Vicky Barone

St. Patrick’s Day Felt Garlands

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 17, 2017

Looking for a fun DIY project to make this weekend? Today we’re sharing some fun and festive felt garlands that are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. You can even swap the colors out to make them match your party decor or keep them as every day garlands! Here’s how to make your own…

Supplies: colorful felt, twine or string, fabric scissors, and hot glue.

Shades of green bunting: Cut four inch strips of felt in shades of green. Cut out a small triangle shape from the bottom of each strip. Put two hot glue dots on the back of each strip and carefully press a piece of twine to the glue.

Rainbow garland: Cut three inch strips of felt in rainbow colors. Line up all the strips in the order you’d like them and separate them into pairs. Cut each pair into trapezoids by cutting off the corners at an angle to reflect one another. Add hot glue to the backs of each piece and attach twine or string.

Shamrock pennants: Cut three inch rectangles out of gray felt. Cut the corners off of one side to create a point. Cut out shamrock shapes from different shades of green felt (we drew a shamrock shape onto cardstock and cut it out to be our stencil). Use hot glue to attach the shamrocks to each pennant and more glue on the backs of each to attach them to twine.

Hang your garlands and enjoy!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Tags DIY, felt, garlands, st. patrick's day

DIY Holidays Kids

DIY Paper Plate Shamrocks

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 15, 2017

We are so sad that Valentine’s Day is over, but what luck that St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner! Today we’re sharing a fun and simple kids craft to get you in the lucky spirit.

Supplies: green paper plates, scissors, a pencil, a single hole punch, white yarn, and a plastic sewing needle (optional).

Directions:
1. Draw or trace a shamrock shape onto the back of a plate.
2. Cut the shape out with scissors.
3. Use a single hole punch to create holes around the edge of the shamrock shape.
4. Give your kiddos a piece of yarn (plastic sewing needle optional) and a prepped plate and let them get to sewing!

This St. Patrick’s Day craft is a fun way to pass the time and be creative by sewing different patterns! They also look great if you hang them up as decoration. What are your favorite St. Patrick’s Day crafts or treats? We’d love to hear!

Tags DIY, lucky, shamrock, st. patrick's day

DIY Recipes

Valentine Pretzel Treats

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 11, 2017

This post contains affiliate links. If purchased, I will receive a commission, but the price stays the same for you!

If you’ve been reading blog.vickybarone.com for any length of time, you’ll know much we LOVE these chocolaty pretzel treats. This year, we decided to mix them up a bit by using Hershey’s Hugs and Rolos! Here’s how to make your own…

Supplies: a baking sheet, square pretzels (regular, not butter flavored!), Rolos, Hershey’s Hugs, and M&Ms.

The above supplies contain affiliate links. If purchased, I will receive a commission, but the price stays the same for you!

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 200.
2. Cover your baking sheet with pretzels.
3. Place a Rolo or a Hug in the center of each pretzel.
4. Bake for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and carefully press an M&M into each chocolate.
6. Let cool and enjoy!

Don’t they make just the sweetest Valentine treat? We hope you enjoy them!

Tags chocolate, DIY, pretzels, Valentine, Valentine's Day

DIY Holidays Kids Recipes

DIY Candy Tic Tac Toe

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 10, 2017

Happy Friday! Today we’re sharing a sweet treat you can make (and play with!) this weekend. These tic-tac-toe boards are completely edible and so much fun to make and use. Here’s how…

Supplies: graham crackers, pink candy melts, red candy melts, candy conversation hearts, wax paper, a cookie sheet, and a Ziploc bag.

Directions:
1. Melt pink candy melts in a wide bowl according to directions.
2. Break graham crackers into squares and dip into pink candy melts.
3. Shake off excess chocolate (use a spoon to spread or even it out if necessary) and lay graham crackers on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
4. Place in fridge to set.
5. Melt red candy melts and scoop into a Ziploc bag.
6. Cut off a small corner of the bag and squeeze out the candy melts onto the graham crackers to create the tic-tac-toe board lines.
7. After each graham cracker is covered, carefully lift each one up to help the red lines fall around the edges.
8. Place back into the fridge to set.
9. Once the chocolate has completely hardened, use conversation hearts to play tic-tac-toe!

The best part? When you’re all done playing, you get to eat the game for dessert!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend! Don’t forget to follow Vicky Barone on Instagram for more Valentine’s Day inspiration!

Tags candy melts, DIY, tic tac toe, Valentine, Valentine's Day

DIY

DIY Heart Pencil Toppers

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 9, 2017

Today we’re sharing the easiest of all Valentine crafts! All you need are some pencils and some pipe cleaners! You may love this little detail so much you’ll leave it in your pencil cup all year round…

First, bend the pipe cleaner in half and curve the two halves around to create a heart shape. At the base of the heart, wrap the excess pipe cleaner around the pencil to hide the loose ends.

That’s all you need to create these simple and sweet pencils. What other projects are you working on for Valentine’s Day? We’d love to hear!

Tags DIY, hearts, pencils, Valentine's Day

DIY Holidays Kids

DIY Lollipop Flowers

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 7, 2017

Candy bouquets are the best kind of bouquets, don’t you think? These DIY Tootsie Pop flowers are so easy to assemble and make the sweetest gift for Valentine’s Day. Here’s how to make your own…

Supplies: Lollipops, red felt, scissors, and an X-acto knife.

Directions:
1. Cut a flower shape out one shade of felt and a smaller flower shape out of another shade.
2. Use an X-acto knife to cut a small X shape in the center of each flower.
3. Stack the flowers on top of each other and insert the lollipop stick into the center cuts.

That’s it! For extra sturdiness you can add a bit of glue to the base of the lollipop (make sure to keep it on the wrapper!) and press the felt up to create a tighter flower.

Hand out a lollipop to each of your valentines or give one person a giant bouquet!

For more Valentine’s Day ideas, check out Vicky Barone on Instagram!

Tags DIY, felt, lollipops, Valentine's Day

DIY

DIY Frosted Heart Tumblers

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 6, 2017

This post contains affiliate links. If purchased, I will receive a commission, but the price stays the same for you!

Happy Monday! Here’s a fun DIY to kick off your week. Our frosted tumblers have always been such a hit, so we thought we’d make a Valentine’s Day version! Here’s how to make your own…

Supplies:
– Frosted Glass Paint (Sadly, this exact paint has been discontinued, but we have found similar results by using this gloss paint instead.)
– Foam pouncers
– Painter’s tape
– A sheet of heart stickers
– Rubbing alcohol + a paper towel for cleaning

The above supplies contain affiliate links. If purchased, I will receive a commission, but the price stays the same for you!

Directions:
1. Clean the tumblers with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. Let dry.
2. To create the tumbler on the right, cut around the hearts on the sticker sheet and remove and discard the sticker. This will create a stencil that you can place on the tumbler to paint inside the heart shape.
3. To create the tumbler on the left, use painter’s tape to make a clean line around the tumbler. Underneath this tape, line up heart stickers (you can use the ones you set aside from the other tumbler).
4. Press out all of the air bubbles under the tape and the stickers with your fingernail for clean edges.
5. Dip the foam pouncer in the paint and begin painting using an up and down motion.
6. Let dry two hours, then apply a second coat (if desired) to even out the paint.
7. Let dry two more hours and carefully remove the tape and stickers.
8. Follow the directions on Martha Stewart’s craft website for how to set the paint (We air cure for 21 days, but you can also oven bake them).

Don’t they look great with milk? These make the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for a loved one. And your little ones will love seeing their favorite drinks inside the hearts!

How are you celebrating Valentine’s Day this year? We’d love to hear!

Tags DIY, frosted glass paint, tumblers, Valentine's Day

DIY Holidays

DIY Valentine’s Day Sugar Scrub Favors

Post author By vickybarone
Post date February 3, 2017

Happy Friday! Together with Places for Faces, we created a personalized favor that your valentines are sure to love. Here’s how to make your own delicious Valentine’s Day sugar scrub…

Ingredients: 1 ½ C white granulated sugar, ¼ C coconut oil (melted and cooled), 6 drops red food coloring, 5-10 drops essential oils.

Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Transfer to glass jars (ours are from the Target Dollar Spot!) and tie with baker’s twine. Use Places for Faces to create customized favor tags! Print, cut, hole punch, and tie onto each jar with the twine. Give jars to your sweethearts or keep them for yourself!

Places for Faces is the best way to customize your valentines, favors, desserts, and so much more. Click here to get started!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tags DIY, favors, Gift Ideas, places for faces, sugar scrub, Valentine