Tuesday, April 12, 2016

quick tip...

This is a quick and easy hack for repurposing those clear macaron inserts. Don't toss them out, clean them up and use them as makeup storage! They're perfect because they're clear, easy to tuck into a drawer or shelf, and best of all they are FREE!! After you buy (and eat) the macarons of course. Mine were delicious and from Savor Patisserie in Dallas. If you're even in town, check them out!







My new makeup storage in action. I love this because it's so easy to see what each color is without having to take out a hand full of shadows and spreading them out to find the right one.
Yes, I know I need to clean my eye shadows. I'm a messy person. 





Wednesday, April 6, 2016

diy flower balls...

This post is A LOT late. I made these flower balls for my baby shower and my daughter is now 8 months old. By the time I had some free time to post it,the holidays were here and then the idea kind of fizzled away since the window to purchase the materials is kind of small. It's now spring again and a good time to bring it out though! 

The idea for my baby shower was just a romantic rose, peachy, and gold scene. For the main dessert table I wanted a cluster of poufs and flowers. The initial idea for the flower balls came from this photo (I can't find the original source to save my life!)  love the way this photo makes you feel; the way the sun is shining and how warm and special it looks.


However, recreating them was not on my mind or agenda. I figured that even with Michaels coupons, the price of buying enough flowers just to make one would be way over anything I was willing to spend (which was no more than like $7 each). The idea actually clicked while browsing the dollar store isles. I was checking out the summer items that were just hitting the store and then...LEIS DUH! 

With two leis in hand I then set out to find what to stick em on to.The most inexpensive paper lantern in the appropriate size I was able to find at any store near me was the Spritz paper lanters they carry in the party isle at Target. I wanted to find one for a dollar but $3 isn't bad.  





After you have your materials, the rest is pretty self explanatory. Break open the lei and have at it with a glue gun. One good tip, have a medium to large bowl handy to set your ball on so it doesn't roll away. Took me a little while to figure that one out. Although it seems like it would take a long time to finish it, it really only took about 25 to 30 minutes. 




If you want a more lush, fulller ball, I'd say use 3 leis. I decided to make a second ball and used 3 leis and the results were beautiful but the one with 2 leis looked more like my inspiration picture. Also, I didn't add the drapey strands of petals that float from the bottom but those are as easy as just threading a few petals and tying them to the metal on the bottom opening of the balls. My baby shower date was incredibly windy, so that was just not going to work for me. 

I didn't get any good pictures of the balls during my baby shower, but I posted the best. Almost a year later the balls still look great! I pulled them out to show you the differences and a close up shot as well. These have endured 4 moves and a baby! 





The finished product and my baby shower! I really hope this inspires someone to make these! I'd love to see others interpretations of this diy!