The Ballard Bunch

When the home that my husband's great grandmother raised her family in

was about to be torn down, a few of us were able to

snag up a few items for our personal sentiment.

I happened to end up with one of these amazing wooden boxes

found in the back of the property.  It has turned into one of my favorite things in my home

and I find myself using it all of the time to display holiday items and everyday treasures.

Christmastime warranted some new decor for my beloved box

and after some serious Pinterest browsing, I had a plan.

Supplies:

Scrapbook Paper (your choice)

Scrapbook Embellishments

(your choice - be creative, check your local dollar store for different items)

Hot Glue Gun

Wooden Skewers

Floral Foam Blocks

Moss ( or another covering - your choice)

If you're like me, you probably had most of this stuff at home!

And the items I didn't have, I was able to snatch up for super cheap.

There is no rhyme or reason to my exact display,

but I will give you instructions on how to make the paper

accordion flowers and the paper trees - the rest is up to you!

Paper Trees

I thought about attempting a step-by-step tutorial of these,

but why reinvent the wheel?  Krokotak has a flawlessly executed tutorial

on their blog - and posting a link is way easier

than doing the work, right?

{click on blog name above for direct link to the tutorial}

Paper Accordion Flowers

These, on the other hand, I want to give specific

instruction - only because I have tried other tutorials and kind of

pieced together the best way I know of how to make them.  

1) Cut 3-5 strips of paper (the toppers for my trees are made

from 1 inch strips, the larger at the bottom are from 2.5 inch strips).

Depending on the length of your paper, you may only

need 2-3 - the more paper, the tighter the folds will

end up on your finished product.

2) Fold each piece into accordion strips (this can take some time)

and hot glue the end of one strip the the beginning of the next.

3) After you have glued all of your accordion pieces into one large strip,

hot glue the two loose ends together to make a circle.

Please note, as you are gluing pieces together, make sure that your paper

maintains it's accordion pattern - you may have to

overlap pieces at the end to keep the folding continuous.

4) Once you have a full circle complete, you are going to gently push

one end of the circle inward to make the flower shape.

5) Using scrap pieces of paper punch {or cut} out a small circle to use as reinforcement.  

6) Add a liberal amount of hot glue to the small circle cut out

and place it on the back side of the completed accordion flower to keep it's shape.

7) Once the glue is dry, you can start with the fun stuff - embellishing!

Once you have the trees and accordion flowers complete,

glue a wooden skewer onto each one,

place your foam blocks in your container and go crazy arranging it all.

Cheap and Easy!

{the snowflake, people}

All you need is:

package of jumbo craft sticks (found mine at Robert's)

small wooden discs (also found at Robert's)

white craft paint (you could spray, too)

a hot glue gun (have you gotten one yet?)

glitter (any color you choose)

Using hot glue put arrange craft sticks

following my pattern (or make your own!).

Tip:  The angles @ the center

(underneath the big disc)

should all be 60 degrees.

Once dry, paint with white glue.

While that's drying, paint your discs and immediately add glitter

(they'll stick to the wet paint).

Adhere painted and glittered discs with hot glue.

That's it.

You're done.

Really.

Inspiration found here.

How can we modify this to be even cuter?

So a pool play date for the kids

After a way-too-long craft drought

with my fave crafty ladies,

we decided to make an awesome alternative

to the front door wreath.

Simple enough!

Metal letters {two top pics} are from Hobby Lobby

{$24.99 - but way cheaper with a 40% off coupon}

Paper Mache letters {bottom three pics} are from Joann

{$9.99 - but, again, way cheaper with a 40% off coupon}.

Metal letters do not need to be painted, paper mache will.

After painting {if you go that route},

make flowers using any fabric/tutorial you choose.

I used this tutorial and this tutorial to make mine {the letter B above},

but there are a million other options out there, too.

Attached a cute piece of fabric {chevron, of course for mine}

to the back of the letter {by pinning or tying on - doesn't matter} 

and voila!  I have gotten SO many compliments on this one.

I think it's a keeper.

Finally, it's finished.

Poor kid is already 5 months old

and just moved into his own 'crib'.

He's been a bassinet boy since birth.

I love how his bedding turned out!

Just different enough from Layne's bedding and room colors to be his own,

but close enough that when the time comes, we can move them in together.

Basically I made a slip cover for an existing bumper I had.

{inspiration found here}

I bought a king sized bed skirt on clearance,

deconstructed it and rebuilt a crib-sized skirt.

{using one I already had for measurements}

Used the remaining fabric to make decorative pillows.

{chevron inspiration and technique found here}

I've made crib bedding before, but now that I know how much easier it is to just make

a cover for something I already have, I won't be going back to my old ways.

Happy Sleeping, little man.

It's that time of year again...

...school is coming to a close.

{anyone else excited and not?}

We've been blessed with

amazing teachers this year

and I wanted to do a little something

to say thank you

for all they've done for my girls.

So, after some searching on Pinterest,

I was inspired {by these} to make these.

SO easy.

All you need is:

an empty, clean can

hot glue

pencils {I used about 35}

flower arrangement foam

skewer sticks

Double Stuff Oreos

melting chocolate

sprinkles {if desired}

cellophane bags

ribbon

craft paper

To make the pencil 'vase', simply glue pencils to the can

and fill with a piece of flower foam.

To make the candy covered Oreos,

melt the candy as per package directions,

carefully dip cookies {on the stick} into the candy to fully coat

{you may want to practice once or twice to get the hang of it}.

Lay the dipped cookie pops onto parchment paper and allow to set.

Place each in a cellophane bag {after setting completely}

and tie with ribbon.

And then you arrange how ever you want.

Seriously, one of the easiest projects I've ever done.

And I'm all about easy, peeps.

All you need is:

foam pipe insulation {found at Lowes here}

duct tape {found in my husbands tool box}

a hot glue gun {if you don't have one, buy one!}

six assorted colors of felt fabric {found at Joann or any fabric store}

sewing machine {best purchase of my life!}

ribbon, felt shamrocks & foam letters {also found at Joann}

Using scissors, cut the foam pipe insulation

to the size of your liking {mine was about a yard}

and then tape the ends together to form a large circle.

{so much less expensive than a wreath form found at the craft store!}

Cut eight 2 x 6 inch strips of each color felt fabric.

Using your sewing machine, sew the strips in half along the long side

{the entire strip will need to wrap around the wreath form}

and set aside.

Using your glue gun, start with your first color of fabric

and wrap it around the wreath form, adhering it with glue in the back.

You will find that if you allow the fabric

to bend with the shape of the wreath form,

the ends will come together at the back at an angle - this is okay

just make sure they all are angled the same way

as you put your wreath together.

Repeat until all of your fabric strips are used

and your wreath is fully covered

{obviously, if you want a bigger wreath

you will need to accommodate with more fabric

and possibly bigger pieces, but that's entirely up to you}

Now, cut a piece of ribbon the width of your wreath

at it's widest point making sure to add enough length

so you can glue the ends of the ribbon to the back of the wreath, out of sight

Peel and stick your foam letters onto your felt shamrock shapes

and then glue completed shamrocks to the ribbon across your wreath.

Tie another piece of ribbon to the top to allow for hanging and you're done!

This one does take a bit longer and

you'll have to adjust your fabric strips a little as you go

{using these measurements they should match up just about right to go all the way around},

but the finished product is certainly worth the effort!

{the snowflake, people}

All you need is:

package of jumbo craft sticks (found mine at Robert's)

small wooden discs (also found at Robert's)

white craft paint (you could spray, too)

a hot glue gun (have you gotten one yet?)

glitter (any color you choose)

Using hot glue put arrange craft sticks

following my pattern (or make your own!).

Tip:  The angles @ the center

(underneath the big disc)

should all be 60 degrees.

Once dry, paint with white glue.

While that's drying, paint your discs and immediately add glitter

(they'll stick to the wet paint).

Adhere painted and glittered discs with hot glue.

That's it.

Inspiration found here.

Directions:

Arrange your scrapbook paper in the order you'd like it to be on the star.  For my spiderweb star I used the same paper throughout, but my year-round star {the one that hangs when I don't have a holidar star to display} is made of different patterns.  You can use as many as you'd like!

I suggest using a piece of paper bag to create a pattern of the shape for your star planes.  Keep in mind, each star tip has two planes - they face eachother to make one point.  So, if you're mixing papers, be sure you cut the pieces of paper in the right direction. 

Making the patterns is simple!  Just place your paper bag paper over the star and press into the creases.  Once you have a good idea of where to cut, simply use scissors and make your pattern piece.  I suggest making the pattern pieces just a tad smaller than the actual piece on the metal star so you don't have any overlap.  I tend to like to see a little bit of the metal star between each piece.  But, only a suggestion - it's all up to your personal taste!

Once you have all of your paper pieces cut, it's time to modge podge!  The easiest way is to work one strip at a time and then to work your way around the star one piece at a time.  Don't be afraid of the modge podge, either.  Cake it on, place your paper and smooth out any bumps.  You may have to watch the pieces and smooth them out as they dry, but the wetter the modge podge surface, the less bumps because it will all dry cohesively. 

After letting the paper pieces dry onto your star a bit, cover the entire star with one more layer of modge podge to seal the paper in.  At this point, if you want to add some glitter {like I did}, sprinkle it on while the top layer of modge podge is dry.  Once everything is dry, feel free to tie on some decorative ribbons, trim or tulle to finish the look.

And there you have it!