Studio 27 - By Jennifer Adams: August 2023

Friday, August 25, 2023

DIY Faux Pumpkin Planters

Are you thinking about fall yet? Here is a quick and easy project to bring the upcoming season inside your home:

**********

Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links. If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission. You can read more about affiliate links here

**********

I started with these little foam pumpkins from Dollar Tree and used a plastic serrated knife to remove the tops.

*These orange pumpkins have been available for a few years now, but now they come in plain white too, check it out!

Because the pumpkins are hollow, I added a few blocks of scrap foam by gluing them to the bottoms. This will give me something to poke my greens into. You can also add something like small rocks or marbles if you want to weigh your pumpkins down. Depending on what you put on top, they could easily tip over.

Using faux greens that I had on hand, I clipped off the smaller stems from the main branch. This made them shorter and easier to work with.

If you don't have any greenery available, Dollar Tree has a nice selection of artificial greens and florals. Keep your arrangements green like I did or add in some fall flowers, up to you!

After that I simply poked the cut stems into the foam blocks until the arrangements were nice and full (a bit of hot glue on each stem will better secure them in place). You can keep your greens all one type per pumpkin, or mix them up - I did a little of both. If your greens aren't full enough to cover the white interior of the pumpkins you can also tuck in some moss.

And there you have it, cheap and easy pumpkin planters, ready for your fall décor.

**********

I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

Senior Salon Pit Stop

Will Blog For Comments

Inspire Me Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party

Whimsy Home Wednesday

Thursday Favorite Things

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Funtastic Friday

BFF Open House

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather

Home Matters Linky Party

**********

Do you like the convenience of crafting with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

Apple Cider Instant Digital Download Printable Art

**********

Fall Pumpkin SVG Bundle

**********

This post was featured at:

Funtastic Friday

**********

Home Matters Linky Party

Friday, August 18, 2023

Birthday Decor

When it's time for my children's birthdays, I like to fill my dining room shelves with a collection of birthday photos, mementos and other décor. Take a look:

**********

I have saved the birthday cake candles from each cake every year and pile them into a couple of big glass jars. It makes such a cute visual memory! Just make sure to store them somewhere relatively cool throughout the year- attics, sheds and garages may get hot enough to melt them.

If you look in the lower corner of the bottom pic, you can also see a bit of fabric. I kept their first birthday bibs as well a framed photo from each birthday.

I often customize the candles that go on top of the cakes, you can read about that here.

I have a nice collection of these plastic birthday balloons that I found on clearance at a grocery store many years ago. They have hooks so that they can be hung from the ceiling, but I prefer to layer them onto the shelves.

I also framed some of my Etsy printables and included them in the display:

Yellow Cake

Rainbow Balloons

Red Party Hat

The large party hats are all from Dollar Tree.

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection)

These small plastic hats and balloons intended for use on top of cakes and cupcakes. I opted to put them into jars and display them on my shelves.

In the breakfast room I have a little more décor along with my birthday themed fake bakes.

I'll share more about those in an upcoming post.

The wreath I made by saving bows from my kid's birthday gifts until I had a full rainbow of colors. Just hot glue them on to a foam wreath form and you are good to go.

And there you have it, my birthday décor!

**********

I hope you enjoyed this home décor post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

Seinor Salon Pit Stop

Inspire Me Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays With A Twist

Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party

Unlimited Link Party

Will Blog For Comments

Wonderful Wednesday

Creative Muster

Whimsy Home Wednesday

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Crafty Creators

Funtastic Friday

BFF Open House

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather

**********

Do you like the convenience of crafting with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

Happy Birthday Instant Digital Download Printable - Pink

**********

Happy Birthday Instant Digital Download Printable - Blue

Friday, August 11, 2023

Thrift Store Ceramic Pie

Isn't this little ceramic pie cute? I found it at the thrift store for a couple of dollars and added faux cherries. Check it out:

**********

This piece came with a ceramic lattice top and foil bottom. Originally filled with old dried up potpourri, I cleaned it out so that I could add "cherries" instead.

These foam berries were sold around Christmas time as cranberries, but I think they work ok. It's really just the color and size that matters. I stuffed some into the both the top and bottom pieces of the container and added hot glue to keep them in place.

And there you have it, a cute little ceramic pie to keep company with the rest of my collection 😍

**********

I hope you enjoyed this thrifting post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

The Really Crafty Link Party

Craftastic Monday

Busy Monday

Happiness Is Homemade

Senior Salon Pit Stop

Inspire Me Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays With A twist

Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party

Unlimited Link Party

Wonderful Wednesday

Creative Muster

Whimsy Home Wednesday

Thursday Favorite Things

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Funtastic Friday

BFF Open House

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather

Home Matters Linky Party

**********

Do you like the convenience of crafting with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

Farmers Market Instant Digital Download Printable

**********

Fall Fun SVG Bundle - Commercial Use Ok

Friday, August 4, 2023

Decorating Birdhouses

Outside of my kitchen window is a pine tree where I thought it would be cute to display a collection of miniature birdhouses. Here is how I decorated them:

**********

Starting with these miniature birdhouses from Dollar Tree, I painted them in shades of gray and black. The birdhouses come unfinished in light wood and really are too small for birds to actually use. They make a cute decor, but you'll want something larger if your aim is to attract actual birds to your yard.

You can check out Dollar Tree's online selection of crafting supplies here.

So I had this idea that if I applied glow in the dark vinyl as windows, then the little houses would light up at night! Isn't that a cute idea? They don't work though 😞

I've used this same roll of HTV on clothing -that's been washed multiple times- and it works fine. It also works just fine on the roll. If I have the storage drawer open long enough that it's exposed to the light and then switch off the craft room lights, the entire drawer glows up 😁

Since I know it's not a problem with the vinyl, I'm thinking that the houses just aren't getting enough sunlight exposure to charge up during the day. That combined with light pollution from nearby porch lights and the glow just isn't visible. If you try it yourself and get it to work, let me know!

Anyway, here is how I did it - Cutting a small square of HTV I applied it with my Cricut mini press. Once cool I outlined the details with puffy paint and let dry.

You can read about my Vinyl storage and organization here.

You can see the craft room here.

Using more puffy paint I also added some rose decor to the fronts.

At the same time that I purchased the Dollar Tree decorative houses, I also found this candle lantern for .25 at a garage sale. Again, birds don't like to live here (this time because the entire back is open), but I still thought it would be a cute addition to the collection and give visual variety to the display.

I used the same glow in the dark HTV and puffy paint to detail the windows, with the same lighting trouble as the tiny houses.

Once all of the houses were dry, I used screws to attach them to the tree trunk.

Note: Sometimes wasps like to nest in tiny areas like this, so keep that in mind when you decide where to hang them. I have mine up high enough that if wasps do come in, they won't be a threat to anyone walking by.