Easy No-Sew Shirt

 I love Target's dollar bin.  The other day I was in there and they had a roll of felt ribbon in the shape of hearts strung together-Each roll had 3 colors.  Adorable! I knew I had to do something with it.  

I took it home and grabbed some Steam-A-Seam 2 though you could use Heat N Bond Ultra hold too.

In this photo I had not cut around each heart (as shown by arrow)-This is a must and is the most time consuming part. Once you get each layer cut out, place a row at a time on the shirt. Iron as directed on fusible backing instructions.  The heart ribbon was thick and I didn't feel the hearts were stuck on good enough. So once I had ironed all the rows on from the front, I turned the shirt inside out and ironed the back of the hearts.

 This really made the hearts stick...

There's no getting them off now!

Inexpensive, easy and best of all...My granddaughter loves it!

Boxwood Wreath

 

I really enjoyed the wreath on my front door this Christmas.  It was hard to take it down, the door looked so empty and sad without it. 
 

 So I got out my trusty grapevine wreath, it's the base for many of my wreaths.

 

I had some leftover boxwood from my daughter's wedding. I bought them at JoAnn's. They were originally $2.99 each but they had them at 50% off AND I had a 20% off total purchase coupon.  It took 10 to make this wreath.  

(14" plas boxwood bush 67 L GR-ZBB068-GR)

 I just layered and tied them down with some wire so the boxwood wasn't permanent. 
 

 You can see in the photo above how I layered the bushes. Needle Nose pliers are essential for tying the wire tight in the back. 

 Here is the finished project, very fast and very simple.  I personally love it without anything added to it.

 Though I may add a red or pink heart for Valentine's day. 

(Glittered foam hearts come in a bag of different colors for $1 in Target's dollar bin)

Come springtime I'll probably add my signature Robin's nest. See how to make eggs HERE.

There are many possibilities that could be added for different holidays~Have fun with it!

Christmas Photo Ideas

 

 

A couple of weekends ago, we grabbed our granddaughter, our 2 youngest kids and their spouses and headed for the snow at Crystal Mountain.  All the kids made a snowman and left him undressed/undecorated.  So I got busy dressing him with a snowman kit I made out of air dried clay and felt. The Merry Christmas banner was bought at Target in the party section...I re-glued it onto my own ribbon.
 

Here are some photos I took of the kids and Frosty.

Pictured: My daughter Ronnie with her husband BJ and of course our granddaughter Noelle.

Here my son and his wife Karina are messing around once again, well, Karina is messing around WITH Frosty!
It was really snowing up there.

I made this JOY sign out of big letters bought at Joann's. The "O" is actually a red tinsel wreath that can be purchased at Target, Home Depot or Walmart in various colors. I wrapped red tinsel rope that I bought at Target around all the letters including the "O" so it would match the others.  I didn't even bother painting the letters first...I just attached the tinsel rope with heavy duty glue dots here and there.

Cute Kids!

Remember our Christmas tree HERE that we made out of sand? Well, we HAD to make one out of snow too! I bought the ornaments at Target in their dollar bin.  The star was also bought there but sold with their miniature trees.

It won't surprise you that this is one of my favorite photos... She had been sledding and playing in the snow and was covered in it.  I brought a baggie full of fake glittery snow and put it in her hands, she huffed and puffed and blew the snow out! It was fun for her and made a great photo to put on our Christmas cards.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't leave without posting a photo of my husband and I-This was taken at the very end of the day, we were drenched but still having a great time.

My daughter in law took this shot of the whole scene and posted it on Instagram...By the way, you can find me on Instagram HERE or just search robinbecksnest. You will see there that I HAVE been crafting!
 Yes, I will blog about it all soon!

 

Coastal Christmas

♫♪Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your

beaches!♪♫

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!



The making of a photo Christmas card...

 

From my home I can see Mt Rainier and the Cascade mountain range. Last weekend I looked out my window and saw that it had snowed on the lower hills.  So we, okay, I decided we should run up and try to get a photo for this years Christmas card. 

 

I set the self timer on my camera and went to work setting up the scene. I  realized it was too sunny in this area so we moved across the way in the shade of the trees.

 

My husband really is a great sport!

 

 

Here he is thinking about all the things he's going to get from me for doing this...See the little smirk on his face?

 

 

It wasn't all that bad for him, we stopped for make out sessions.

Feel free to do this amongst yourselves!

We highly recommend it.

 

 

This is the photo I picked...Or so I thought.

 

 

I darkened around the edges and wasn't sure which one I liked better-Most my friends on Facebook liked the first one. Then my friend Tristan from the blog Tristan Time suggested turning it black and white and leaving the bulbs colored.  That was a GREAT idea and I couldn't believe I didn't think of it. Problem was, I didn't know how to do it. That morning she wrote me and said she was bored, to send the photo to her...

 

Within a couple of minutes she sent this back to me! Isn't it cute?  Thanks so much Tristan we love it.  She even sent me one without the text for ordering cards that already have a saying on them.

 

If I had to do it all over again AND we might go back up there... I'd buy the biggest colored bulbs and use a 50 foot strand instead of these which are medium size and only 24 ft long. Just in case you are wondering...We used a 50ft extension cord and plugged it into the outlet in the back of our truck.   

 

 

Lights: Target

Sweater: Target

Boots and gloves: Target

Coffee not pictured: Starbucks which just happens to be located in... You got it: Target



Easy Fall Craft

 

Here's a easy DIY craft...

I took an inexpensive plastic candy holder and turned it into

a pumpkin vase.

 

 

 

First off, go and get yourself a couple of trick or treat plastic pumpkin buckets (pictured below)

I purchased mine at Target for $1.00

 

 

 

 

Spray paint it.

I put a hook into the top of the box, hung the pumpkin on it and took it outside to spray paint-I used two coats with drying time in between each coat.

 

Above you can see the difference of an unpainted bucket and my painted one.  I used Krylon Fusion for plastic spray paint #2442 Satin Terra Cotta. It cost around $4.00 and a can will cover a lot of pumpkins.

I liked the way it looked but decided it needed more character~

So I lightly foam brushed on some Acrylic paint in Burnt Sienna and promptly wiped off most of it with a paper towel.

  I used the DecoArt brand because it was only $1 for 2 ounces.

I loved how it turned out!

 

 

By the way, I cut the lip off the 1.25 quart container the bronze colored mums were in and they fit into the pumpkin bucket just perfect. 

Lastly, I added a simple burlap bow for a little extra Fall touch.

 You may be wondering if the pumpkin face still shows after painting? 

  The paint covers the face but you can still see it's indentation.

   I turned it around so the face is in the back.

 

Here's some more photos. On the last photo I used an even easier technique on the plastic pumpkin without using spray paint.

 

By the way, this is sitting in my newly designed craft studio my husband helped put together~Thanks sweetie!

 

 

Close-Up.

 

 

The pumpkin pictured above is a bit different. It's my lazy pumpkin...I didn't spray paint the little trick or treat bucket. I only brushed on the Burnt Sienna acrylic paint then wiped most of it off keeping as much at I could in the creases of the pumpkin.

It took all of about 2 minutes to do. 

Note: If you are going to use these outside in the weather you will have to coat them with a clear protective spray.

 

This would be a cute inexpensive gift for anyone.

 

Just think of all the wonderful spray paint colors you could use!

 



Spo•rad•i•cal•ly

Hi Everyone! 

 I thought I'd better let you all know that I won't be blogging much this summer.  It will definitely be sporadic.

Now don't get me wrong, I WILL be posting...Sporadically! :)

 I have more summer recipes to share, photos and some easy crafts.

But I tend to craft more in the Fall and at Christmastime.

So stay tuned!

Here's a little photo montage of what we've been up too.

We saw a bunch of this...

...and that, right outside our home in every direction for five straight hours on the 4th!

(last years photo)

We hiked...

 ...and golfed more then should be allowed.

 We found fabulous treasure on the beach...

...And tried our hand at balancing acts!

We put so many miles on our truck in the last few weeks. We've been in search of beautiful scenery like this...

...AND this.

***********

It's been a difficult past 3 years with things going on that are out of our control...

So I'm going to take some time to rekindle with the love of my life and spend time with my family.

I encourage you to do the same~

Be seeing you...Sporadically!