ClassiclyAmber » flowers

Super Easy Spring Wreath

classiclyamber — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:51:12 +0000

What’s not to love about taking unused stuff around your home and turning it into cutesie decor? I was really wanting to make a Spring wreath, but I didn’t want to have to go shopping to do it. So I started looking through all my craft supplies, clothes and Goodwill boxes. I’m sorry to say that there are 2 shirts that will never make it to GW. Also…the recycling bin will never lay eyes on some empty cereal boxes. Sorry ’bout that. That’s right, for this project, I used:

3 cereal/cracker boxes
2 shirts – cut into 2-3″ wide strips, top to bottom
leftover scrap fabric
double satin ribbon
pompom trim
hot glue

Basic Steps:

Cut out large doughnut from cereal boxes
Cut out smaller circles of various sizes from cereal boxes
Twist fabric around and glue down to small circle cutouts, resembling flowers
Glue down fabric flowers to the doughnut cutout. Fill in gaps with ribbon and pompom trim.
Glue ribbon strip to back of doughnut to hang wreath by
Step back and adore your new Springtime wreath!

Now this is how I did it – in more detail. First, take 2 cereal boxes and find the side seams to unglue them. Lay them down flat, one on top of the other with the plain chipboard side facing up and try to match up the lines [just being OCD or CDO, depending on how obsessive you truly are!]. On the ends of the boxes where they overlap, cut off the flappy parts. You want a straight line where they meet up. Now using your hot glue gun, generously glue one on top of the other. When it dries, you’ll have a bigger area to work with to make your wreath. [So obviously, if you wish for a smaller wreath, you could prob get away with just using one cereal box]. Next, free form draw a big circle over both boxes. About 3 inches in, draw in a smaller circle. It should look like a doughnut, or at least somewhat resemble a doughnut of some sort. It doesn’t have to be perfect. No one will see this part. It’s just the wreath form – or base of your wreath. Cut out the doughnut. Tip: if you absolutely must get your circle draw on perfectly, then look around your kitchen for bowls and use those to trace around.

With your leftover boxes, draw on smaller circles of various sizes. Tip: use different sized cups if you need perfect circles. These will be the base for your fabric flowers. With your shirt strips, practice rolling up flowers – tight – flat on the table and see if you like the look. If not, experiment with different techniques. The way that I did mine was to start at one end of the strip, rolling it tightly while also twisting the fabric around and around towards the left while also rolling it onto itself. Does that make sense? If you like the look you’ve come up with, then you are ready to glue down. Trigger a big dot of glue onto the middle of your small circle cereal box cutout [with the cereal print side down]. Stick down the beginning rolled-up part of your fabric. Once it dries well enough [few seconds], begin twisting the fabric around the center…randomly gluing on both the board and inside bottom of the fabric and push fabric to it. When you get it all twisted up and glued together, it should resemble a flower – shabby chic-style if you did it my way. If there is any cereal box sticking out from underneath, just trim the board off.

If you want a similar explanation – but with pics – then check out My Sparkle’s fabric flower tut HERE. The differences with mine and her’s is that I wanted my flowers bigger and bulkier…and I was gluing directly to the cereal box circle cutouts. Plus, my flowers are a bit more free form. You can make your flowers however you wish~!

Make your flowers different sizes if you wish – small, medium and large. With your leftover scrap/sewing fabric pieces, you can make the smaller flowers. As you finish gluing each one up, start arranging them on your cereal box wreath form. When you get enough flowers and like the way you have them arranged on the wreath, glue them all down. With any blank spots, go back and add in loops of ribbon and pompom trim. That way, you’ll get a really full, stuffed looking wreath.

On the back, glue one strip of ribbon so that you can hang up your wreath. On one side towards the top, I also tied on a bow to complete the look. Do it however you like, though!

How much did this project cost me? ZERO DOLLARS. Love that. And love it’s shabby chic look!

Note: this wreath is definitely super easy to make. All crafts usually require time spent on them, so if it takes you 30 minutes to craft up or 2 hours, it is normally worth it if you get something cute in the end…especially if it is free! =-) Have fun w/this one.

If you try this, please let me know! I’d love to see how yours turns out, too~! =-D

Fav Gardening Finds + Ideas

classiclyamber — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:30:30 +0000

Who could blog about gardening and not include Grandma Martha? I need to use all of these ideas mentioned here!

1. Garden Tool Container 2. Bucket Hose Storage 3. Magnetic Garden Organizer 4. Garden Protector 5. Saving Seeds 6. Plant Protector 7. Testing Old Seeds 8. Growing File

Here are some flowers that I’ve got my eye on! Aren’t they lovely? I would enjoy having these as friends in our yard:

1. Ice Cream Tulip 2.Pink Sunrise Muscari 3. Sorbet Peonies

Our family practices organic gardening for several great reasons. Because of that, we have to deal with any bug problems in a different way than just attacking them all with harmful chemicals. I am saving these resources:

What have you planted this year? Or if you could plant anything, what would it be?

Ranunculus Finds on Etsy

classiclyamber — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:03:26 +0000

Ranunculus: one of my all time favorite flowers! They look like a cross between a rose and a peony and come in a gorgeous array of colors. I have called around to several nurseries here inquiring about them, and am disappointed to hear the person on the other end of the line saying “Huh? A WHAT? Can you spell that for me?” And I know that we can grow it here. This is zone 7 after all, people!

While not everyone in NC has heard of this brilliant flower, there are plenty of people on Etsy who have. So this is where I will send all those people when they act clueless about Ranuncu-WHAT? I wanted to share some nifty finds with you today and hope it brightens up your week!

[from top left clockwise:] selenavallejo + honeytree + ciaobellaphotography + BornBarefoot

Madeline Bea Photography

[from top left clockwise:] blacksatinshoes + designstash + nanno + milkmoneyshop + YJdesign

[from left clockwise:] olivesonastring + dsbrennan + permanentmagenta

Blooming Plum Trees + Photo Shoot Casting Call

classiclyamber — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:00:40 +0000

One of my fav things about this time of year is watching the plum trees burst into blooms!

And the lovely scent? Oh heavens, does anyone bottle that somewhere? I LOVE the way plum blossoms smell! MMmmm…

The blooms just don’t last long enough! They are here but for a few weeks and then they are gone again, with the promise of juicy, plump fruit on the way.

Last, I want to share with the locals about a nifty photo shoot casting call for Gerber Childrenswear on Monday, April 5th. Armando Bellmas is the talented photographer you’ll find in my sidebar and he will also be taking the shots of cutesie babies for this audition in Charlotte, NC. I am thinking that that will be such a fun day! I would love to just sit and watch it all play out. My baby is too old for this, but I know that several of you have little ones in the age range that they are seeking. Do try out! For more information on the casting call, please check their Facebook page HERE. For more information on the photographer, please click HERE.

I do hope everyone is having a great week and I wish you a lovely Easter weekend~!

Paper Flower Bouquets

classiclyamber — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:56:23 +0000

It’s going to be a GORGEOUS day here, peeps! So bring on the flowers! Even if you don’t have any in full bloom just yet, you can make some beautiful blooms yourself. Check these pics for inspiration and click through to the tuts!

Lolly has some GREAT tutorials and printable PDFs so you can make your own paper bouquets right here! I love the way that she’s used different centers for these pretties.

And when I think of making paper flowers, of course I automatically think of Grandma Martha. Scroll down to see all of the flowers that she’s made with her own two hands. That’s right! Her own two hands!

This says that it’s for kiddos – which would definitely be lovely in their cute lil’ Easter baskets, but I’d also love ‘em for myself! Get the tut here.

Who doesn’t love a party with big, poofy pom-poms overhead? Get the tut here.

This is the cutest party favor idea! Get the tut here.

I love these basic flowers mixed in with other types of flowers, too. Get the tut here.

There is a ton more inspiration and tuts for paper flower crafting over at Martha Stewart Weddings.

If you are having a party and don’t want to make your own pom-poms, then there’s always Etsy! Check out PartyPoms:

I don’t know about you, but I think it will be fun to make these – and I’ll get the kiddos to help make some, too! My new office space is in need.

Have a beautiful day, everyone~! <3

Spit-Shinin’ the Sink

classiclyamber — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:48:01 +0000

If you haven’t heard of this, here’s a fun, all natural way to clean your sink!

Take a lemon and cut it in half. Spit on it, if you want to. [I normally don't, but what-ev floats your boat]
Sprinkle salt all in your sink.
Then use the salt-crusted lemon as a scouring sponge and scrub your sink down
After your lemon half is spent, then you just chunk the whole thing in your disposal, turn it on and it will clean that, too!

You’ve seen those cleaners at the store that say “Smells like real lemons!” Well, why not just go ahead and clean with REAL LEMONS? Then your sink really will smell just like real lemons!

I try to keep a bag of lemons at all times because we use them so much with both cooking and cleaning. One of these days, we might just break down and buy one or two lemon trees to grow inside since we don’t have the weather for them year round outside.

Doing dishes has never been my favorite chore – but something else that I’ve discovered is that when you keep your sink pretty (in addition to keeping it naturally clean), then you will fall in love with dish washing! [That might be stretching it just a little, right?] I don’t mind it nearly as much when I’ve got pretty flowers to look at – at the same time. If you have a window at your sink, definitely try keeping a little bit of flowers nearby and you’ll be surprised at how it lifts your spirits. Right now, I’ve got some Rosemary and two different varieties of Hyacinths right on the windowsill and the Paperwhites are finishing up. My new goal is to always have some greenery and something blooming around the kitchen sink because I love it so much!

And isn’t this a cool idea? It’s something else that I’m interesting in trying, but am not totally sure which window to do it at. Do you think it would be wrong to put it up at our kitchen sink? Depending on how full the shelves are, it could block the nice view from the sink. However, it would be cool to have all of those fresh herbs right here in the main part of the kitchen! I like that it’s fairly easy to install, too. To get the full instructions, just click the pic!

What are some things that you have done or could possibly do to make your kitchen sink area a more pleasant one to be around?

Forcing Spring

classiclyamber — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:23:16 +0000

I just love it when spring happens and the perfect weather sails in. But since this is only early February, I have a ways to wait before that happens. But who says we have to wait until then to enjoy beautiful flowers? You can force spring in your home by making these bulbs bloom indoors.

Many people are blogging about this now, but I first learned about this years ago when I was watching a Martha Stewart show. She was showing the different types of bulbs that you could force indoors. That was the first day I had even heard of paperwhites – and I loved them instantly! I told myself that I would have some for myself for the next year, but never bought them. Fast forward about 8 years later, and I finally got my first paperwhites!

Can I say two more things about these flowers?

1. I didn’t force these myself. We were shopping at Trader Joe’s last night and they had soooo many flowers on sale! Anyways, to learn more about forcing bulbs on your own, click HERE.

2. Paperwhites are so pretty, but they shoooooooooooooooooooo’ nuff do smell FUNKY!! Yeah, I’m not quite sure what to describe that sniff-sniff as. It’s not quite yucky, but it’s not quite lovely, either. However, the beautiful flowers make up for the funk (in my opinion).

Let’s make this 3 things:

3. Did you notice that several of their centers naturally created a heart? How perfect is that? <3 it!

Oh! And one more:

4. I. Still. Want. A. GOOD. Snow. Day. First!

YMMXEEYQSMBH