How to make a bird’s nest….Easy peasy loulou style.

I have been seeing precious little bird’s nests everywhere…. The Nester being one of my favorites…. I’ve seen them under cloches, in apothecary jars, and sitting out everywhere…. You know what happened next…. I wanted some myself. So, as usual I headed heaven Hobby Lobby. Can I just say that they know Anne Pearce, Essie, and me by name?? I always get a, “Hey there, ya’ll! How are those girlies?” I could take that to mean that I go there WAY to much, but I like to pretend that I just have an easy face to remember. I was on the search for materials to make my topiary tree and decided to get the materials to make my bird’s nest too. This was so quick, easy, and cheap…. HEY! I’m talking about the nest!!! Not about me!!!! Anyway, this is what I got.

A pack of two nests for $1.99. Again, I will be watching for these babies to go on 50% off as everything does at HL. $.50 apiece will be sahweet!

I also picked up a bag of 6 wooden eggs for $1.49.

Then I got out my my paper plates, craft paints, and empty coffee can full of paint brushes fancy tools. The first thing I did was mix up an “eggy” color using white with some brown, gray, and taupe mixed in.

Then I painted those babies. Painting an egg isn’t as easy as it sounds. Those little boogers kept moving all around. I finally figured out to paint one side, the top, the bottom, and then let it dry.

 

I wanted them to look more aged, so I added some glaze: Please ignore the dented up can ;)

To glaze all you have to do is paint it on, and wipe it off. Easy peasy.

 

Here are 3 finished eggs and one of the nests…

I hot glued each egg onto the nest, and voila! I had 2 precious bird’s nests ready to go!

!

So, in under an hour and for about $1.75 each I had 2 nests. One found a home on my new topiary.

You’ll have to check back to see where the other one turned up! Happy nesting!

a little whimsy by loulou

This is my latest set, and I am THRILLED with the end product. After I made Anne Pearce and Essie’s sets I have enough to make ONE more set. This fabric is amazing….it’s Whimsy by Pillow and Maxfield and is true eye candy. It’s got several shades of pink and green and is beautiful. The pant is a bell bottomed ruffle pant with 5 inch double ruffles….. Essie said they were dancing pants! Precious. The top is monogrammed in pink and green to match the pants. This shirt is so versatile though, and could be worn with tons of stuff. I would also do an appliqued initial tee like the one shown here if you’d rather.  I use Old Navy tshirts….. This set as shown is $55 plus $3 shipping. Act quickly. This one won’t last long. I am cutting fabric tonight, and this set will ship in a week or less.

 

Free is GOOOOOOOOD

After our little visit to the Farmer’s Market Saturday I had a stash of pumpkins to use for fall decorations. I had plans but was out of cash…..So I went shopping. In my yard. In my cabinets. We have TONS of stuff sitting around our houses and outside in our yards that make beautiful decorations. I am in the process of rearranging our dining room and have been having a blast. Now that my girls don’t put everything they see in their mouths or on the floor I can actually have a centerpiece again. You are looking at $9 worth of pumpkins on my table and hutch…… All of the rest was FREE!

(Gotta love it when you post something and realize that you took the picture BEFORE you had your table runner on.....I probably had one of the 4 maniacs hanging on my leg....just sayin'.)

I wiped these pumpkins off with a damp cloth. Did you know that some pumpkins will last for years if sprayed with a protectant? I didn’t, but I will be testing that theory. Tomorrow morning these babies are getting a good coating of clear gloss spray. I pulled that big platter out of my cabinet and went to layering…. Those pinecones? FREE. Those berries? FREE. Those beautiful pieces of greenery? FREE. They were all pulled from my yard with the exception of the pinecones. THOSE came from my OLD house ;) Look at the stems on these pumpkins!!! That blue one is my favorite. Absolutely gorgeous!

Those are real itty bitty white pumpkins in my tallest apothecary jar. The girls LOVE them…. I am wondering how they will do in a sealed jar…. Will it make them rot or die?? If you know please leave a comment….I put a bunch of small pinecones in the jar on the left and fresh greenery on the right. I love the way they look together, and I love having REAL nature in my house. It makes everything look so warm and inviting. Plus, when you’re cheap creative like me you know to just replace the leaves when they start looking yucky. We never run out of greenery in southern Alabama!

This is a “cow” pumpkin. Have you ever heard of such? I love the colors and texture….I love me a pumpkin stem….. I got a clear platter out and added more pinecones and greenery. These centerpieces will carry me through Thanksgiving for a total of about $10. I’ll get new greenery as needed, but that’s all I’ll have to do.

On a side note, that pumpkin is sitting on my newly finished hutch. I couldn’t wait to load it up with some goodies….. That project will be coming soon! What are you using to decorate for fall?? Leave me some comments or a link to let me know what you’re using for your fall decorations. I LOVE to see what everyone else is doing.

Happy Decorating!!

How to make a topiary tree from a mold and an old ugly topiary.

I love a topiary tree….Wanna know what I don’t love?? The price. I saw these beauties while browsing over at Ballard Designs. Who doesn’t love them?? Yeah. They START at $49. After looking around for a while at all my favorite discount stores and discovering that I couldn’t afford what I wanted, I decided to make my own.

Ballard Designs Topiaries…

Some of my favorites from my FAVORITE store filled with yummy expensive eye candy: Green Gates… They were absolutely gorgeous, but none of them were under $40. That place is great for inspiration though…..

A while back I picked this up for $3 at a fabulous antique/thrift store. Yeah, not so fabulous is it??? Look at all the dust on it. YUCK! I KNEW it wasn’t what I wanted, but the pot itself was worth more than the $3 especially with the twigs and greenery. I loaded up Anne Pearce and Essie and headed to the Hobby Lobby.

I bought this HUGE bag of Spanish Moss for $4.99. I will be watching for the next time this stuff goes on 50% off….. I have tons left, but I am IN love with this moss.

I also picked up this topiary form. (Sorry for no totally before picture… I got excited and forgot.) They are $9.99, but I had a 25% off coupon….So far so good. It also had a green floral insert at the bottom shaped for a pot.

The first thing I did was rip the first tree apart in a frenzy take the first topiary apart…. I used the pot and saved the twigs that were wrapped around the stem. I used them to wrap this stem lightly. I secured it with wire that was attached to the first pot.

As you see in the picture above I just started layering it on and attaching it with hot glue. (what else would I use?) It really was fun and easy. I just kept pulling out a handful, pulling it apart to separate it some, and layering it on. This picture shows the bottom of the mold….I went ahead and glued it in my pot to make it easier to work with.

layer some more….

and more….

until I was satisfied with the result. I would cup my hands around it as I went to make it a round shape. I also trimmed some of the strays with scissors.Then I glued regular Spanish Moss around the bottom….. I am thinking of tying a burlap bow around the stem to add some more interest… Hmmmmmm….

Even my 13 year old thought it was amazing… He had to clown around with it a bit…..

And here is the finished product: See that little bird’s nest?? I made that too…Simple as pie. I’ll show you what I did later this week.

If you look in the background you will see my hutch that has been sanded and is ready for painting….oooohhhhhh. I’m beside myself… Ok. back to the project at hand.

Here she is sitting on the new (old) table I stole borrowed from my mother’s storage unit. My house doesn’t really have an entryway, so I’m working on creating an en entrylike space… See that plate in the background?? My Bigmama painted 3 for me. GORGEOUS I say. So, what do you think? Is it something you would try? It really was an easy and inexpensive project for the end result. MUCH cheaper than buying one in a store.

Breakdown:

1st pot: $3

Topiary form $9.99 at 25% off…$7.50

A couple of dollar’s worth of Spanish Moss….

The entire thing was about $12-13. Now, THAT’S my kind of topiary.

I linked this to Metamorphasis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

i won! i won! i won!

I sent my chair redo (scroll down to see makeover) to Marian at Miss Mustard Seed. That woman rocks….. in SO many ways. You should go check out all the wonderfulness that she produces. I wish she was my next door neighbor, although I’m sure it wouldn’t last long with me asking her over for ideas every 2 minutes….Anyways, I entered my drab to fab chair in her Furniture Feature Friday linky party. GUESS WHAT?!?!??! I WON!!!! I flipping won!!!!! Let me tell you there were so many fabulous projects listed, and I am HONORED. Go click through those links to see all the eye candy…… Thanks, Miss Mustard Seed!!!! I’m already dreaming of the new fabulous tray I will have on my coffee table!!! WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

do you wanna come to pumpkin heaven??

If pumpkins are your thing, then just head on down to Fairhope…. We loaded up the two little ones today and headed to one of our farmer’s markets for punkins. Never would I have imagined all the different kinds of pumpkins they would have…. I could have loaded up the entire Tahoe had I had an unlimited pumpkin allowance. However, I was limited to the amount that I could buy, but I still took in ALL the pumpkin eye candy… Looking’s free right?? Here is a sampling of what they had. The cute kids weren’t for sale…. I MAY be talked into letting you borrow them for a small fee…. I would be paying YOU that fee ;)

Essie and Anne Pearce were all over the pumpkins. They were in pumpkin love….So was their mama.

                                                                 YEAH PUNKINS!

 

 

YEAH HAY!

Me with my munchkins…..It’s impossible to get my girls to both look at the camera at the same time…..

Our one poor pitiful attempt at a family self portrait…..

We rounded the side of the building, and THIS is what we found on the other side….This is where pumpkin heaven came into play… Look at all the colors and shapes!

Oh. My. Goodness. Look at the blue ones…. I thought I was gonna cry……

How precious is this stack?? The owner sprayed these with high gloss spray to preserve them…. I have a little trick up my sleeve for the ones I bought…..

 

Pumpkins, and gourds, and more pumpkins OH MY!

 

Andrew said this one was a Christmas pumpkin…..Reddish orange on one side and green on the other….

How pretty are these???

We came home with quite the stash….A few originals along with a few special beauties. I’ll show you guys after I’m done prettying up my place with them. It was a gorgeous day outside today….low 60’s. Andrew and I were kinda mad that we missed our long shirt opportunity today. It was supposed to be 68 degrees….Who knew?!?!?!

Have any of you guys seen pumpkins like this in your part of the world?? Any different colors or shapes than I’ve shown you here? I would LOVE to hear about your pumpkin finds and what you’re doing with them…..

Happy Saturday. Roll Tide, peace, and pumpkins!