Categories
DIY My Projects Parties and Events Projects

DIY Diamond Paper Garland

Sewn paper garlands have become our go-to decoration lately. They are a great way to create a bright color palette for any party and they are easy to make! Here is the diamond paper garland we made for our Pizza and Champagne Party!

DIY Diamond Paper GarlandMaterials:
1. Colorful card stock or scrapbook paper
2. A paper cutter
3. A sewing machine
4. All purpose thread

Directions:
1. Using the paper cutter, cut each piece of colored paper into squares of different sizes
2. Put all of your squares into the order that you want (we did the same pattern of colors in order, but mixed up the sizes as we went)
3. Leave a tail of thread to hang the garland before starting to sew into the paper
4. One by one, feed each square into the sewing machine corner to corner to create the geometric diamond look
5. Hang your garland and enjoy! We made each of our strips long enough to hang vertically in a doorway, but you can also leave a tail of thread on each side of the garland and hang them horizontally as well!

Diamond Paper Garland
Don’t forget to check out our Pizza and Champagne Party for other fun party ideas!

P.S. Our circle garland, and our paper strip garland.

 

Categories
DIY Lifestyle My Projects Projects

Virginia Tech Homecoming 2013

It’s homecoming at Virginia Tech this weekend! We’re showing a little Hokie pride with a maroon and orange felt flower wreath and our VT flag waving proudly out front. Happy Homecoming and go Hokies!!

Hokie Wreath

Categories
DIY My Projects Projects

Interchangeable Felt Flower Wreath

Every Fall I find myself looking in stores for the perfect wreath for my front door and every Fall I find myself disappointed that I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for.  I usually end up spending money on something seasonal that I’m “eh” about and I secretly envy the people who have beautiful handmade wreaths adorning their equally beautiful doors.  It’s usually a question of how much time I really have to spend making the perfect wreath for my door that I love for exactly 2 months.  Then, I’ll get tired of it, and probably spend more money buying a storage solution for the garage where it will sit and wait for its inevitable trip to the dump one day when I’m feeling extra feisty and actually have the time and energy to clean out the garage.

I’ve seen some really beautiful yarn-wrapped foam wreaths that I’ve been admiring for some time now and this year decided that I’d give it a try.  One weekend I thought I’d be able to complete a yarn-wrapped wreath during the variable time in the afternoon when the kids have their ‘quiet time.’  Ha. Sadly to say, I spent the day feverishly working to try to finish the “wrapping” which proved to be much more time consuming than I had hoped.  In all, I’d say it took about 3 hours.  About halfway through, I was ready to quit, but it was by sheer determination that I didn’t get the supplies for naught that kept me going. I pushed through among kids wandering around me and intermittent noise/dogs barking/kids yelling.  Once I was done, I was really happy with the result but was determined to not have to yarn-wrap a wreath ever again (or at least for a couple of years).

My plan was to adorn the wreath with felt flowers (again something I’ve been admiring on sites like Pinterest and Etsy).  I was originally going to hot glue them directly to the yarn-wrapped wreath (which secretly made me cringe inside because I was sure it would ruin the wreath if I ever tried to remove them).  Then it hit me! I could reuse the wreath seasonally and swap out the colors, theme, etc. if I could find a way to attach the felt flowers in a way that wouldn’t damage the wreath.  This is what I came up with:

9_19_13_InterchangeableFeltFlowerWreath

Materials: A foam wreath, yarn, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, felt, scissors, and bobby pins.

What to do:
1. Gathering as much patience as you can muster, wrap the foam wreath with yarn. Instead of wielding the entire skein,  I unraveled a section of yarn around my hand – wrapping it around about 35 times so I had a little wad of yarn I could easily maneuver through the wreath. When that piece was done, I tied a new piece to it making sure the knot was on the back.
2. Make felt flowers! We cleared out the felt section of Michael’s of every color they had to make sure we were well equipped for every season. Check out the links below for some great tutorials on felt flowers!
1. rolled felt flowers ¦ 2. felt hydrangeas ¦ 3. slanted petal rolled flowers ¦ 4. felt rosettes
3. Cut out a small circle of felt and put a bobby pin in the center of it (for bigger flowers, the length of the bobby pin can also be centered as the ends will be hidden under the petals – for smaller flowers, push the bobby pin all the way onto the circle so that only one end hangs off. This will make it easier to hide just one end under another flower).
4. Put hot glue on the bobby pinned circle and press to the bottom of a flower.
5. Slide the flowers onto the wreath by slipping the bobby pin under a few strands of yarn until it feels secure.

You can hang the wreath using some leftover yarn or a piece of twine like we did!

Enjoy your interchangeable wreath for any season by swapping out colors and mix and matching all of your different felt flowers! With so many great holidays coming up, we will be back soon with new color schemes!

 

Categories
Kids My Projects Products

New Artwork on Etsy: Natural Animals

Looking for a sweet and neutral touch for your child’s nursery or playroom? This new line of canvas wall art called “Natural Animals” is the perfect solution! We just added these six pieces to our Etsy store that look great on their own, but can also fill up a room together with their smiling faces. Click on the images below to see each canvas on Etsy!

tusks and trunks hippo grins natural monkey
natural lion long neck living little dog grin

Each happy animal is designed in neutral tones to make them great for any color scheme or gender-neutral space. They also make great gifts for expectant mothers or any special child in your life. We hope you enjoy these new canvases!

Categories
DIY My Projects Parties and Events Products Projects Things I Love

End Of Summer Party Featuring New Art Prints

As this summer ends we thought we’d put together a little table setting to feature two new art prints now available on Etsy! We also made some fun DIY projects to add to any party!

9_14_13_EndOfSummerCollage

Click on the pictures below to see the Etsy listings. Feel free to mosey around the shop to see some other new art work that is now available while you’re in there!
Marcel Proust Quote Flock Together Feather Art Print

Here are some of the elements we used to create our simple End of Summer Party (you might recognize some of them from this year’s Summer Party!):
Paper Strip Garland
Button Bouquet
Dip Dyed Frosted Tumblers
Button Napkin Rings
Linen Napkins by Pottery Barn
Placemats from Bed Bath & Beyond
Frames from Pottery Barn

We will be featuring some of these DIY projects in blog posts coming up, so make sure you subscribe or add blog.vickybarone.com to your reader!

Adios, Summer!

Categories
DIY My Projects Projects

DIY Button Bouquet

Here’s a cute and easy detail from our all-white Summer party!

7_8_13_ButtonFlowers

Materials: Buttons in different sizes, floral stem wire (we used 18 gauge), and a pair of pliers.

What to do:
1. Fold one of your wire stems in half and pinch it tight with the pliers.
2. Put each end of your folded wire into the two holes of a small button and push the button to the fold.
3. Repeat with two to three more buttons from smallest to largest.
4. Twist the floral wire to keep the buttons in place and to create a twisted stem.
5. Fold the bottom of each stem at different places to vary the height of each button flower and arrange in a vase.

Now you have a pretty little bouquet that will never wilt!

These could also make great wedding centerpiece as well, or even be turned into a larger bouquet for your bridesmaids!

You can also use colored buttons like the ones I made here (follow me on Instagram!).
If you like this decoration, be sure to check out the rest of the DIY projects we did for our Summer party!

[This post was shared at The Makers Link Party!]

Categories
DIY Lifestyle My Projects Parties and Events Projects Things I Love

Things I Love: Summer Parties

Today we pulled together some of our favorite DIY decor and treats for this white-inspired Summer party! We absolutely LOVE parties and table settings. What better way to celebrate Summer than with a crisp white set up? And in this heavy summer heat, baby’s breath, cupcakes, and cocktails definitely helped us stay cool.

6_28_13_SummerParty
Here are some of the elements we used to create our simple Summer party:
Paper circle garland
Tissue paper pom poms
Cupcake flags by Vicky Barone
Button Bouquet
Linen napkins by Pottery Barn
Placemats by Threshold
Pearl Cluster Napkin Rings by Pier 1 Imports
Metallic confetti tumblers

Happy Summer and stay cool!

Categories
DIY Family Holidays Kids My Projects Projects

Father’s Day Hand Print Collage

Happy Father’s Day!

I wanted to share what we made for our very special Dad!
This family hand print collage is all over Pinterest, but I thought I’d put my own spin on it and include a paw print with our hand prints because Cooper Dog is definitely part of our family too.

I traced everyone’s hands (and took pictures of the baby’s and the dog’s as they were uncooperative, but still love their dad!) and scanned them onto my computer. Then I used Adobe Illustrator to create our very own Family Hand Print Collage. I used colors in the blue family because it will go great with our very nautical-inspired bedroom (navy and white) however, this would also work using a variety of bright colors too!  If you don’t have access to Illustrator, you could also trace the hands using your favorite scrap book paper.

This is a great gift idea for any holiday!

Happy Father’s Day to all of those wonderful dads out there. We hope you enjoy your day!