Easter Wreath

What's a holiday without a wreath!  I made an Easter Wreath and added tiny little lights to give my wreath warm and uniqueness.  The lights are not very bright they are just enough to add a little sparkle to my wreath at night. 

I started with the grapevine wreath that I had reshaped and spray-painted pink.  My tutorial for reshaping a grapevine wreath is here. 

Next, I wrapped the tiny strand of lights around the grapevine wreath.  Visit Crafts Unleashed to read my review on these tiny lights and helpful hints for attaching the battery box to the wreath.

Then I covered the light's white cord with ribbon.

Next, using faux flowers I hot glued them onto the wreath, near the light bulbs but not on them.

I used my Bowdabra to make a large fluffy bow to hide the lights' battery box. 

I also added one of my little Scrap Fabric Bunny's to the bottom of the wreath.  Doesn't she look cute!

Presto, an Easter Wreath that looks as good in the daylight as it does at night!

Disclosure: Consumer Crafts provided the tiny strand of bulbs for me to review on Crafts Unleash and to use on Sewing and Crafting with Sarah

Scrap Fabric - Bunny

If you have been following along with my blog posts today, it is all about creating with scrap fabric.   I love finding a use for scrap fabric because I adore fabric (yes, I have a weird love for fabric) and I don't like seeing any of it go to waste.  And, of course, these posts are also Earth Day inspired.

One of my favorite fabric craft books is Scrap Savers Bazaar Stitchery by Sandra Lounsbury Foose.  It is an older book but the projects fit my style.  The book has a section for fabric gift-making crafts, a holiday fair section, kid's toy fabric crafts, and decorating your home for the holidays with fabrics.

Over the weekend I worked on making little bunnies for my children's Easter Baskets.  Below are pictures of the first one I made.

For my other scrap fabric post visit the Bowdabra Blog to make a No-Sew Rag Bow.

Craft Designer: Sarah Forhan
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How to Shape a Grapevine Wreath

Recently, I saw on the Martha Stewart Show a craft that involved re-shaping a grapevine wreath into an oblong.  I was watching the Martha Stewart Show because a crafty friend of mine was in the audience as a guest craft blogger.  Big shout out to Jenny from Craft Test Dummies!  I was not only thrilled watching you and following along with your tweets on the Martha Stewart Show but I was also inspired by one of the crafts that was featured. 

Hannah, a lead crafter on the Martha Stewart, showed how to embellish a wreath that was oblong shaped.  The idea of reshaping a grapevine wreath sounded fantastic to me.  Hannah suggested soaking the wreath overnight and then bending it into the shape you want.  Hannah was using smaller wreaths, I wanted to reshape a large 12" grapevine wreath which required a larger bucket of water.  I really didn't want to leave a bucket of water overnight in my home.  I have dogs and small children and I was hoping to lessen the possibility of the bucket being knocked over by doing the whole process during the day.

To begin with I placed a large bucket inside of my tub and then filled about 6" inches high with very hot water.  The grapevine wreath sheds and you will see little twigs and bark in the water.  This was not something I wanted to pour down into tub.  So make sure you do not fill the bucket so that it is too heavy and you can't carry it outside to dump it.

After a few hours of soaking I wrapped floral wire around the sides of the wreath to get the shape I wanted. 

 I soaked the wreath for another two hours and tightened the wire.  I then soak it for a final two hours tightening the wire once more.  To get my desired shape I soak it for a total of 6hrs.  I then took the wreath out of the water and let the wreath dry overnight.  I also carried my bucket of water outside and emptied it.  Success no one knocked over the water!

Once the wreath was completely dry (it took about 12hrs) I cut the floral wire off.

I then waited another day just to make sure it was completely dry and I spray painted my wreath.

Helpful Hints:
I noticed the day after I spray painted the wreath that the circular shape came back a bit.  The final shape is not as oblong as I would like.  When soaking the wreath I would really exaggerate the shape you are looking for and leave the wire on for a full 2 days of drying before removing.  


Craft Designer: Sarah Forhan
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How to Make a Plastic Snake Kid's Toy

Reuse plastic Easter eggs to make this fun plastic snake kid's toy.  This is a perfect Earth Day craft, reusing something that you might otherwise throw-away after Easter.

I have seen this craft with older style Easter eggs.  The older style plastic Easter eggs do not have holes at the top for ventilation if a child puts them in their mouth.  Using the older style eggs for this craft requires you to drill your own holes into the eggs. The newer style Easter eggs usually have two holes at the top and bottom of the eggs.  The pre-drilled holes in the eggs make this craft really simple and easy to assemble.

Materials Needed:
Plastic Lacing Cord
Newer Style Plastic Easter Eggs with two holes on the top and bottom
Googly Eyes
Red Paper Tongue

Instructions:

• Knot the end of a strand of plastic lacing cord about 30 to 36 inches long.
• Thread the plastic lacing cord through one of the top shell openings. Continue threading the lacing cord through the top shells alternating the left and right holes as you go.
• Knot the end of the lacing cord when you have threaded all the top egg shells.
• Decorate the snake head using the bottom of one of the eggs. Attach googly eyes and a paper red tongue to the snake’s face. Then just snap it in place on the last top shell.
• Bend and slither your new recycled Easter Egg Snake.

Craft Designer: Sarah Forhan
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Easter Eggs for Spring Decor

Blown eggs (tutorial available here) are so delicate, fragile, but perfect in shape and contour. Eggs truly represent the bountiful gifts of Mother Nature. Of course, eggs can be eaten and their shells can be used for compost. But decorating with eggs opens a whole new element of home décor, a natural earth-friendly decorating item.

How to Decorate Blown Eggs

Materials Needed:

• 1999-1571 Aluminum Jewelry Wire 18 gauge
• Variety of 4mm transparent faceted beads
• B320077 3” Bird Nest

Instructions:

1. To decorate your blown colored eggs begin by making a simple wire wrapped loop at one end of the 18 gauge wire. Don’t be intimidated it is very easy to make. I specifically chose, 18 gauge wire because it is very easy to work with, easy on your hands, and very malleable.



2. Thread the small 4mm transparent faceted beads onto the 18 gauge wire in any style pattern. Depending on how many loops you would like to wrap around your egg is how long your wire should be. Experiment with different lengths of wire. I found it interesting to vary the lengths of my wire for different eggs so no two eggs looked alike.

3. Finish the end with another wire wrapped loop, to hold strung beads together. Next, twist the wire so that the center has the largest loop and the two outer edges have smaller loops.



4. Place the egg into the center of the loop and then gently start to manipulate the wire and beads so that it is wrapped around the blown egg.



5. Place decorated eggs into Consumer Crafts little 3” nests for a wonderful springtime and Easter home décor decoration.



Come back tomorrow for a variation of this craft. Instead of resting eggs in a nest, learn the final steps to hang eggs!

Original Post at Crafts Unleashed, craft material provided by Consumer Crafts
Craft Designer: Sarah Forhan
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How to Blow and Dye Easter Eggs

Springtime is a wonderful time to decorate your home. I love to decorate my home with natural elements and spring is no exception. Actually, as the outdoors starts to become alive with new growth it seems even more fitting to have “green” décor in your home. With the arrival of spring, the coming of Easter, and Earth Day this craft is all encompassing and one of those crafts that can stay up in your home for months.

Though dying, blowing and decorating eggs are not necessarily hard, it is time consuming.

How to Dye and Blow Eggs

Materials Needed:

• White Eggs
• Lemon Juice
• Egg Dying Kit
• Yarn Needle

Instructions:

1. Begin by dying the white eggs. To dye the eggs I fully submersed the eggs in a mixture of half part lemon juice half part warm water for 20 minutes.

 
2. Allow eggs to dry for at least an hour.

3. When eggs are fully dry; pierce the top of the egg with a yarn needle. Turn the egg over gently pierce the bottom of the egg, as well. Rotate the yarn needle inside of the egg to break-up the egg yoke and to enlarge the bottom hole slightly. I have experimented with many types of piercing tools. The reason why I recommend a yarn needle, versus anything else, is because of its very sharp point and because of its gradual tapering, unlike a nail that has a sharp point but then gets larger in diameter right after the point.

4. Place a bowl below your egg, in the smaller hole at the top of the egg, blow with steady bursts of air. The eggs contents will start to flow through the larger bottom hole. Wash your lips immediately after with warm water because there may be some dye that gets on your lips. I looked in the mirror right after doing this and I did have green lips. However, it came right off with a wash cloth and some warm water.

 
5. Follow the above steps for all of your colored eggs.

Craft Notes: Unfortunately, the eggs’ contents are not safe to eat because of the length of time the eggs have been sitting out drying and unrefrigerated. If you prefer to be able to reuse the egg yokes for cooking you must blow the eggs before dying them. However, cold eggs are very hard to blow. I would recommend letting the eggs sit on the counter for at least 10 minutes before blowing. To dye the eggs that has already been blown DO NOT use vinegar or lemon juice with the dye. The vinegar and lemon juice create a weird chemical reaction with the inside of the eggs and the dye becomes very foamy. Only use water and dying tablets and allow the eggs to dry for several hours. Water and dye will leak through the holes of the eggs.

Original Post at Crafts Unleashed
Craft Designer: Sarah Forhan
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Last Day of National Craft Month - And boy do I have big news!

Hard to believe it is the end of March and the last day of National Craft Month. Where did March go? Today is also the last day of my 3-day tutorial on decorating eggs. Visit my final tutorial on eggs at Crafts Unleashed: Hanging Beaded Eggs. I had so much fun making these eggs I hope I inspired you to make your own.

While at Crafts Unleashed visit there awesome giveaway. This giveaway is the giveaway of all giveaways! I am so excited about this great giveaway I can’t stop saying “giveaway”. That is right people it is a giveaway!

So head on over to Crafts Unleashed give me some bloggy love and visit my Hanging Beaded Eggs tutorial and then hop on over to the giveaway and enter for a chance to win.

I can’t enter because I write for them but the next best thing would be for me to see one of my readers win!

Decorating Eggs with Beads

I am very excited today is part two of my three part series on dying, blowing, and decorating eggs.  Today is all about adding beads to your eggs.  Visit me at Crafts Unleashed for my step-by-step tutorial with pictures on how to decorate the eggs with beads.

The tutorial includes a materials list which is conveniently linked to Consumer Crafts so that you can order your supplies easily. 

These eggs are not just for Easter but make the perfect spring home decoration.  Love, love, love the little nests these eggs sit in!

Become a fan of Consumer Crafts on Facebook for their latest updates.

Citrus Salsa - Hostess Gift and Party Appetizer

Searching for the perfect summer-time recipe, I found it on Splenda’s website; Citrus Salsa! This salsa looks wonderful and tastes great.

I placed half of the salsa that I made into a canning jar and will be giving it as a hostess gift. The other half I will be putting out with chips for an appetizer before Easter dinner.

The thing I like the most about this recipe is that children can help make it, as well. My children helped by peeling the oranges, tearing cilantro into small pieces, pouring in the liquid ingredients, sprinkling the Splenda, and peeling the skin from the tomatoes that I had blanched.

How to blanch tomatoes: Cut a small “X” at the bottom of a tomato. Place the 4 tomatoes in boiling water. Keep tomatoes in boiling water for only 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon remove tomatoes from boiling water and immediately place them in a large bowl of ice water. Let tomatoes cool. Then slowly peel the skin off the tomato starting at the “X”

Ingredients
• 4 roma tomatoes
• 2 large oranges, peeled and diced
• 1 large Vidalia onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• 3 packets SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Bring small saucepan of water to a boil. Blanch tomatoes for 30 seconds, and then rinse with cold water. Peel and chop tomatoes.
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until mixed thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature for one hour. Mix and serve. Refrigerate any unused salsa.

Serving Size: 1 cup salsa. Serve Citrus Salsa with baked tortilla chips or on top of grilled chicken or fish.

What are your thoughts on Splenda? 

To be honest I didn’t have a good or bad feeling about Splenda. I have used it before in my coffee or on fruit but it is not part of my regular routine.

It wasn’t until Mom Central asked me try Splenda that the “light bulb” went on, and I realized all the ways I could replace the sugar in my diet with Splenda.


For more wonderful Splenda recipes, cooking and baking tips, and to sign up for their monthly newsletter visit: Splenda.tastebook.com

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Splenda and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, a donation was made in my name to the Meals on Wheel organization to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Blowing and Dying Eggs

Visit me at Crafts Unleashed for my first of three tutorials on decorating eggs. Today is all about dying and blowing eggs. This is a very fun process that you can even get your children involved in. At Crafts Unleashed I provide step-by-step pictures and instructions for the entire process. Check back tomorrow for a step-by-step tutorial on adding beads to your eggs.

Have you ever blown eggs before? Don’t be afraid it is easier than you would think.

For more information about Crafts Unleashed and I collaborating visit here.

Winner of the Easter Crafts

A big thank you to all that participated in most recent contest: Easter Craft Giveaway.

The winner is chosen completely at random using random.org. There were 28 comments and the 20th comment was chosen.

The big winner is “giggling kids”, there was an email address attached with the comment so I will follow up by email to get your shipping address.

Again, thank you to all those that participated, look for another contest coming in the next couple of weeks.

Sarah Forhan

Easter Contest Giveaway

This week Sewing and Crafting with Sarah will be giving away a Woven Ribbon Easter Basket, Easter Egg Bunnies, and a Braided Spring Headband.

• Contest will end Sunday March 28th at 5pm (EST) and winner will be announced Monday, March 29th.
• This contest is open to everyone (as long as you live in the US or Canada) and you can participate multiple times.

Ways to participate:

1. Sign-Up for Sewing and Crafting with Sarah Facebook Fan Page and leave a comment below.
2. Sign-Up for Google Friend Connect right sidebar and leave a comment below that you are a member.
3. Subscribe to my feed upper right and leave a comment below.
4. Join our Email List upper right and leave a comment below that you joined.
5. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment below.
6. Browse my Easter Crafts and tell me which one you like best and why.

Helpful Hints: To participate multiple times; every time you sign-up for one of the five services I offer or you visit my Easter Crafts, leave a comment.  For instance, leave a comment that reads: "I signed up on your Facebook Fan Page" and then another comment, "I signed up for Google Friend Connect".  If you are already a member of my Facebook Fan Page, email list, site feed, follow me on twitter, or Google Friend Connect just leave multiple comments of what you are a member of.

One comment will be chosen at random, check back on Monday, March 29th to see if you won!  Winner is then responsible to contact me by Wednesday, March 31st with their shipping address.  If I do not hear from the winner by the end of the day on the 31st winner will forfeit their prize.

Good luck and remember the more comments you leave the better chances you have to receive this fun little prize!  FYI, don't feel bad about leaving multiple comments, I want a winner and I want you to have the best chance to win..so go for it!

Wash Cloth Bunnies or Boo Boo Bunnies

Wash Cloth Bunnies or Boo Boo Bunnies, as they are often called, are perfect for so many occasions. This easy craft made using a wash cloth, buttons, and 1/8” wide ribbon can be made for baby showers or even used as an Easter decoration or Easter Gift.

To make the Wash Cloth Bunnies:

• Roll one corner tightly into the center of the washcloth. Then roll the opposite corner to the center.
• Holding tightly, fold the wash cloth in half and tie a piece of ribbon tightly around the wash cloth 1/3 up from the bottom, securing with a knot. This forms the bottom of the bunny.
• To form the head of the bunny; tie the ribbon 2/3’s up from the bottom. As you are tying turn the ears at an angle to form them.
• Optional: Sew buttons for the eyes and a smaller button in the center of the face for the nose.
• Add a tissue to the back of the bunny for the tail.
• When child has a boo boo give then the tissue to wipe their eyes and then place an ice cube in the bunny's belly to make the boo boo all better.

For a baby shower use pastel colors for table decorations or add to a gift basket for the expectant mother.

For Easter place around your home or put them in Easter Baskets for young children.

Click here for more Easter projects.

Easy Decoupaged Spring Vase

Fresh flowers always lift my spirits especially at the start of spring. Something about having the smell and feel of fresh flowers throughout the house just makes the uncertainty of Spring’s arrival in New Hampshire, that much more bearable.

I also love cute little vases. The smaller vases do not require as much flowers and they can easily be placed on window sills or counters without getting in the way. The greatest thing about small vases is that you can buy a bouquet of flowers and then separate them into smaller vases all throughout the home.

To make this small vase I used a recycled taco sauce bottle, a small amount of the wall paper border that I bought at a dollar store, and Mod Podge.

Begin first cleaning, washing, and drying a taco sauce bottle or something similar in shape. I love wall paper border for decoupaging, it doesn’t rip, already has some glue on it so it sticks really well to everything, and it is super cheap at dollar stores and is often on clearance at home improvement stores.

Cut shapes out and decoupage onto the bottle. Use a foam sponge brush to spread the Mod Podge evenly across the entire bottle to give it a smoky look.

Let the vase dry over night and in the morning place freshly cut flowers into your beautiful homemade vase.

Click here for more of my Spring Projects.

Click here for more of my Easter Projects.

Visit AllCraftSupplies.com to see their wide selection of  Mod Podge.  Type Mod Podge in the search box.

Happy Spring,

Sarah Forhan

Disclosure

Children's Easter Bunny Candy Holder Craft

I designed an easy to make Easter Bunny Candy Holder. I wanted a craft that would be fun mess free and that I could incorporate into my children’s spring classroom party. My goal was to come up with a craft that required very little guidance from me, and could be held together with glue dots. Glue dots are a wonderful tool for mess free crafting. One of the greatest thing about glue dots is there is no waiting for the project to dry it can be played with immediately. Visit:  AllCraftSupplies.com and type; Item 246651 into the search box to get see my favorite brand and style of glue dots.

 

Below is the Easter Bunny Candy Holder step-by-step tutorial:

Using glue dots, glue the bottom of two white small bathroom style Solo cups. One will be facing up while the other is facing down.

Cut two pink bunny ears out of heavy cardstock. Notch the end of both of the bunny ears and place on the rim of the cup.
Attach bunnies face using googley eyes, pom pom nose, and pipe cleaner whiskers. Use glue dots to attach everything.

Place a small spring ribbon where both cups meet hold in place with glue dots.

Lastly, attach a large pom pom on the bottom cup for the bunny’s tail.

Fill the cup with candies for Easter.

This Easter project works great for classrooms, daycares, afterschool programs, or as a fun activity on a rainy afternoon. Make several bunnies for a wonderful spring decoration or even use on the table as place-setters; write each guest’s name on the bottom cup below the ribbon.

Sidenote: One of my readers commented that these candy holders would also work great to hold hard boiled eggs.  I thought it was such a great idea I wanted to pass it along to you.

Looking for more spring ideas read my latest Children’s Craft Article: Spring Crafts – Take advantage of the beautiful days and plan for the rainy days. 

For more of my Easter Crafts

For more of my Spring Crafts

Happy Crafting,
Sarah Forhan

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