Cascade Heart Wreath – In the Garden

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, projects, tutorial, Valentine's Day, wreath

Tags

bird, butterfly, cascade, crafts, flowers, heart, heart shape, heart wreath, ivy, ivy vines, moss, mossy knoll, picket fence, vines, wreath

I’m quite happy to finally finish my Cascade Heart Wreath, Garden theme. This is the first of four Cascade Heart Wreaths I’m making, all completely different in color and style. But they all start with a Styrofoam frame forming the top of the heart and a cascade of hanging trim forming the lower part of the heart. I have been wanting a heart shaped wreath for some time now but wanted a more organic, flowing design. Making a heart with a cascade bottom was the perfect solution. An unexpected bonus: when the cascade is made of lighter material, it flutters with air movement. Having that movement is soothing to me, like a gentle spring breeze catching leaves.

This wreath reminds me of the kind of garden you would discover at the edge of property, not always tended, sometimes forgotten, a little bit wild but still beautiful. Pockets of little stones are scattered around the mossy knoll and the picket fence is a perfect resting spot for a baby bird. I adore swings and decided this garden needed a secret swing, hidden in the ivy.

Cascade Heart Wreath - Garden theme, with ivy vines hanging down

Cascade Heart Wreath - The flowers at the end of some vines help define the heart shape

Cascade Heart Wreath - A baby bird perches on the picket fence.

Cascade Heart Wreath - The wreath is embellished with moss, stones, ferns, flowers and tiny clear, glass beads, like dew.

Cascade Heart Wreath - A tiny butterfly perches on the rope of a secret swing hanging amidst the vines.

To see the tutorial for making a Cascade Heart Wreath, click for more.

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Miniature Birthday Fiesta

07 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, miniature, party, tutorial

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

American Girl dolls, crafts, doll-size, fiesta, miniature, miniature pinata, tutorial

Host a doll-size Birthday Fiesta! This is one of the chapters that didn’t make the cut in Tiny Treats, a book I wrote in 2004. The centerpiece is a sweet little palm-sized pinata filled with real candy and plenty of delicious treats. Try the Three Teeny Quesadillas if you please or the Spicy Sombreros for a tiny treat. Use mini pinatas as place card holders or decorations on the table.

Miniature Birthday Fiesta!

For simple directions, see below.

For the Quesadillas, simply cut flour tortillas with a small round cookie cutter. Top with Beanie – refried beans and grated cheese, Cheesy – cream cheese with little slices of string cheese, sprinkled with paprika, or Sweetsie topping – apple pie filling with mini chocolate chips.

For the Spicy Sombreros, mix a little chili powder into cream cheese. Spread the cream cheese mixture in a little mound in the center of a round tortilla chip to make a hat. Sprinkle crushed corn chip crumbs over the cream cheese. Decorate with Pimientos.

Here are steps to make a Miniature Pinata.
You will need:
Toilet paper tube
Scissors
Masking tape
Paper punch
4 pieces plastic drinking straw, cut 1 1/2” long
Mini candies
Crayola Model Magic modeling compound
White acrylic paint
Tacky glue
1/2” wide strips of colored tissue paper
2 small black beads

Supplies to make a miniature pinata

Step 1: Cut a toilet paper tube in half lengthwise. Cut a 2” section from one of those pieces. Roll it into a tube to make the body and tape it.

Prepare candy-filled tube. Add straw “legs”.

Punch 4 holes on one side of the tube for the legs. Insert the pieces of straw for legs. Before inserting the back legs, add small candies to the tube. Cover the ends of the tube with masking tape.
Step 2: Use Crayola Model Magic to form the neck and head of a donkey or horse. Add more Model Magic to make the legs thicker. Let dry overnight.

Add Crayola Model Magic clay to make a head and legs

Step 3: Paint the piñata white. Let dry.
Step 4: Cut fringe from the tissue paper strips. Spread the legs with glue and wrap them with the tissue fringe, starting from the bottom and working your way up. Glue on more pieces of tissue paper fringe and crumpled tissue paper as desired to cover the whole pinata. Glue on a tissue paper tale. Add two black beads for eyes.

Glue tissue fringe around pinata

To remove candy from pinata, pull tissue and tape off one end of the tube.
Ole!

Tiny Pinata

Beaded Notebooks

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by Julia Monroe in beading, crafts, tutorial

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

beads, project

I needed to write a couple notes today in a notebook and found these little beaded beauties from long ago. They were cut from larger notebooks but you can easily use a full size notebook.

If you want to make one, just unwind the spring coil from a notebook and add beads as you put the spring back on the pages. Don’t fill each coil all the way with beads or the covers won’t be able to open fully. Add a few rounds of beads and test how the notebook opens before completing the beading.