Bright and Sassy Houndstooth & Flower Wreath

 Hey there gorgeous friends! Today I am sharing with you a slightly different take on houndstooth. If you have followed me for very long, you probably know that we are HUGE fans of the Alabama Crimson Tide. That is just the beginning of my love for houndstooth. I am always looking for ways to use it all over the house to decorate, without necessarily using a football theme. 
  Well, I have a major case of Spring Fever right now. I have been in a creative rut the for the past few months, probably the winter blues :) Plus, J is feeling a little better lately, so I have had a little more time to work on crafty things. Between that and some pretty weather recently (and the fact that I have been gluten-free for exactly 1 month tomorrow and I feel SO much better!), I feel like I am experiencing creative overload! Finally! I LOVE all of the bright colors that are hot for Spring this year, so I decided to incorporate those colors into a fun new project... I have to tell you, this is probably my favorite project of everything I have ever made! I just love the end result! 
   I apologize, but I don't have step-by-step pics! I'm so sorry! I will explain to you how I made it, and I feel sure that you will understand. :) If not, feel free to ask me any questions you may have! 


Materials used:

• 14 inch straw wreath {Don't bother removing the plastic wrapping. It will just make a mess and I find that it is much easier to glue the fabric to the plastic than to the straw.}
• Houndstooth fabric {I THINK it took about a half yard}
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Felt in a variety of colors
• scissors

First... Cut your houndstooth fabric into long strips, about 3-4 inches wide. 


Next... Begin wrapping the fabric around the wreath, making sure not to leave  of the straw exposed. As you wrap, glue, using your hot glue gun. Just keep wrapping and gluing, wrapping and gluing. You get the idea. ;)


Now that you have completely covered the wreath with houndstooth, it is time to start making lots of colorful felt flowers! I made these while watching a movie the other night. Not sure how to make the flowers? Go here to see my tutorial for this easy little flower I call the Chloe Rosette! 


  I made my flowers in a variety of sizes. I am a pretty random person, so I just attached them {with my handy little hot glue gun} to the wreath as I made them. This way, I was able to better see what colors and sizes I needed to make. 
  
Finally, you have a gorgeous new wreath for Spring!  ;) 

  I hope you enjoy your wreath as much as I do! :) If you decide to make one, I would love to see pics!  I think I am also going to make one for my Etsy shop, so if you don't have time to make one, feel free to stop by and I will hook you up with your very own at a very reasonable price! :) Then we could be wreath twinkies! =)) Ok, so, yeah, that was cheesy! Don't you judge! Have a great day! 

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/2012/03/tutorials-tips-link-party-51.com
http://www.sugaranddots.com/

Robin's Nest Hair Pins

  Hey, hey lovely ladies! Right now, I am still trying to maintain a $0 craft budget, and only use things I already have onhand, at least for the most part. I am absolutely in LOVE with the new Robin's nest trend that I'm seeing everywhere in blogland! I have been coming up with several Spring projects I want to do that involve nests. The one I am about to tell you about I think is absolutely adorable for any age! One or 2 of these Robin's Nest Hair pins would be perfect in any girl's Easter basket!

These are the material I used:

• Bobby pin (the kind I used are from Hobby Lobby and have a little round tab on one end to make is easier to embellish, but a regular bobby pin will be fine, too)
• 18 gauge tin copper wire
• beads to use as eggs
• blue craft paint for the "eggs" (I used FolkArt Deep Ocean Blue)
• brown spray paint (craft paint will work, too)
•  glitter
• hot glue gun
• pliers

   My first step was to take my pliers and grip the ends of the wire. As I held one end, I took my roll of wire and just coiled it around the end my pliers were holding and continued to wrap it around until it got to the size I wanted it to be and looked like a little nest.

   Next, I took my brown paint and barely sprayed over the nest. While the paint was wet, I sprinkled glitter over it. This gave it a sparkly, silvery-brown color. I wanted to use a little brown, so it would still have the appearance of a bird's nest. The glitter seemed to dress it up a little, and just made it look prettier. :)

   While my little nest was drying, I painted a few beads blue to use as eggs. I used my wire to "string" the beads while I painted them. It made it a little easier. I also sprinkled my "eggs" with just a little glitter. When the light hits them they appear to be speckled like a Robin's egg.
   After all of the paint dried, I glued the beads onto the nest, trying to place the beads so the the holes wouldn't be visible. One hole could still be seen, so I filled it with glue and painted over it.
   Since my nest was complete at this point, I then used my hot glue gun and glued the nest onto the bobby pin. I will be listing a few of these on Etsy soon. Check them out if you want some for your Easter baskets, or for yourself! :) Happy Spring! I can't wait for all of you Lovelies to see the next few Spring projects I am going to share with you all soon!