My Favorite Home & Crafting Projects of 2016

At the end of every year I like to  reflect on all my favorite posts in the three categories of fashion, crafts, and travel.  I've already shown you my favorite outfits of the year HERE, and today I'd like to share my favorite crafting projects of 2016.

I will be the first to admit that I did not spend a whole lot of time in my craft room this year.  One reason is that we had a glorious early spring and a long, warm fall, so I used those great weather opportunities to rejuvenate my overgrown gardens.  I was quite pleased with my progress and I'm beginning to see some hope of getting my yard back to it's original glorious state again.  Another reason I didn't spend much time in my craft room was because I quit doing a card ministry so I did not need to make as many cards this year.  I also made the change from paper scrapbooks to digital ones.

Here are the highlights of this past year's home and crafting projects.

                                                  January

Original Post HERE

With January being an indoor month, I actually completed a lot of crafting projects.  It was hard to choose just one project for this month, but in the end I chose my "How to Make a Swag in Minutes" post.  I really liked this project because other than the twig base, I was able to use products I already owned and I didn't have to spend much money on it.  It also took hardly any time at all to put together.

February



In February, I made this cute little country boy card.  You can see that post HERE.
March



Easter came early in 2016, (so happy it's back in April, as it should be, for 2017!) and my favorite crafting projects were these Easter cards I made for my children.  The original post is HERE.

April

April brought a special photography project I worked on with my daughter.  I spent two weeks with her in Florida and I took a lot of fun pictures of her on the beach and other beautiful locations.  You can see more photographs of Ashley on this post HERE.

                                                       May

May was a happy month because my new beauty room that I worked most of the winter on was complete.  I did many hand-made projects for this room, but one of my favorites was when I made two king size pillow shams out of a vintage chenille bedspread.  I loved the way it turned out, and that it didn't cost me a dime!  You can see that post HERE.

                                                    June

By June, all the crafting and sewing projects for my new beauty room were complete and I was able to show it off.  You can see the big reveal HERE.

                                                     July

July brought a lot of computer problems so I wasn't able to post much.  I also spent a lot of time in my garden since I did not have a computer, so my pick for this month would be a garden post.  You can catch a glimpse of my midsummer garden HERE.

August

In August I decided to try putting some of my leftover fabric scraps to use and I made this cute little owl pot holder.  You can get instructions HERE.

                                                September

In September I made this cute thank you card for a good Samaritan.  You can read that story HERE.

October

In the fall I ended up with more garden tomatoes than I knew what to do with, so I hunted the web for recipes.  My favorite recipe of all was this home-made tomato soup, but I also liked the Pasta Pomodoro I made in this post as well.  Get the recipes HERE.

November

In the fall I made Halloween cards for my children (see that post HERE), and also this birthday card for my dear old friends.  You can see the original post HERE.

December

In December I didn't do any home or crafting posts other than this Winter Garden post HERE.  I was too busy doing Christmas stuff...you know, shopping, decorating, cooking, having fun with family.  But I did want to show you how I wrapped my Christmas presents this year.  I used red and white snowflake paper, and I wrapped each present with a big white bow from ribbon left over from my daughter's wedding six years ago.  Then I hand made a snowflake and tags using paper-crafting dies.  

And that is my year of home and crafting projects for 2016.  And you know what, I'm really glad I took the time to write this post.  I did a lot more crafting than I thought I did...I just crafted in different ways other than just paper-crafts.  My beauty room took up most of my crafting time this year, along with my garden.  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2017 brings to my creative side.  I know I have a LOT of sewing projects I need to complete!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

The Minnesota State Fair Flower Exhibit: Flowers & Fashion!

Last weekend my husband and I attended the Minnesota State Fair.  We had so much fun!  What a great day of good food and entertainment.  We spent most of the day looking at the animals and trying all the food (I can't even imagine how many calories I ate that day!),  but we also checked out as many exhibits as we could.  My absolute favorite exhibit was the floral exhibit.  Why?  Because the theme was Flowers and Fashion.  I mean, could that be a more perfect theme for me?  

The creativity shown in these displays was astounding.  Each exhibit took a mannequin and using real flowers created a 'living' floral dress!

We will start with my favorite and end with my husband's favorite.  This one was my favorite because I loved the colors and the long train.

This is the back of the train.  I like how the end of it is draped across a table and used like a table cloth.  Too funny.

This one really cracked me up using lettuce leaves and deep red flowers for the skirt.  And just look at the bodice!  It is a peplum top with fun sleeves and a flower covered neckline.  They even followed the current trends and used a choker.  I also like how the ropes/bracelets on her arms echo the ropes she is encircled by.

This is a very dramatic display that used purple lights to accent all the purple flowers.  Her skirt is made of fir branches and she has wings made of twigs.

 A field of beautiful purple violets cover the ground of this display.

Here is the front of this same mannequin so you can see her wings better.  Don't you just love her "hat"?

Here is another one that I thought was super creative.  Her hat and skirt is made of palm leaves!  The burgundy orchids that could represent a fur stole or scarf are breath-taking.  I love the shape of her bodice too!

I thought this mermaid display was very pretty.  I liked her sparkly fins.

The mermaid was in the same display as this under-the-sea mannequin.

 This was a elegant wedding display.  They used mostly white roses and ivy for this mannequin.

And finally, my husbands favorite.  He liked this one because it was so colorful.

Here is a close-up of this pretty one.  Don't you just love the headband?

I also enjoyed this display of a moss covered chair and succulent wall.

After we looked at all the professional florists displays, we then looked at the exhibits.  These were my favorite floral arrangements, and of course they all won ribbons.

These purple veined gladiolas are so beautiful.  And I have no idea what those green ball are, but they add so much interest to this arrangement.

I love the use of sticks in this arrangement and how they used fir branches as fillers.  The colors are so soft and pretty too.

This arrangement is very traditional, but isn't it striking?  They used fir branches too...it seemed to be a theme in all the arrangements.  Maybe it was a requirement, I don't know.  This would be a great arrangement at Christmas, wouldn't it?

Finally if you saw Friday's Fashion Post, you would have seen pictures of me outside in this beautiful garden.

The garden encircled the front of the Agricultural Building.  It was filled with annuals, flowering bushes, perennials, shrubs, and more.  It also had a man-made river and pond in it.

If you'd like to see more pictures of this beautiful garden, be sure to check out Friday's Fashion Post HERE!

I hope you enjoyed looking at this creative display of flowers and fashion as much as I did!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

How to Make a Customized Floral Arrangement

In the past when I've shown you a floral arrangement I've made (see Spring Wreath HERE or  Easter Centerpiece HERE),  it is usually the "Amy's Shortcut Way" and not the "official way to make a floral arrangement".  Most of the time when I create floral arrangements I just want something quick, easy, and temporary.  This time however, I wanted a permanent arrangement for my new "Beauty Room", so I had to make it the "Official Way".

Now for those of you who have been wondering when my new "Beauty Room" will be done and revealed...soon!  My husband finally finished his end of the deal, but I'm currently doing a lot of sewing and shopping for the room, so it will be a few more weeks before the "BIG REVEAL!".  I'm so excited!  I can't wait to show you gals how awesome this room turned out.  I think it's the prettiest room in the house now!  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out this post HERE to catch up.

In the meantime, here is a pretty customized floral arrangement that I made for my new room.  I placed it next to my Personalized Art Work that I made out of greeting cards.

I wanted a floral arrangement that coordinated with the colors in the room and that was also a specific height to fit on the shelves.  Normally, I would just buy a pre-made arrangement, but because it was just about impossible to find something with those exact requirements, I had to make one myself.

So here is a step by step tutorial on how I made it.  And trust me, I do not consider myself good at arranging flowers...just adequate.  So if I can do it, you can too!

First off shopping!  This is the first floral project I've shown you where I had to go out and buy just about everything.  The materials for the entire project cost $20.51...and everything was on sale too!

Here's what a bought:

A Vase:                $2.49 (damaged clearance item)
Foam:                  $1.25 with Michael's Coupon
Rose Bush:          $6.59 (40% off sale)
Tulip Bush:          $2.39 (40% off sale)
White Branches:  $7.79 (40% off sale)
                            _____
                          $20.51  Total Cost

I already had the wire cutters, stems, floral tape, button, and glue gun in my stash.

I found my silver vase at Ross.  It was reduced because it was missing an embellishment and there was just a gob of glue in it's place.

It's actually not a vase or a pot, but a candle holder.  But I'm someone who is always looking for alternative ways to use things, and it made the perfect flower vase for me.

Now to creating my arrangement.  First, I just took this small piece of foam and shoved it deep into the vase.  I did not have to shave it to fit.  It fit perfectly as it was.

Next, I cut my roses off the bush according to the height I needed them.  I first went to my "Beauty Room" and placed the pot on the shelf and held a rose in the center of the pot to figure out how high I wanted the arrangement to be.  Once I determined the height, I simply stuck the first rose right in the center, then added the rest around the center rose.

Now if you remember my "Spring Wreath Tutorial" I said to create a nice floral arrangement, work with odd numbers, pick different shapes of flowers, and use different colors that harmonize with each other.  I followed that same formula for my arrangement as I did for my wreath.  I chose three flowers:  a rose, a tulip, a tree blossom stem.  I also chose three different flower shapes:  round, cylinder, and tall/skinny/narrow.  And I chose three different colors:  Blush, Pink, and Cream.

Since my roses were large and round, they were my main flower.  So now I needed a secondary flower and I picked these pretty pink mini tulips.  They are a solid pink, whereas the roses are a mix of cream, blush and pink.  The solid pink of the tulips picks up the pink in the roses and brings it out.

I cut little sprigs of tulips off the main bush and simply inserted them between the rose flowers, making sure they were getting pushed into the foam.

Here is what the arrangement looks like so far:

Well now my arrangement is pretty full, but it is still missing something, so I added an accent flower:  a long, delicate floral stem.

 By now, my arrangement was done, but there were a few holes near the edge of the vase.  I knew the vase would be viewed by eye level and therefore these holes would be visible and needed to be filled.  I didn't want to add more flowers, and felt more greenery was needed.  I had three leaf sections left over from my rose bush that I didn't use.  However, they were too short.

To solve that problem, I wrapped my leaf around a green wire stem using green floral tape.  This made them longer so I could insert them into the base.

 Now to solve the problem about the missing gem on the pot.  I could have just turned the pot to face the wall, but I was concerned that if anyone picked up the pot to examine the floral arrangement more closely, they would see the gob of glue.  So I decided to fix it.

I collect buttons,  so I already had this pretty diamond button in my stash that was just about the right size to cover the gob of glue.

Using my wire cutters, I snipped off the button prong on the back.

Then I just put a big blob of hot glue on the back of the button and stuck in onto the vase.

 Wa-la!  Problem fixed!  The glue gob is no longer visible!

With my masterpiece completed, it was time to see how it looked sitting on the shelf in my new room.

I took it off the shelf for a few photos so you could see how pretty it is from the top.

And here you can see how well the colors in the florals and the container match the room.  I never could have bought a floral arrangement that matched so perfectly.  It was worth the extra time and effort to customize my own.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

And be sure to check out the "Between the Lines" Blog series which is highlighting bloggers that are over the age of fifty!  It starts today and will run every Tuesday until June 28th!  Read the first post HERE!