DecoArt

Spa Inspired Holiday Survival Kit with Buffalo Check Jars

26 · Dec 5, 2017 · 1 Comment

With the craziness of the Holidays, who couldn’t use a spa inspired holiday survival kit? It’s full of homemade sugar scrub, shower bombs in stylish Buffalo Check Ball Jars, one of my favorite Yankee Candles®, even a cute little Ball® jar filled with matches. It turned out so cute, come learn how to make some kits of your own to give give to friends and family this Christmas. You could even use it as a Secret Santa gift!

+ This post brought to you by the folks at Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products +

I know when I’m working preparing all of the Holiday magic that comes this time of year, I can easily get a little run down. Nothing major, nothing a nice aromatic bath with some candles couldn’t cure. With that thought in mind, I thought it would be fun to put together this Holiday season to give to my friends, neighbors, teachers… Basically, anyone who could use a little pick-me-up as well.

Sharing Jars

I love the mission of the Ball® Sharing Jar. When you purchase the Sharing Jars your purchase will benefit Feeding America® – the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. For every package of Sharing Jars purchased, Newell Brands will donate 4 meals*! I LOVE it when I can help support a worthy cause when buying stuff I would normally buy any way.

*Newell Brands® will donate $0.36 per package of Sharing Jars sold, up to $150,000 provided to Feeding America®. $1 helps provide 11 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Sugar Scrub Recipe

Before you can start assembling your Holiday Survival Kit, you’ll need to mix-up some simple sugar scrub. This couldn’t be any easier. You can mix this by hand or with a mixer. Either way is totally fine. Here’s what you’ll need.

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
10 drops of peppermint essential oil

Add sugar to your mixing bowl and slowly add your coconut oil until you get the desired consistency. I don’t like to add any food coloring because I don’t like to add extra chemicals and keep things natural. Plus, you don’t want to accidentally spill on something and have the color transfer.

Finish up by adding the essential oils and package in your Ball® Sharing Jar.

Shower Bomb Recipe

The shower bombs take a little more patience. These little guys are very similar to the Snowball Bath Bombs I made the other day. They are made with baking soda and you want to make sure you don’t activate it while you are in the process of mixing up your shower bombs.

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup corn starch
2-3 tablespoons water
3o drops peppermint essential oil

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add baking soda, citric acid and corn starch. Put water and essential oil into a small spray bottle and slowly spray dry mixture while mixing on low. Continue adding water/oil mixture until you achieve a nice wet sand consistency. DO NOT rush this process.

Add mixture to a silicon mold like the one below and press firmly.

Let mixture sit in mold for 4-5 minutes and then carefully unfold. Let the shower bombs sit on a flat surface overnight to dry.

Fill the other sharing jar with the shower bombs and attach printable tag to jar.

Buffalo Check Jars

These buffalo check jars are a true gem! I have a feeling I’ll be using these year-round. Here is a quick post to show you how to make them.

Printable Gift Tag

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE to design all kinds of printable. These may be some of my favorite thus far.

You can download the tags HERE

Match Jar

Alright, I am so in love with this little, itty-bitty Mini Ball® Storage Jars. They are only 4 oz. and they are just too darn cute!

They are the perfect size for a little match jar for your Holiday Survival Kit. I filled the jar with matches, thenI cut a strip of the matchbox striker and glue it to the side of the jar.

I also cut some vinyl on my Cricut that looks super fun on the jar…

You can download the cut file HERE

Holiday Survival Kit Assembly

Now, all you need to do is assemble your spa inspired Holiday Survival Kit…

I grabbed a Yankee Candle® Small Tumbler Candle to go with my match jar and a little box and I assembled my Survival Kit with he printable tag glued on the front of the box. I also tied the gift tags on the jars with some leather that I bought at my local craft store. Now, it’s giving time!

Secret Santa

I am super excited this year to participate in the Ball® Home Canning Products Secret Santa Program! Their lovely crew assigned me to an amazing talented blogger, Almost Makes Perfect. I adore her style and was thrilled to send my Spa Inspired Survival Kit to her. I can’t wait to see what she thinks of it.

I was lucky enough to receive a Ball Secret Santa gift from Jamie of C.R.A.F.T. She sent me this cute little candy jar set…

How fun is that? Adding some twigs as antlers and a belt to the jar to look like Santa. Honestly guys, creating with Ball® Canning Jars is so much fun! What can you guys think-up for this Holiday Season?

Disclosure + I am a paid partner for Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

How to Paint Buffalo Check Jars

3 · Dec 5, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Love the Buffalo Check trend? Yep, me too! I thought it would be fun to use some of the Ball® Sharing Jars to create some Buffalo Check Jars to use as gifts this Holiday Season. Here’s how you can make some of your own.

+ This post brought to you by the folks at Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products +

Ball® Sharing Jars

This project looks a bit challenging, but truly it’s not! All you need are some of those fabulous Ball® Sharing Jars and some paint and you can create this trendy look for yourself.

I love the shape of the Sharing Jars and I love the mission. When you purchase the Sharing Jars your purchase will benefit Feeding America® – the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. For every package of Sharing Jars purchased, Newell Brands will donate 4 meals*! I LOVE it when I can help support a worthy cause when buying stuff I would normally buy any way.

* Newell Brands® will donate $0.36 per package of Sharing Jars sold, up to $150,000 provided to Feeding America®. $1 helps provide 11 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Buffalo Check Jars

I’m a huge fan of the Buffalo Check trend and can’t get enough of it right now. Pretty much everyone I know feels the same way so, I thought a stylish Buffalo Check Jar would be the perfect gift for friends and family for Christmas this year. I’ve filled them with all kinds of stuff; candy, bath scrubs, shower bombs, soup starters, cookie kits, all kinds of stuff. Of course after the jars are painted, you can no longer preserve in them but, they’re great for everything else. Here’s how to make them.

Materials

Ball® Sharing Jars
Americana Decor Chalky Paint in Everlasting, Yesteryear & Carbon
sponge paint brush
1/4″ flat head paint brush
240 grit sandpaper
Americana Decor Clear Crème Wax
lint free cloth

Instructions

To begin, make sure you have washed and dried your jars. Then paint a couple of layers of the white (Everlasting) chalky paint onto the jar with the sponge brush. You can use your favorite kind of chalk paint here.

Don’t worry about brush strokes, they will get smoothed out in the finishing process at the end. Let dry, ideally for a few hours or overnight.

Next, you’ll use the 1/4″ flat paint brush to paint the gray (Yesteryear) stripes onto the jar.

You will loosely use the lines on the jars as guides. I really didn’t want a precise looking check wanting it to look more free form or hand painted. I didn’t want this project to become to crazy with measuring every little detail and taping the jar to get perfect lines. This to me makes the project so much more enjoyable and I love the look.

Start at the top points of the lines in the Sharing Jar and use your 1/4 inch brush line to create the stripes. Three stripes around the jar and then a vertical stripe in the center of the flat sections of the sharing jar. Let dry completely.

Now, you’ll use the black (Carbon) paint to paint on the black section of the check in the intersections of the gray stripes. Again, let paint dry completely. It would be best at this stage to let the paint cure overnight. It will help the paint adhere to the glass much better.

Once the paint is dry, you will use the sand paper to smooth and distress the paint. Be careful not to attach the jar with a little too much vigor. You don’t want to sand the paint right off the jar. Using a soft hand, smooth the dry paint, (this will remove the brush strokes) and then carefully distress the high points of the jar.

Once this step is complete, you’ll want to wipe down the jars with a damp cloth to remove any of the remaining dust. Then you’ll use your lint free cloth to wipe on some of the wax to seal the paint onto the jar. Use the lint free cloth to then wipe off any excess wax and buff the wax.

Now, you’re finished! You have the cutest Buffalo Check Jars ready to fill with whatever you like.

I created a fun Holiday Survival Kit and filled the jars with a homemade sugar scrub, some shower bombs and included a Yankee Candle® along with the cutest little match jar ever… You’ll have to check it out. It even comes with free printable gift tags.

Disclosure + I am a paid partner for Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Farmhouse Inspired Christmas Tree – Dream Tree Challenge

75 · Nov 1, 2017 · 1 Comment

It’s getting close to my favorite time of year… Christmas!! Every year it’s so fun to participate in the Michaels Dream Tree Challenge and this year has been EXTRA FUN! We gathered together as a family and crafted our Christmas tree together and it was so fun. From trees to ornaments and holiday décor, Michaels has everything you need to MAKE this holiday your own! You can even shop over 100 Christmas Trees at Michaels.com. Crafting your tree together is a great way to bring the family together at the beginning of the Holiday season. Here is what we created to make our 2017 tree magical for our home and family.

The Christmas Tree

This year, I picked the 7.5 Ft. Pre-Lit Jasper Cashmere Artificial Christmas Tree, Clear Lights by Ashland™. At first it was a little wide for our space. BUT… We placed it on top of an old bucket I had and then bent the lower branches down to give it a slimmer figure. I wish ‘slimming-down’ was that easy for all of us! 😉 That also raised the tree up a bit, which makes it look better in a room with vaulted ceilings.

Regardless of what this photo looks like below (someone was being a bit dramatic…) The Jasper tree is super easy to set-up. It’s literally plug and play. The electricity runs through the poll of the tree so you don’t have to go hunting around for all of the connections. Then all you have to do is fluff the branches.

Farmhouse Inspired Christmas Ornaments

Part of the fun when decorating for the Holidays is actually making some of your own decor. This year I was inspired by some ornaments that Joanna Gains has created for another store. I LOVE them and thought we could make some of our own with supplies from Michaels.

I grabbed some of the shatter proof ornaments at Michaels along with some of the Americana Chalkboard Paint from DecoArt…

My daughter Haley is home from college with her boyfriend Kyle and we decided to have a paint party. We covered the table with plastic wrap and went to town with the clear ornaments from Michaels. We painted them all over with the chalkboard paint. Now, the only reason I use chalkboard paint is because I like the matte look. Then we used a white paint marker from Sharpie and created all of the little swiss crosses on the ornaments.

They turned out super cute and we had so much fun making them together!

I think they may be my new favorite Christmas ornaments for our tree.

Next, we painted some large wood stars from Michaels with Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint from DecoArt. Then we used my Cricut Maker to add titles of Christmas Carols onto the stars. You can learn how to make those HERE. You can even download the graphics that I designed for the stars!

The next element for my tree is a few types of picks that I found in the Christmas pick section of Michaels.

Quite honestly, picks are some of my favorite ways to add personality to my Christmas trees. They really add to the tree and they aren’t very pricey. I LOVE the fuzzy little stars, the gold antlers, and the cotton stems. They look fabulous on the tree!

The last element is the ribbon picks. They couldn’t be easier to make. I found some perfect ribbon at Michaels and cut it into 6 inch sections…

Then I folded it in half and wrapped some floral wire around the bottom leaving a 4-5 inch tail to secure it to the tree. Super simple and the bottom doesn’t need to be pretty.

Then you use the wire tail to attach them to the tree. An easy, easy way to fill in those bald spots on the tree or add a pop of color. Again, it’s a very cost friendly way to add color to your tree.

One last thing… I almost forgot! We decided to HANG our star from the ceiling for this tree. I bought a large wood star at Michaels and wrapped it with some wire lights and then hung it from the ceiling. We made sure to place our hook in a stud so that we didn’t have issues with the weight of the star. It’s so simple and tops it with that rustic farmhouse look.

Wow, it’s amazing how some simple elements can come together to create a really stunning tree. All of my kiddos have said this tree is the best we’ve ever had. Make sure to download the Michaels App on your smartphone so you don’t miss any of their amazing holiday deals this season. It really is a great app to have. No more saving receipts! That’s worth it right there.

Don’t forget to tag me in your tree photos… I love to see what you guys are creating!

For more inspiration, visit the Michaels blog and their Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Carol Star Tree Ornaments

111 · Nov 1, 2017 · 6 Comments

It’s officially Holiday Season! One thing that I LOVE about the Holidays is creating my own custom decor for our home. Love FARMHOUSE decor?

Then you are going to LOVE this Farmhouse-inspired Christmas Carol Star ornament that you can create for your home. This week I’ve teamed-up with DecoArt and Cricut to create some new ornaments for my Christmas tree this year.

We decided to go with the star of Christmas theme, so… I thought it would be fun to chalk paint some large wood stars and then put titles of Christmas Carols on them. They turned out so cute… Come learn how to make them for yourself.

A few years ago, one of my good friends had the most beautiful Christmas trees. She had large stars all over the tree and I just adored it.

I asked her where the stars were from and I was devastated to learn that they were given to her from a friend who found them discarded from a department store after the holidays. DANG! There was no way of finding a set of my own.

This year, I decided it was time to make some large stars of my own. The timing couldn’t be more perfect! DecoArt and Cricut have teamed up this year to create all kinds of fabulous fun this Holiday season…

I love it when to amazing companies come together to inspire all of us to bring a little bit of our personalities into our home. These two are perfect for that. I’m sure that this will tickle your fancy… You’ll want to visit the DecoArt Blog to check out the GIVEAWAYS DecoArt & Cricut have up their sleeves this year!

Instructions for Christmas Carol Stars

First, grab your raw wood stars and wipe them down with a damp cloth to make sure they are dust and dirt free. Then paint your base coat with the Americana Decor Curb Appeal paint.

The reason why I used the Curb Appeal paint is… One, it’s a durable paint and will stand up to the distressing of the chalk paint. Two, I just happened to have some left over after I painted my front door. I wanted to have a black base because I wanted it to show through when I distressed the white (Everlast) paint.

PRO TIP + When using chalk paint, you will typically distress your paint to create the look that is typical with chalk paint. You’ll need to keep in mind what color you want to show through once distressed. You’ll need to use that color as your base color then paint your finishing color on top. Then make sure when you are distressing your piece, you don’t use too much pressure. You don’t want to accidentally distress down through your base coat.

Once your base coat is dry, paint your top coat with the Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint in Everlasting.

Pro Tip + Don’t worry about making your top coat look PERFECT with multiple layers of paint. You will be distressing them, no need for perfection. The heavier your layer of paint, the harder your piece will be to distress. No need to make extra work for yourself.

To distress, use a 250 grit sandpaper and lightly sand the raised edges of the stars.

Christmas Carol Graphics

Now, it’s time to break out your Cricut machine. I’ve used the Cricut Explore machines and the Cricut Maker and I LOVE them both. For this project, I used my Cricut Maker but, either one is fine.

To begin, I created these designs to put on the chalk painted stars…

I love how they help to usher in the spirit of the season. They remind us of seasons past and they also help to remember the true meaning of the season… The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

You can download these Christmas Carol designs HERE

Then all you need to do is to upload the SVG files to the Cricut Design Space. You can check out this post on how to upload a design in the Cricut Design Space to learn how to do that.

Then you’ll cut your designs on your Cricut machine and then apply the vinyl to your stars. To learn how to apply vinyl, visit this post… How to Apply Vinyl Tutorial that I created.

It’s really not hard if you follow a few simple steps. It truly is one of my favorite ways to create for my home.

Pro Tip + Make sure you wipe down your stars with a damp cloth to remove any remaining paint dust. It will make applying the vinyl much easier.

Now your stars are ready to add to your tree!

I can’t wait to see what you guys create this Holiday Season! Make sure to tag me on your social media posts. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.

DecoArt

Sharing Jars

Sugar Scrub Recipe

Shower Bomb Recipe

Buffalo Check Jars

Printable Gift Tag

You can download the tags HERE

Match Jar

Holiday Survival Kit Assembly

Secret Santa

Ball® Sharing Jars

Buffalo Check Jars

Materials

Instructions

The Christmas Tree

Farmhouse Inspired Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Carol Stars Supply List

Instructions for Christmas Carol Stars

Christmas Carol Graphics

You can download these Christmas Carol designs HERE

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