Don't make a peep. (Make several!)

Easter was more fun as a kid. I'd give up eating candy for lent, any time candy came along I remember saving it, and then on easter day I would wake to a giant basket filled with even more candy. Cue me trying to make koolaid like juice out of pixi stix once (gross) and being a very hyper kid for the following days.

One thing I loved was peeps. I remember mom bought them one year and hid them on me so I wouldn't find them before easter.. And we never actually found them. Turns out she must have just thought she bought them because when we moved we cleaned out the whole house and never came across any (though we did find a wrapped campino candy behind the stove and both dove for it.. Whatever. I'm not ashamed.. Okay.. Maybe I am a little...)

Anyway! My point is, man I love peeps. How could you not? Covered in pretty colors, you eat the whole package of them at once then make yourself sick.. Yum. Since easter is coming up I'm seeing more and more amazing ideas sprouting up online for things to do with them and I had to share my favourites with you.

Birds egg nests from candies and pretzels. Om nom nom!!!

Peep smores! The only thing I don't understand is 'leftover peeps'. Left.. over?

Vegetarian peeps recipe for all those who can't and won't eat the originals. 

Recipe here, should be fairly straight forward.

Peep pops.

Peep wreath. This wouldn't last. I'd have to glue the peeps on with molasses or something. 

Stuffed peep pattern. How adorable are these?

Valentines Day Crafts

Honestly, I'm not too big on Valentines Day. I find it far too full of consumerism, and the pressure to go out and spend lots of money on your significant other (didn't we just do that last month during the holidays?) and the worst part, to act all romantic for one day because we're -supposed to-. I personally would rather romantic little gestures on a day that I wouldn't expect them, since they would mean more that way.

Regardless, Valentine's exists, complete with delicious candies and fun and adorable crafts for decorating, giving and eating. Here's a few that I've seen that I quite like.

Strawberries and toasted marshmallow cream..

A step up (or 20) from the moreo. Oreos, cookie AND brownies.

Rainbow roses tutorial. Gorgeous!

A '52 reasons' book, where you write 1 thing you love about someone on each of a playing card. There's a million tutorials for this online, but I figured I would link the one where I originally saw the idea, when I made one last year :P.

Don't forget adorable and punny cards (lost source, sorry!)

New sew heart garland.

And lastly..

If you're tempted to pop the question, why not do so in the nerdiest way ever?

Glass Photo Ornament tutorial

First, let me say this. If my mom, or Mark's mom is reading this.. Step away from the computer! My dad doesn't have a computer (I know, right?!) so I don't have to worry about him. This year is all about home made gifts, and this is one of the tutorials I want to share with you. I have a few others planned but for fear of discovery I cannot post them until after the 18th.

I made these darling ornaments for the holidays and they're fairly easy to do.

What you need:
Glass cabochons/flat marbles (mine are sizes 40x30. If you don't know where to get these, check out etsy. There are hundreds of listings for these)
Strong liquid glue
Hot glue
Ribbon/string/beads
Photos
Pretty paper/xmas cards
And preferably, glitter. Cause what's the holidays without glitter???

How to:

First thing, make sure your pictures are tiny enough to fit under the glass pieces (I got my photos printed at one of those Kodak instant kiosks that have the option to put 4 or 9 photos on a regular 4x6 sheet to ensure they're tiny).

Choose where you want to lay the glass down, and coat the picture in that area. I had some laminating stickers that I put on the picture so the ink wouldn't run (I hoped it wouldn't the first time, and when everyones faces melted into ugly blobs I had to peel the glass off and print more pictures..) Cut the piece out. I cut out a hole on paper so I could see exactly where I wanted to lay the glass.

Glue the glass down to the picture and press down hard to remove all the excess glue and any air bubbles.

You can do 2 photos, but what I decided to do was one photo and a little message and the year on some holiday colored paper. (A perfect use for some of those paint chips lying around..)

Now glue both sides together! Let them dry really smooshed together good. One option is to add the loop now. Cut some ribbon and stick it between the layers so that when everything is dry, its all ready to go.

Once those are dry, if you didn't add the loop in the previous step, get out the glue gun and hot glue the ribbon/beads around the seam. Make sure to put a loop at the top so that it can be hung. I used glass beads on wire, that I hot glued around with an extra blob at the top that I covered in glitter.

Embellish with charms, bows, glitter to your liking and it's all ready!

If you plan on putting this tutorial anywhere, or making your own, I would love to see! Just, as always, do not use my tutorials for commercial gain. :)

Holiday Centerpieces and Decor

Who doesn't love great decorating ideas? Especially ones that are cheap, easy, DIY-able and make you look like you put down some serious cash to do? That's what I thought.

Hot glue mints to a styrofoam cone, place on a candle holder.

Some ideas are so simple they're stunning. Tall glasses with thin pine branches inside..

Fabric scraps knotted along the wire (make sure to use LEDs where they don't heat up.

Feathers and another styrofoam cone.

Epsom salt and glitter for snow, and a candle in a mason jar.

My FAVOURITE! This idea is brilliant and can be used any time of year with any flowers/candle heights.

Make a chandelier out of ornaments. 

Fun with ornaments

Ornaments are nothing new for the holidays, that's for sure, but I wanted to share some fun new prospects with you. A few new ways to use, decorate and customize ornaments for your house. Also, pinterest, as much as I love it, has failed me this time. Seems like everything I looked at didn't have a source. Sorry guys! If you own any pictures and want credit leave me a message. 

Fill a vase with ornaments, water and floating candles. Looks gorgeous! You could also use fake flowers. 

Clear ornament with paper inside (wedding invitation in the picture but could be anything. Sheet music,  colored yarn/thread..)

Or tinsle/garland! Clear ornaments are the bomb diggity. 

If you have enough, string them all like beads onto twine/something strong and make something like this. You would need a fair few though.

Glue seaglass, flat marbles, anything to ornaments and put them on candle sticks. 

Or you can do what I want to this year.. Make a Christmas tree, without the tree!

Paint Chip Crafts

I don't know about all of you, but when I was a kid I would always take the paint chips from the hardware stores when I was in there with my mom. They were colorful and pretty and I wanted to make things with them.

Well, many years later, I've now seen many amazing things made with paint chips that I never thought of. Some people are so creative and (most of) these can be virtually made for free!

No source.  Various sized circles (or whatever shape you want) on a white base, in a frame. Eeeeasy!

Fairly pain free if you have a basic understanding of shapes and enough tape.. No source, sorry!

Tutorial

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Tutorial.

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From etsy, but easy to make your own with a fancy hole punch/cutting machine.

From etsy.

Source.