Felt Flower How To: Peony

It's no secret, I love felt flowers. Long before I became the Mrs. Meyer's Home Maker, I was making felt blooms and if I'm being honest, they weren't very good. It wasn't until I made my Fall Felt Wreath that I really honed in my felt flower skills and even learned a few tricks of my own.

I love how versatile felt flowers can be. I've used them to make flower crowns, bouquets, wreaths, and even napkin rings. You saw them in my Mother's Day Bouquet project and on top of my Galentine's Day Cake. I've found that little felt blooms are cute no matter how you use them!

Side note: I want to let you know that next Thursday July 28th I am teaching a Felt Flower Workshop at West Elm in Utica Square! The cost is $30 for a 2 hour, in depth workshop where you'll leave with a plethora of supplies and all the skills you need to start making. Space is limited, so sign up here!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Today I want to show you a flower tutorial that is completely original to me! I made this one myself, so you won't see one like it anywhere else -- my Peony! This flower uses my signature "Fold + Glue" technique that helps give your flowers dimension and makes them look real!

Easy huh? I'd love to see your felt flower projects! Tag me on Instagram tell me what you made in the comments below. Don't forget to sign up for the workshop next Thursday!

Happy Homemaking!

Sallie

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DIY Backyard Botanical Print

When I was little we lived in a house that had an amazing backyard! We had a pool, a basketball court, and all of it was covered with huge shade trees. I played in that backyard for hours and hours in the summer and I always envisioned having a similar yard for my kids to play in.

When we found our new house, Andrew and I immediately fell in love with the backyard. It is almost 100% shaded and has great climbing trees (or so Andrew tells me). The owner before us was quite the gardener, and she put really beautiful plants and landscaping around the entire perimeter. 

It definitely feels like our own little paradise and I can't wait to get in and start enjoying it! 

When I was showing my friend Anisa our backyard she started pointing out all the varieties of plants that we have. Then later, I was in my mom's house and noticed a very old picture someone had made of various plant leaves with little notes as to what they were and what type of environment they grow best in. 

It didn't take long for me to connect the dots for how I could do something similar with the plant foliage from my new backyard!

What I love about this DIY is that it's specific to YOUR home. No two prints will be the same, and it will always remind you of fun memories from you backyard. It's also incredibly easy and requires no special skills. You just need to pick up leaves, write, and cut! 

Materials

• Glass Float Frame(s) 

• Leaves

• Thick cardstock or watercolor paper

• Pen

• Scissors

Directions

1.     Gather your foliage. I picked mostly leaves that would press well in my frame.

2.     Use your pen and thick paper to draw "banners." If you don't feel very artsy here's a template 

        you can use! Or you could cut simple rectangles from your paper and draw a border. 

3.     Write the names of the foliage. I had to use google here to figure out what I was dealing. If you 

        have a friend who is a Botanist, now is a good time to give them a call!

4.     With your leaves and labels face down, layout your design. I started with my larger leaves and 

        filled in with my smaller ones. 

5.     Assemble your frame, clean the glass of any fingerprints, hang on the wall and enjoy!

How did yours turn out? I'd love to know what leaves you used for your print!

Happy Homemaking!

Sallie

Wallpaper Round Up

Everybody shout because tomorrow Andrew and I close on our new house! Wooohooo! This has been the longest month and a half of my life, but we made it and tomorrow we will be the proud owners of a brand new (to us) home. We won't close on our house until Monday, so technically we're the proud owners of TWO houses. Wow. Look at us.

Tomorrow is also Andrew's birthday, so this is doubling as a birthday present for him. You're welcome, hun!

I've been picking out finishing touches for the new house (paint colors, hardware, etc.) and there's one idea I'm really crazy about. Are you ready for it? Wallpaper. That's right, wallpaper.

I know what you are thinking. You had tacky floral wallpaper in your house growing up and you are totally turned off from the idea, but guys wallpaper is back and it's better than ever!

I have been fortunate enough to get 3 rolls of reusable adhesive wallpaper (say what!) to try in the new house courtesy of WallPops! This completely diminishes my fear of hanging paper and potentially ruining the walls. Here's the pattern I chose, I'm thinking this would be fun in the laundry room or even the hall bathroom. I'll be doing another post on hanging this reusable wallpaper once we get into the new house, but I can already tell it's going to be awesome!

AND my friends at Brewster Home Fashions are generously contributing some wallpaper for my entry way.

Brewster has a HUGE wallpaper selection and they also carry WallPops, so if glue isn't your thing you can go the reusable adhesive route. I've spent a lot of time scouring their site for the perfect paper and have narrowed it down to six.

These are my top picks for the entry way.

DIY Rope Coil Basket

I came across a really cute rope basket DIY the other day where you use hot glue to coil rope and make it into a basket. I had some cord left over from my macrame table runner so I thought I'd give it a go. It was a huge fail. I hated dealing with the hot glue webs and the inside of the basket was super messy.

I wasn't ready to give up though, and through MUCH trial and error I finally came up with a rope coil basket DIY that I loved!

Here's how you do it. 

Materials

• Rope or macrame cord

• Hot glue - low temp

• Embroidery thread

• Embroidery needle

• Jar or bowl for shaping

Front Porch Makeover

Growing up, we had a house with a full wrap around porch -- think Georgian plantation house. It was big enough to put lots of patio furniture on, and I loved sitting outside when the weather was nice. There was the occasional snake under the couch cushions (another story for another time), but overall it was very nice!

A house with big porch is definitely on my bucket list, but until then I am making the most with what I have!

I like to think of the porch as a little preview of what lies ahead. I think there are so many missed opportunities to create a welcoming experience when you leave your porch untouched. 

And can I just say, the first day I had this completed I had a party and almost every person mentioned that they liked the porch! It makes a difference, people!

I made a little mood board so I could get a clear idea of exactly what I was going for. 

Some of the things on this mood board were things I already owned, like the hanging planters. I bought new flowers and spruced those up myself. Hanging flower baskets $25.

Just by adding some hanging baskets it really started to spruce up the space! Then I focused on the plants I wanted on the ground. I picked up these two foliage plants from Home Depot, plus the planters and stand and it was about $60. 

I purchased Begonias and Hostas for the front porch flower bed for about $20. These plants love the shade which is great for me since the front porch is 100% shade. I also added my pink flamingos that I bought from amazon last year. They may be tacky, but I love them! 

And to tie the entire look together, I bought this rug from overstock. All in all, I am so pleased with this space! I spent about $200 to tie it all together, but for the positive feedback I've received I think it's all worth it! 

xoxo Sallie

DIY Decoupage Vase

Happy spring friends! I hope you've been enjoying the longer days, warmer temps, and fresh blooms that are springing up all around. Since I am working from home now, I really enjoy the spring days when I can have the screen door open and let the breeze roll in.

The rose bushes in my front yard have been taking off like crazy, too! I've been able to clip lots of blooms to put in vases all around my house which has left me looking for an easy way to spruce up some of my old containers. Inspiration hit as I was looking through instagram, and as luck would have it, I had everything I needed to complete this project! I took some old dictionary pages (book pages would work, too), and used a little spray adhesive and mod podge to finish the look.

These whip up in a flash, so pull out those old vases and let's get to work!

Materials
• Paper - dictionary or book pages
• Spray Adhesive
• Mod Podge - matte or gloss finish
• Foam Brush
• Paint
• Paint Brush

Directions
1.    Tear the pages. Tear your pages into relatively small strips. The smaller the piece, the better it
       will adhere to a rounded surface.

2.     Attach with adhesive. Use your spray adhesive* to spray the back of the page, then press it
        onto the vase. Continue until you have the entire vase covered.

*Pro tip: Spray your strips over a piece of cardboard. Spray adhesive will spread and make everything within 2ft. of the spray VERY STICKY!

3.     Apply a layer of Mod Podge. Use your foam brush and apply a layer of Mod Podge to the
        entire surface of the vase. Pay special attention to any corners of paper that are popping up.
        Allow to try completely.

4.     Paint the vase. After your vase is totally dry, it's time to add paint. I did a simple geometric
        stripe pattern, but here is where you get to be creative. Keep in mind that if you are using book
        pages, you don't need this to be too busy. The simpler, the better!

5.     Fill with flowers and enjoy!

I am very interested to try this technique with an old tea pot. I have one in my kitchen, but I'm not sure I'm ready to surrender it to crafting! This would be great to do on an old bowl, or even a teacup! I would love to see how you use this easy method to make something new for your home!

xoxo Sallie

DIY Floral Art

Last fall I bought 6 black frames from a garage sale for a dollar a piece, but until now I have been totally stumped on how to use them. This past weekend, I found myself with a bucket of leftover Easter flowers, and I just had to find a way to use them.

This is what I came up with.