Decorating Easter eggs turned out to be the perfect stay-at-home Easter activity for me this year. I went a little crazy, decorating 52 eggs total! Needless to say, my parents and I will be eating hard-boiled eggs for awhile! My mom also used several of them in her seven layer salad recipe, a favorite Easter dish of mine. This year I used a Paas Deluxe egg decorating kit ordered online from Target that contained nine different colors of dye, and an American Crafts Easter Rabbit egg decorating kit shipped from Paper Source that reminded me so much…
Decorating Easter eggs is a tradition I’ve carried on from childhood into adulthood. I dye and decorate Easter eggs nearly every year. Each year I try at least one new kit or technique. In the past I’ve used stickers, adhesive gems, washi tape, small fabric flowers, and rubber bands to decorate eggs, but this year I streamlined my supplies to four kits: the Unicorn Easter Egg Kit by American Crafts, the Galaxy Egg Decorating Kit by Easter Unlimited, the Easter Under the Sea Egg Decorating Kit by Spritz, and the Eggmazing Egg Decorator. Kits are perfect…
Today I’m sharing two sweet little scenes my mom and I made that provide instant cheer and a pop of Spring wherever you set them. These displays were inspired by the adorable Garden Bunny Cloche Pottery Barn featured in their catalog last year. My mom saw it and sent it to me as Easter craft inspiration. (Pottery Barn’s cloche was $169, with a sale price of $101 – way out of our budget!) When I saw Michael’s had cloches on sale for $12.74, I picked up one for each of us. Their cloches are really nice…
A few years ago, I saw this wreath on Pinterest and was inspired to make a wreath like it. I then searched for and found a great yarn wreath making tutorial on Pinterest. I was so happy with how my wreath turned out, that I started making yarn wreaths for other seasons and holidays, and now I have a collection of them to change out with the seasons and enjoy all year long on my front door. Yarn wreath making can become addictive because the wreaths are so easy and fun to make. Wrapping the wreath with yarn does take…
Here is a collection of photos of all the wreaths I’ve made over the years, in the order I’ve made them. For more DIY details on how to make your own yarn wreath, see my St. Patrick’s Day wreath post. When I need inspiration, I browse wreath makers on Etsy and Pinterest, and see what seasonal decorations I find at my local craft store. Which one do you like the best? I’m contemplating making an Easter wreath next. I hang a wreath made of fresh greenery for December, so I haven…
Happy Handmade Holidays! Last Saturday’s cozy get together with crafty friends for a handmade Christmas ornament exchange was one of the highlights of this year’s Christmas season for me. I’ve hosted handmade ornament exchanges twice before in past years, but it had been four years since the last exchange. (Where does time go?) This year I organized the event; my mom and I provided snacks; and my friends Erin and Deanna graciously hosted the event at their art studio Caravan Classes in downtown Noblesville. This is the same awesome studio that had an Artist Halloween Party I…
I never realized making tags could be so much fun until I took tag classes at Archiver’s several years ago (R.I.P. to my favorite scrapbook store of all time). At Christmas time they had a workshop called 10 Little Tags which my mom and I took it each year they offered it. Every tag we made was completely different, and perfect for dressing up Christmas presents. In fact, I still have some Archiver’s originals stashed away somewhere because I couldn’t bear to give away my favorites all at once. Lately I’ve been obsessed…
This past weekend was warm and rainy, the kind of weather that fools you into thinking Christmas is much further away than it actually is. Some of my perennials are confused and are starting to show signs of Spring growth from the mild temperatures and rainy days. We’ve had frost but not a hard frost so my fall fairy gardens are still going strong too. But there are only – GET THIS – 50 days until Christmas. Gulp. So when my CFF (craft friend forever) Wendie invited me over for a Saturday crafternoon, I was determined to focus…
Happy Halloween! I hope you are enjoying a spooky sweet day that’s filled with terrifyingly tasty treats and creative fun! My favorite way to celebrate any holiday is with good friends, family, and crafts, so when I heard Caravan Classes was having an Artist Halloween Party, I made plans to attend this fun event with my mom. Caravan Classes is an amazing local business that offers art classes, parties, events and custom art projects for both kids and adults. They have a studio by the Noblesville, Indiana courthouse square and also a vintage camper which serves as a…
My mom has been making ghost suckers for Halloween since I was a little girl in the 1970s. She hands them out to trick-or-treaters in little goody bags with other fun candy and trinkets. These spooky-cute lollipops are a quick and frugal craft. You can fill a haunted house with them in no time at all! Use them for: Halloween party favors Candy for trick-or-treaters Halloween treats for kids, classrooms, neighbors Boo bags Supplies: Round lollipops (Tootsie Roll pops work best) Flat (rectangular) box of Kleenex Black rug yarn Black cardstock Craft glue Standard…
Washi you doing for the next five minutes? I have a quick, easy and inexpensive DIY project to share that uses washi tape to dress up boring office supplies. There’s something so satisfying about a super simple DIY to jumpstart your creativity when you’re short on time and inspiration! You can use any office supplies that have a plain, smooth surface. Plastic, metal, wood or paperboard surfaces work well. Washi tape can be found at any craft store in the paper crafting section or office supply store near the post-it notes. You can even get…
October 14 UPDATE! We have a winner! Barbara Shreve won the set of three cards! Thank you to everyone who entered! *** World Card Making Day is celebrated each year on the first Saturday in October. It started in 2006 as a way to encourage crafters to get a jump on crafting for the holiday season. What better way to celebrate than with Gnome Décor’s handmade card set giveaway? We’re celebrating the site’s launch with this freebie. You can enter to win this set of three cards three different ways. Choose one, two or all three methods…
Stamp-a-faire is a free annual online crafting event hosted by Papertrey Ink, my favorite manufacturer of clear stamps, dies, and other paper crafting accessories. I’m obsessed with their products and blog, where the challenge was hosted by members of their design team August 25-27. I had never participated before, but I actually had the weekend of the challenge free this year, so I had time to watch the instructional videos, follow the challenges as they were posted, gather supplies, be inspired and create my own projects. I managed to finish six of the challenges by…