Flower Pot Thank You Gifts

5.04.2015

You can find reasons to be thankful anywhere you look in life. For instance, I am thankful that they sell wine at Wal-mart. I am also thankful that the wine aisle is the same as the chips, cookies, and treat aisle. There’s no need to go searching through the entire store for some Cheetos puffs and a bottle of wine. It’s all right there for your viewing pleasure. And yes, Cheetos Puffs definitely go with wine. And just about everything else on the planet. Lucy agrees with me too, because she likes to lick the cheese off my fingers when I’m done eating them.

In real life, as opposed to my dream life, I buy a lot more groceries than just wine and Cheetos. But it’s fitting because I also have a lot more to be thankful for. One thing I am extremely grateful for is my readers and my fellow blogging friends. I want to give several of them a shout-out for nominating me for several blogging awards. Since you all already know that all I do is eat (and dream) about cheeseburgers while simultaneously crafting, reading, and drinking a glass of wine on the couch next to my twenty-four pound cat, I’m going to skip the question/answer part of the nominations. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with some of my blogging friends, let’s take a little trip, shall we?

#1 (Because she’s my blogging bestie, and basically my soul-mate, other than B of course): Kristine, from Breakfast with Bentley. You must check out her blog, especially if you like mine. Which you clearly do, because you’re reading it. She is the much cooler version of me, and she blogs about everything, not just crafts or her adorable dogs, Bentley and Lambo.

Megan from Short Stop Designs. She is extremely talented in ways that I wish I could be. I love her projects, her designs, and her blog. You MUST check it out.

Laura McDaniel, from Lauramcdaniel.com. She is a beautiful soul, and it comes through in her writing. Take a look at her blog and you’ll see what I mean.

Benji, from Living With Benji. Benji is new to the blogging world, but he is fast moving! He is fun and outgoing. I also love living through his eyes, as he is quite the explorer!

So for my fellow bloggers, THANK YOU for nominating me for awards. I sincerely appreciate it, and feel honored every time. In honor of you, I made these flower pot gifts. Don’t mind that I only made three, and there is four of you. We’re all about sharing over here at Rae of Sparkles.

From This To That: Paint Flowerpots with fun designs, make a sucker filled flower pot! For this project, you’ll need:

Spray paint

Flower Pot

Styrofoam piece fitted to pot

Suckers

Twine

Painters Tape

“Thanks a Bunch” Tag

Pick a color, any color, and paint your whole flower pot. Then make a design using painters tape, and spray the other color over. Wait for the paint to dry, and peal off the tape. You can choose to spray the Styrofoam too, or leave it. I painted mine turquoise to match my pot. Fill with suckers, and you’re left with a masterpiece!

My mom’s always telling me flowers just die anyway, so who wants them? These are the perfect flower pot gift!

DIY

Wine Cork Ornament

4.30.2015

Apparently it’s wedding season. I wouldn’t know, because this year we have not been invited to one single wedding! This definitely gets an exclamation point, because as exciting as they are, they’re expensive. Especially since most of our family and friends are in other states. I love you all, but maybe you should consider a Northern California wedding. I mean, could you get a more beautiful destination? Okay okay…Hawaii is definitely more beautiful. And quite possibly the only place in the US that would cost more than Northern California.

If you’re about to attend someone’s wedding, I have a DIY to share with you. For the past two family weddings we have attended, I have picked up a few things at the reception, and made them into ornaments for the bride and groom. This past year, it was wine corks. As pictured above, I took three wine corks from the reception, added their wedding date in glitter (everything is better with sparkles), hot glued them together, and added a hanging bow.

The year before, I took flowers from the centerpiece. I traveled with them across the country (I should definitely get an award for this. Or at least a back pat.), and put them in a glass bulb ornament for the bride and groom. Tie a little ribbon to the top and voila!

Both ornaments were well-received, and now they have something to hang on their Christmas trees from their wedding day.

DIY

DIY Felt Giraffe

4.23.2015

I know what you’re thinking. Really. I’m a mind-reader. I took a class once and now I’m a bona fide psychic. You didn’t think you could learn to be psychic did you? See, I can read your mind already. Soon enough I’m going to be drawing in more crowds than Theresa Caputo of Long Island Medium (who I love, btw). We”ll probably start touring together. You should get my autograph as soon as possible.

As an encore performance, I’m going to read your mind right now: You’re thinking that I’m doing another felt animal project? There is probably a critical undertone to your question too, but I’ll let that slide. Because yes, I am doing another felt animal project. Why? See photo below:

Easy DIY Felt Project, Hand-sewn Giraffe // DIY Giraffe

After I previously posted my DIY felt animals, a friend of mine mentioned that her son would love a giraffe. Because I’m not in the business of disappointing anyone, not to mention a little boy as adorable as the one pictured above, I got right to work on a felt giraffe. I used the same site as before for this pattern, loosely based it on the giraffe pictured. You can find the giraffe pattern here (and many other animals as well).

He’s tiny, he’s felt, and he’s adorable. What could be better? I know a certain little someone who wouldn’t put him down long enough to take a photo. Good thing I took one before I sent him off.

DIY, Holidays!

Administrative Professional’s Day

4.20.2015

I know it may be hard for some people to believe, but there are indeed some people who enjoy working in the administrative field. The people that are often overlooked, that put in hard work so that others can reap the benefits, the people who make the office run smoothly. They may not be in those positions because they’re any less ambitious than you are. They may choose to be there.

Believe it or not, they may enjoy working standard hours and being able to leave their work at work. They may enjoy having their weekends worry-free, having vacation time they can actually use, and being able to spend time with children or family. They may not have spent $100,000 to go to college, be in student debt, or even have a Bachelor’s Degree. They may never have wanted that life.

Because sometimes life is just that: life. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s temporary. You never know when it’ll be cut short, or when your situation will change. You never know what will happen in the future.

So when you go into work on Wednesday, appreciate those “little people.” The people that help you make copies, print documents, or run your errands. They’re there to help you make your day run smoother, so be grateful for them.

And on a lighter note, us “little people” loveeeeeee gifts. And treats. So I made it easy for you. Print the tags below, tie them to an orange, and bring them to everyone at the office. Because a little treat will go a long way.

Orange you glad it’s Administrative Professional’s Day: Tag.

Orange you glad you work with me: Tag.