My Sweet Things

I came across a sweet idea for a Birthday wreath and I knew right away I had to make one for my husband’s birthday. I said to my husband “I bet no one ever made you a Birthday Wreath before.” “Um. No.” That was the response I got. Thrilled he was. Right! Anyhoo, I shopped around and collected all the materials and in a few short hours, I made a Birthday Wreath which I LOVE and the smile from his face and the “Great job Baby” was worth all the effort.

I purchased a 14inch styrofoam wreath, 200 9 inch multi-color balloons, 2 packs of 50 count floral greening pins (I had to go buy more since I ran out) make that 150 floral greening pins! I also bought some scrapbook birthday words and I had all that ribbon stashed away. I also used a hot glue gun not pictured.  I worked on this project and caught up on Drop Dead Diva on the DVR. LOVE that show. Reminds me of Ally McBeal. Anyone remember that show from 1997? Wattle and Dancing Baby. Anyone?

These are those greening pins I picked up at Michael’s. Not enough for 200 balloons, ribbons, and picks.

Buy this 1 pound bag from Hobby Lobby. You will have enough greening pins for a dozen wreaths!

I took one balloon and grabbed the side with the greening pin just like the photo above.

I went along the top of wreath pushing the pins down. Now for a minute I was worried about the pins showing, but I just kept right along, pinning and pushing and pretty soon the wreath started to fill up.

To add some flair and fun I added curly ribbon, pushed those pins in, and  spaced them out all around the wreath.

I hot glued the scrapbook words to a greening pin, pushed those in and spaced them around the wreath as well. Flair. More Flair!

Sweet!

I picked up the BIG 30 numbers from Hobby Lobby, gave them a coat of spray paint and then….

Tied the numbers with ribbon and hung that baby right on the front door! I must say that I tried using hot glue and pins to stick the numbers in the wreath but that was so NOT working for me. Ribbon worked just fine and I can always cut the ribbon and change out the numbers from year to year. The scrapbook words added more fun and color, although the lighting blew them out in this photo but whatever. I love it and thanks to How Does She? for the inspiration.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Long gone are the days when the outside of my refrigerator was filled with my boy’s artwork. These days I keep it pretty simple with a few magnets from trips we have taken and a few family photos on the side all neatly arranged in magnetic frames. Every once in awhile there is an important note I want to keep in sight as those who know me, know all too well that I am very good about keeping important documents, I just don’t always remember where I put them! I am working on my organization and in a moments notice I can now find those “Mom you need to sign this for school” papers. For those notes I want in my face, I place on the refrigerator since I know they will only be there a short time. While the notes are not attractive, these decorative magnets sure are.

This is what I used to whip up some decorative magnets. Most of these items I had on hand because I am addicted to JoAnn’s craft store and stock up on items all the time.

Take your favorite decorative paper and use the flat glass marble as a guide for the size of your cut. You can use craft paper, magazines, old calendars, just about anything that inspires you.

Brush the Mod Podge on the back of the marble.

Place your paper with the decorative side down on top of the marble and let dry for a few minutes. It dries pretty quickly and when you flip the piece over and the Mod Podge turns from white to clear, you know it’s good to go.

Hot glue a magnet on the back. You want to make sure the magnets you buy are large and thick enough to hold up the papers when you place the magnet on top. I used super strong ceramic magnets .75 in and they work just fine.

I hot glued a scrapbook tag to this one. This was my son’s future. A Smokey Mountain getaway!

It’s all good, and for my son, it’s really good! ~ Donna