastic eggs.

So I prepared these materials:

• A small yellow plastic egg
• Plastic eyes
• 2 strips of black felt, around 0.5 inch wide. Each piece need to be long enough to go around the egg.
• A small piece of gray felt
• 4 small beads (not shown in the photo)
• a glue gun
• felt marker

Step 1: Glue the black felt around your egg. Cut off any excess felt.

Step 2: Glue the other strip of felt around your yellow egg. No photo but you should have something like a yellow-and-black-striped egg.

Step 3: Take your gray felt and cut 4-petal shapes. I didn't use a template. I did trial and error to get them the size I want for my bee's wings.

Step 4: Glue the 4 petal-shaped felt to the egg, position them like the wings of a bee.

Step 5: Glue the plastic eyes on one end of the egg... I used the wider end of the egg for the face, and pointed end will be the sting end.

Step 6: Glue 2 small beads on top of each eye. And then glue 2 more beads on top of those beads. Wait for the photo.. you will see what I mean.

Step 7: Using the felt marker... draw the mouth.

I glued a thin stip of felt on top of the 4 wing-shapes to hide the edges.

She looks a little unhappy... I was actually aiming for 'clueless', like I was feeling at the time, but I didn't know how to draw a mouth to make her look 'clueless'. She looked a little out of place there so I decided to perch her on my lamp so she can be near the flowers:

I was checking Martha Stewart's site a few days ago and saw she has a project like this too.. making animals from eggs. She posted tutorials on how to make a few more animals from eggs. This is simple enough to be a kid's craft project. Maybe when Andrea is a little older, we can try this together and we can make happier-looking bees :)

I got over my crafter's block a few days after I made my bee :) The table with the lamp and flowers has been re-decorated with my painted jars here. And those flowers, they have been cut up to decorate my moss projects and my Easter Egg Tree and my wreath (yeah... I've been cutting up this bunch and now it's all gone).

EDITED 2011-04-14:

Amy from One Artsy Mama tried this project with her 2-year old. Isn't it cool to be able to craft with your kid? I wish Andrea was old enough for us to do stuff like this too. They also made other cute animals from plastic eggs like this chick and this rabbit:

Sooo cute! She posted the tutorial for these 2 cuties at her site so be sure to check them out!

Click here to visit her tutorial. 

I am linking up to the following parties:

Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Tuesdays To-Do at Blackberry Vine | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | The Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table And Dreaming | Linking Party at Passionately Artistic | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Friday Favorites with Inspiring Creations | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop at Saved By Love Creations | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Finished on the 15th at Favecrafts | Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello | 

'Happy' Easter Egg Tree

Before I start talking about my project for today, I just want to share that I was finally able to schedule a trip to the salon to get a haircut yesterday. Hoo-ray for me! With so many things to do all the time, I find it hard to take 2-hours off for a trip to the salon. I think the last time I went was sometime last year?

They blow dried my hair straight after the haircut. I am missing my straightened hair :( My hair is back to its naturally wavy and frizzy state today. Before I had Andrea, I used to get hair rebonding treatment every 6 months. The treatment takes 4-6 hours, and after that, you get really straight and shiny hair. My last treatment was before I got pregnant, so that would be around late 2008. *Sigh*

Ok enough of the hair, let's get on with my project. I see a lot of egg topiary and egg tree projects around. I wanted to make a topiary. but I have no idea how or where to get supplies in my area even if I did. What I did have was 4 packs of plastic eggs in 3 sizes: 2 packs of the small ones, 1 pack of the medium-sized ones and a pack of the big ones. I thought about it and came up with a simple idea to 'build' my own egg tree.

I used a 1.5 inch strip of cardboard, and around... hmmm... 20 plastic eggs I think (I used 2 packs... one pack has around 14 eggs but I had a few unused eggs after my project). Oh, and a glue gun. And some plastic flowers.

Step 1: I glued both sides of my cardboard together to form a circle. This will form the base of my tree. But err... I wish I can tell you what size circle you need, but it will really depend on how many eggs you plan to use for your base, and how big the eggs are.

I will tell you how I figured out the size for mine though.. trial and error. You make your circle, place it on top of a rug and position the eggs around it (I think I used 9 eggs for my base). The eggs need to completely encircle the cardboard base. When it didn't during my first few tries, I simply tore open the circle, adjusted the size and glued again.

Step 2. Start gluing the eggs to your base until the cardboard is surrounded by the first layer of eggs.

Step 3. Glue eggs on top of your first layer, forming a smaller circle. Here's where it gets difficult. The second layer may not be positioned as perfectly as the first. There will be uneven gaps, but I didn't mind too much.

Step 4: Keep gluing eggs until you have a few more layers. As I said, there will be uneven gaps between some eggs but as long as the overall shape looks conical, it should be fine.

Step 5. Cover up the gaps... I used pearls on some gaps... and then cut some fabric leaves and stems from plastic flowers I had and inserted them on the gaps.

Here are all my Easter projects decorating our entryway. My egg tree pops out because of all the colors. Good thing I chose not to paint the eggs. I'm calling it my "Happy" Easter Egg tree because it's so colorful it makes me smile every time I go past it. Andrea likes it too, and yeah, I let her play with it. I made sure I glued the eggs really well and so far, it has survived 2 play sessions with my 1-year-old ;)

Notice those eggs on the left? I'm guest posting over at Mine for the Making on Tuesday as part of Kara's Spring Fling event and I will be talking about them. Wanna see more cool Spring projects? Hop over to Mine for the Making! Click button below to join the fun :)

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Joining the Easter Challenge at the CSI project

Easter Party Link-up at Someday Crafts | Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello | Free for All at Young and Crafty | Sew Crafty Saturday at Wildflowers and Whimsy | Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S. at the Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft Couture Monday at Craft Couture | Made By You Monday at Skip To My Lou | Made With Love Monday at Sew Chatty | Make it For Less Monday at Simply Cadence | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Tuesdays To-Do at Blackberry Vine | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | The Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table And Dreaming | Linking Party at Passionately Artistic | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Friday Favorites with Inspiring Creations | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop at Saved By Love Creations | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Finished on the 15th at Favecrafts |

Featured on The Tattered Tag and finding a use for old jars

Before I start on my project today, I would like to thank Christina of The Tattered Tag for featuring me as the "New Neighbor on the Blog". I got to know The Tattered Tag for it's amazing K.I.S.S. Blog Bash where I link up every Sunday. Make sure you check it out. Great ideas linked up there. 

Christina also posts cute projects like her most recent Whimsical Gift Jars.There are other great projects there but this one caught my attention, not only because it was the most recent, but because when I visited today, I was in the middle of writing this post. You see... I also have jars lined up for my post today. 

So today will be all about jars :)

I've been on a craft supply/decor shopping spree for the past few weeks. The nearby mall I frequent is on a month long sale on their home section. Anyway, the choices are limited since they are probably just getting rid of old stock (can't wait to go there next month to see what new items they have!). I was looking for white vases or something I can use as egg holders. They only had around 5 pure white vases left and they are not the shape I needed them to be.

I've seen a lot of spray-painted vase projects online so I decided to conquer my fear or spray paint and bought one in white. Then I looked around our house for some junk empty jars and found these:

• An empty Crumpy jar (I included the jar of Crumpy for uh... reference?)
• An old tea cup (from a set where the cover of the teapot broke a long time ago)

I know Nutella is the more popular brand and the first time I bought Crumpy was actually by mistake, I grabbed a jar without looking thinking it was Nutella. Turned out I like it too... not too sweet. Anyway, I love Crumpy's empty jars because the edges are smooth so they are like drinking glasses.

I spray painted the teacup white, and then turned it upside down and glued the empty Crumpy jar.

The finished product turned out not the right shape to be an egg holder... but I like it anyway. Still... I needed egg holders so I looked through my shelves again and I found my last empty Gerber bottle! I used the others for my pin cushion projects a while back and I already forgot I had one more.

And then I found a smaller jar. Someone gave me this Burt's Bees Radiance Kit last Christmas. The pack contains 2 small jars:

I was only able to keep 1 though, I guess I must have thrown the other one away.

I also spray-painted both jars white... and then added trim around the opening to hide the ribbing.

Notice the green egg? If you like it, you can click here to see the tutorial and other designs.

And I have my egg holders :) I added a pewter charm to the smaller one.

And here they are all together:

It's Friday in my part of the world everyone!!! A few more hours and it's the weekend for me! Woo-hoo!!! Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello | Free for All at Young and Crafty | Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S. at the Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft Couture Monday at Craft Couture | Made By You Monday at Skip To My Lou | Made With Love Monday at Sew Chatty | Make it For Less Monday at Simply Cadence | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Not Baaaad Sunday at Lamb Around |

Decorating for Lent with Moss

I know I'm a little late with Lent decor since Lent started a few weeks ago. But I was home sick yesterday (and today) so I had a little time to try a project that has been on my to-do list for a while:

Moss-covered cardboard cross, framed.

I got this idea from a tutorial by Hannah and Bryan. I added flowers to mine because it looked a little plain when I stuck it to the frame and hung it on our wall.

Since I had left over moss, I decided to try another project. See I've been seeing a lot of nest projects around and I'm really envious. We don't have a lot of stores here offering craft items so I can't get my hands on one of those nests to use for a project. So I decided to make my own using materials I had on hand: my daughter's old flower girl basket from the wedding we attended last February.

The flowers are long gone and I just had the empty basket lying around. I removed the handle and sprayed it with a spray adhesive (I used 3M Spray Mount) to make sure the moss will stick, and then covered the inside with moss. After I was happy with how it looked, I sprayed adhesive again over the moss to set the arrangement and to make sure I don't get moss falling from the nest and being blown by the wind around the house.

Here's my nest:

I scattered a few flowers to make it look pretty. These are the same flowers I used on the cross and they all came from the same bunch of plastic flowers that I've had for a while. The eggs are made of marble rock. They are being sold along with other vase fillers at the mall and I got a pack of 6 eggs for about $2. They come in different marble patterns though my pack has 4 of these yellow marble ones.

I didn't cover the outside of the basket with moss because I was getting tired and wanted to go back to sleep :) So if you peek under the nest, it looks like this:

Ssshhh... :)

Maybe I'll fix it next time I get a little free time.

I have more Easter projects coming this week and next week so please drop by my blog again to check them out.

I linked up to the following parties:

Joining the Easter challenge at the CSI project

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Thrifty Thursday at Saved By Love Creations | Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside | I Thrilled on Thursday at Paisley Passions |