How To Make an Inexpensive Flower Arrangement

I told you all that I would share a quick tute on how to make these flower arrangements. You won't believe how simple and fast these are to make.

Here is what you need:

Flowers(obviously) I already had these from last years party.

Styrofoam Balls..these can be found at the Dollar Tree in a 2-pack

Container..mine came from Hobby Lobby and they were 67 cents each

Hot Glue Gun

First step..pop all the flowers off of their stems.

Next, place your Styrofoam ball into your container

 Glue your first row of flowers all the way around the perimeter of the container. If you want this to be removable, then place the flowers slightly higher and make sure that the glue doesn't drip onto your container.

Continue gluing until the Styrofoam disappears.

 And that's it! I told you that it was simple:o)

Here's a neat idea, and one that I was going to use, but decided not to...these arrangements could be used as place card holders. Just glue a name card to a thin dowel rod and stick it down in the Styrofoam ball:o) 

Stay tuned tomorrow for some free printables!!

Inexpensive Party Decor Using Tissue Paper

Today I want to share with you some different ways to use tissue paper when decorating for a party.

When I started decorating for this Barbie Birthday Party, I noticed that the pink and zebra stripes were not exactly coordinating with my home decor:o)

I started taking everything down and realized that I needed to replace the artwork with something. That's when I came up with this idea.

Just cover up the existing art.

All you need is:

Good Tissue Paper(thick)

Sticky Dots, or other removable adhesive

Scissors

Ribbon

Craft Knife

And any other accessorization

 Start off by putting your adhesive along the entire edge of the glass. Lay your tissue paper down and smooth it out along the edges. Use your craft knife to remove the excess paper.

 And it should look a little something like this.

Quick side note, you can iron out MOST of the wrinkles in the tissue paper with an iron set on low, and no steam....do this BEFORE sticking it to the glass:o)

 Lastly, add any embellishments that your little heart desires:o)

The silhouette was created using my Cricut {love} and the Forever Young cartridge.

When the party is over, all you have to do is remove the paper.

How easy was that?

Another way to decorate with tissue paper is to make pom poms. Martha gives a great tutorial on how to make these.

And lastly, the "ceiling medallion"

This only requires 2 pieces of tissue paper. You use the same fan fold as the pom poms, but fold them separately. Fan them out and tape the ends together. Then tape it to the ceiling. Add ribbon to the bottom to give it a more finished look.

Can it get any easier or cheaper?

Let me know how you decorate with tissue paper. I would love to know!!

Barbie Birthday Party Decorations-Part 1

This is Part 1 of the reveal. Part 2 won't happen until after the party. We have had to post pone the party because S.R. has come down with a tummy bug:o(

Thankfully, all of her guests will still be able to attend next weekend.

So since all the decorations are up, I thought I wouldn't hold out in sharing with you all:o)

This is where the girls will be dining in style.

There are so many fun things that are going on here, and the best part is that I was able to keep the cost of decorating really low.

 These little mugs were a great find. They came from Hobby Lobby and they were only 87 cents a piece!! They come with pictures to color and you slide them inside. I just added zebra print scrapbook paper and their first initial:o)

Can I just say that I LOVE MY CRICUT!!!!

 The flower arrangements were really inexpensive, and super easy. I will be sharing a short tute on that soon.

 Do you all love decorating with paper lanterns as much as I do? One of the great things about paper lanterns is that they are reusable, unlike balloons. 

They were purchased from the Dollar Tree...Dollar Tree rocks!!  The "ceiling medallion" was made from tissue paper:o) 

What do you think about my disco ball? It is a Christmas ornament that I found on clearance.
Here's a quick tip...if your curtains don't match your party decor...flip them around backwards. Most curtains have white lining on the back...everything matches white, right?:o)

And some artwork. You won't believe how easy and inexpensive this was. Another tute for another day:o)

S.R. is really looking forward to sharing her special day with all of her friends....even if it's a week later.

Here are the links to the rest of the party:
1. Inexpensive Party Decor using Tissue Paper
2. How to make an inexpensive flower arrangement

Participating in:

All is not well in the OK corral

While Vancouver is reaching nose-bleed levels due to the reasons I put down in my previous posts and fear of being left out forever (too late with 300% gain in just over a decade!) some places are not doing so well.

The OK is one of them. Here are the MOI from the latest stats for feb:

Central OK

Total listings up a few %. Sales down 25% YOY and MOI at s staggering 23 months!

North OK

Total listings up. Sales down 15%. Total volume of sales was less than one of our priciest homes in Vancouver. MOI..23 months again.

Shuswap

30% drop is sales YOY. An unbelievable 39 MOI!!!!

They need an influx of Albertan money Asap, or the place is toast. That shouldn't be a problem with the price of oil hitting $103.

Compare that with Vancouver. VHB on Condo forum calculates the MOI for Vancouver in the low single digits.

What does that tell me? It tells me that I was right in this post (and wrong in many other things) :

The prices in Vancouver are driven by things that are unique to Vancouver. Crime, commodities and Mainland Chinese investors as well as the usual reasons. The rest of the Province is in a full fledged correction since they do not benefit as much from these factors.

Boutique Number Candle

As you know, I am in the middle of getting ready for S.R.'s Birthday Party. I am really pleased with how everything is turning out:o) I thought I would share just a little bit of what I am doing for the party:o)

Today, I want to share with you how to make your own boutique number candle.

This project was absolutely free to me because I already had the supplies on hand.

Here's what you need:

A Number Candle

Glitter

Fabric Puff Paint

White Acrylic Paint or Mod Podge(looking back now, I would have used Mod Podge)

Paint Brush

 Start off by painting the whole number with paint or Mod Podge

 Immediately sprinkle your glitter over the number.

 Let the glue/paint dry and remove excess glitter. Next use the puff paint and trace around the number.

 Since I am using zebra print in a lot of the decor, I attempted a zebra print on the candle.

I saw numbers like these on Etsy for around $7. 

So now you can have your own custom candle for next to nothing!

By the way, are you digging this cake? This was my first attempt at fondant. I am super pleased with the results!

Looking forward to sharing the rest of the party decorations with you!!

Have a great weekend!

Ballard's Provost Plaque Tutorial

Hey You guys! What a week this has been....I have been busy working on S.R.'s Barbie Birthday Party, and I can't wait to share some picture with ya'll...it is turning out so pretty!!! I will have to say that I am a LOT less stressed since the party is smaller...and I started decorating on Monday:o) Next week will be nothing BUT Barbie Party posts:o)

btw....

S.R. IS 3 TODAY:O)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!

For those of you who weren't able to see my guest post at Infarrantly Creative last week, here is the tutorial of the Provost Plaque...and for those of you who want to know what this sign means....this is a replica of an antique French pastry shop sign.

So here goes...

So anyway, I started thinking about what I would want to share with you guys, and it didn't take me long to decide on a knock-off version of the Ballard Designs Pruvost Plaque. I have been drooling over this plaque for ages, and knew that I could make it. I just needed the proper motivation...i.e. guest posting:o)

Here is a picture of what Ballard's looks like:

 Photo Credit: Ballard Designs

And here is what mine looks like:

(please pardon the lighting. It was overcast and towards the end of the day)

The dimensions of Ballard's plaque was too large for the space above my kitchen windows, so I scaled it down a bit.

This project cost just under $30....and Ballard's is $249. 

I am not a woodworker. I leave all woodworking up to my husband. Every time I try a new project involving wood, it is always a COMPLETE FAILURE. However, I completed this entire project by myself!!

Here's what you need:

3- 1x4x6 Pine Boards($10.38 total)

1/2 Pint of Dark Walnut Stain ($5.19)

3 Packs of 3" Mending Brackets($7.11 total..comes in a 4 pack)

Accent Trim piece($6.18)

Wood Glue(on hand)

Picture hanger(on hand)

Acrylic Paint-Black and Green (on hand)

Cutting tools(saw, jig saw)

Screw Driver

 I started out by cutting all the boards on our miter saw.

1st Board=12" wide

2nd and 3rd Board=36" wide

4th Board=46" wide

Bottom Board=60" wide

  

These next few steps are done on the BACK of the boards.

 I drew a line on the end of each board to help me keep the boards centered. 

Once all the boards were lined up, I attached the mending brackets in the center. 

 I took a couple of sheets of paper and taped them together and made a template. I cut it out and taped it to the boards and traced it with a pencil.

 This is what the back looked like before I cut the boards with my jigsaw.

 I went ahead and put my first coat of stain on before using the jigsaw. 

 Next comes the really fun part, using the jigsaw. I didn't get a picture of this step because I was a little busy:o)

Once the entire plaque was cut out, I started on the trim. I didn't want to have to fuss with nails and wood putty, so I just used wood glue to attach the trim.

 The letters are just freehand. I drew them out with pencil first, and went back with the Black acrylic paint.

 

 Close up of the letters

 Once I got all of the letters painted on, I put my second coat of stain on, and I painted the trim green. I also dirtied up the the green paint with a little bit of stain.

 And there you have it.

 This project was really easy, and very, very inexpensive. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to stop by Fussy Monkey Business anytime!!

Participating in:

Parabolic

That's the only word to describe the Feb Vancouver price rise. Here it is from Larry.

What is the reason- is it soaring debt as Jesse has suggested, some of the reasons I listed in my previous post or maybe it is even simple than that- maybe...the world economy was/is recovering and we are just sitting at far too low an interest rate for far too long and that is blowing up our bubble.

BTW - when do we stop calling it a bubble- if it doesn't intend to pop :)

In any case we are skewed by the March 18th deadline for irresponsible mortgages. Lets see what happens after that.

Meanwhile zero rates causes anxiety. Not just for savers who get nothing, and watch inflation eat their hard earned dough, not just for renters who cannot catch up with rising prices, it is even stressful for those on the right side of the game. The big borrowers. They know that ZIRP cannot go on for ever but for now the music is still playing..meanwhile should they sell their biggest asset or buy more. What do to?

That is what our irresponsible Central bankers have done, they have punished prudent behaviour. Carney is like a parent who keeps telling his kids to stop using drugs and then gives them a fresh twenty dollar bill and turns his back. They have mismanaged us into yet another bubble.

..............................

Lets turn our attention elsewhere. Victoria is flat with some average up and all medians down.

Sales are down 25% from last year.

The Okanagan RE board site is down. I will up-date this post once it is up again.

Fraser Valley is flat. Benchmark detached up 1.2% , attached down 2.5% and condos flat YOY.