Easter Egg Ideas

Tiffany shared the cutest and easiest way ever to display your eggs, which inspired me to jump on the bandwagon and write a little about eggs today. I'm trying to usher in the spring weather anyway around here!

I am not sure if there is anyone left out there who hasn't heard all of the many wonderful reasons why your should preserve your Easter eggs, but just in case I am here today to convince you! We have been "emptying" or "blowing out our eggs for years." Here is a great tutorial for how to do this. Hollowing out your eggs only takes an extra minute per egg, and lasts a lifetime! I think I have mentioned before that both my mother and I are big on holiday traditions. I know I inherited this from her. We hollow out our eggs every year and save the ones we decorate. She keeps them in her basement in a large plastic storage bin, and each year we find creative ways to display them all over the house. What a wonderful way to keep memories from year to year! We have eggs from my 16th birthday, the year I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, my daughter's first Easter, etc. We get to look back at them each year and remember. It is one of my favorite times of year!

Here are a couple of pictures showing you how I display my hollowed eggs.

This is in no way a tutorial on how to decorate cute eggs. Tiffany's gorgeous eggs put mine to shame! I think I have to look up some new methods for decorating and show you what I find in the next couple of weeks! I just hope that if you haven't hollowed your eggs before, you try it at least once this year! It's my FAVORITE way to keep Easter memories around this house, and something I will do for a lifetime!

Happy Thursday!

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Easter Egg Holders

We had some fun with our Easter eggs last year and we made special holders for them too that were easy  enough for my 4 year old to be involved and fun enough to make a bunch so I wanted to share them with you!

I got this idea straight out of Martha Stewart Living. It was super easy and cheap. It cost me $2 to get a roll of 20 gauge wire from Hobby Lobby. I made 9 holders and have tons of wire left so you get a lot for just $2. A pen was too tiny for the loops so I wrapped the wire around a glue stick and a screwdriver too. I made about 6 loops around and then cut the end.

You then flatten the loops and make a circle the size you need and attach the ends by making another loop.

None of mine look exactly alike, they all came out unique, which is part of the fun! Love these. I always enjoy a basket full of colored eggs, but am loving this new stand-up way of showing off your eggs.

For the egg in the picture above, I just applied a rub-on letter.  That was the super simple method and not nearly as fun as coloring them, but still cute enough for display.

For the eggs in the picture below, we applied stickers to the eggs before dipping into the color. After the eggs dried, I removed the stickers and there you have fun designs all over! I had way too much fun with this making polka-dot, monogrammed, alphabet, and striped eggs.

Do you have a fun way of showing off your eggs?  I would love to hear about it!  Thanks for stopping by!  

I will be linking to these parties this week!

Happy Tuesday!

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Thrify Re-Do Roundup Part 1

I was so pleased at the start of the month, when we asked what sort of projects you guys were interested in seeing more of, and so many of you asked for item re-dos!! I have incredible thrift stores in my town and one of my favorite things to do is scour them for items that are well below their potential and try to take things up a notch. Or several notches if I can!!

I often hear people make the following comment in some form regarding decorating with items found in thrift stores. "I see things that might have some potential, but I just don't know what I would do with them once I got home." I start thinking to myself about how the possibilities are really endless, but eventually I realize that there are a few tried and true methods that I use again and again. I'd like to share a few with you today and hope that you might be able to put some of them to good use.

I've also done a Thrifty Re-Do Part 2, which you can find at this link.

1.) Add White.

These shutters and a little white spray paint were just what I needed to give my "meh" recessed niche a little pop.

Lovely, easy and cheap.

2.) Find Your Favorite Spray Paint Color and Use It!

My favorite color of spray paint last year was Mediterranean by Valspar, and it made it's way all around my house.

My favorite spot was on these lamps, on my Re-Vamp to a Blue Lamp project.

3.) Add Stain, White and Numbers.

This tiny old desk just needed some rust maintenance and a bit of a makeover. A bit of white, a bit of stain and a cute number.

My sister loves to harass me for numbering and lettering things like this.

Her: Why do you need to put numbers on everything?

Me: Because it's awesome.

If you have someone who doubts the number/letter scenario, just proceed as planned and prove them wrong.

My best example is my Drab to Darling Desk Re-do. I think the number made it. What do you think?

4.) Add Paint and A Font.

I'm not a Longaberger basket collector,

so I transformed it with a different message, and you can why my $1 Welcome Sign is one of my favorite items in the house.

5.) Add Paint and Paper.

This old stool had been loved by it's previous owner, and it showed.

But with a little paint, and some cute owls Mod Podged to the top, My Refinished Owl Stool was ready to be loved by my little guy too.

These are just a few of my favorite tips and some fun end results. I'll be sharing part 2 and 3 soon, so be sure to come back for more!!

What are your best weapons or techniques for turning thrift store trash into treasure?

I'll be linking to these lovely parties, so stop by and see what everyone is sharing! Have a great week!!

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Post-It Note Covers

To do.. today, tomorrow, (should have done yesterday..geez). I'm always making lists or leaving myself a little Post-it somewhere around the house or at school. Post-its are so handy, I keep them practically in every nook and cranny. I do notice they are a little drab though..that bland vomit yellow color.

So with a little revamping I came up with a cute cover to protect them and make them a little more stylish!

All you need is some scrapbook paper, thread or ribbon, some mini brads, Post-its (3X3 size) and viola!



Step 1. Cut your card stock/scrapbook paper 8" X 3"



Step 2. Place your Post-it pad on your card stock and peel of the backing and glue it to the card stock to hold it into place. You will want to fold up the edges and score it with your fingers.





Step 3. Cut 2 3/4" circles out of card stock to use for securing the cover together along with use of the ribbon and mini brads.





Step 5. Attach the ribbon by spinning it around the brads creating a figure eight motion between the two.



In no time these covers can be made with hardly any supplies. Obviously they're great for yourself, and you can stash one in your purse, glove compartment, desk drawer. But why stop there..these would make great party favors: Thank You's, teacher gifts, stocking stuffers...endless!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a fantastic weekend. I'll be linking up to these great parties.

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A Photo Backdrop for any Occasion

Who doesn't love a good party, right? Well, one way to jazz up any party is to have a photo booth where your guests can capture some of the sweet memories they are making. When a good friend of mine was getting married she asked me to help her put together a guest book photo booth and I was more than happy to help her out! Here is a brief overview of what I did.

It all started with scoring some unwanted frames on the cheap at Goodwill.

Then, I fancied them up with some spray paint and gold finishing.

The next few steps are REALLY lacking pictures, but I will do my best to explain.

First, my husband helped me measure and cut PVC pipe in a 5x6 shape, using joints to connect the corners and base. We bolstered the frame with a double sided base.

I then measured out a few yards of fabric and hot-glued seams together to fit it on the pipe. It can easily be taken apart into little pieces and folded up to store.

And, it makes for REALLY cute pictures!

To make their special occasion even more memorable, out friends Matt and Regan used their Polaroid sticky photos to add to their guest book. Look at those cuties.

Hope this is an idea you might be able to find some inspiration from this little post! Sorry about the terrible lack of photos, and the terrible quality of the photos present.

Happy Thursday!

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Silhouette Project - Labeled Cracker Jars

I love me some jars.  I originally confessed my love of jars back in this post.  I had some Silhouette Premium Frosted Glass Vinyl on hand that I was anxious to try out.  

I used it to label my cracker jars in the kitchen.  It is a subtle look and hard to photograph but I was very pleased with the results.  

I typed up the words, sugar, flour, & tea on my computer in the Silhouette Studio.  I sent them through my Silhouette machine and then applied them to my jars.  Super simple and fun!  

It gives a look of etched glass and I love it.  Good stuff.

I liked it so much that I added a monogram to another jar in the house...

and I am just sure there are plenty more jars around here that need a label.  

So, if you want the look of etched glass but don't want to mess with it, Silhouette's Premium Frosted Glass Vinyl is the way to go!  

I will be at these parties this week.

Happy Tuesday!

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Boy's Onesie to Girly Dress & Silhouette Discount!!

I haven't really bought any clothes for our little lady just yet. (My exception being an amazing little swimsuit, because, let's be honest, in that 0-6 months size, ALL little swimsuits are just amazing!) Anyway, I have been sorting through my son's more gender neutral clothing and onesies trying to see which things can be turned from "neutral" to "little lady." I grabbed this sweet little "hug" onesie and decided to see just what I could do with it.

If you have not already heard, the Silhouette SD can now cut fabric!!! Incredible, right?! They have both sewable and non-sewable fabric interfacing that can be cut by your Silhouette machine!! (Lemon Tree Creations readers can receive a discount on the interfacing, so read on for details!!)

I love appliques and think they will be the best way to covert some of my boy onesies to girl onesies, and the fact that I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CUT OUT THE DESIGNS BY HAND, sigh. It just makes me so happy!

I found a cute little flower design from Silhouette's online store and duplicated it twice, adjusting the sizes to make each subsequent flower slightly bigger than the one before, and printed the screen onto regular printer paper so that I could compare the options on my onesie before I cut the fabric. (I also was testing the sizes of this "little sister" font, because I'll definitely be making one of those shirts now that I don't need to cut out the little letters!)

Once I found the perfect size, I cut out my fabric interfacing slightly larger than the design, ironed it onto the back of my fabric, and loaded it onto the Silhouette's cutting mat.

It cut my little flower beautifully!! I was a little impatient when I was removing the excess fabric from the mat and my flower's stem tore off...

but when it was ironed on you couldn't tell the difference. I straight stitched a thin white line of thread around the edge of the applique to secure it and to add a little more detail.

The flower was perfect, but to gussy the onesie up just a little bit more, I ruffled a thin strip of fabric and sewed it along the waistline.

Now I had a dress!

I wanted to play with the fabric interfacing a bit more, so I ordered this fun 3-D layered flower design from Silhouette's online store.

I ironed the non-sew fabric interfacing onto the same material that I used for the skirt, and ran it through the Silhouette machine.

I did the same thing with the blue fabric and ended up with several fun piles of petals.

I cut slits on a few of the petals and hot glued them so that they would have a slight cone appearance, much like I did in my Scrapbook Valentine Wreath. I layered them on top of one another, hot glued them down along with a strip of ruffle and a pearl button in the center, and glued them to a hair clip.

And I was done!!

A pretty plain onesie, into a pretty little dress...and a hair clip!

I'm sure I'll be tackling more onesies in the next few months, particularly after seeing these pieced jersey onesies last week over at KoJo Designs. Too too cute!

Have you been dying to get your hands on a Silhouette?! Would you like to try out the new fabric interfacing? Well now is the perfect time to get your hands on both!!

Right now Silhouette American is offering Lemon Tree Readers a great deal on these products!!!!

You can get a Silhouette SD, one of each of the fabric interfacing (clean cut & sewable), and a roll of white flocked heat transfer material for $229!

If you already have a Silhouette and just want the fabric interfacing, you can get 25% off!

To receive these discounts, simply go to the website here and use the code LEMON at checkout.

I'll be linking to these amazing parties this week, so check them out!! See you next week!

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