Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Fairy Garden


mustruninthefamily.com


My girls have been loving all the Fairy Gardens around lately and wanted to make one of their own.

Select the pot you want to use.  If it's small you'll have to build up, whereas one with a loarger opening can be built out.


mustruninthefamily.commustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com
Reindeer Moss
mustruninthefamily.com
Hens and Chick make their own starters.
You only need a few plants.  Check your local nursery for herbs and other small tiny plants.
We chose  corsican mint (smells awesome) for ground cover, silver thyme for the tree like bush, and hens & chicks starters for the cabbage garden.  We bought reindeer moss, but didn't end up using it.

mustruninthefamily.com

Start with a good soil.  Wear gloves.
we separated the corsican mint into smaller chunks and placed it around the container.
Place larger plants toward the back.

mustruninthefamily.com

Plant all plants before adding decorations.

mustruninthefamily.com

Your local craft store should have a large selection of items to purchase for your fairy garden.

mustruninthefamily.com

You can buy a door or build your own.

mustruninthefamily.com

The girls made one out of craft sticks and a brad, 
and another one out of sticks and a pebble doorknob.

mustruninthefamily.com

The wanted to include and mini garden with a white picket fence.
They made one cutting craft sticks, gluing them together, and painting them white.

mustruninthefamily.com

The made mushrooms by paintings rocks red with white spots.

mustruninthefamily.com

They also made little houses, a cute little chair, a swing, a well, flower container, and pinecone tree painted green.

mustruninthefamily.com

Play around with different settings and pick your favorite.

mustruninthefamily.com

We added turquoise glass marbles for a stream, but it ended up looking more like a trail.

mustruninthefamily.com

Our finished project!
Unfortunately, there is only so much room in our pot,
 and we had to save some of the stuff the kids made for another garden.

mustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com

mustruninthefamily.com

Love how it turned out!
Get creative and make you own fairy garden.

We'd love to hear all about your fun ideas and see pictures in the comment section!

2017 Update:
We changed up the fairy garden a but this year.  Some of the cute things the girls made out of craft sticks broke.  I know, so sad.  We couldn't find the same plants as last year, so these ones came close.  We used lemon thyme instead, and it smells oh so good!



It is starting to get a little overgrown and needs a trim. You can't see the Little River very well.


Part of the lemon thyme was hanging over the side and didn't look very good.  So, I came up with the idea to make it into an arch.  It was so easy.  I just folded it over and zip tied it to a craft stick.  Which I then stuck in the dirt.  You can't even see it from the front.


Now is the time of year to buy your fairy garden supplies on clearance for next year.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Faux Stained Glass Vase

This faux stained glass tissue paper vase is super simple to make.

It would make a wonderful Mother's Day or Grandparent's Day gift.
You could even fill it with flowers and give it as a teacher appreciation gift.

A fun art project for any age!

Faux Stained Glass

Faux Stained Glass

If your significant other ever gives you flowers (if their a keeper they do), 
then you have a ton of these plain vases lying around. 
If not your local thrift store or dollar store should have plenty.

You'll need (Amazon Links) :
a vase
optional: flowers

Faux Stained Glass

Choose some fun colors of tissue paper.
You an use patterned tissue paper, but make sure you place a plain one in between


Cut your tissue paper in 1 inch strips.
*A paper trimmer will help speed this step up.


Next, cut those strips into squares.


Grab your Mod Podge.
I like to use the glossy kind to give it the shine of glass.


I like to apply the Mod Podge with a foam brush.

You can either cover your whole vase and work quickly,
or apply Mod Podge to sections as you go.

Tissue paper vase

Apply the squares one at a time slightly overlapping.  
Mix up you colors, so you aren't repeating the same color next to each other.  

Tissue paper vase

Once your entire vase is covered, allow to dry.
After it is completely dry, add a layer of Mod Podge over entire area covered in tissue paper.

Tissue paper vase

Tissue paper vase

There you have it, from plain boring glass to a beautiful faux stained glass finish.

Tissue paper vase

Since we didn't Mod Podge the inside of the vase, it is still safe for flowers.

Tissue paper vase

We hope your mom loves it!

If you liked this post, you might also like:
Faux Stained Glass
mustruninthefamily.com







Sunday, April 3, 2016

How to Remove Paint From Your Clothes


While painting my pallet flag, I got paint on the bottom of my shorts.  I didn't even notice it until I went to put away my laundry.  So, it went through the dryer and was set in.


I learned an old trick in art class many, many, did I mention many years ago.
Rubbing Alcohol
or maybe even hand sanitizer


Pour or squirt on enough rubbing alcohol to saturate the entire painted area.
Let sit a few minutes.
Scrape and repeat.


After 3 or 4 repeats, you will end up with a little paint residue left.
Throw it in the wash and the rest should come out.
If it doesn't, just repeat the steps above until it does.


Worked like a charm!

Be sure to check your fabric for any special washing instructions, 
before attempting this on your clothes.

Do a test spot on your clothing to make sure the rubbing alcohol won't remove the dye in the fabric.

If you like this post you might also like:

mustruninthefamily.com

or the Pallet Flag craft I was painting at the time.

cut your own long hair

penny bracelet