Burlap Wreath!

 So I made this wreath a few months ago, it was my first project I'd tried in a while and actually my first wreath. I love all things burlap and a wreath just seemed like a perfect accent piece to our front door.

I searched and searched pinterest and other blogs I personally follow for their means of making a wreath. I finally decided on a wire wreath from from Jo Ann's and tied the burlap strips around the wire form.

I really didn't know if I wanted to tie around all four wire circles or just three, but when I tried it any other way, it just look funny to me. So I ended up tying around all four, starting with the wiring that attached all four circles. Then I crammed as many tied burlap straps between the previous ones as I could.

My burlap strips were approximately two inches wide and eight to 10 inches long. They weren't all cut perfectly at the same exact size for, you know, like...authenticity. Or whatever.

I also had to decide which section was going to be the top for my wreath hook to sit. That was fun. I want everything to look symmetrical, so making sure I picked a good spot was important. Laugh all you want!

Once the burlap was all on and the ends were sitting like I wanted, I also had to decide where my fabric rosettes were going. Again, symmetrical and whatnot.

These fabric rosettes were made from some scrap fabric. A friend of mine gave me the green/gray colored fabric and the orange is from an old maternity shirt. It's hard to tell by the picture, but the orange is actually white and orange striped. Don't ask why I had a white and orange striped maternity shirt.

I used brown construction paper as a base for my rosettes. I glued the end of the fabric down with my hot glue gun. Once that was set, I twisted the fabric and then hot glued the fabric to itself and the construction paper and let that set. Once to the end, I made sure that was glued down really well.

I also used alligator clips for the rosettes. I glued the flat part of the alligator clip to the construction paper, let it set. Then I just use the clip to attach to a knot in the burlap.

Now, let me tell you. As cute as this thing was, and yes I mean WAS, it just made me so mad. The hot glue didn't keep the alligator clips attached to the construction paper to keep the rosettes on the wreath. Currently, there is just this sun-stained ugly burlap flopping around on what is considered a wreath on my front door.

I'll fix it eventually.

-Erin

Homemade Playdough!

I have always steered clear of playdough. I'm not sure why, seeing as I absolutely loved it as a child. I loved when my mama would just set me loose in the kitchen and on the table with a flour/water mixture and all of the cookie cutters in sight. Favorite past time as a five year old. Ever.

So although I'm a bit late on this, I made some for the girls. I looked and looked at recipes online until my eyes couldn't take it anymore. After seeing that this recipe had such great success and was pinned and repinned on Pinterest, I decided on it. And, well, I just am in love with adelynSTONE and everything that it entails!

 Ingredients:

 1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/4 cup salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

(I used safflower oil)

2 tsp cream of tartar

Food coloring

(I only had neon)

Here comes the tricky part:

Mix all of the ingredients together, warm over medium heat on the stove, stirring as you go. When the dough starts to form, remove from heat and knead by hand.

That's it. That's all there is to it.

But I hate that it's so simple, so I'm going to break it down for you. Not that you can't figure it out, but because I like to be thorough. :]

This is Miss Claire. I had her help me a bit before sending her pretty little head to bed. I just want to pinch her cheeeeeeks.

Back to the recipe, though.

You can add the ingredients in any order, I always tend to mix my dry ingredients and then add a wet, mix, then add the next wet ingredient, etc. Baker at heart, you know. Once the ingredients are well mixed with minimal clumps, I added my food coloring.

 

   

 Claire couldn't stop giggling, then gasping, then acting scared. She really had every range of emotion during this. She just wasn't sure. After the dough was done, it took her about thirty minutes of sitting with me next to her with the dough for her to touch it. It was a funny experience.

Mix the colors thoroughly and then move the pot over to the stove. I used a larger stove eye for more coverage of the bottom of the pot. Who knows if it makes a difference. That's just the way my mind works.

 Don't stop stirring. Not even to take a picture. Have someone else there. Because when I stopped for a photo op, this is what happened:

And so I panicked! I didn't want it to burn! But, of course, I had used my old crappy pot. So it was bound to happen anyways. So I just worked quickly to scrape the bottom and the sides, making sure to mold the dough together a bit.

  

Once formed and there were no liquid-y parts, I plopped the dough out onto my counter. It looks rather ugly at this point. Not very desirable. 

I kneaded like my life depended on it. Why? Because it was hot! Although it felt good at first, it became way too hot. I looked like a crazy person trying to knead this hot dough.

 See my poor hand! It was a rather interesting experience, I'll tell ya that much. It was somewhat therapeutic. Like the whole hot stones on your back thing. I'm guessing it's like that. I wouldn't know. (Hint hint, husband...)

 

Over at adelynSTONE, KristanLynn used baby food jars to store the dough. I used color coordinated plastic kids' storage. Go figure.

We have our playdough sitting in our hall closet, hidden by our tower of towels. We have a very sneaky six year old and I wouldn't put it past her to find it and play with it in the mornings before we get out of bed. So. Hidden, it is.

P.S. I know there was mention of glitter over at adelynSTONE but glitter and my husband just do NOT get along. :]

-Erin