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Before and After: The Greenbrier Chandlelier

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Couple years ago I spent my birthday at The Greenbrier hotel, and Lord, was it glorious. Let me tell you something: if you ever find yourself in the middle of the Smoky Allegheny Mountains with time to kill and money to burn, go to The Greenbreir.

We are talking about sweeping staircases, flowered drapes, checkered floors, stripes and color everywhere. And I loved every floral printed chintz minute of it!

I took a lot away from that trip, in particular, a fondness for green glass. The whole hotel comes in every color of the rainbow, but green glass is a common thread. Suppose Dorthy Draper designed it that way as a play on the name but I appreciate it just for the aesthetics too. Sometimes you just like the look of things and there is nothing wrong with that.

Shortly thereafter I came across this chandelier on clearance at Target –cute, but way too girly for me. A coat of spray paint, three ‘cufflets’ made from bottle flowers, and a dozen emerald crystal drops later, I had my very own Greenbrier chandelier! It’s probably a little too low budget and funky to hang anywhere so swanky, but I am awful fond of it 🙂

Custom Party Hats (and not just for kids and cats!)

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My friend Noeleen,snarling on her birthday and wearing a photo of herself snarling at a previous birthday.PS: I’ll have you know, Noeleen authorized the public distribution of the photo above in exchange for my bringing coca cola cake to her boyfriend’s NYE party…!!BARGAIN!!

Oh, how I love me some party hats. I jump at any excuse to make them and wear them…

Birthdays = Party Hats
New Year’s Eve = Party Hats
Good haircut = Party Hats
Bad haircut= Party Hats
Visit to the dermatologist = Party Hats
Discovered the cat likes Barry Manilow music = Party Hats

There is never a bad occasion. Never. And I’m not just talking about kid’s parties either; adults enjoy part hats just as much, if not more! Well, maybe not all adults. Maybe just the cool ones.

The nice thing about party hats is they lend a sense of occasion to any location. When my friend Noeleen had her birthday party at a restaurant last summer, decorations weren’t really an option. Too much fuss. So, we brought the party to the table and wore the decorations on our heads. So what if the other tables looked at us funny? Fun was had by all!

My family wearing Abigail themed party hat’s at Abigail’s first birthday. Note every adult on the property that day was wearing one of these hats. The only ones *not* wearing them were Abigail and Old Rusty (Old Rusty the dog, not Old Rusty the Uncle)

Not long ago I was down South celebrating Abigail’s first birthday. Of course, there needed to be custom hats. And of course, everyone wore one except Abigail. Apparently, baby does not like anything touching her head, not even a custom party hat! Oh well, she had plenty of fun looking at all the adults looking like goofy Carmen Miranda types.

As long as we are on the subject of Abigail’s’ birthday, can we all just take a moment to admire my niece? I mean seriously. Just look at that pudding face!


There are lots of ways to make custom party hats, but I find the easiest, sturdiest, and least expensive bases are those latex foam visors you find at craft stores. I try to stock up when they are on sale, buying a bag of ten for $4.00 or so. You can also use disposable paper party tiaras from earlier parties, or anything that will sit securely on the head. I have even used paper cups in the past….just make due with what you have.

Embellishments are unlimited! The secret is to find one or two lightweight elements that take up a lot of space + one or two sparkly/unique elements that will stick out from the pack. The foam rubber is especially nice because you can piece it with pipe cleaners or silk flowers, but glue and duct tape will also get the job done.

Think about incorporating…

  • Photographs
  • Letters and Numbers (Hello 2011! Or what about celebrating Alex’s Birthday by putting one big A on one hat + L on another, etc etc.)
  • Plastic bottles cut into flowers
  • Coloring book pages
  • Feather boas cut to bits
  • Silk flowers
  • Paper doilies
  • Holiday tinsel garland
  • Small toys
  • Tulle netting
  • Monopoly money
  • Playing cards

Just about anything in your waste bin that doesn’t smell or stick to your show can be used to make nifty hats!

Y’all have fun!

PS: Just as I was about to post this, I saw this wonderful article from Tatertots & Jello featuring 20 fabulous party hats. Check it out!

Bubba, Kerry and Abigail celebrate the day in style! Abigail was fascinated by all the adults wearing hats on her birthday, but they only one she would put on her own head that day was the pink monster (a gift from Uncle John). Kerry took the party hats home afterwards –she thinks they will come in handy in the doctor’s office. Can’t you just imagine your childhood doctor administering shots in a kickbutt hat like this?!

Friday Flowers: Frosted Cups and Bottles Wreath

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Ten years ago, if you had told me I would be hanging a giant wreath made of disposable cups in front of my house for all the neighbors to see, I would have asked you what kind of Crazy Juice you were drinking. Ten years ago, stuff like this was not on my radar. Ten years ago, I was busy matching burlap samples to the latest Pottery Barn catalog and worrying, Does this faux cranberry wreath look so realistic that birds will come to our door and peck it to pieces?
Oh my, how times have changed. 
Must give credit where it belongs! Primary inspiration on this project came from two sources, both of whom I have sited on other projects before, because, well, they are straight up fabulous; Michelle Made Me and the Magpie Art Collective. 
Have you checked them out already? 
What are you waiting for? Get to it!
I had been itching to make this wreath for months. Sometime in October, I pledged I would make it and would NOT SPEND A PENNY on materials. That’s right, it’s made from stuff I was throwing out or kept on hand. 
It’s a simple base made by alternating plastic cups (make slits with kitchen scissors) and Diet Coke cans with the bottoms removed (just use a can opener). Some leftover aluminum trim (name anyone?) bound it all together. The rest of the flourishes were tied on with pipe cleaners.
If your reading this far, there is a decent chance you are thinking I wonder how much juice I would have to drink to make a wreath?
Good question. I can’t tell you, but I will tell you I have been scavenging at home and at work for months. This wreath is roughy 40″ in diameter and contains
  • 8 two liter bottes, painted white
  • 10 soda fountain cups (32oz)
  • 12 small plastic bottles, painted white
  • 15 red plastic cups
  • 18 aluminum cans
  •  25 strophoam cups
  •  35 clear/white plastic cups
For more thorough directions on how to make flowers out of plastic bottles, see here. Keep in mind, just about anything in your trash can made from plastic can be converted to flower. Beauty is everywhere.
Happy Holidays Y’all 🙂

Friday Flowers: Plastic Bag Pom Poms

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Remember when I was going to post a flower project every Friday and then I stopped doing it because I kept forgetting it’s Friday? Well, today I’m rectifying that, even though technically this is Monday.  Let’s just pretend it’s Friday, okay?  I could go back and alter the date so it looks like I posted this on Friday but that seems dishonest and technologically complicated.
Also, this project is no big whoop because I have pretty much posted it already. Only difference this time is that I’m using a plastic bag to make a bow for a wine bottle, because, let’s face it, there’s a good chance you are giving away some wine bottles in the next few weeks. Okay, Okay, Okay….not everyone drinks and gives away wine. You can slap one of these pom-pom flowers on a tasteful hostess gift like some French soap or a scented candle….but I like using wrapping wine in something that would normally end up getting thrown away. There is something really fun about giving away booze and garbage.
To make these, all you need is a plastic bag, some scissors, a 3# piece of cardboard and a piece of wire or ribbon or twine (pipe cleaners are my personal favorite). If you have ever made pom-poms out of yarn on your fingers, you will know how to do these already. Skip it and start making stuff already, wouldja?
First, cut your bag on one side to create one large flat piece of plastic, then roll your bag into a tube shape. Snip across the tube every inch or so. You will be left with something that resembles a pile of loose spaghetti or plastic ribbons. 
Wrap the individual strands around your 3” piece of cardboard. One at a time, or ten at a time, doesn’t really matter. Once the cardboard is done, slip the pipecleaner under the plastic ribbons you just wound up. Twist the pipecleaner so it holds all the plastic together, then, on the opposite side, exactly reverse from where the pipecleaner is knotted off, snip the bundle of plastic ribbons apart. Ta Da! 
Now you can add colorful plastic bags to the list of things hoarded inside your pantry. I know, I know, you have way too much space in there already. You’re welcome. 

Leftover Halloween: Batman Candy Bucket Planter

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I hate throwing stuff out. It’s a problem. I especially hate throwing out stuff related to holidays because it reminds me that it’ll be a whole year until that holiday comes around again. Sad. This is how I end up with Christmas lights above the bed and Easter eggs in the bathroom.

Like I said: It’s a problem.

Lucky for me, Halloween offers some creative solutions. There are plenty of festive goodies that are perfect for non-Halloween purposes. For example, some people like to buy candy on sale this week to use in Christmas stockings down the road. Me, I like to save trick-or-treat buckets to use as planters next summer. I picked up this here Batman candy bucket on sale for 99cents three years ago, plus an Elmo and Sponge Bob Square Pants. The other fellas are now planted with oregano and living happily with friends, but Batman stays on my front stoop all summer long. My pink impatiens thrive inside Batman’s head and nobody recognizes him as a Halloween item–they just think Batman got a nifty new hairdo!

Do you find ways to use Halloween leftovers? If so, please share –I would really love to hear your ideas!   

Friday Flowers: Garbage Flowers

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As mentioned earlier, these garbage flowers festoon the bars on the front windows of my basement apartment. At the risk of tooting my own horn (toot! toot!) I just love how these flowers came out; they look awful nifty, cost $2 in materials, start conversations with the neighbors, and most important–they make me happy every time I walk through my front door. Beat that!

Minus a $2 bolt of 20gage wire, these were made entirely from materials I had around the house or was planning to discard. If  you are thinking about making garbage flowers, I would challenge you to do the same –I promise you’ll be impressed with the results and proud of your resourcefulness!

People making stuff out of nothing is as beautiful as it gets, at least in my book. If you gravitate towards this type of work you have got to check out the Magpie Art Collective in South Africa for some Dang Serious Inspiration.

Instructions

Materials

1. Get yourself a heap of plastic bottles, some spray paint*, 10” pieces of wire or sturdy pipe cleaners, and if you like, put some old chop sticks in the dirt to use as a drying rack later on.
2.  For a two-tone effect, paint the ends of your bottle and band in the middle.
3.  Paint the entire bottle in a second color. This will be the background.
4.  After it dries, cut in half.  Kitchen shears were the best cutting tool for me, but you can also use an Exacto knife or manicure scissors to do some kickass fine detail work like this dude.

*A note on paint: I used spray paint because I like the gradient effect and happened to have some open cans around. However, spray paint is highly toxic and should never be used indoors, around children, or children-with-fur who have extra sensitive noses.  It’s also mighty bad for the environment so try to find the least harmful option available (Krylon’s water base latex for around $4.00 a can isn’t too shabby).  Most any acrylic/brush paint will stick to the bottle but you’ll need to test durability if your flowers will need to last outside in a rainstorm. These look wonderful and appear to be done with kid’s tempra paint.  Y’all will have to decide for yourself.

Spikey

5. Take the bottom half of the bottle and make a bunch of vertical slices along the bottle walls. Cutting lazy curves and pointy ends gives some nice results.
6. Spread it out flat. Cool, huh? Poke two holes in the center if you plan to wire it to s a stem.
7. The spikey flowers like this may not look the greatest individually, but in mass they are really striking.  We took a few of these and added them to a simple potted plant as a gift for a friend’s gallery opening.  It sure looked neato.

Daffodils

8.  Take the top half of the flower and cut toward the opening, alternating small square strips, with larger rounded ones. Experiment and find your own pattern.
9.  Finish by pulling back the larger petals, while the smaller petals remain standing up. Ends up similar to a daffodil.
10. Aww, aren’t they sweet?

Bag Lady Flowers

Did your Brownie troop make these out of old shopping bags? Mine sure did. These are so easy I feel redundant just typing the instructions.

11. You need lots of plastic strips about 1″ wide. Best source for this is cut-up plastic grocery bags. I wanted some extra color so I bought a six-pack of plastic Hawaiian luau leis from the party section at my local dollar store.  Snip the inner string and they will fall apart into strips.
12. Size is up to you, but to make a dense flower the size of my hand I needed about 3 yards of 1” plastic strips.
13. Wind your ribbon around a 3”paddle (just a piece of cardboard is fine. I used the tag from the dollar store).
14. On one side of the paddle, use a 10” piece of wire (or pipe cleaner) and tightly bind together all those strands you just wound up.  Twist. Twist as hard as you can without breaking the wire and you will end up with a wonderfully poofy flower in the end.
15. On the reverse side, snip the ribbons right down the middle and bundle all the loose ‘petals’ together.
16. About a half inch up, wrap one length of the wire around the bulk of the plastic as though you were making a tassel or a broom.
17. There you have it. Wouldn’t one of these look dandy on top of a box gift wrapped in brown paper or newsprint? Especially if the flowers was made out of dirty brown bags like the ones from my grocery store. I like to keep these tied in random spots around the house because they make me so happy.

Variations
18. Double down! Layer the Bag Lady flower right in the middle of a Spikey Flower.
19. Make an easy bouquet by wiring them to the stems of a faux flower bunch from the dollar store. I just pull off the silk flower heads (easy) for other projects, and keep the plastic stems.  They are surprisingly sturdy.
20. Add some glitter. Just before you wind the ribbon around the paddle, add a little bit of discarded X-mas tinsel.
21. You could go crazy painting the bottles before you cut them, but I also found just a few white dots before spray painting was nice too.  Lily like, if you ask me.

See them in action! 

Flies in the Pig Pen

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…Shoo Fly Shoo!

  • How can you bedazzle a gloomy basement apartment with bars on the windows?
  • How can you unleash your inner farmer when you don’t have any land or cute overalls?
  • What do you do if you live in the city, under the shadow of a giant cathedral and NOTHING will grow?
  • How can your home make you happy?
A: Garbage Flowers.

My street gets a lot of foot traffic and I’m so tickled when people stop to pay a compliment or ask about them…where’d you get them? how’d you make them? how much water did you have to drink?… It’s very flattering, and more important, I’ve met all sorts of people (a real treat for city living). And, not only have I met the neighbors, the neighbors now think I am one of those eco-chic-and-well-informed people who spell green with a capital G.

I’m still working on it.

Oddly enough, first time I saw a garbage flower it was on a farm, or, to be more precise, a hog shed. Theory was the shiny flowers would attract birds, and birds would eat the bugs that came with the glory of raising livestock (read: maggot laden poop by the truckload). Don’t think the flowers worked on the flies but gosh that was one good looking pig pen.

Fast forward 20 years…walking by Anthropologie and look in the window and BOOM THERE IT WAS: a billion fabulous garbage flowers and not a dirty hog in sight! It was stunning. Could hardly hold back from ripping them down from the display. It was so well so executed though, it didn’t even occur to me that I could do this at my house.

Shame on me.

Two weeks later, we were visiting friends in Oak Park and crossed an elementary school, and there, behold, the most fabulous technicolor extravaganza you could ever hope to see! Those kids had COVERED their schoolyard’s chain link fence in garbage flowers, even brighter and more beautiful than the Anthropologie installation. There were hundreds!  Best part was that every flower was different. The bottles varied from liters of soda pop, to milk jugs and yogurt cups. And the painting was clearly, lovingly, mixed by tiny little hands. Man, was it gorgeous! Hats off to the art teacher at that school. If those kids felt half as inspired as I did, that teacher deserves One Heck of an award.

I walked away from that fence feeling like I ate a rainbow.

I wanted more. Now I just knew I needed to replicate it at my apartment. No chain link fence on my property, but the bars on my windows would do just fine!

One month, 5 cans of spray paint, 80 pipe cleaners and A Heap of recyclables later, I have my very own garbage flower display! They make me happy every time I walk through the door.

Directions on how to make them for yourself. Bars on windows not included.