Weekend Inspiration: Mother's Day

It's been an insane week preparing for a huge work event. The good news is that because of all the extra time spent at work now, later there will be much, much less. Things will calm down just in time for me to take a quick trip to Florida for Mother's Day. I can't wait to spend the say relaxing and spoiling Mom! Here's a few of my favorite ideas for Mother's Day gifts from around the internet:



1. Can you believe this basket is made from paper flowers? Gorgeous AND long lasting!

2. These sweet topiaries are perfect for a Mom with simple, classic taste.

3. If your family is spread out all over the place, your Mom would loves this bracelet to reflect each person's location.

4. How charming are these mini-birdhouse key holders?

5. A DIY coffee scrub for the Mom who's all about the beauty products... and caffeine.

6. A fold-over clutch can be personalized for any style.

7. This flower monogram would impress any Mom!

8. Sharpie mugs have been around for a little while but would be a simple, customizable treat.

Have you already made or gotten your Mom something? Do you give gifts to other important women in your life on Mother's day? I'd love to know!

Sheila

Homemade Fruit Bouquet

It's time to get down to serious Mother's day business. This year my Mom actually made a request, which is unusual for her: a mixed CD and a scarf. Isn't it funny how something so simple can be so appreciated? I love making playlists for family members with songs connected to special memories or meaningful words. This has always been the song Mom and I share. How could one refuse this simple request? But also, how could one not add a little something extra? ;) 

I love giving things that are useful, and don't have to be stored long term. I also try to avoid loading people with sugar as a gift: Thanks for being awesome Mom. Please accept this gift of high blood pressure and an unhealthy dose of bad cholesterol. Love you! Yeah, not so much. But there is an alternative! A fruit bouquet is the perfect blend of all things healthy, useful, and beautiful. It can be expensive to buy one pre-made, but not expensive at all to make yourself. Plus, it's great semi-last minute idea. Not that anyone ever does that...

PS. I made a (questionable) photo back drop! ^^ Look at that effort.

The secret is:

A metal cookie cutter. This one was 99 cents at Joann's. 

Besides the fruit and the cookie cutter, you'll also need:

• bamboo skewers (I liked the natural look, but soak them in water with a little green food coloring if you want them to look more like stems)
• medium sized jar (A cleaned Starbucks frappuccino bottle worked perfectly) 
• a little ribbon or rafia (to make it fancy)
• melon baller (or small paring knife and mad sculpting skills)

The fresh fruit recommended for this simple arrangement:

• whole pineapple
• strawberries 
• green grapes
• cantaloupe

The first and hardest step is preparing the pineapple.



Cut off the top of your pineapple but don't throw it away just yet. Flip the rest of the pineapple upside-down on the flat, cut side. Carefully remove the rind in segments saving the bottom section to cut off last. You don't need to worry about removing the center. Slice your pineapple into sections anywhere from 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Use your secret weapon (cookie cutter) to push into the slices and create the flower shapes. Push a bamboo skewer through the tough center at a slight angle until it pokes through about 1/2".  You can add a little variety by cutting the skewers to different lengths and arranging the other fruit around them. Add the fruit to the jar as it's prepared so you can tell how much more you're going to need. Four pineapple flowers was perfect for a jar this size.

Next, put grapes and strawberries on skewers. Couldn't be easier. This jar held  4 grape skewers and 3 strawberry skewers.

Cut the cantaloupe using the larger side of a melon baller to create the center of the flowers. It works best if one side is flat. Use the tiny bit of skewer poking through the top center of the pineapple flowers to keep the cantaloupe in place.

Now it's time to get fancy.

Arrange your flowers how you like them. I'm not particularly good at this, so I'm sure your's will look a lot cuter. After you're satisfied with the arrangement, carefully pull out the longest leaves from the top of the pineapple. Slide one leaf at a time inside the jar, staying outside of the skewers until they are all the way around the inside, which took about 6 or 7 leaves. Add a ribbon or rafia bow and you're finished!

A different challenge in making your own fruit arrangement verses buying it is wrapping it up. If possible, just put it in the fridge how it is to keep until you present it. If you need to cover it up for any reason, it's easy enough to use a plastic grocery bag carefully tied around the top and remove it before gifting. Or go all out and get a cellophane bag with some extra rafia.

Do you have a special song with your Mom? What other fruit would you want to incorporate? I'd love to know.

Sheila :)

How to Make an Embroidered Painting

Today is my friend Margaret's Birthday! She's been one of my few good friends since I arrived in Columbia so I wanted to be sure to make it extra special. One of my favorite presents to make is an embroidered painting. 

I don't know if there is a real name for this: I've not seen the exact same thing before. But it's relatively easy to do and very personalized. It could be adapted into a sweet Mother's Day gift as well (I'll post more on my actual Mother's Day plans later). It might look complicated, but it's totally doable in one evening and worth the slightly extra effort.

You will need:

1. Acrylic paints in colors of your choice. These are the Joann Fabrics store brand (Essentials) in basic black and white, "Baby Blue," and "Carribean Coast," Scribbles fabric paint (aka puffy paint) in "Glittering Ruby", a wide flat brush, a skinny flat brush,  a detail brush, pencil/pen, and an awesome eraser.*
*this might be optional for you. But not me.

2. A blank white canvas on a wooden frame. Fun fact: These are usually about $3 a piece at Big Lots.

3. Embroidery floss, a needle, and a push pin.

Now let's get started!

Use a picture of an outline map as a guide to copy on your canvas. Mess it up. Erase it all. Start over. You could also trace an outline if you have a map cutout you like.When you're happy with it, pencil in your quote and location hearts. It's not going to be perfect and that's part of what makes it special.  Marge's family is from Florida, she lived in Philly, and now we're in SC.

The "...Whithersoever thou goest." is from the King James version of Joshua 1:9,
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Paint your background. The plan originally was to mix a very light gray for the outside, and a slightly darker gray for the land so the words and hearts would pop. It didn't look as gross as this picture would suggest, but I ended up covering the light gray with baby blue anyway. It was much harder to see the pencil then anticipated so it was a good thing I covered the final lines in a fine Sharpie first. That detail will be entirely dependent on the paint you use. Each layer should dry in about 10-15 minutes. 

Prep to start embroidering. Use a push pin to pre-poke holes in the canvas along your pencil outline, keeping the holes between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch apart. Don't skip this step: it will make the embroidering to come SO much easier. If you've worked with embroidery floss before, you know it's pretty thick to use the whole chuck at one. Unravel about 2 feet at a time and split the 6 strands so you have 2 long pieces of 3 strands each. Thread it on to your needle by pulling the length of the floss halfway through (you're now working with a piece that's about a foot long since it's folded in half through the needle). Tie a knot at the very end. You'll end up doing this step multiple times depending on the length of your quote. 

Now it's time to embroider your quote. I learned to embroider from my Grandmother when I was 10. My skills have not improved any since, but I like to pretend. To embroider, (1 and 2) you will bring your needle up through the next hole, (3) pull all floss through, (4) and stitch over the space you skipped. Those are terrible instructions. But these at Sublime Stitching are great, promise.

Once you've finished embroidering, the hard part is over! Now it's just time to add some fun details. The glitter puffy paint was a perfect touch for the location hearts. Then add some waves (Carribean Blue) and mountain ranges (1 more drop of black paint to the leftover dark gray mix). The color used for the waves just happened to matched the embroidery floss so it made the perfect color to finish the edges.

Let it dry over night, mostly for the puffy paint, and then it's ready to be gifted or displayed! The gray comes out looking like many different colors throughout this tutorial since it was dark outside while this was being made, but it actually looks pretty cute in real life and I would still recommend using it. I even grew to appreciate the light gray layered under the baby blue  All together, this took about 3 hours, not counting final drying time.

I can't wait to give it to Marge tonight! Who would you make something like this for? And where would your hearts be? I'd love to know.

Sheila :)