Patriotic Inspiration

Gidget is ready for the 4th of July!

I wanted to join the Stars and Stripes Party over at Centsational Girl, but I just have a couple simple projects to share.  It seems like the 4th of July always sneaks up on me, I can’t believe June is practically over!

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This wooden and tin star was store-bought, but I added the USA sign.  Over the years, the little metal stars that were hanging from the bottom fell off and there was only one left, so I re-vamped this star door decoration by adding a hand painted wooden sign to the bottom along with the one metal star that was left.

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My other 4th of July projects are these cute appliquéd ruffle tops and hair bows:

Ready for summer! 

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For more patriotic inspiration, visit these parties!

  
   

 

 

Why Custom? Why Handmade?

If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you probably gathered that I am a big supporter of handmade, custom merchandise.  I was recently made aware of a contest sponsored by the CustomMade.com website.

Starting now through Monday July 12th, submit your answer to the question “Why Custom?” for your chance to have your words immortalized on the CustomMade.com “Why Custom?” section of our homepage.  Should your entry be picked and you are a CustomMade.com subscriber, they will also link to your profile from your answer on this page.  Plus, the winner will win a $100 gift card!

Entries should be a concise one-sentence long reason why custom made goods are so much better than stuff that comes off an assembly line.  Be funny, be serious, be creative, just make your point clear!  Check out the old “Why custom?” page here.  You can submit an entry by clicking the icon below and filling out the web form.  Entries will be reviewed Monday July 12th, and the top 10 winners will be announced shortly thereafter. 

You can also go directly to the entry form by clicking HERE.

You may submit as many entries as you’d like. Good luck to everyone!

Easy Candle Decoration

I thought I would share a quick and easy way to transform your candles from boring to blingy! 

You’ll need some sort of wire and some beads big enough to slide down your wire.  Needle nose pliers will also come in handy.  I used some black jewelry wire and glass beads from Artbeads.com.  If I make more of these I’ll try using the memory wire next.  Keep in mind that larger, heavier beads will weigh your candle wrap down.

First, bend a little loop in one end of your wire to stop the beads from falling off:

Then just start stringing on your beads in any pattern you choose:

You can make it as long as you want, I just kept going until I ran out of beads and ended up with about a 15 inch piece.   Longer is better in my opinion.

Now, just wrap it around your candle and enjoy! Wouldn’t this be pretty for a holiday tablescape?  This same idea can be used to make beaded napkin rings.

I’ll be linking up to the following parties:

Monday

 

Tuesday

 

Wednesday

 

Thursday

 

Enter to Win!

Head on over to Keen Inspirations and enter a win a giveaway from Embellished Bayou!  You could win this cute little floral frame, and I’ll personalize it just for you!While you’re there, check out Sharon’s Garden Party, just click on the link at the top of my side bar to visit.