XO Glittery Wine Stoppers

February 4, 2017February 4, 20174 Comments

Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day is coming right up! If you are still in need of a simple gift or a cute decoration keep reading to find out how to make these XO glittery wine stoppers!I feel like this year is just flying by… I say that every year, but how is it almost Valentine’s day already? I was happily celebrating my birthday last weekend in Portland, ME with Rose and I blinked and this week is already over! To be completely honest I’m not someone that really looks forward to the big v-day. Even when I was dating someone I never was super thrilled about the holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I love love love all the pink and hearts that are everywhere, just the actual day is a little cringe-worthy. I much rather celebrate by throwing a big Galentine’s day party with friends and eat sweets and drink wine and make some crafts, but tbh, I would always rather being doing that. These glittery XO wine stoppers would be the perfect decoration to add to your bar cart at your Galentine’s day party. Orrrr you could make the X’s and O’s ahead of time and let everyone decorate their own! Sometimes I think I’m a party planner. But doesn’t that sound like a fun party?? Drink some wine, craft, eat some popcorn and chocolate. Seems perfect to me.

Materials:

Silicone letter tray
Plaster of Paris
Glitter
Mod Podge
Paint brush
Wine cork (I just used them from wine bottles we had to save some $)
Hot glue
Optional: paint

Instructions for XO wine stoppers:

Make your plaster by following the instructions on the bottle and then pour it into your silicone tray in the X and the O. Let dry for the allotted time it says on your Plaster of Paris (about an hour).
Once the X and O have dried, pull out of the tray and if you want to paint yours this would be the time to do so. As you can see I painted one set pink and left the other plain. Let dry.
Take your paint brush and dip it into the mod podge then paint on the glue in the areas that you want glitter to be. I sort of did a dip-dyed look with mine.
Pour the glitter onto your letters. Let dry
Taking a hot glue gun, glue your letter onto a wine cork.
Ew ew ew please excuse all the dog hair in this picture. Blame olive if you must.
Open a bottle of wine and stick your new cork in!

Let us know in the comments below what you are doing for Valentine’s day – even if that is just sitting on the coach and watching Netflix all day (we won’t judge)! Be sure to comment/like/subscribe if you enjoyed this post and feel free to pin it for later if you want to!

Xoxo, Haley

DIY Flamingo Piñata

February 1, 2017March 21, 201714 Comments

We are taking a slight break from the typical Valnetine’s DIYs and Super Bowl goodies that should be going up right about now to share with you a fun DIY I made for my birthday that was on Sunday. It’s still pink though so it might be able to pass for Valentine’s Day.Actually, this DIY flamingo piñata might do pretty well at a Galentine’s party if I do say so myself. It’s pink, it’s full of candy, it’s a flamingo – perfect for any party really.You might be wondering why I chose a flamingo piñata of all things. Well, to be perfectly honest, I’ve seemed to have collected or made a lot of flamingo themed things this past year. I guess when you’ve got a whole flock of flamignos around you you sort of become associated as the flamingo lady, a title I will gladly hold.You also might be wondering why flamingos of all creatures. I’m not too sure tbh. Maybe it’s because they are pink or that they stand on one leg or that they have funny necks, who really knows – just call me crazy flamingo lady and leave it at that.I knew I wanted to make a piñata for my birthday since I made one for Rose’s and made a cactus one, it was just a matter of what to make a piñata of. Looking back on the year flamingos seemed to come up more than once so it was a pretty easy decision from there. Now we’ve got a nice little flamingo added to our ever growing piñata collection.Materials:

Cardboard boxes – cereal boxes worked really well
Cardboard paper towel rolls and/or toilet paper rolls
Exacto knife
Hot glue gun
Streamers in pink, orange, and white
Mod Podge
Paint brush
Scissors
A helping hand

How to make the flamingo piñata:

I apologize in advance for the pictures of this DIY – I needed both my hands to do most of the steps so it was a bit tricky photographing it as well, but I will do my best to describe the process. Start with drawing a flamingo body shape onto cardboard and cut out using an exacto knife. Trace this body onto another piece of cardboard and cut that out as well.
Cut out a lot a lot of strips of cardboard about 2 inches across – these will be what connects the two layers of the flamingo body (and the rest of the flamingo later). I found the sides of cereal boxes were the perfect size.
Cut out a head shape and then trace it onto another piece of cardboard and cut that out as well.
Cut out two feet shapes
Now it’s time to glue the two layers together. This is when a helping hand is needed. Take the two layers of the flamingo body and put hot glue on the sides of each of them then quickly place down one of the 2 inch across strips as far as it will go along the body. Do this across the top of the body and most of the bottom – but make sure to leave room for the legs.
To make the legs I used 1 paper towel roll and 3 toilet paper rolls. Place the straight paper towel roll in between the two layers of the body and glue it down with hot glue. To make the bent leg place 1 toilet paper roll in between the two layers of the body and glue it there. Slightly bend another toilet roll and glue it to the first toilet paper roll. Add a third toilet paper roll to the bottom.
For the neck of the bird glue 1 paper towel roll to the body.
For the head, glue each of the two layers to the top of the paper towel roll. Then take another cereal box strip and glue it between the two head layers.
Glue the feet to the bottom of the two legs.
Now you should have a full flamingo body and can start adding the streamers. To do this start at the bottom of the flamingo (so the legs) and wrap the streamer around the area you are going to put it then cut it to that size.
Add small cuts to one side of the streamer to create the fringe.
Add glue to the top part of the streamer where you didn’t add the fringe. Then carefully glue it onto the bird
Continue doing this all the way to the top.
To do the back and top of the head (the cereal boxes) just cut small strips and layer them like you did for the body. Before you do the top of the head make sure to hot glue on a string so it can hang.

Now your flamingo is ready to mingle!

Peace out 24 and hellooo 25! Now I’m taking this flamingo and adding it to my piñata collection. If you have any suggestions as to another piñata I should attempt – leave them below! Also, if you have any good names to give this pretty lady comment them below! Happy crafting!

Click here for some more piñata ideas! May I suggest a cactus?

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.