Inexpensive 4th of July Wreath

I spent this past weekend at my Mom's house. We were feeling bored at 11pm, so we went shopping. Luckily, Walmart is open 24/7! Armed with a shopping cart and free time, we perused the freshly stocked aisles. My Mom wanted to show me the craft section because her Walmart has a super awesome selection.

I've been waiting to make a wreath for awhile, so I was super excited when I found all the stuff I would need. It was easy to make and cost a little under $15. Not too shabby! This can totally be made with dollar store finds and cost you around $5! Even better!

You Will Need:

• 14 inch foam wreath
• your choice of burlap - I used a total of 20 feet
• hot glue gun and plenty of glue sticks 
• ribbon for the hanger
• your choice of embellishment 

The wreath was under $4. (Next time, I will go to the dollar store.) The burlap was $6 total for 2 rolls. The ribbon was $1. The flowers I got were $3. (Flowers can also be found at the dollar store. I just loved these ones.) It would be worth it to invest in bulk burlap if you were going to make multiple wreaths, because bulk is always cheaper! I think the $15 for this wreath was worth it because you can use it every year for a month at least! Lol!

Steps aren't really necessary for this craft. You just pick a start spot and glue down the burlap. Then wrap, wrap, wrap - gluing as you go. Make sure you are gluing on the backside only, so your front side will be pretty!

I cut two flowers off the stems and used them to cover up where my two burlaps overlapped. The little jewels in the center of the flowers catch the sun perfectly and look super cute!

I glued the ribbon to the back of the wreath with lots of hot glue. That's it! The wrapping took the longest. The burlap was wired, so it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. Lumps mean character, right?

Your  fingers might look like this at the end...who needs fingerprints anyway?

If you make your own Walmart wreath, send me your links! :)

Ombre Rose Cake Tutorial

Ombre rose cakes are all the rage on Pinterest, if you haven't seen them, you must live in a cave...just kidding...but seriously.

I made my first one for my niece's first birthday party. I made my second one this past weekend for a second birthday! (anyone else notice the numbers?)

These cakes look intimidating, but they are pretty simple! If you haven't already, check out my crusting buttercream recipe. It's the only frosting I will use for this cake! The frosting stiffens and will not move or slide or anything! Perffff.

What You Need:

• a cake  (obvi)
• that crusting buttercream I keep raving about
• a 1M Wilton piping tip
• a piping bag
• a frosting spreader
• food coloring of your choice

What You Do: 

1) Make sure you are using the 1M Wilton tip. It's like it was made for this or something!

 Here's a tip! No pun intended. For mess free piping bag filling - put the piping bag in a cup! 

 

2) Make sure you leave a little white frosting in the bowl, for crumb coating! Crumb coating is when you spread a thin layer of frosting around your cake to seal in the crumbs. It's sort of a hassle, but needs to be done! 

3) For this cake I did shades of purple. Decided what  color or colors you want and how ombre you want your cake to be. I did three shades of purple. Separate some frosting into different bowls for each color. Dye and mix!

4) Ready?? Make sure your piping bag is full of frosting goodness! You are ready for your first flower. You can practice on wax paper beforehand if you want. I just start in the center and make a counterclockwise circle. You can decide which way you want to do it! Let it flow! I started with the darkest purple on bottom.

5) Continue the same way all around the bottom of your cake. This is row one.

6) I went with the middle shade of purple for the next row. Do the same thing as the first row. If you want your cake to look uniform, make sure you are starting and stopping in the same place each time. 

Tip #2! If you have gaps in between your flowers, make little swoops to fill them! You can also apply a little pressure for a star shape filler.

7) I think the top is my favorite part to do! I just start in one spot and fill the gaps. I used little purple accents for the centers of the flowers on top of the cake. (It was a Princess party, after all)

That's it!!!!!! I really hope you guys attempt this! Honestly, the hardest part for me is making sure the cake layers are even! This is a small cake. Ombre styles will vary depending on the size cake you are working on! 

Here's a few pictures of the party. I made the cake pops as well :) 

The birthday girl loved her smash cake!!!

Here's a picture of my first smash cake - in case you missed it!

Tutu-torial

TUTU TUtorial on TUesday. Okay, I'm done now.

My niece Endsly just turned 1 and I got to help with the party prep! This sweet thang got to wear a Nanda Original. (My nieces call me Nanda) Tutus are so easy to make and you probably don't really need this tutorial since there's 58,000 others ones, buuuut what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't include one!?

You Will Need:

• tulle - I used about 1/2 a yard in each color for this tutu, but she's little. It's only like $1.50 a yard, so don't be afraid to get too much!
• elastic for the waist band or ribbon - I used elastic
• scissors
• measuring tape or ruler
• LOTS of table or floor space

How To:

1. You must put your hair in a ridiculous bun. People will know you're serious.

2. Have your pretty colors and supplies ready!

3. Cut your elastic to the correct size. I used 17 inches for Ends.

4. Fold the elastic in half. Put a dot of glue a little bit away from the edge - like where my fingers are pinching.

 

5. It will look like the picture above. You want to take the flap and glue it to one side of the elastic. Put the dot of hot glue right in between where you are pinching.

Now the elastic should look like that! ^^

6. It's tulle time!!!! I used a half a yard of each color. Make sure you cut your tulle to the correct size. Lay it out flat on your work surface and start rolling!

Rolled!

7. Your ends will be all cray cray and you want to cut them so everything matches up.

pretty pretty!



8. Now! Cut your tulle in 3 inch sections - give or take - it isn't a big deal.

 

9. Once you have the first color done, go back and follow the above steps for the other two colors. I like to have all of my tulle cut. It's definitely the most tedious part.

10. Take a looooong piece of tulle, fold it in half, and cut on the fold. One loooong piece will end up being 2 shorter pieces. Do this for allllll of your pieces.

11. Make sure you have something to stretch out your elastic while you are tying on your tulle. I was able to use my thigh for this one. I've used cardboard, binders, etc in the past.

12. Take your small strip of tulle and fold it in half, pinch about an inch from the fold to create a loop.

13. Slip this under the elastic. Now just pull the hanging pieces through the loop. You'll have to adjust it a little to lay right. I like to alternate my colors in some sort of pattern.

 

**You have a choice here** You can use one strip per loop or two strips. The picture shown above is one strip. I will show you what it would look like with two strips. I prefer two. It gives a more solid, full look.

 

The picture above is with two layers. See the difference?

 

14. Contine on all the way around. I like to push my colors together so when the tutu is being worn, you don't see any elastic.

 



the inside of the elastic

Making a tutu is actually really easy. The cutting takes the longest, but once you are done, throw on a movie and start looping!

Every baby girl needs a tutu. I also may have made a Halloween one for my dog once. I have no shame.