While Wearing Heels

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Glass Flower Vase Cover

Whether on the receiving end or the giving end of flowers, this quick and easy glass vase cover will make any bouquet of flowers even more beautiful.

And perhaps more personal.

To make your own glass vase cover, gather the following supplies: glass floral vase, scrap fabric (roughly 4 inches wide by 12 inches long), washcloth, *reusable freezer paper and a printer.

*Directions to make reusable freezer paper: using spray adhesive, spray the paper side (NOT the shiny side) of freezer paper and adhere it to a sheet of copy paper. Trim off any excess freezer paper, leaving the finish size the same size as copy paper (8 1/2 by 11).

Select an image you like. The Graphic Fairy is a great source to find free graphics, which is where I found the image I used.

Print your image, running the copy paper through your printer, shiny side of the freezer paper facing the ink cartridge. *If you are using an image with words, make sure you transpose or flip your image prior to printing.

If you skip this step, your image, once transferred will look something like this...

With a barely wet washcloth, dampen the area of the fabric you want to transfer your image onto. Flip your freezer paper over, centering your imagine onto the dampened fabric. Press firmly into the image, using either the back of your thumb or the back of a spoon, transferring the image onto the fabric.

And, just like that, you have successfully transferred an image onto fabric. Use a hot iron to heat set the ink.

You can finish your ends by attaching no-sew Velcro, gluing it or using some double sided tape to secure it closed. It all depends on how ambitious you are feeling.

Find a naked glass vase and dress it up. It really does make any bouquet of flowers even more beautiful, doesn't it?

The best part of transferring images using freezer paper...you can just whip it clean and reuse it.

For similar projects check out my lavender sachet, made using the same technique described above OR another easy glass vase upgrade.

Originally shared at 'Or so she says...'

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Monday, June 17, 2013

Woodaholic

My name is Amy and I am married to a woodaholic.

A woodaholic has a stash of barn wood and will often pick up random pieces of wood while on a walk just because.

A woodaholic will spot a 300 pound tree root in the water and decide to risk life and limb to retrieve it...

and then haul it up 50 stairs to dry land. All because it has the potential to become a coffee table.

I have learned not to doubt the visions of my woodaholic because typically what results from his wood obsession is something that had been slyly hiding.

That's the thing with woodaholics, they can cleverly coax things out of what looks like an ordinary piece of wood.

Sometimes, it's almost as if he has just pulled a rabbit out of his hat, when I see his latest creations.

Other times, I realize,

a woodaholic can refine his obsession into a restoration hardware-esque vision.

My woodaholic has taken over the While Wearing Heels Etsy Shop...where you can find each of these creations for sale.

And, I realize, by allowing all of this, I am merely enabling my woodaholic.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Bunny Themed Birthday Party - The Big Reveal

Some bunny is {still} 5.

And that was definitely a reason to celebrate.

We decided to throw Grace a bunny themed birthday party.

We had access to 3 bunnies so a bunny themed party with real bunnies could not be resisted.

On a Goodwill budget, the party was decorated using a thrifted desk, a DIY moss covered letter birthday garland, a free salvaged window and some barn wood bunnies.

I also exhausted my Easter Pinterest board for DIY ideas.

The table was filled with bunny themed foods.

I was happy to finally have a reason to make these carrot cupcakes.

And, since bunnies were the theme, a 'become a bunny station' seemed fitting. The station was stocked with bunny ears and cotton ball bunny tails.

Our guests, Grace's entire preschool class {16 kids}, embraced becoming bunnies, eagerly waiting to be transformed into bunnies themselves.

After sixteen 5 year olds were transformed into bunnies party games ensued.

The first game was a Rabbit Hole Punch box. 'A Casarella has made it impossible for me not to have a punch box now.

Curious if the kids liked it? Just look at the picture below. They swarmed me, anxious to have a turn 'punching' and also watching as their friends had a chance to 'punch' and retrieve their prize.

Armed with punch box prizes, we played the bunny hop on repeat as each guest got to be the leader. Had the Bunny Hop been the only thing we would have done, I think all the kids would have been very happy.

After 20 minutes of hop, hop, hopping to the bunny hop, pin the tail on the bunny was the next activity.

I quickly realized, 5 year olds are unconcerned about personal space. It's not nearly as challenging to pin a tail from 6 inches away with a group of kids propelling you forward.

My last game, a bunny version of bozo buckets, was sadly forgotten about and never played.

After the games, the adorable cardboard house my talented sister made, enticed the little girls. No detail was spared from the round door with a door knob to the flower boxes filled with pink blossoms.

Inside the cardboard house, was a box filled with dress up clothes where the bunnies transformed themselves into princesses.

The time came to lure our guests into the house.

As I got the cake and ice cream ready, the kids kept busy doing a craft. It was supposed to be pipe cleaner bunny whiskers but ended up looking more like a spider on a stick with a pink pom pom.

As soon as the cake came out, everything else was forgotten about. Singing happy birthday and diving into as much sugar as possible became the goal of sixteen 5 year olds.

High on sugar, the party came to an end and I sent sixteen 5 year olds home with bunny party favor bags.

The birthday girl was happy.

And I was left to appreciate the reason for this celebration..

that some bunny turned 5.

Is it too early to start planning 6?

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Stamped Party Napkins

I quickly learned, things like fancy napkins and matching plates can blow your party budget.

I'm a frugal girl by heart so when I saw the fancy napkins were between $3-4 for 20 napkins, I just could not bring myself to splurge on fancy napkins.

Instead, I decided to make my own fancy napkins at a much more reasonable price.

Grab some cheap napkins {I paid $2 for 50 plain white napkins from the grocery store}, stamps and some ink.

I used the same rabbit stamp I used on Grace's birthday invitations. Simply press your stamp into the ink and stamp onto the napkin.

A custom napkin for a fraction of the cost.

Make sure you hop over and check out the rest of Grace's bunny themed birthday party.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Decorative Party Snack Cups

When throwing a party for little ones, I like to have easy to grab snacks already portioned out.

Snack cups help to keep little hands from digging in a communal bowl and makes snacking quick and easy. Of course, you could leave your snack cups as they are...or you could decorated them.

To spruce up your own snack cups, grab the following: clear plastic cups, cardstock bunny silhouettes {or whatever themed shape that goes along with your party}, a glue stick and the flowers are optional {and just an excuse to photograph them}.