Snowman Wreath

This may be one of my favorite things that I have made. It's very inexpensive and very unique. Here's what you'll need to make a snowman wreath...

*Not pictured: Tophat (I forgot to put it in the picture)*

- Three metal floral frames (the larger two are the same size)
- Floral wire
- Six strands of garland (Silver or white)
- Scarf
- Tophat

All of these items were available at the dollar store except for the floral frames and floral wire.

First, take one of the floral frames and wire the end of one of the strands of garland to it. Begin to wrap the garland around the frame.

The larger frames took two strands of 9ft garland. Wrap loosely so it will fit the full frame. The smaller frame only took one strand of garland. You will have some frame that is not covered but this is alright. This small section will be covered by your top hat. The frames will look like this:

Take your top hat and cut it in half.

Cut two small holes on either side of the hat and string floral wire through it. Then wire the hat to the smallest floral frame.

Use floral wire and wire the three pieces together. Finally, tie the scarf around the neck area and hang.

You're done! This took me around half and hour to do and was very inexpensive for such a large wreath. I love it and love how different it is!

Heather

Pumpkin Cake

Do you love pumpkin pie but feel that it's too rich? This recipe is just for you! I decided it was time to post about my Mom's famous pumpkin cake since it's a fall favorite and perfect for Thanksgiving. It's pretty simple to make and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter solid, 1/2 cup melted butter
4 eggs
1 large can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, straight pumpkin)
2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
Small package of walnuts (if desired)

Directions:
Set aside 1 cup of yellow cake mix.

1. Base - In a large mixing bowl, mix together remaining yellow cake mix, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 egg. Stir and press into the bottom of the cake pan.

2. Filling - Mix together large can of pumpkin, 3 eggs, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2/3 cup milk. Pour over base of cake.

3. Top - Take 1 cup of yellow cake mix that was set aside. Mix with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup butter. Crumble together and sprinkle over cake filling.

4. Add nuts if desired.

5. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350* for one hour.

Done! This is my favorite cake to make in the fall. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Happy Thanksgiving!

Heather

Ornament Vase

How is it already the holiday season??? I just did a Halloween craft and felt like it was EARLY! Anyway, I don't like normal Christmas decorations so I'm always on the lookout for unique decorations that I can use. Last year I created these ornament vases and decided to do another one this year. It's really simple to make and turns out very pretty. This should take you around 30 to 45 minutes to create depending on your OCD level (it took me 45 lol).

Everything I used can be found at Michaels or any other craft store I'm sure. You will need a large, glass vase, (there are various shapes and sizes but I would suggest one of the larger ones) various sizes of ornaments and a string of garland made out of beads. (I would buy two if the beads are smaller in size)

Unwrap the ornaments and cut off any metal wires that may be on the end.

After the wires are cut off, begin to arrange ornaments in your vase. I put one large ornament at the bottom along with several small ones since it is difficult to put larger ornaments along the bottom.

There will be gaps in the vase, but that's ok, this is why you have the garland beads. Every few layers, cut a small strand of garland and let it fill in the gaps between the glass and your ornaments.

Fill up the vase with your ornaments and garland. The end result should look something like this:

I used traditional colors this time but it's fun to get creative with the colors you use. I also made one last year that looked like this:

I hope this is inspiring to you! Send me pictures if you create your own! Happy Holidays!

Halloween Ceiling Centerpiece

This is my first creation that I am chronicling from start to finish so bear with me. Please feel free to post comments on ways I could explain better or better items to use. I am always up for hearing of a better way to do things!

So, for work this week, we are doing a day where we all bring in a Halloween decoration or treat for our last Pinterest day. This whole month we have been bringing in different crafts and creations we have done based on things we have found from Pinterest. My contribution is going to be a ceiling centerpiece that I have made with some of my own original ideas and some from things I've seen online. Mostly this is my own creation though. I am also decorating the wall with bat cut outs but I felt that this was fairly self explanatory.

So, the first thing I did was to create the center of my centerpiece.

Here are the items you need for this first part that I call "The nest":
1. Glue gun
2. 4 inch styrofoam ball
3. Two 72 piece Halloween decorative balls
4. Round toothpicks that you will cut in half.
5. Fishing line/Necklace line used for making bead necklaces.

I got all of these items from Michaels except for the tooth picks.

The first thing I did was to get my toothpicks ready. I cut the majority of the toothpicks in half. Only the last few decorative balls I used were with full length toothpicks. After you cut your toothpicks, get the fishing line ready to be stuck to the styrofoam ball. Take one of your toothpicks and tie a knot with the fishing line on the end of it. Push it into the styrofoam ball and put some glue from the glue gun on the end so it will stay in the ball.

 After you get your fishing line stuck in the ball, take your toothpicks, put a drop of hot glue on the end and stick it into one of your orange decorative balls. Then stick the other end of the toothpick into the larger styrofoam ball.

 Stagger the balls around the foam so that it is mostly covered. You shouldn't be able to see any white. If the ball is covered then you can use the remaining balls with full length tooth picks and cover any white that is left. You will get something resembling this:

 I call it the "Nest" because I feel like it looks like a creepy spider nest...

For the next part of the centerpiece you will need the following:
1. Glue - Elmers or Mod Podge. It doesn't matter, you just need to put some water in it so it's easier to use with the yarn.
2. Yarn. I got two different colors that had sequins in them. The black yarn has some purple in it as well.
3. Balloons
4. Plastic spiders

Cut between 20 - 30 strands that will wrap around your balloon 1 1/2 times from your yarn. Then dip your yarn in the glue/water mix. Make sure to squeeze the excess glue from the yarn. Then wrap around the balloon. Repeat with all the strands you have cut until it looks like a web. Repeat with the other color you have chosen and then let the "webs" hang to dry over night.

 The next morning the webs will be dried and you will need to pop the balloon. Carefully remove the balloon from your web and you will be finished. You may need to pull and tweak certain parts that caved in when the balloon popped. Don't worry about it breaking, it just needs to be molded. Use the glue gun to glue the spiders to the sides and let dry.

Let's get this party started!!

I decided to start this blog as a gathering place for my creations. Since I use Pinterest a lot, I have been creating things based on pins I have found. I have also figured out that this process is inspiring me to think of new ideas as well. I figured that since I am creating a lot of new things, it would be nice to show the process so I can pass on the creativity and maybe inspire someone else along the way too.

Occasionally I may post something about my life that's going on, but in general, this will probably be mostly comprised of tutorials on how I have made crafts and floral arrangements. I wish I would have started this a few months ago but oh well. Starting something is better than never starting at all right?

Heather