Make Big Acorns For Fall

You will never guess what these BIG acorns were before.

Ready? Oversize plastic Easter eggs from the Dollar Store!

When I saw this Pin way back in 2012, I knew I had to make them.

Following the Pin to its source I saw that the blogger used plastic Easter eggs! This is my kind of creative recycling: making something clever out of something else.

I decided to use these oversize Dollar Store eggs from my stash.

 First, I painted them brown with craft paint.

 I hot glued the eggs closed then wrapped them in burlap scraps. I pleated the burlap around the egg and used hot glue all the way around to secure it. Then I deconstructed a pine cone and used it for the top and added a twig stem. Cute!

But that first one  didn't look quite right to me, so I tried this....

I used the two rounded ends and glued them together. 

Already this looks more like a natural acorn shape.

Instead of the pine cone petals, I used hemp garden twine and hot glue.

Hemp twine hot glued round and round the top until I had the plump acorn look I wanted. 

A little twig adds to the finished acorn.

By George, I think I've got it!

You could also use the regular size plastic eggs but I wanted BIIIIG acorns, so I used the big ones.

Now I'm remembering those HUGE eggs for panty hose and wondering where I can get some. Now THAT would be a statement acorn. LOL!

BIG Fluffy Wreath from Coffee Filters and a Hula Hoop

Okay, let me put this out there... I LOVE wreaths. 

I love their simple round form and the multiple ways to make them and embellish them and display them. All through the year a wreath can be a decorating accent for any occasion.

I made my first coffee filter wreath with plain white filters and a twig wreath form. It is 18" across and I have it hanging on the mirror of  the re purposed head board in my craft room. I love it's ruffled fluffiness and during the year I add snowflakes, four leaf clovers, sunflowers, American flags and butterflies to change it up for the seasons and holidays. Right now I'm switching over from Halloween to Thanksgiving, so it is just plain and beautiful.

I'm always looking for round forms to use for wreath backings and when I found a hula hoop at the Dollar Store I knew it would be perfect for another wreath, this one HUGE! I'm not kidding, this finished wreath finishes out at 28" inches across and it could not be simpler to make.

Oooh aaah!

Our Dollar Store has this 20" hoop. It is plenty generous for the wreath I had in mind. First, I wrapped the plastic hoop in strips of burlap since it closely matches the color of the natural coffee filters. But you can use any fabric for this step. It doesn't have to match since it really will not show. Use hot glue to anchor it in place. This will give you  a textured surface for the hot glue to grab when you start adding your coffee filters.

Here's how to avoid burning your fingers with hot glue on this project. Use a fat marker or a dowel and scrunch your coffee filter evenly down around it. Put a dab of hot glue on the center of the outside of the paper  then put it in place on your wreath form. After a second or two remove the marker and looky there, you have glued your scrunched up coffee filter in place.

I used about 3 packages of the natural coffee filters for this wreath. It took me less than 2 hours from start to finish.

Looking good! I LOVE it's ruffly fluffiness!

Since it is made from a hollow plastic tube and paper, this wreath is very light, weighing in at 11 ounces before adding any extra doodads.

And now I get to do the fun part...decorating it for the holidays!

This project is right up my alley. Inexpensive and impressive and easy. Don't you love it when creativity and frugality collide to such beautiful effect?

I'll be sharing at the parties on my sidebar. Come visit and check out all the fun projects!

Burlap Acorns from Easter Eggs

Ah Pinterest, you font of ideas and things I MUST MAKE right now! LOL

I love the huge acorns I've been seeing at some online shops but they are hugely expensive, so I was thrilled to find a way to make my own.

Here are my oversize burlap and twine acorns that were inspired by a Pin.

I like how they came out!

Here are the inspiration acorns.....

...posted by Dannyelle over at Life Is a Party.

Cute and clever, right? They are totally up my alley and I had everything I needed to do this on a Friday night. Here's a link to her DIY post for these neat acorns.

http://www.lifeisaparty.ca/2012/acorn-craft/

                             

I spray painted some oversize plastic eggs brown and moved to the next step.

I hot glued the egg halves together, then glued on burlap circles to cover the pointy end. LOTS of pleating and glue makes this work. Then I took apart some pine cones and glued the bits around the top along with a twig stem to finish, just like Dannyelle.

Hmmmm. This resembles her acorns but not in a good way, LOL! She said in her post they were a bit fiddly and I agree. Plus my pine cone pieces did not give a neat look to the topper.

So, tweaking must occur.

        

I thought they looked a bit too long so I hot glued two of the fat ends together for a rounded shape. Already this looks more acorn-y. Is that a word? It is now. And instead of pine cone pieces I used twine. Lots and lots of twine, plus a shorter bit of stick for a stem.

Here's a shot of both kinds of my finished acorns....

I really like the short, round ones with a twine top. The other just does not look as good as Dannyelle's. Pinterest fail!

I used loads of wrapped twine for a fat top. Love it!

Ooh aah! It took me a little over an hour to make these, tweaking and all. And they were free since I crashed my stash for supplies. Love that!

I'll be joining the parties in my sidebar, come visit and have some fun.

Burlap Ruffled Bulletin Boards

Here are the finished bulletin boards...I like them alot! Read on to see where I started.

I've been seeing some gorgeous desk and office redos out in blogland and I knew I wanted to do something about my own desktop and office space but without spending any money, as usual. I have a massive steel desk with a large desktop surface, so first I moved my printer up top right next to my monitor and keyboard.

But ewww, look at those ugly walls! I definitely wanted something prettier and more practical, like a pair of bulletin/ribbon boards.

And look, another ugly picture of the project in progress. I padded two cardboard rectangles with a double layer of an old clean blanket for thickness and duct taped the whole shebang. It gets better after this, trust me.

I covered each padded form with natural osnaburg and added criss cross lace for a nice design touch. I love the subtle combo of the white lace and beige osnaburg, so pretty.

I crashed my stash of white buttons and hot glued a nice one to each lace junction. Pretty!

Then I added generous burlap ruffles to each ribbon board. LOVE the contrast of the rough, tan burlap against the lace, buttons and beige fabric!

Here is one board in place next to the printer. It already looks much better!

And here is how this corner of my desktop looks like now with both boards in place. Ah, much better! My glasses are sitting on a glass display plate stand which I've decoupaged with old book pages. The book pages make this old piece look like vintage bake lite plastic, I love it! In fact, I like the book page look so much, I decided to redo the rest of my desk space with old book pages. I'll be blogging about those projects very soon!

I'll be joining the parties on my sidebar this week, come visit and see all the wonderful creativity out in blogland!