More Glass!

Today I went to get my new van from my Step-Dad Bob! Thanks Bob! I also had a fun day with my Mom and told her about my blog and the glass painting I plan on doing... any minute! She really liked the idea and we decided to check out the Salvation Army for some unique pieces. I found some really fun glasses! All different kinds and all for a great deal.

The one in the front is like a glass tea cup! We got 2 beer mugs, 1 large goblet, 2 small Martini glasses, a large vase, and 6 glasses I have never seen before. My Mom thinks they're for sorbet. Thanks Mom! Oh and she found some work pants and a maternity dress for me as well as some maternity pants. It was such a wonderful day with my Mom! I really needed some more pants since I'm getting larger every day! So anyway... I am going to do a practice piece tonight! I don't know what design or which piece yet, but maybe I'll do one where I can use all the colors to get an idea how they all look. My goal is to post a finished piece tonight!

-Nikki

Flower Fairy wings and other inexpensive wedding crafts!

I had an idea to make being a flower girl more FUN! I love wings and fairies so naturally I had to use them in our wedding! I would have worn some myself, but wasn't sure what people would think. It was very easy to make the wings too. I remembered seeing them at The Dollar Tree when I was getting other crafts for the wedding so I went back hoping they would still be there. They had all kinds of colors and exactly 3 of the fuchsia... I got lucky! I got out the hot glue gun again and glued some leftover flowers from my candle project right onto the wings and it was that simple! Here are my flower fairies in action!

Aren't they so too cute!? Nevaeh is my friend Monet's daughter and Nijah is my friend Ashley's daughter. They look like sisters with the matching hair and outfits. I love how this turned out.

They got in the wagon during the ceremony! This is another reason the wagon idea was so fun!

The picture below has the flower fairies by the altar we used. My mom had it in her garden with plants around it and we thought it would be perfect to use! They arranged some cherry blossoms and pink tulle and it turned out so beautiful. I'm not sure where my mom found it, but it may be possible to make something like it if you tried. Maybe my mom will comment below and share more about it.

I also made all my bridesmaids necklaces and gave them as part of their gifts for helping with our wedding. It is a creative, thoughtful, budget friendly way to show your appreciation!

I used a pink glass bead in the middle of the necklace and added various shades of pink and brown.
They were all unique. I made one for all 5 bridesmaids and the Maid of Honors had a few extra glass beads.

This was one of the decorations/treats for guests we had to match the wedding colors. Chocolate and strawberry flavored Whoppers candy. They were all gone before pictures were done!

We did a sand ceremony instead of the unity candles. We used coarse and fine pink bath salts from The Dollar Tree. I found some glass creamers at Target and a jar with a lid to pour them into. We saved them for romantic baths in the future.

Here we are pouring them together for the ceremony. You could use 2 different colors to match your wedding colors. I was thinking of doing pink and brown, but I couldn't find brown bath salts.

I think that is about all for the wedding crafts. All of them were done very inexpensively and turned out better than I had thought they would.
 



Wagon of Love

My Maid of Honor gave me this idea for the flower girls and ring bearer in our wedding. She used the same wagon in her wedding. I was lucky it matched the pink in my wedding colors!

She lined it with crushed black velvet and painted it pale pink. I found a wooden heart at The Dollar Tree and used a sharpie and a pink marker to do the N H N (Nate and Nikki Hart). I glued some flowers around the heart with a hot glue gun, then glued the heart onto the wagon and that's about it! Pretty easy thanks to Trina.

 I would have liked to have done a better job on the N H N, but didn't have my art supplies on me at the last minute so I made due with my Mom's. The kids made it look even cuter when the sat inside!



This is my niece Maddison and my cousin Dylan in the wagon. They are so cute I have to share a few more pictures of them!

Nevaeh and Nijah, our flower fairies (more on them next!)

I think they stole the spotlight! I recomend this to anyone who wants multiple kids in their wedding. It makes it more fun for them and they are less likely to cry... unless they're afraid of wagons hahahaha!

Some crafts I did for our wedding...

I decided to share an old craft project I did for our wedding. I wished we could have done larger ones, but these turned out pretty cute. We used them at each table as centerpieces. My friends and I made about 50 of them out of different sized mason jars. We saved the lids and my aunt reused them for canned goods afterwords. It is a great recyclable way to decorate.

I got light pink and dark brown thick ribbon and skinny brown/pink (my wedding colors) from the craft section at Walmart. I did some like this^ and some opposite. My girlfriends and I cut enough ribbon to fit around the glass jars and glued the skinny ones on the thicker ones. I would use a hot glue gun for this project. You can get one for about $3.00 if you don't already have one! My friend sewed a few of them with hot pink thread too. I also got a bunch of fake flowers and picked them off the stems to glue on the ribbon. Try to line the seams up and glue the flower on top of that.

I didn't like the tops of the jars and I tried covering them with ribbon, but it didn't look right, so I go an idea to cover them in tacky glue and dip them in sand sparkles. I ran into a problem though... I looked everywhere and couldn't find the right sand. So I bought some white sand and put a little red food coloring and mixed it until I got to a shade of pink I liked. I also used the sand to hold the candles inside. I wish I still had a picture of the smaller ones I did... I put flowers inside and didn't use ribbons. Anyway that's about it! 

Day one!

Today I decided to make a blog! This winter has been so harsh and I figured this would be a good way to pass time and share some crafts and ideas. My husband Nate went up to the cabin with his Dad and Brother, so I am going to get creative this weekend.

A few weeks ago I found some glass paints at Unique Thrift Store. It was an awesome find! Only $2.80 for a bag of 5 colors. I looked harder and saw they had 3 bags, so I bought them all. I have never done glass painting... YET! I saw a bunch of painted martini glasses at Hallmark a few weeks ago and they were really cute. I flipped one over to check the price... $25.00!? Wow, I thought to myself, I could make that! I also know I could make better ones than the glasses they had on display. They would be great gifts too.

While at the thrift store I also found a pretty little glass with an amber stem. I am going to use that as a practice piece and to hold small candle I got as a door prize from a candle party. I found a small round candle holder at Walmart for $1.00. I am going to recycle a frosted candle holder and see how that turns out too.

I googled glass art and got some inspiration and design ideas. Every time I got or saw a creative idea, I sketched it. I have about 20+ sketches, so I better get some more glass! My goal is to get really good at glass painting and maybe start taking orders for personalized pieces or sets.  I will make a few pieces and give them to family and friends.

I also want to say I have started feeling the baby move in the last few days! I find out "what kind of baby" (as my husband says) on the 16th!