Minute to Pin It

Probably most of you have heard of the wonderful, virtual bulletin board called

If you have the Pin It button installed on your browser, it takes literally a second to "pin" something you see (a photo, cool tutorial, or recipe) to your own personal bulletin board.  In fact, you can have lots of bulletin boards, categorized in any way you want.  And you can share them with others and repin others' stuff to yours.

The best part of all is that the original url where you saw the item you pinned is retained so you can go back to it later.  But the downside for me is that I pin like crazy and then never actually try the great ideas I have seen.

Well, not today!  One of my most "repinned" pins is for a Pottery Barn knockoff for Sheet Music Candles.

Pottery Barn Sheet Music Candles

The original poster was Gail at Can't Stop Making Things, and her tutorial is excellent.

I got my tissue paper, scissors and card stock together as well as a piece of scrapbook paper that has a music motif already (and an aged look).

Make sure you know how your paper should be put in to have it print on the tissue paper side.  I marked a blank paper with a red "X" and put it in face down.

Yup, that's the correct orientation for my printer!

Next, I did as Gail instructed and taped the tissue paper to the card stock.  I then put it through the printer.

Paper jam!

Maybe I didn't use enough tape?  I decided to wrap my card stock a little like a package on my second attempt so it wouldn't get jammed.

It worked!

My advice to use less tissue on the back side than I did on this one because it was a little too thick.  I did better on my second attempt.

I wrapped my Dollar Tree candle and a candle from Ikea ($3 total) with the printed tissue as Gail instructed.

One thing I found is that it's easier to cut the tissue to the correct size if it's still attached to the card stock.

The last step on Gail's tutorial was to heat the candle surface with a heat gun.  I don't have one, but I noticed in the comments that someone recommended a hair dryer, so I tried that.

It worked!

Note that I used the hottest temperature but the lowest (directed) airflow and burnished the paper as the wax heated up to smooth out any wrinkles and increase adhesion.

Here's the finished candlescape!  The little bonbon candle came from Dollar Tree.

Easy, cheap, and cute is music to my ears!

Thanks, Gail!

The Way to My Man's Heart...

My Man is from New England.  Massachusetts, to be exact.  So when any special occasion (especially Valentine's Day) rolls around, I always know exactly what he wants.

Lobster love

I found a 3-pound live Maine lobster today and brought it home for him.  Look at the tail on this baby!

The platter this fella is resting on is 13 inches square.  Now that's a whole lotta lobsta!

Valentine Tussie Mussie

A couple of years ago, I saw these tussie mussies on Etsy and had to have some.

My Inspiration:  Christmas Tussie Mussie from Etsy

I looked at the construction of these and thought I might be able to make one.  I was thinking about making one for Christmas, but never got around to it.  Well, it's two days before Valentine's Day, and I thought I would give it a shot to Gitter Done!  Now I'm not particularly crafty because I didn't get the construction or mechanical genes.  But I did a google search to try to figure these out because they're so.stinking.cute.  The paper rosettes are the most challenging part.  I don't think I need to reinvent the (pin)wheel, so here is an excellent link.  I also wanted to get a more precise tutorial on cone-making, which I found here.

My original Etsy version (seller is no longer there so I cannot cite the source) has a smaller cone and two rosettes layered over a large glittered star.

The cone is scrapbook paper, the handle is a metallic chenille stem, and there is flat silver garland around the cone opening.

Since I'm making these for Valentine's Day, I decided to soften them up and add a lot of PINK.  I LOVE me some pink!  So I gathered my supplies:

One advantage of waiting till the last minute is that I scored the pink feather "boas" for $1 at Hobby Lobby.

I made the layered rosettes first, using the above-mentioned tutorials.  You basically cut the paper into strips and fan-fold them.  I used a contrasting paper to the one I used for the cones and used my scallop scissors to cut the strips on one side to add a cute detail..  One thing I learned is that the accordian folds of the paper strips should be very tight and quite small.  I thought a paper crimper might be good for this project if those still exist, but I don't have one so I did it the old fashioned way.  Be careful with the hot glue when you're making the fan shape!

A glittered foam sticker heart forms the center of my rosettes, but you could also use a die cut heart, button, gem or whatever your heart desires
 

I also tried a rosette using crepe paper as seen in this video which turned out pretty cute, too.  Truly, there are so many talented people out there that don't mind sharing their knowledge!  Here's my first attempt at a crepe paper rosette:

After I made my cone and glued on my rosettes, I used a single hole punch on the top left and right sides of the cone to thread my chenille stem through.  Then I used my hot glue gun to embellish the cone with that frothy, feathery pink boa.  That was my favorite part, because everything started coming together!  Here's the finished version:

My frothy pink confection that will be filled with creamy chocolate confections

I added a cream-colored banner that simply says, "Valentine."  I used the Edwardian Script font in MS Word, then cut it out and prettied up the ends.

The last part of my tussie mussie is the little ball on the bottom.  The original had a small styrofoam ball that is glittered.  I couldn't find any styro balls smaller than 1 inch, so I decided to use a pink pompom.  Still looks chic, no?

These aren't perfect by any means, but they were made with love with my own two little hands.  I cannot wait to fill these with Dove's dark chocolate Promise hearts and gift them to my friends, because we all know that love isn't love until you give it away!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm linking this to:

Vintage Valentines

Valentine's Day is only a week away.  I would like to put together a cute Valentine Vignette that isn't too fussy or labor intensive and thought about using some vintage valentines that we have.

My late mother-in-law once put together a scrapbook of old greeting cards for my husband.  Most of them are between 40 and 50 years old.

My Man is typically not interested in this sort of thing, but I enjoy thumbing through the yellowed pages and remembering a time when people sent handwritten letters and greetings to their loved ones.  People generally didn't pick up the phone back then because long distance calls were very expensive. I'm glad we have this book to remember the niceties of days gone by.


There are five scrapbook pages devoted to valentines.  I love both the graphics with their bright colors and the classic childhood themes:

COWBOYS

 SPACE (This was in the era of the Space Race)

BASEBALL

ANIMALS

My original intention was to frame some of these beautiful cards to enjoy during the season, but I'm not sure if I should disturb the scrapbook.  Will I regret it?  I mean, I know that I can always put them back later.  I just feel that it may be a little sacrilegious somehow.  But it's better to enjoy them than to have them stuffed away somewhere, right?