String Globe Decorations, Eggs, or Spheres of Awesome DIY

A few weeks ago, I got my craft on to decorate the outside of our house.

The result was fantastic, however, I recommend not using these marvelous "eggs" or "spheres of awesome" as outdoor decorations.

They will fall apart in the wind, rain, hail, snow, and mother nature's fury or that could just be Montana.

 You will need:

• String in your designated colors of joy
• Glue and flour to create a lovely paste
• Some tap water
• Bowl to mix this greatness
• Balloons
• Scissors
• Paper towels or parchment paper to cover your surface

Helpful hint: See that glorious multicolor string? It didn't work so well with the balloons. I recommend using the other singular colors.

Blow up your balloons into your designated shape.  I wanted mine to be egg-like so they are pretty much at full capacity, however, if you want them to be smaller-use less air.

I experimented quite a bit with this.  For some balloons I used solely flour and water.  For others I used flour + glue + water.  I really like that last mixture.  It lasted through several of Montana's hellacious weather escapades.

 Cut several strands of string of various lengths and make sure they soaked in mixture.  Use your fingers to strain excess from them.

 Start tying around the balloon. 

Have your balloons sit out for at least 24 hours.  Mine sat out like this for 3 days.

 

Pop the latex balloon and voila- you have this glorious string egg or sphere or awesome.

 

They looked awesome outside but for all that work, I don't recommend leaving them out there.  If used indoors, it would make an amazing party decoration.

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!

Wire BirdNest Necklace Tutorial

I saw wire bird nest style necklaces all over Instagram and on mommy blogs.

They're definitely a popular necklace choice and are really easy to make if you're looking for an afternoon crafting project.

Materials Needed:

Jewelry wire

Beads

Jewelry tool for cutting and bending the wire

I chose a silver colored wire at 22 gauge because it seemed thin and pliable enough for this project.  I also chose light pink beads to compliment the color of the wire.  

Start off by cutting five to six feet of wire.  You can definitely go with seven, but five or six feet should suffice.  Take whatever number of beads you would like to use and  place them on one end of the wire, anywhere from three to five inches down.  I eye-balled this because this is the section you will use to to create the "eye-hole" for the necklace.

Loosely start wrapping the long end of the wire around all three beads.  This doesn't require you to go through them, just around.  I would wrap around five times.  To secure the five loops (they are loose at this point), you will feed the wire between one section of the beads.  This will be one connecting point of your nest.  Wrap it around this section two to three times to secure the circumference of the nest.  To this at least two more times for the other points in between the beads.  Once you have the circumference secured, you will no longer have to hold it all together, it looks more like a solid piece at this point. 

Flip it over and start making loops with the long end of the wire.  These also be loose, almost accordion-like, and I chose to make figure-eights.  These will help create the bottom of your nest.

Once you have a good number of figure-eights or loops created (I usually had six done at this point), start feeding the wire through these loops and back around through the points you made earlier.  These points are the spaces between the beads.  Once you have those secured, keep building your nest.  Wrap the wire around the circumference and continue making figure-eights, whatever helps to build your nest.  You have a lot of creative freedom with this part.

Here you can see that I made a fourth "point" but you also see three major points between the beads.  I added a lot of wiring to the sides of the nest by wrapping the wire around.  I chose to add another point to give it more stability.  You know you're just about done when you have about six inches left on the longer end of the wire.  Connect the tail and what's left of the wire at the top and then twist.

Either by using your fingers or your jewelry tool, curve the wire around to create a loop. I used my jewelry tool to hold and stabilize the loop as I twisted the excess wire around the base of the loop to secure it.

There you go! You know have a birdnest pendant and you can either swap out a necklace chain or you can purchase one from any crafting shop.

I think these would be perfect gifts for a bridal party or for the guests of a baby shower.  They're simple to make, inexpensive, and can symbolize so many different things.  I usually see them with new moms and the "eggs" are different colors.  Be creative and add different numbers of beads, different colored wire, and other types of beads.  It's a fun project and perfect for completing while watching a movie.  Now I'm off to give these to friends.

Have a great weekend!

Be sure to sign up this Sunday for the Preview to Summer: A Blogger Book Swap

Extreme Easter: Kim vs. Ryan PART II

Of course, right after I posted the start to the basket for Ryan, he started working on mine.

By "working," he left it on the table for me to see.

#failsauce

But he also became frustrated because he doesn't consider himself to be very creative.

My husband is not a creative nor romantic man, so for him to go along with my idea of making each other Easter baskets was a stretch but he was such a good sport.

If you saw my post yesterday, I showed how I chose to pack the basket but I wasn't quite done just yet.  After Ryan became frustrated, he just handed me my basket and the basket I was making him wasn't quite finished.

 I decided to fill the eggs with fun relationship "coupons" and compliments.

Want some fries with that shake? In case you didn't know, I like your butt.

 Yup, I've got all the moves ;)

 I made them rather large and just cut them into strips, like Easter fortune cookies eggs.

 Rolled them up and stuck them inside the plastic eggs that I just love :)

 Holly and Blu "helped" with the basket.  More like Blu kept trying to take the egg fortunes.

 The final product!  Three chocolate bunnies, 12-gauge shell coasters, Skyfall, Argo, stuffed animal bunny, plastic eggs, Reese's pieces carrots and a lot of paper grass.

I loved tucking the carrots into the grass to make them more authentic.

 Don't let that furrowed brow confuse you, he loved it.  Here he is busy reading the egg fortunes.

 Now the moment you've all been waiting for...

the basket Ryan made! =]

 I walked into the kitchen and saw this guy chillen in a bright colored basket.

It's a hamster in a chick costume.

It dances and raps...

 

Slightly blurry but it was gettin' its groove on.

Definitely not my usual stuffed animal but it's silly and fun.  Ryan also got me pepper spray and a knife.  I've been wanting a knife for awhile now so I was pretty excited to receive one and also got a lesson on how to properly apply pepper spray.

In other news, I've been busy e-mailing the next series of hosts for the Blogger Book Swap.

I am so excited about this and we're thrilled for the opportunity to put together a quality swap.

To get the anticipation going, our theme is:

 Preview to Summer 

It's going to be great and we're also featuring weekly link-ups to make the most out of your experience and why you all love to read!

We're searching for bloggers with a love of reading, books, blogging and a knack for fun.

If you think you would be a great fit, be sure to check back for the registration form in the very near future.  My co-hosts are incredible bloggers who are just kick-ass women.  

I am soooo excited for this!

Thanks for Reading!

 

  

  

Extreme Easter: Kim vs. Ryan

Ryan and I are in a competition of sorts for our first Easter together.  I know, totally not the meaning of Easter, but so totally worth it.  Last year, Ryan was deployed to Afghanistan and ever since then we've been trying to make the most out of each holiday and just really live it up.  Whitney, from Everything Happens for a Reason, shared the Easter basket her husband sent her and it inspired me to declare to Ryan, "we're making Easter baskets for each other."  He kind of laughed and brushed it off, but with all things in life, I knew he was thinking challenge accepted.  Over the weekend, Hannah and I ran some errands and stopped into Michael's.  Their baskets are 40% off and so I picked up this gorgeous basket, originally priced at $9.99.  I was able to swing into Walmart yesterday and started picking out some items to start Ryan's basket.

I absolutely love these 12-gauge shell case coasters.  To my friends and family that are reading this, don't tell Ryan! I want him to be surprised and I think he's going to love these. I picked them up in a local store that I have become obsessed with.

We saw commercials featuring chocolate bunnies and Ryan told me how much he loved them so I picked up a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bunny and a Russell Stover solid milk chocolate one.

 The soft, plush grey bunny was just something I couldn't put down.  What Easter basket is complete without a little stuffed animal friend?

How to pack an Easter basket:

 You'll need a basket and I chose a wicker one because it's something that can be used around the house for storage or decoration, even when it's not Easter.  You'll also need some type of filler, like cloth or grass and I also chose decorative plastic eggs.

 I haven't perused through Target's Easter aisles yet (I know, surprisingly enough) but Walmart has a fun plastic egg selection as well as other fun items.   The most expensive basket items were the larger stuffed animals for $9.99 and the one that's pictured here was around $5.

These plastic eggs are so cute! They're very thin and cost like a $1 for a full package but they look like something you would find at Anthropologie and so I had to get a pack of them.  They also have "grand prize" eggs that are a silver metallic and significantly bigger than the others.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the eggs.  Ryan isn't big into junk food, so I'll probably fill them with either cute notes or romantic coupons.

 I chose green paper grass in both light and dark green shades to blend the two together.

I love how it turned out and despite the occasional snowfall here, it makes me excited for warm summer weather. 

 I also selected a bright, shimmery filler to mix in with it and give it a pop.  All together, I probably had five or six bags of the grass/shimmer filler.  They were around $1.37 for each one and there were cheaper alternatives there, but I thought the grass would provide more support and I preferred how that looked to anything else.

 For placing the items, I put the stuffed animal as a base in the back, as well as the other two chocolate bunnies.  Despite having the grass as filler, it's only semi-supportive of the items in the basket.  The boxes help support things and push them more towards the front.

 The basket is still incredibly light with the coasters being the heaviest item.  I plan on getting more items to put in the basket.  Right now I'm brainstorming but thinking about getting the rest of the book series for Game of Thrones and maybe a DVD or two (The Hobbit or maybe some James Bond).  What do you get husbands for Easter?  Underwear and white tees? Who knows, I'll probably throw that in the basket, too. 

How do you make your baskets?

Thanks for reading!