DIY Oyster Ball

I have a little project to share that I completed last weekend. If you are a Pinterest or blog addict like I am, you see all kinds of projects out there in cyber-land. I have had a 5-gallon bucket full of oyster shells that I have been hoarding since back in October. I kept them thinking I could simply display them in a glass container or find some fun project for them. Well, like most things around my house, they have sat in that bucket for months on end. So it was definitely time to do something with those things! I have seen these pretty gems floating around and at $180 a pop, I figured I could make one myself (although if you click through to see the one for sale, it looks 1,000,000x better than mine does!).

First, gather your supplies. You will need:

• Styrofoam ball
• Hot glue gun/glue sticks
• Oysters
• Spray/craft paint in a white or light gray

My first mistake was relying on Wal-Mart to have what I needed. They had no Styrofoam balls there, but they did have a topiary form. With that weird moss stuff on it. Ladies (or gentlemen) do yourself a favor and get a regular Styrofoam ball. That moss made this project much more difficult than it needed to be! Also, cutting that wire stick out wasn't any fun either.

Prepping the oysters was fairly simple. After shucking and devouring the delicious oysters, I simply threw them in the 5-gallon bucket, filled it with water, and added bleach. That's how they sat for the longest time until I realized that it was attracting too much attention from the wiener dogs, so the bleach water got dumped and shortly abandoned/forgotten. Therefore, they were sitting in a bucket full of rain water and pine straw for probably 3 months! So I brought them in, and gave them a good soak in the sink with hot water and bleach and then just took a scrub brush to them.

 

Then I laid them outside to dry. Once they were dry, I gave them a quick clear coating (just spray paint you can pick up at any hardware store) to make sure that any funky smells would be forever locked in!

Once that was complete, it was time to assemble. **Learn from my mistake and paint your ball before you begin. I didn't and I really wish I did. That green moss sticks out like a soar thumb peeking out between the oysters.

I grabbed oysters that all had about the same length to go around the circumference in the hopes that it would produce a somewhat round shape. Just keep sticking the shells in and gluing them in place. Since my ball had that moss stuff on it, I couldn't really stick the shells in, so mainly I had to glue them in place. This took FOREVER! So word to the wise- I thought this would be like a 30 minute project and it ended up taking me about 3 hours! So it wasn't the quickest project. But that was because I had to hold each and every shell to wait for the glue to set.

 

Just keep going and sticking those suckers in the ball! You can see that I had it sitting on that small container, which was a great way to keep it steady in the beginning.

This ball ended up taking quite a lot of oysters surprisingly. And when I was finished it was super, super heavy!

I am going to go back and try to add a few more shells in the gaps if I can because it needs a little extra. But by the time I got the ball to this point, I was so over this project and didn't want to see another oyster for quite some time. I will eventually go back with a paint brush and some paint and paint the gaps that are too small to fill with another oyster shell. You can really see the gaps in this photo.

This thing is quite large, so if I make another one, I will be getting a smaller Styrofoam ball for sure. It doesn't look quite as good as the ones I've seen, but it's close! And for $10, I'll take it!

Happy crafting!

 



DIY Collegiate Wreath

It's the best time of year! Football season, that is. To get ready for this weekend and the kickoff of the season, I decided to make a wreath for my front door.

I have noticed that when I am bored, my go-to project seems to be door hangings. Weird, I know.

This was a quick and easy project. Here are the supplies that I gathered to make this wreath:

• Foam wreath form
• Floral Pins
• 3 Burlap Ribbon Spools - I believe this is a 3-4" wide x 15 ft spool that I got from Hobby Lobby
• Burlap Ribbon or whatever you would like to make the bow
• Coordinating fabric
• Tacky Glue
• Wood Letters
• Craft Paint

Of course, use whatever your team colors are. Since I'm a Gator girl, my wreath is orange and blue, of course! 

First, wrap your wreath with the burlap ribbon. I used 1 15 ft. ribbon to cover the base. Just secure every once and a while with floral pins. 

Then it's time to start adding the "fluff" part to the wreath. This is however is easiest for you and what looks good to your eye. 

I basically just worked from one side of the wreath across to the other side. The ribbon will tell you where to go. Just secure each loop with a floral pin as you go. I think I used about 1 1/2 of the remaining spools of ribbon to finish this part. 

Now it's time to start adding your fabric flowers. I will go ahead and apologize for this part. I got so consumed making the flowers, that I didn't stop to take any pictures. But I promise, they are so simple to make. 

First, cut out a length of fabric approximately 22 in. x 4 in.

Next, glue the long sides together with the tacky/fabric glue. So now you are left with a 22x2 in. length of fabric.

Now, you will go and start cutting slits in the folded part of the fabric (Not the side you glued together).

This is where the pictures end. But the rest is super simple. Take a small piece of coordinating fabric that you want to be the center of each flower. Place that on one end of the cut fabric and begin to wrap the length of fabric around to form a flower. Use the tacky glue every so often to keep the fabric in place. Once that is finished, glue a floral pin to the back so that you can stick that in your wreath. 

For the letters, I just painted them with craft paint and then glued some floral pins in the back. Those got added to the wreath as well. 

Then just add a ribbon or bow to the top and hang it!

The beauty of this wreath is that you can add anything that you like on it. Now, go show your team spirit and make one of these today.

GO GATORS! 

Quick Door Hanging

My front door was screaming for a wreath or something to spruce it up. So, I decided to do a quick little DIY door hanging.

I've seen several versions of this around the interwebs, so I knew it would be an easy project to tackle. On the way home, I stopped by Hobby Lobby and gathered some supplies. Here is what you will need:

Once you have everything you need, it's time to get started! First, I simply outlined my letter and then cut it out.

The paper wasn't quite big enough to cover the letter, so I had to use two sheets. After everything was cut out, then I covered the letter in mod-podge and placed the paper on to let it set. I started with the smaller piece first so that the bigger piece could overlap. Once the paper was glued in place, I did a couple of coats of mod-podge over the top to seal it all in.

After the letter had dried, I simply attached the bow that I made to the back with some super glue, then hung it on the door. Told ya it was simple!

I wished I had picked different paper, though. The letter looks great by itself, because the paper gives it the illusion that it is real wood. However, I forgot about my slatted door, so it looks a bit off. But from afar, it looks great! I almost went with a black and white polka dot, but it would be super easy to change down the road!
There you have it folks! And all for {well} under $15!!

Halloween Wreath

I decided that I need to do a little prep work and make the house a little more trick-or-treater friendly with a few decorations for the front door. Yesterday, I hit up Hobby Lobby to see what all they had of the Halloween decor variety. There was one whole aisle left with Halloween stuff. Apparently, Christmas comes early! I found a couple of pumpkin lanterns on sale that I picked up. I really wanted a Halloween wreath, but there wasn't one to be found. I decided that I would just make one. I looked for deco mesh to make one similar to the Auburn wreath I made for Stacey. Although, that one looked very sad!

There was no black, orange, or even purple deco mesh to be found in the store. So, I decided to use feather boas. Here are the supplies that I used:

• Styrofoam wreath
• Floral Pins
• Black Ribbon
• Two 4 ft. black and silver feather boas
• Purple tree decorations from the Christmas section
• Trick or Treat door hang decoration
• Orange Halloween Ribbon
• Pipe Cleaner

I didn't take any pictures of the actual process, because it was really simple. First, I covered the styrofoam wreath completely with the black ribbon, so none of the green would stand out once I wrapped it with the boas. I just tacked the ribbon in place with the floral pins. Then, I wrapped the wreath with the boas. Next, I secured the Trick or Treat sign with a few more floral pins and then added the little purple do-dads to the wreath. Finally I made {a sad excuse for a} bow with the orange ribbon and pipe cleaner. I secured the bow by using floral pins to hold the pipe cleaner in place. That was all it took. Here is the finished product!

I really wish that I had gotten a bigger wreath form. This looks a little weak hanging on the front door.

But I guess, it isn't too bad. I still want to get a few more things for the front. Mainly some mums and maybe a few more little pumpkins to set out to make a bigger display and can be easily transitioned from Halloween to a more fall feel.

So that's my quick little project I banged out yesterday afternoon. What have you been doing to prepare for the season?

Monogram Project

I wanted to share a quick little project that I made to display on the shelves in my bedroom. It was quick, simple, and cheap. That's a good project! I love a good monogram and the other day when I was in Hobby Lobby I came across some small gold letters and brainstormed on what I could do with them. So I grabbed up my initials and went on the hunt for something to put them on. This is what I came up with.

Supplies Needed:

• Small letters for your monogram
• Scrapbook paper
• Small painting canvas
• Glue
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors

The scrapbook paper was a perfect fit for the size canvas I purchased. I love happy accidents like that. No cutting required! Plus I love a chevron pattern :)

Step One: Get your glue on! Put a healthy amount of glue directly onto the front of the canvas.

Step Two: After putting glue on the front of the canvas lay your paper directly onto it and press firmly to get out any creases/weird bubbles, etc. and to get a good stick onto the canvas. (I went with regular glue for this step because I was afraid that the hot glue would either burn through the paper, or that you would be able to see it.

Step Three: Glue the side of the canvas.

Step Four: Fold paper over the side, being sure to get a good, crisp edge. Then glue onto the back of the canvas. Trim any excess.

Step Five: Repeat on the other side. And your done with that part!

Step Six: Lay out your letters where you want them and hot glue them in place.

Told ya. How easy was that?

Please pardon the "staging" of this on the shelf. I just laid it up there. I'm thinking about hanging it in on the back of the shelf so it can be a little more visible. But that was my little project to make my room a little bit more personal.

On a side note: it has taken me FOREVER to write this post. Mainly because we had a visitor in our office. Meet Han (I am assuming his "last name" is Solo...).

This cat actually jumped into the car of the lady who works next door and my boss had to climb in and get this wild man out. So we are keeping him until we can get up with his owners. For anyone who knows me in real life, I am soooo NOT a fan of cats. Don't like them. I can tolerate them and if they are nice, I don't mind playing/petting them. This guy was pretty friendly, or so I thought. I was at my desk, working away when he slinked in and decided that he wanted to be in my lap, so up he jumped. I took a quick picture, just so I would have proof that I did in fact let a cat in my lap. Ha!

Things were good. He was rubbing up on me, being all nice and for a brief moment I thought I might could handle liking cats. That is until bam! His gentle nuzzle turned into a bite. I may have said a curse word on that one. Bite me, he did. That Han. He of course acted like it wasn't a big deal.

There is my wound in all it's glory! Ha!! Just another day at work, I guess. I can now note, that Han is out on the prowl again. My boss ran him over to his vet so they could keep him kenneled until his owners called. He said they got to the door of the vet, Han heard a dog bark, scratched the mess out of him, and headed for the hills. May the force be with you, Han.

Wreath-Making 101

Ok, this post has a little to do with college football. I know I'm breaking my promise from yesterday. Remember the Florida wreath from a previous post? I decided to make Stacey one for her door, since she liked this idea. So that's just what I did. Nothing I wouldn't do for Stacey Suzanne :-) Anyways, I went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed some stuff to make the wreath.

I bought a foam wreath, some floral pins, blue ribbon to cover the wreath, geo mesh ribbon, letters, spray paint, and some decorative ribbon. First, I spray painted the letters.

I realized when I got started that this was on one of the pages of newspaper I was using:

Yeah, that handsome little man in the middle is my nephew, Barrett. Oops. I couldn't help it that the only paper I had around was an old County Record.

Next, I covered the form with blue ribbon and then attached the geo mesh ribbon to the form with the floral pins.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. My camera battery was dead, so I just used my camera on my iPhone. Then I added the orange ribbon. And for the record, yes I realize that the blue is not navy like Auburn. But they didn't have navy geo mesh and everywhere I looked online was sold out. So she is getting a Gator colored Auburn wreath. Part her, part me. We complete each other. (and Stacey just gagged reading this, lol)

Finally, Stacey got impatient and hot glued the letters on. Guess I was taking too long to get it done. Haha. This is the semi-finished project.

I ran out of orange ribbon, so I am going back to Hobby Lobby today and hopefully they will have some more so I can make a bow. I also think I am going to get more letters and spell out Auburn and either get a tiger or some footballs kinda like in the photo below. Oh and fix that orange ribbon. It doesn't look even.

I do like the grape vine wreath too. Maybe the next one... And I feel better that whoever made that wreath also used royal blue instead of navy. At least I'm not the only one.

So that is my little project that I recently worked on. Guess our neighbor liked it so much, she wants me to make her six wreaths for her in her son's college colors. Sounds like I will be busy for a bit. Which reminds me, that I need to call her and get that set up. Happy crafting, ya'll!

Rammer, Jammer... no that's not right

Weagle, Weagle, War Damn Eagle!