Nailed Candle

I am so excited about this candle!

It was soooo easy and turned out beautiful!

The only materials needed are a candle and nails.

These nails are called Cut Tacks which I got for under a dollar at Lowe's.

All you do is press the nail into the wax, it's that easy.

My only suggestion is if you were to do many of these candles, you may need something like a thimble to protect your thumb from pressing the nail over and over.

I'm a big fan of swirls so this was my first design but I plan to try alot more different designs.

And I love the contrast of the dark nail against the vanilla toned candle.

This was also done free hand but you can punch the wax with a pencil before actually creating the holes with the nails.

Now I hate to say this, but so far the cheap-cheap candles don't hold up well when piercing the nail into the wax.

But I'm still in the experimentation process so I'm still trying to figure out which materials work best.

Super easy!

Linking to...

http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/

Flower Bulletin Board

Here's a spin on a typical squared bulletin board.

I put this up for my daughter's pictures and scraps of paper. Of course you can personalize this with any type of fabric.

I cringe every time I throw away Styrofoam, besides it being horrible for the environment, it really is a good crafting medium.

Even without using the cork board on top this is a great way to recycle Styrofoam.

Materials I used:
Styrofoam
A roll of cork board
Fabric
Hot glue gun
Mod Podge
Vacuum (you're gonna need it)

Initially I wanted to use JUST the cork board, but it was on the thin side so it needed some extra thickness. That's when I turned to this Styrofoam. There was a ton of it left over from my daughter's giant doll house we put together. I knew it could be used for something, and this was it!


First I free hand drew a flower peddle on the Styrofoam and cut it out with a knife.

Here is where the vacuum comes in, this stuff gets everywhere!

A plastic lid was used to trace the middle circle.

So with all that cut out, now on to the cork board.

Simply trace and cut.

I hot glued the Styrofoam to the cork board.
* (I recommend using a regular glue for this step since the hot glue melts the Styrofoam, and gives off fumes).

Any one up for an oatmeal cream pie? :)

On to the fabric.

These vibrant fabric sheets I picked up from Joann's, which was actually my first time there, can you believe it?

I was happily surprised that in the fabric section, they have a nice variety of squares of fabric for $2, perfect for crafting!

Anyway, I used iron-on bonding strips to bond the fabric to the cork board.

Again, this step can be substituted for another type of glue.

After fabric is attached to the cork, cut around at least ½ inch of fabric.

Then snip all the way around.

Use Mod Podge or glue down the sides.

To hang, I hammered a nail in the wall and simply punched each petal into place.

Complete & cute!

This project turned out a bit lengthy - this was my first go at it, and I'm sure there can be substitutes and shortcuts made.

Linking to:

Starfish Earrings

These unique earrings are made from real starfish (not live of course).

Ok, so since these are real starfish, they are on the delicate side, so I wouldn’t go outside to play baseball while wearing these :)

The starfish naturally has a hole (the mouth) in the center.

I used a small drill component to gently twist through the hole.

I know, it looks gruesome but don’t worry the starfish is in a better place now :)

Here are the jumprings, I hooked them all together before attaching to the starfish.

The largest jumpring attaches to the center of the starfish.

Add an earring hook and these fun earrings are complete.

They are fun, it almost looks like they're dancing!

Ice Cream Cone Balloons

These cute balloons are simple and very easy to create. I can just picture these darling balloons at a child's summer time birthday party.

I didn't use helium here, but I'm sure that would make them even cuter if they were tied to a string and floating.

Materials: Balloons, Scrapbook paper, Tape, Ribbon

First blow up your balloon.

Then roll up the scrapbook paper into a cone shape.

Then cut off the excess paper until you have an even rim.

Next place the balloon inside the cone.

As the balloon sits nice and snug inside the cone, tape a few strips down to secure the balloon in place.

Next tape the ribbon around the balloon and cone.

You can also use double sided tape if you don't want any tape showing.

For the sprinkles on this balloon, I cut small strips of fun foam and glued sporadically on top.

This craft featured at:

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Check out the party!