Crafty Monday: Flower Pins on top of give away boxes



My Mom made a few Christmas flower pins for close friends

 Source: Mom
Material

• plastic flowers (in this case yellow, purple, pink, and white daisies)
• buttons and/ or large tacks found by the scrap booking allies
• green paper
• Stamp (in this case 'Merci') and ink
• hole punch
• white or other light colored felt
• pins that have a flat edge
• ribbon
• small gift box
• scissors
• scotch tape
• hot glue gun and glue

1. Pull flowers of stem. Take plastic green holder off of flower. use the petals of two flowers for the pin. If using Buttons, glue individual flower rounds to each other. once completed glue on the button. If using large tacks, place tack in the middle of all petals and pull prongs back.
2. Cut felt into small 1 1/2'' circles and 1''  circles (I traced spice lids as models)
3. Glue the bigger circle on the back of the flower. 
4. Glue the the pin to the bigger circle. If you have a button that needs needs to face a certain way, make sure that you glue the pin according to the position of the button. 
5. 
   Trim the smaller circle until it fits neatly over the pin. glue small felt piece over the pin. Let dry.
6.  
7. Cut 1/2'' stripes of green paper. Cut the length of the stripe two times the length of the flower. stamp the exposed end. And hole punch the opposite end.
8. Fold box and box lid according to package directions.
9. Place gift in box
10. Wrap ribbon around box to measure circumference. Cut to length. Tape ribbon at the bottom of the box.
11. Cut another length of ribbon an inch longer than the circumference of box. Tread the green paper strip through the ribbon. Place ribbon around the box (adjust to the first ribbon on the box) and tie knot a the top of the box. 
12. open the pin of the flower and lace under ribbons and close the pin.   





Crafty Monday: White Jars for fresh cut flowers

I used Semi-shine on this one which resulted in the running effect I ended up using the full spray bottle.

Source: Women's Day

Materials:

• Glass jar, cleaned, with label removed
• Tube of white puff paint
• Matte white spray paint

1. Applying even pressure, draw a design on the jar with the tip of the puff paint (I stamped the jar first with the desired designed using dark green as the ink and let dry). Allow the paint to fully dry (double the time recommended of the packaging).
2. In a well-ventilated space on a news-paper-covered surface, apply a light coat of spray paint to the jar, holding the can 12'' away; let dry. Apply 2 or 3 more light coats, allowing to dry after each, until the jar is fully covered.
3. I tied a ribbon on the jar; however, I bet cutting the ribbon to the circumference of the jar's lip and hot gluing it would be more cute.  

Crafty Monday: Ribbon Cans

Source: Women's Day
Materials:

• Coffee or soup can, cleaned, with label removed
• Tape measure
• 2 colors of ribbon of the same width
• optional: tinner ribbon for top and bottom edges
• Scissors
• Hot-glue gun and glue sticks

1. Measure the can'ts height and circumference; add 1/2'' to each. For on color ribbon: cut as many peices to the circumference measure as needed to cover the can horizontally, plus 2 for the top and bottom. for second color: cut as many pieces to the height measure as needed to cover the can vertically.
2. Arrange the longer pieces on a table (reserve the top and bottom pieces) with the sides just touching, creating a rectangel. Apply the hot glue along one of the shorter ribbons, then carefully place it on top of one short end of the rectangle to hold the long ribbons in place. Straighten the long ribbons, if needed while the glue is wet. Let dry.
3. Starting at the glued-down end, weave a short piece of ribbon over and under the long onces. get it as close to possible to the first short piece, then attach it at the top and bottom with glue. Continue with the short pieces, alternating the over/under, until the entire rectangle is woven. Trim any excess.
4. Wrap the rectangle around the can, and hot-glue the glued-down short end to cover the opposite end. Apply a line of glue around the top of the can and attach one of the reserved ribbons, folding the end under to hide the raw edge. Repeat at the bottom of the can.

Baby Shower for Friend Rachel

So back on April 28th, 2012 Jamie and I put on the Ritz for Rachel's baby shower. Rachel's mom, Lorie, and Mom had been very instrumental in the preparation before the big event. With some cute decorations and some easy food choices, we had the perfect garden theme. To follow, some crafty posts for some of the decorations and gift bag.

Music for 7th and 8th of July

currently listening to: T3's Anything for Youfrom: Paula's collection
So for the end of the week I listened off my Color Nook the 8 CDs I uploaded to it:
70's Groove Machine (disc 1)
Confessions- Usher
Hotter Dance
Labour of Love- UB40
Let's Get it: Thug Motivation 101- Young Jeezy
Soul Food
Wilson Philips-Wilson Phillips
The first part of the Thursday, I listened to the CDs on random. The Nook clearly took a clear liking to UB40's Red Red Wine, playing it 4 times with in a 3 hours time period. After talking to coworker Jen, I changed the listening by playing by CD so I would know what artist/song was actually playing.

Thoughts so far: for not really listening to rap before, I thought Young Jeezy was decent. There is background music in all the songs. Some of the genera's traits as in saying the raps name repeatedly and telling you what type of music you are listening to was funny to me since it seems as if you bought the CD and are listening shouldn't you know what type of music this is and who the artist is? The CD was the clean version and I didn't really like the hiccups of blocking out the bad words. I had a great time getting Paula to laugh at what I thought the lyrics are- which were probably more innocent than the real ones.
Here are some of my lyrics:

Vampire so white it hurts my eyezzzzzzz

sitting here now on a trap
I'm a bridal
I'm the soul survivor

They want to lock me up like an acorn

Oh I really loved the 'boom boom clap' in And Then What. Out of the CD I liked And Then What (probably because of the catchy snare drum sound) and My Hood- where my car model is mentioned *squeal*


I was surprised that I really enjoyed Usher. Usher is like the R&B soully Prince- where all his songs seem to be about sex. I admitted that I blushed while listening to his That's What It's Made For song- I felt completely guilty on listening to this song at work. I was most interested on hearing the first Confessions song, since Confessions, Pt. 2 is played on the radio with some regularity. Clearly there is a reason why the second one is played-- it's a great song and has the meat of the matter in it. coworker Jen informed me that Usher had a tour where only his female fans could buy tickets. He sure does love the ladies ;)

Wilson Phillips- throw back to the 80's is the main feel of the CD. However, they were easy to listen to. The most annoying thing however was that some of these songs have been covered (or did Wilson Phillips do the covering?) by other artist and I was driving myself insane trying to figure out the who sung the other versions. Favorite on this album: Reason to Believe.

Groove Machine- I was expecting to have more songs on this CD. Of course some of these songs were familiar like Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime, Raiders' Indian Reservation 9which was remade by a country star), Tommy Roe's Crimson and Clover, and Badfinge's Day After Day. It's nice to know the artists and song titles- so yay music project. Favorite on the CD- Tommy Roe-Crimson and Clover; Badfinger's Day after Day (though it somehow reminds me of Rockey Horror Picture Show) and Atlanta Rhythm Section's Imaginary Lover.

I'm planning on listening so more to the other CDs since I felt I didn't give them quality time like the other ones. I did really dig Ziggy Marley's Never Deny You. I think it may be my favorite of this batch, and oddly enough it's a religious song.

Taylor Swift's Dear John

Long were the nights when my days once revolved around you
Counting my footsteps praying the floor won't fall through again
And my mother accused me of losing my mind
But I swore I was fine

You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain
And I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules everyday
Wondering which version of you I might get on the phone tonight
Well, I stopped picking up and this song is to let you know why

Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
Don't think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home
I should've known

Well, maybe it's just me and my blind optimism to blame
Or maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away
And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand
And I'll look back and regret how I ignored when they said run as fast as you can

Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
[From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/taylor-swift-lyrics/dear-john-lyrics.html ]
Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home

Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played with?
Your dark twisted games when I loved you so
I should've known

You are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry
Never impressed by me acing your tests
All the girls that you've run dry have tired, lifeless eyes
'Cause you've burn them out

But I took your matches before fire could catch me
So don't look now
I'm shining like fireworks over
Your sad, empty town

Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home

Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played with?
The girl in the dress wrote you a song
You should've known

You should've known
Don't you think I was too young?
You should've known

I remember hearing somewhere that Swift's songs are very autobiographical. So who is this 'Dear John'? Here is a common theory.

currently listening to: Bob Marley and the Wailers' "No Woman, No Cry"
from: Paula's Collection
for July 5th and 6th- I listened to Taylor Swift's Speak Now-- a CD that co-worker Angela gave me for my birthday. She got it beacuse one day I was listening to 'Mean' on the way to work and got it stuck in my head. 'Mean' is such a earworm. the only song I think that is more addicting is 'All the Single Ladies'
Speak Now has the following songd on it:
1. "Mine"
2. "Sparks Fly "
3. "Back to December"
4. "Speak Now"
5. "Dear John"
6. "Mean"
7. "The Story of Us"
8. "Never Grow Up"
9. "Enchanted"
10. "Better Than Revenge"
11. "Innocent"
12. "Haunted"
13. "Last Kiss"
14. "Long Live"

Mine, Back to Decemebr, Mean are always played on the radio...they're good well rounded songs. However, my personal favorites on the alumb is Speak Now and Dear John