Seashell Crafts for Your Nautical Beach House Decor

I'm convinced seashells are just about the most fun, least expensive decorating accessory you'll ever find for the summer house.  Recently, I was shopping in Marshalls and came across this glass container for just $5.99.  I loved the natural woven design surrounding it, especially its nice, aged "drift-wood" look.

I had some inexpensive shells from Big Lots ($3) and decided to embellish it just a bit.  I barely used any of the shells...lots left over for another seashell craft some day.

This was a fun little project to do while watching Mapp and Lucia on Netflix.  Have you ever seen that old series?  I got hooked and watched both seasons.  I had to watch to see what ensemble Georgie would wear next.  That man has style!  He dressed better than the women in the show.  Ha!

To add a little seashell embellishment to our container, I snipped off about 4-5 inches of some 3-ply jute yarn purchased from Hobby Lobby for this previous seashell bottle craft.  I separated out the three strands since I wanted my jute thread nice and skinny.
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You Made That from What? Welcome to the 165th Metamorphosis Monday!

For this Metamorphosis Monday, I'm sharing some neat little transformations you can make right at home.   I was inspired by this wood tray I saw in a local Ballard Designs Outlet recently on THIS shopping trip.

Come a bit closer and take a look.  Not the greatest pics since they were taken with my camera phone and it's dark inside Ballard Designs...but I think you'll get the idea.)

Collect some vintage yard sticks and rulers and make a fabulous one-of-a-kind tray or table top.  Don't forget to apply a few coats of polyurethane or wax to protect the surface from drink spills and rings.  I've been keeping my eye out while antiquing but haven't been able to find any neat old yardsticks.  They seem to be pretty scarce these days.  You could also take new yardsticks, beat them up a bit and age them with stain or paint to get a vintage look without the cost of vintage yardsticks.

Pinterest Inspired Yardstick Ideas:
Here are come more things you can do with yardsticks.  All these are from Pinterest.  Click HERE to visit my "Yardstick" inspiration Pin Board, then click on any photo on the board to follow the pins back to the original source.

You can make a backdrop for wall hooks.  Really, all you would need to do is nail or use a liquid nails wood glue to attach old yardsticks to a board.  Then just attach your coat hooks through the yardsticks into the board.
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Make a Beach or Seaside Table Decoration: A Tutorial

Yesterday, we went spring shopping in some of my fave haunts in THIS post.  On our shopping trip, we spied these cuties at Big Lots.  I could so see these in a summertime tablescape.  Actually, they would look great almost anywhere.  Imagine three lined up across a kitchen window sill with the sun lighting them up from behind.  Add them to a pretty spring/summer vignette on an entry table.  Or, tuck some flowers down inside each bottle and decorate an outdoor patio table for an evening dinner.

They were $6 each which wasn't terrible, but I knew I already had everything I needed at home to make my own.

Here are the supplies I used.  Ignore the Mod Podge and the bowl/paintbrush.  I ended up using a hot glue gun instead...more on that in a sec.   For this little project you'll need: a pretty wine or water bottle, scissors, glue gun, drill with a tiny bit, some small seashells or starfish, narrow jute or rope, raffia, and nylon thread or fishing line.

I stole a few blue bottles off the bottle tree you see outside on the deck in this previous SPRINGTIME table setting post.  (You can read more about bottle trees, HERE and see the one on the deck in  THIS post.)

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How to Make Music-Covered Hearts for Valentine's Day: A Tutorial

Yesterday for our Tablescape Thursday, I shared a Valentine's Day table setting with a sweet, romantic easy-to-make centerpiece.  I had been plotting thinking for some time about creating a willowy little "tree" with the River Birch branches I'm always picking up from my front yard.  

I decided to decorate my little birch tree with hearts so I checked several places online.  During my search I came across some cute, papier-machéd, music covered hearts and I loved the look, but not so much the price, especially since  I knew I would need a good many to fill my tree.    

So, I began thinking about how I could make hearts similar to those I had seen online.  I really didn't want to  papier-maché the hearts so I decided to shop the discount stores for inexpensive, small hearts for decoupaging.  I'm still sort of new to this decoupaging thing, having just tried it out for the first time back around Halloween when I decoupaged a couple of pumpkins in THIS post and THIS post.  But I figured, if you can decoupage pumpkins, why not little hearts.

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Christmas Mice Ornaments or Present Toppers: A Tutorial

Looking for an ornament or present topper? Christmas mice with candy cane tails make cute ornaments for the tree.   They are also great little present toppers.  This is a great craft for all ages.  I have a faux candy cane tucked inside my little mouse below, but you'll probably want to use a real candy cane if you attach these to a Christmas present.  The faux candy canes work great when making these to use as ornaments.

Here's how Mr. Mouse looks with a real candy cane tail.

Tutorial for Candy Cane Mice:

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Make a Pincushion Tutorial: Welcome to the 146th Metamorphosis Monday!

Greetings! How has your weekend been? I hope you've had a fabulous one! I spent Saturday down in Macon, Georgia with my sister and niece at the Christmas Made in the South Fair.  Mark Ballard was there and it was so good to stop by and chat with him a bit.  Did anyone else go to Christmas Made in the South?  It was packed with folks as you can see in this pic below.

Make a Pincushion!
A few weeks ago, I attended an amazing crafting event.  During this fabulous crafting soiree, one of the crafts we made was an adorable pin cushion.  I was thinking today about what a cute Christmas gift it would make, especially if it were tucked down inside a little sewing box.

Today I created another one and took pics along the way in case you would like to make one for yourself or a friend.  To make your pin cushion, you'll need:

Poly fill
Jar lid (medium size lid works well and you can spray-paint your lid if you like)
Embroidery thread or narrow yarn
Embroidery needle
Scrap fabric
A button that looks pretty with your fabric

Do you recognize my scrap fabric?

It's some of the fabric that was left over from when pillows were made for the dormer window seats...

...located in the upstairs family room.  It's also the same fabric that's on the chairs in this room.

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A Blue and White Pumpkin for the Guest Room

There were so many wonderful tablescapes posted for yesterday's Tablescape Thursday!  I got a kick out of all the Halloween table settings--so whimsical and fun!

French Bleu Vintage Giveaway:
The Shopping Spree giveaway from French Bleu Vintage is still underway.  Click HERE to leave your comment to be entered.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about these wonderful découpaged pumpkins I found in the October issue of Country Living.

That post (HERE) also contained a little tutorial showing how you could découpage a "craft" pumpkin.

You may remember the pattern I chose for my pumpkin was the floral fabric on this cute pillow.

Here's how it looked when finished.  I had so much fun with this one, I really wanted to découpage at least one more pumpkin before Halloween was all gone for another year.

I chose a fabric pattern from the guest room this time.

Can you guess which one?

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The Queen of the Ball: Welcome to the 166th Tablescape Thursday!

Happy Tablescape Thursday!  This week I'm so excited to share a beautiful, whimsical party table created for a fun crafting event I was privileged to attend recently.  You know those moments in life, those rare moments when you see something so wonderful your mouth flies opens and you just stand there in complete awe?   I had one of those moments this past Saturday evening.

After spending the day at the Country Living Fair and dinner out that evening with friends, we headed back to the hotel where the ladies from out of town were staying.  I had been invited by a friend, to a fun, craft event--a gathering of friends.

As we entered the room, we were greeted by a cute sign with a crown tipping off the top.  You can just see the crown on the top left.

And then...WOW!  Just WOW!

My pictures don't really do this room justice because the room was lit by fluorescent lighting.

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Country Living Fair in Stone Mountain, Georgia

I haven't been to a crafts fair in years.  We used to go to them all the time, but after a while you begin to feel like there's nothing new under the sun.  When I heard Country Living Magazine sponsors a fair at Stone Mountain Park each year, I knew I had to check it out.   It definitely didn't sound like your typical crafts fair from years gone by and it really wasn't.  There were crafted items for sale, but there were also lots of vintage and antique pieces, as well as new.

I didn't get to see it all; the fair was huge!  But I thought I'd take you along with me today to see some of what was available for purchase last weekend at the Country Living Fair.   Some of the photos may be a bit dark, so please excuse.  The booths were underneath the trees and they were not always well lit since we were in the great outdoors.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.  Click twice and it will enlarge even more.


Several booths were arranged as "rooms."   This was definitely not a typical "crafts" fair.  I loved the chandeliers in this booth.

A close up of one of the chandys...

Here's another fun use for your silver champagne/wine cooler in between those parties.  Turn it into a pretty fall planter.  Maybe that's what I should do with the one I bought HERE that arrived with a broken handle.  I'm pretty sure I still have it around here somewhere.

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Halloween Decorating and Pumpkin Carving

Sharing a few links from past Halloweens here at BNOTP and a new use for those manly power tools.  I love what he did with the Dremel!

Just click on the links to view each post.

Power Tools and Pumpkins:   Power tools make any job easier...even pumpkin carving!

Rat Infestation!  I saw these again this year at Michael's.  They may be my favorite Halloween decorating idea, ever.  I know the real ones aren't cute...but these totally make me smile each time I go up the stairs.
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Make a Wind Chime from Orphaned Spoons and Forks: Welcome to the 143rd Metamorphosis Monday!

Happy Metamorphosis Monday!

For Met Monday, I'm sharing a fun Before and After you can make at home.  Recently, I posted a movie house tour of the amazing house in the movie Practical Magic, HERE.  While watching the movie, there was a scene that reminded me of  something I had seen recently while out antiquing.  In the movie, the Aunts (Aunt Jet and Aunt Frances) have a fun wind chime hanging out back in one of the trees.  This was the best view I could capture...it was only on the screen for quick second.  I could see it was made from spoons, knives and forks.  Looks like they spread out and curled the tines on some of the forks.  

The wind chime in Practical Magic made me think of two wind chimes I saw a few weeks ago hanging outside a local antique shop.  (These next two pics were taken with my camera phone.)   Is this not amazingly clever?   It appears they just punched some tiny holes in the bottom of an old tin and suspended beads and odd pieces of stainless flatware with fishing line to create this cute wind chime.  I love the salt shaker hanging in the center.  Fun metamorphosis!

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4th of July Napkin Ring Tutorial

While we continue enjoying all the wonderful tablescapes linked yesterday for Tablescape Thursday, here's a little tutorial for the napkin ring I used in the 4th of July tablescape I shared.

This is a super easy napkin ring to make. It reminds me of beautiful patriotic bunting.

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4th of July Craft or Party Favor

A Flag Day and 4th of July Inspired Craft:

Today is Flag Day! With today being Flag Day and the 4th of July just a few weeks away, I thought I'd share a fun little craft/party favor you could create to use as a centerpiece for your 4th of July table or as a gift for your friends.

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Valentine's Day Gift or Craft Centerpiece

The Valentine's Day table setting I posted for TT this week had a yummy centerpiece that is also great to make and give as a cute gift. This centerpiece was created in colors of red, pink and silver for Valentine's Day, but you can create the same centerpiece/gift with candy bars in pastel colors for Easter or Mother's Day or for a birthday gift. This also makes a great end-of-year gift for a favorite teacher.



Years ago, I bought one of these "sundaes" for my son. When I was moving everything out of his room to make way for a home office, I came across it again. He had never taken it apart to eat it...what was wrong with that boy?! ☺

I thought it would make a fun centerpiece for a Valentine's table, so I took it apart to see exactly how it was made and then recreated it with new candy. I've put together a little tutorial...you are going to love how easy this is to make.




To make this "sundae" you'll need:
Hot glue gun
1 parfait glass
50-55 small snack size candy bars (in whatever color is appropriate for your needs)
1 four-inch styrofoam ball (cut in half)
50-55 Floral U-pins (available in craft stores)
1 bendy straw (any grocery store should have these)
1 or 2 pieces of white tulle (around 6-8 inches in size) to represent the whipped topping
1 round red candy or truffle to represent the cherry on top
Time needed to make: Around 15 minutes




Here's a little close up of the floral U-pins. Before you get started, cut the 4" styrofoam ball in half.




Start by filling your parfait glass up with candy bars. Next, run a bead of hot glue around the top rim of the parfait glass. (The hot glue is visible in the pic below.)




Press the halved styrofoam ball onto the hot glue. Give that a minute to dry, then you're all set to start adding the tiny candy bars.




Take a floral U-pin and poke it through the edge of the paper on one end of the candy bar. You have to push pretty hard to get the floral pins to pierce the strong wrapper on the candy bar, so I worked atop a thick piece of foam board. A plastic cutting board would work well, also.




Starting at the bottom, stick the candy bars into the styrofoam ball all the way around as shown below. Repeat this process for two more rows. I got so carried away with adding the candy bars, I forgot to take pictures again until I had them all on.




I just went around and around layering them close enough to each other to hide the white of the styrofoam underneath. Three rows did the job, but I added 3-4 candy bars on top to finish it off and to make sure none of the styrofoam would be visible. I ended up using around 46 candy bars. Buy a few more just to be safe. You don't want to run out...plus, there's nothing wrong with a few leftovers for the creator of the sundae. ☺




Once all the candy bars are in place, take your bendy straw and bend/crimp it about 1/3 up from the bottom of the straw. Add a drop of hot glue to where you crimped the straw, then just push the straw down into the styrofoam ball.




Gather your tulle into kind of a poof and add some hot glue to the bottom where it's gathered together. I used two small pieces of tulle. That was easier than trying to keep one larger piece gathered together. Then just stick it onto the center/top of the styrofoam ball. You could probably use the floral pins to attach it, but hot glue worked better for keeping the tulle in the poofy shape I had created.




You're almost done. Just take your truffle or round piece of red candy and hot glue it in the center of the tulle, to represent the cherry on the top of your sundae.




That's it...all done!




When the pastel colored candy bars begin appearing in the stores any day now, you could make one of these for Easter. A candy-bar sundae would make a cute end-of-year gift for a teacher or a birthday gift for a friend or co-worker. Happy sundae making! ☺



You'll find additional Valentine's Day tablescapes, HERE. After you click, just scroll down to the header topic: "Valentines."