DIY Candy Heart Succulent Pots | Popcorn and Chocolate

Candy Heart Plant Pots for Valentine’s Day

January 25, 2017January 24, 20179 Comments

These candy heart plant pots are the perfect gift to give away to your friends or coworkers on Valentine’s day. They are very quick and cheap to make so you could easily make a bunch to give away – or just make some for yourself to decorate your home with! Keep reading below to learn how to make these candy heart planters.

Before I teach you how to make these candy heart planters I have a confession to make. I’m kind of freaked out by candy hearts. When I was in 4th grade around Valentine’s Day I was eating a bunch of these candy hearts, as kids do, and shortly after I was sent home sick with the flu. In my kid head I thought the candy hearts were what made me sick. Ever since then I’ve had a huge food aversion to candy hearts. I haven’t eaten them since 4th grade (and probably never will). I was traumatized. Though I refuse to eat candy hearts that doesn’t mean I won’t craft with them! I love the bright colors and the cute messages they have… just not so much the taste. They are certainly abundant in January and February so it’s kind of hard to avoid them, so my as well embrace them as I did here.

If you do love candy hearts then this DIY is perfect for you! Quick and easy to make so you can give them away as Valentine’s Day gifts this year. Here’s what you will need:

Materials:

Terra Cotta pot (or pots)
White paint
Paint brush
Mod Podge
Candy hearts picture – I just googled this and chose one I liked

Instructions:

Paint your terra cotta pot white. Mine took 2 coats – make sure you let it fully dry before you put a second coat on.
Cut out individual candy hearts – as many as you want to cover your pot.
Using mod podge, glue on the cut out candy hearts on various places on your pot. If you like a lot of candy hearts then glue on a lot but if you like a more minimal look, like mine, just do a couple on each side.
Let dry and stick a succulent in it!

See wasn’t that easy?? We gotcha girl – easy peasy gift ideas for your Valentine’s day! Let us know in the comments below any weird food aversions you have.

Don’t forget to pin this DIY to your Valentine’s Day board 😉

Hand warmers for Valentine’s Day

January 21, 2017January 20, 20175 Comments

Valentine’s day is in February and February, at least where I’m from, is still very cold so I thought it would be a cute idea to give your Valentine some homemade hand warmers to keep their hands and hearts warm.

There’s nothing worse than having cold hands when you have to go outside. It makes me very grumpy so I always have the thickest mittens with me at all times. But sometimes even gloves fail me in the harsh New Hampshire winters. That is where these hand warmers step in. They are cute, they are functional, and they are easy to make.

In fact, they are so easy to make that I went a little overboard and made about 6 pairs. I don’t exactly have a Valentine to give them to so I might have to force them upon my friends and family. Hopefully they appreciate pink. And warm hands.

Speaking of which, these heart hand warmers would make the perfect gift to give away to your loved ones or friends this Valentine’s day. Or, if you are like me, you can just make them for yourself and enjoy having toasty warm hands.

You can easily customize what you put on your hand warmers. Since mine are Valentine’s themed I went with hearts but you could do any shape or even put someone’s initials on them. So many fun ideas! Keep reading below to find out how to make these heart hand warmers.

Materials:

Felt in various colors – I used white, pink, and red
String in color of choice – I used white and red
Needle
Rice

To make the square hand warmers:

Start by cutting out the shape of your hand warmers. For these it was a rectangle about 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches. You will need 4 pieces this size.
Next cut out two small hearts out of a different color of felt (I used red).
Using a running stitch sew on one of the small red hearts to one of the pink rectangles. If you want the stitches to show you can use a contrasting color, otherwise use red to hide the stitches.
Taking one of the rectangles with a heart and one plain rectangle, overlap them and begin stitching by bringing the needle through one of the layers then use a running stitch, stitch along the side. Stitch up 3 of the 4 sides.
Sorry I have a cut on my hand from getting overly excited at Target…
Once you have 3 of the sides stitched, take your rice and fill the hand warmer with it.
Finally, stitch up the final side and tie off.
Repeat stitching with your second set of rectangles.
To use pop in the microwave for 30 seconds.

To make the heart hand warmers:

Start by cutting out a heart shape on your felt. Mine was about 3.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches across in the biggest area. Cut out 3 more hearts the same size by using the first heart as a stencil.
Taking two of the hearts put one on top of the other and begin stitching them together. I used a blanket stitch to do this, which I will try to explain below, but feel free to use a running stitch here too. For the blanket stitch you will start by putting your thread in one layer and pulling it through. Next take the thread and bring it to the back overlapping where you first put your stitch. Before you pull the stitch all the way through, put the needle through the small loop you have left and then pull it tight. For the next stitch, put your needle about .5 cm away from the first and then follow the same steps – push the needle to the back and then before you pull it tight, put the needle through the loop. The pictures and video below might help explain it a bit better:
Start by putting the string through one of the hearts
Continue with stitching up the majority of the heart until you have about 1.5 inch opening left.
Fill the heart with rice.
Finish by stitching the remaining 1.5 inch and tying it off.
Repeat with your second set of hearts.
To use pop in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Now you are ready to give your loved ones (or yourself) some toasty and cute heart hand warmers for Valentine’s day! If you end up making this project be sure to let us know in the comments below!

DIY Agate Napkin Rings | Popcorn and Chocolate

Simple Agate Napkin Rings

January 18, 20172 Comments

Admittedly these agate napkin rings were meant for our Thanksgiving table but we had so many other great Thanksgiving crafts going up that they just didn’t make it in time for Thanksgiving. It would be a shame to have to wait until next Thanksgiving to share these simple agate napkin rings so before we dive into our Valentine’s day crafts we thought we would sneak these guys in.

These agate napkin rings don’t have to just be for Thanksgiving – they are perfect for any holiday table or just a fancy Friday night! You could even set them up for a romantic Valentine’s day table for your special someone 😉

Head on over to Homedit to find the full tutorial for these agate napkin rings.

Click here for the tutorial.

Glitter Champagne Bottles for New Years

December 29, 2016December 31, 2016Leave a comment

Ring in New Years this year with these 2017 glitter champagne bottles. They are easy to make and involve buying a bottle of champagne – my kind of craft! Keep reading below to find out how to make these 2017 glitter champagne bottles.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/holiday! Seems like the time just flew by and here we are about to celebrate New Years. 2016 has been quite the year and I for one am glad it is coming to a close. I can’t wait to ring in the New Year and say sayonara to 2016.

With New Years just a couple days away we thought we would share a simple last minute craft you can do to prepare for the big night. You can make this craft in a couple of hours and will most likely have a lot of the supplies already at home.

If you decide to make these glitter champagne bottles be warned that you might end up with glitter in your hair, stuck to your fingers, all over your clothes and pretty much everywhere you are working. I had a trail of glitter following me from where I made the champagne bottles to where I took pictures and back again. My mom wasn’t thrilled. I think I’ve still got some stuck to my leggings too. It’s a dangerous medium to work with, but definitely worth the risk.

Materials:

Glitter
Mod Podge
Vinyl sticker numbers
Paint brush
Newspaper to collect all the glitter
Champagne bottle

Making the glitter bottle:

Take your vinyl stickers and place the numbers 2017 down the side of your bottle where there is no label.
Paint on mod podge all over the bottle. Be careful when going around the 2017 stickers and try not to get glue on the actual sticker.
Cover bottle in glitter. Let dry for about an hour.
Gently peel off the 2017 stickers. I used an exacto knife to get underneath the stickers and gently pry them up, trying not peel the glitter off around them.
Pop your champagne and enjoy!

Say goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017 with these glittery champagne bottles! We hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years! Let us know in the comments below what you are planning on doing. I’m most likely spending the night at home and cracking open these bottles 😉

Candy Cane Lawn Flamingos

December 21, 20168 Comments

It was 5 ° out when I took pictures of these candy cane lawn flamingos. I had to wrap up in my scarf and hat and throw on my gloves between pictures. It was quite the sight, but I got it done and got to go inside to a hot cup of tea.

I always wonder what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in warmer weather. I love the winter and I love snow but I’m forever curious what Christmas in California feels like or Florida or anywhere that isn’t currently blanketed in snow at the moment.

This DIY was definitely inspired by a warmer climate, but these candy cane lawn flamingos look great stuck in a pile of snow as well. They are simple to make and add a bright, whimsical touch to your front lawn to welcome any guests you have coming this holiday.

I love candy canes and I love flamingos so why not combine the two?? I would just suggest not to eat these guys. The instructions on how to make these candy cane flamingos can be found below.

Materials for the Flamingos:

White and red spray paint
Plastic lawn flamingos
Blue painters tape

How to make candy cane lawn flamingos:

Start by taping off the beak, eyes, and first half of the legs with blue painters tape.
Spray paint the body of the lawn flamingo white. This took a couple of coats for me – I don’t know if this was due to the extreme cold or it was just the spray paint I used. Let dry completely up to 24 hours.
Take your blue painters tape and tape off stripes on the body of the flamingo.
Spray paint the flamingo red. Let dry completely.
Take off painters tape and stick your flamingo in your lawn!

What a fun and unique decoration to add to your front lawn for Christmas! Let us know in the comments below how you have decorated for Christmas this year!

And if we don’t stop by again before the holidays – we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy Hanukkah!

Christmas lights gift wrap | Popcorn and Chocolate

Christmas Lights Gift Wrap Inspired by Stranger Things

December 14, 2016December 14, 20164 Comments

This Christmas lights gift wrap is so festive and fun and it is perfect to make for any of your Stranger Things obsessed friends. Keep reading below to find out how to make this Christmas lights gift wrap!

When Stranger Things first came out and everyone was raving about it I convinced myself I would not like it. I mean sci-fi isn’t quite my forte. But, I just couldn’t resist all the hype and I am so glad that I got sucked in because Oh.My.God. That show was ahhmazing. The actors/actresses, the costumes, the 80’s vibes… everything – so good.

Once Halloween rolled around there were so many costumes popping up inspired by Stranger Things. My favorite by far was this pair. But, as it is near Christmas and not Halloween, we’ve taken this inspiration into some gift wrap that you can easily DIY onto any present you are giving this holiday season. All you need to make this gift wrap is some colored paper, string, and glue.

Make your holiday season strange this year with this Stranger Things inspired gift wrap.

Materials:

Colored paper
Black string
Scissors
Mod Podge
Paint brush
Glue gun
Black marker
Present

Instructions:

Start with a wrapped present. We used just plain brown craft paper because the wall was a yellowish/brown color but feel free to use any plain color you desire!
Cut out small Christmas light bulbs from your colored paper.
Cut out small black rectangles to top your bulbs.
Using Mod Podge and a paint brush, glue on the bulbs and black tops to your present. Be careful not to glob a lot of glue on – just a little bit will do.
Taking a black marker write out either who the present is for or a festive saying.
Cut a piece of black string to the length you desire and then place it on your present above the bulbs. Lay out how you want the string to fall – we added some curlicues to ours by just twisting the string into a circle.
Once you have your string placed where you want it, take your glue gun and put the tiniest of dots underneath various points of the string. We glued ours down at the beginning and end and then where it met the Christmas lights as well as any curlicues so they would stay in place.

Your friends and family will love receiving a gift wrapped up in Christmas lights reminiscent of the wall on Stranger Things. It is simple to make and a lot of fun to give out!

Let us know in the comments below if you watched Stranger Things and who your favorite character was! Make your holidays strange this year!

Marble Salt Dough Ornaments

December 7, 2016December 22, 2016Leave a comment

Learn how to make these marble salt dough ornaments to decorate your tree this year!

One of my absolute favorite things to do during the holidays is to decorate the Christmas tree. I love pulling out each of our carefully wrapped ornaments and remembering different stories about them. Sometimes the story is as simple as I remember picking that up at Target with my friend (Target has the best ornaments, fyi). Sometimes you pull out an ornament and laugh and remember the time when your dog stole it off the tree and ate half of its leg or ear (this is a lot of our ornaments).

But the best stories are when you stumble across an ornament that you made yourself. Most of mine are from when I was 5 years old and it is just a giant piece of cardboard with my hand print painted on it. Talented as I was back then I think my ornament DIY game has stepped up a bit.

Today we are sharing marble salt dough ornaments to create fun holiday memories for years to come as you pull them out next year or the year after to decorate your Christmas tree. Maybe one will have a missing limb from a large dog that eats everything (several of mine already do). Maybe one will be the one your little sibling made and they will be able to remember it when they are older.

Either way, these marble salt dough ornaments are simple to make and involve ingredients you should already have at home. If you enjoy marbling with nail polish you should definitely give this craft a go. We’ve been known to marble a few things before so we thought it might be fun for Christmas to take simple salt dough ornaments to the next level.

Materials:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Baking sheet
Oven
Straw
Nail polish in various colors
A bin or container you can ruin
Towel/rag
Ribbon

Making the salt dough ornaments:

Start by making the salt dough. For this you will mix together the flour, salt and water until it forms a dough. Note: we halved the recipe here as it seemed to make a lot a lot of ornaments with a full cup of flour but if you have a big party I would recommend to double our recipe.
Once the salt dough is ready sprinkle some flour on a work surface and some on your rolling pin and roll out your dough. We rolled ours to about 1/4 inch thickness but you can keep yours as thick or as thin as you like. It is definitely easier to cut out the shapes with a slightly thicker dough, though.
Start cutting out your shapes with cookie cutters or drawing your own using a knife. We made some letter ornaments by just gently cutting into the dough with a knife – this was a bit difficult on curvier letters so I would recommend getting a stencil if you want them to look nice.
Place your ornament on a baking sheet and using the tip of a straw, poke a hole into where you want it to hang.
Once all your ornaments are cut out pop them into the oven at 200°F for 2-3 hours. Note: you are basically drying out the dough so this takes a while. I think mine were in the oven for about 2.5 hours. Alternatively you could leave them out to air dry but this would take a really long time.

Marbling the salt dough ornaments:

I highly suggest doing this outside. Get a bin or container you can ruin and fill it with room temperature water.
Have your nail polish open and ready as well as your ornaments easily reachable because once you pour the nail polish you will have to work quickly.
Lay out a towel/rag for the ornaments to dry on after you dip them in the nail polish.
Gently pour the color or colors of nail polish you want to use into your bin. If you want a thick marble effect use more nail polish but if you want it thinner then only pour a small amount of nail polish.
Quickly take your ornament and dip it into the water face down and pull it out. If you are unhappy with how the marble came out you can always dip it in the water again.
Let dry on your towel/rag.
If you still have a good amount of nail polish in your water quickly dip another ornament in, otherwise pour more nail polish and repeat the process.
Since you basically had to dry out the salt dough and now got it wet again you will have to let it sit out in a dry environment for about 24 hours.
Take a ribbon and loop it through the hole to hang up your ornament.

Now you have plenty of marble salt dough ornaments that you can pull out next year and remember when you made them. These salt dough ornaments would also make wonderful gifts to give to your friends and family.

Let us know in the comments below if you have any favorite ornaments or holiday traditions!

DIY marble salt dough ornaments | Popcorn & Chocolate

Now I just have to keep Olive from eating them all…

Holiday Gift Guides & Free Printable

December 3, 2016November 30, 2016Leave a comment

The holiday season is upon us, which means you have to start planning out your gifts for everyone. We’ve made this super easy for you by creating a free printable to write out what you are getting everyone and two holiday gift guides to give you some ideas of what to get everyone. Sometimes present buying can be a lot of fun, especially when you know exactly what you are getting someone but, other times, it can be a huge struggle. We feel ya. This is why we’ve put together some fun gift ideas for all the men and women in your life. These gifts are mostly all under $50 so they won’t break the bank either. 2016 gift guide for men | popcorn & chocolate

From left to right: Peppermint snow tube, Drake pin, Desk bag toss, Camera strap, Bon Iver record, Beanie, This must be the place banner, Woven wall hanging, Hot steve spices, Bandana, Flannel button down, Cocktail carry on kit, Stranger Things pin, Bull wine holder, Giant jack, Slippers

And now onto the gifts for the women in your life:

2016 gift guide for women | Popcorn & Chocolate

From left to right: Eye mask, Woven wall hanging, Embroidery wall decor, Merlot sweatshirt, Mug, Flamingo pin, Margarita pin, Happiness planner, Motivational pencils, Pineapple measuring cups, Blue scarf, Retail therapy purse, Pineapple keychain, Wine socks, Teapot, Candle

Go ahead and download our printable gift list and start planning your gift buying now! Let us know in the comments below what YOU want for this holiday season!

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No Sew Thanksgiving Table Runner & Placemats

November 23, 2016November 21, 20162 Comments

Learn how to make this no sew Thanksgiving table runner and placemats

Ugh. Sometimes I really hate sewing. We’ve had our fair share of very very simple sewing projects in the past but neither Rose or I are very good at sewing. Sometimes you can get away without breaking out the ol’ needle and thread, other times not so much. We try to finagle our way out of having to sew anything if we can. Like this Thanksgiving table runner and placemats for instance.

It’s a shame because both of our grandmothers were incredible sewers and we both would love to learn how to use a sewing machine butttt in the meantime we gotta stick to our guns and either use a simple running stitch for every single project or break out the glue gun.

If you hadn’t guessed by now this project was the latter. We wanted to keep things nice and easy for all you Thanksgiving hostesses. These Thanksgiving table runner and placemats couldn’t be easier. All you need is some plain fabric, some felt, and a handy dandy glue gun. Though, if you are not like Rose and I and actually are good at sewing you could also sew on the leaves.

To learn how to make this no sew Thanksgiving table runner and placemats head on over to Homedit

And if you like any of the other decor, check it out here:

1.pilgrim hat wine stoppers

2.wood slab serving tray

3.thanksgiving-themed copper lettered plates

The agate napkin rings are coming soon!

Also, don’t forget to check out our Thanksgiving printables!

Thanksgiving Wood Slab Serving Tray

November 21, 2016November 18, 2016Leave a comment

Keep reading to find out how to make this Thanksgiving wood slab serving tray.

Want to hear a completely unrelated Thanksgiving story that has to do with this wood slab serving tray? K, cool, I’m not giving you a choice anyways. Flash back to when Rose and I were wee ones at Skidmore college, I believe it was our senior year (Rose can fact check this for us). We made it a habit to go to A.C. Moore and just look around without having any specific crafts in mind… and yes we ended up buying random bits and pieces that we still haven’t used.

On one of such trips we saw these wood slabs and thought we must have these in our lives. ‘Cause this is how our brains work at the craft store: There isn’t time for rational thoughts. Well once we came home with the wood slabs and let them sit around for a couple of weeks, we finally came up with a fun way to decorate them – use some painter’s tape and just paint in random squares. Let’s just say there is a reason that craft never made it to our blog. They weren’t the prettiest… and truthfully i’ve been a little scared to pick up a wood slab again.

I think, I hope, this diy Thanksgiving wood slab serving tray has redeemed our original wood slab fiasco. You can head on over to Homedit to find the full instructions on how to make these wood slab serving trays.

Let us know in the comments if you ever had a craft go horribly, horribly wrong. We’d like to know we aren’t the only ones who’ve graced the #pinterestfail list.

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To make the square hand warmers:

To make the heart hand warmers:

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Head on over to Homedit to find the full tutorial for these agate napkin rings.

Click here for the tutorial.

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Making the glitter bottle:

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Materials for the Flamingos:

How to make candy cane lawn flamingos:

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Making the salt dough ornaments:

Marbling the salt dough ornaments:

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Learn how to make this no sew Thanksgiving table runner and placemats

To learn how to make this no sew Thanksgiving table runner and placemats head on over to Homedit

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Learn how to make these Thanksgiving wood slab serving trays here on Homedit or pin it below for later.

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