Crafty Imaginings & Silly Things: January 2016

Sunday, January 24, 2016

DIY Crepe Paper Cactus

The entryway "photo spot" for our party needed one more thing.....a cute cactus in a colorful pot!

I was driving back home from being out of town last weekend and was thinking about what else I needed to do for Granny's FIESTA. I saw these cute cactus piñatas on Pinterest and I knew what I wanted to do.

The pot was something I already had in my craft room (a dollar store purchase years ago) and I knew I had saved an old poster tube from a purchase last Christmas. There was plenty of green crepe paper in my party decor stash and with a little Elmer's glue and tissue paper....I was set!

The cactus took no time at all and it was fun to put together. Granny took it home with her after the party to go with her Southwest decor.

Here's how to make your own cactus:

Using a poster tube as the base, I simply taped crumbled paper to it for arms.

I cut strips of crepe paper into lengths just long enough to wrap around the tube. Then, I simply cut fringe on one side.

I used a little school glue applied to the paper and then wrapped the paper around the cactus form.

Just keep gluing strips of paper making sure to overlap them a bit.

Using some colored tissue paper, I added a bloom to the top.

I stuffed the plastic pot with more paper and situated the cactus in the center. I added a little colored filler and it was party ready!

Easy and cute!

Happy crafting!

This post is linked to:

http://www.creativelylivingblog.com/2016/01/monday-funday-140.html

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/be-inspired-link-party-no-79/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2016/01/talk-of-town-link-party.html

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2016/01/wow-me-wednesday-241.html

http://staceyembracingchange.com/2016/01/28/creative-inspirations-linky-party-169/

http://igottacreate.blogspot.com/2016/01/wildly-original-186-link-party.html

It's a FIESTA!

My Granny turned 80 today! We wanted to celebrate this milestone with a fun family party full of little surprises for her yesterday. It was great! She was so happy!

Since we live in San Antonio, a Fiesta-theme isn't hard to recreate and she already loves the style. I searched Pinterest and started pinning ideas and recipes. You can check out my board here: Granny's Fiesta. All of the recipes turned out tasty, so be sure to check them out.

We had a "photo spot", fun take-home gifts, tons of yummy food, and colorful decorations.

I started by making a lot of tissue paper flowers to be the bulk of the decor.

Just a FEW flowers!

I used many of these flowers and colorful crepe paper to make a "photo spot" in the entryway. My mother made a bucket of "accessory props" with her Cricut. She attached the glasses, lips, mustaches, etc. to colorful drinking straws with tape. She also brought a couple of tiaras and glitter hats. I added a stuffed rose and my selfievstick to the bucket too. The little man was also part of the Cricut cartridge...just enlarged.

Everyone had fun posing in the entry and playing with the props!

The rest of the flowers were used around the living, dining, and kitchen. Dollar store plastic tablecloths in bright colors along with cascarones and confetti made for easy table decorations. I used empty Mexican canned good cans to hold the colorful flowers and flatware.

The banner above the windows was a custom cut my mother made with her Cricut.

The decorations were easy to make but they made a big impact and definitely set the FIESTA scene! We had fun with them!

Now on to the food......

For appetizers, I found some easy and yummy recipes on Pinterest. The Skinny Taco Dip and Tortilla Roll-ups were big hits! The Mexican-spiced Cheese Crackers are super addicting!

Granny requested a fajita lunch....perfect for our surprise party theme. I marinated both the chicken and beef the night before. My Uncle Juven (Family Grillmaster) grilled them on party day! Tortillas, lots of taco fixings, and salsas made up the "taco bar". Spanish Rice and Uncle Juven's famous bean soup made perfect side dishes

We had a special cake my Uncle and Aunt had made in the Houston area. And, surprised Granny with her favorite treat.....Bahama Buck's. They offer a cool party pack with everything you need to make Sno at home! So fun!

After dessert, the ultimate surprise arrived....a local Mariachi group came and sang for her! She was thrilled and the tears of joy said it all!

Serenade by Mariachi Los Conquistadores

We had a wonderful time celebrating our Granny!

Another awesome Cricut project made by my mother...vinyl on glass! Our signatures are vinyl too!

Be sure to try some of the recipes and decor for your next Fiesta!!!

Enjoy!

This post linked to:

http://www.creativelylivingblog.com/2016/01/monday-funday-140.html

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/be-inspired-link-party-no-79/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2016/01/talk-of-town-link-party.html

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2016/01/wow-me-wednesday-241.html

http://staceyembracingchange.com/2016/01/28/creative-inspirations-linky-party-169/

http://igottacreate.blogspot.com/2016/01/wildly-original-186-link-party.html

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Pretty Valentine's Coffee Filter Wreath

It was a cold, wet day here yesterday and I found myself in need of a project. All the Christmas decorations were down and put away so I started planning my Valentine's decor. I remembered that I had wanted a small wreath to hang on one of my antique windows....viola! A quick, easy project with supplies in the house and I could do it while catching-up on a some DVR'd television shows!!

I've seen these coffee filter wreaths in various forms all over Pinterest, so it was just a matter of finding one that had the right look and didn't require a lot of extra steps. For example, this one from Lovely Crafty Home is gorgeous but I wasn't looking to spend that kind of time cutting and rolling coffee filter flowers last night.....maybe next one I do because it is lovely:

Then, I found this beauty from Leanne at LuvLee Creations:

Since I was keeping it simple, I opted not to dye any of the coffee filters and just make a white wreath for Valentine's Day. The process is simple and it is easy to follow on her YouTube tutorial.

Basically, I set myself up on the couch (lazy, right?!?) with my TV remote, a tray, coffee filters, wreath form, and a glue gun. Seriously, it's fold...glue..fluff!

Speaking of wreath forms, I couldn't find one in my stash that was the right size, so I improvised. I saw this silly Statue of Liberty foam hat/headband laying in my craft room (from the USA vs Mexico Soccer Match we attended last Spring)...it was the perfect size for the wreath!

I cut the extra off and added a piece of jute for a tie. Then, I sat down, pushed play on the DVR, and started folding coffee filters.

I wound-up using 70 filters for this one. If you want it tighter, use more....I definitely will next time. Here it is in progress:

As you can see, I'm stress-free!

Once I added all the coffee filters, I fluffed all the filters and played with it until it was just right. Then, I turned the wreath over and added a little support with a paper plate edge. The foam wasn't strong enough to lay flat with the weight of the filters on it.

It turned out well and was perfect for my buffet display! It was especially great since it was simple, free, and so easy!

I was so excited with how it turned out that I ran into the craft room to give my little wreath some extra oomph! Using black craft paper and some red twine, I made a little pendant banner and wrote L-O-V-E on it with white chalk.