Easy Peasy Valentine's Day Treat for All Ages.

These are so cute and so quick. 

The picture got a lot of "play" on IG so I thought I'd share a few details.

Valentine's Day Candy Skewers!

These are quick and easy. Inexpensive even if you are making quite a few.

Easy to make ahead and transport.   

Cute, fun and pretty in pink!

I bought wooden skewers from Wal Mart. The dollar store often has them. 

One end is flat and the other is pointed. 

They were 97 cents for 50.

The cello bags are inexpensive and available at Wal Mart or Hobby Lobby. 

I had a stash from Nashville Wraps. 

They have every size and shape and I think everything looks better wrapped up in cello.

The prices are good if you need cello in bulk and they ship quickly.

The candy!!

You want any and all soft candy or candy with a hole in the center that you can find 

plus big pink and white marshmallows.

We bought ours at Wal Mart, Dollar General and Dollar Tree. 

There are tons of dollar bag choices. 

We bought fruit chew type candies in multiple shapes and flavors - anything pink, peachy pink or red. 

Gummie Lifesavers and a couple of other chewey candles are ring shaped 

so they just drop right on the skewer. 

The rest of the candy you simply slide down the skewer. 

This is why you want "soft" candy.

I also bought Little Debbie heart shaped cakes for the "topper." 

Spread out all the candy, slide it on the skewer in any order 

(I didn't even try to make them exactly the same but you could), 

pop them in the cello bag and tie them closed. 

We dropped a few Red Hots in each cello bag.

We used a twist tie to get them sealed tightly and then put pink and red grosgrain ribbon (any pink or red ribbon would be fine. I always pick up the cute rolls of "themed" ribbon at the Target Dollar Spot)

 and white curling ribbon over the twist tie to make them frilly and fun!

*Please note: One end of the skewer is pointed. You need the point in order to easily slide the candies on. If you are making these for children you can snip the pointed end of the skewer off with kitchen shears (very easy) and then add the Little Debbie Cake to the end.

Chinoiserie Valentines!

February is knocking on the door??

I just got used to writing 2017 on things and now I have to write a new month!

Wow, that was fast!

I had so much fum making the blue and white chinoiserie ornaments at Christmas 
that I wanted another fun project! 
Handpainted hearts of some sort would do the trick!
(PS. They are sitting on that amazing, crazy bamboo table find!)

Last year the Chinoiserie Heart was big - this year they are tiny!

So here they are! 

Since people wanted to buy the ornaments and there was no way I could pull off getting organized to ship them out, etc. at the last minute in December,

 I decided to offer these up on Instagram!

The first batch has shipped out! 

(Whew! I have figured out PayPal invoicing!)

 There are a couple more available.

Watch for them this week on Instagram and then be sure to watch for what is coming for Easter!!

It involves chinoiserie, Spring-y colors, monograms if that's your thing, bunnies and more!!

There will be sneak peeks on IG!

Pink Chinoiserie!

For Valentine's Day!

I had a scrap of birch plywood on the porch

 and I had not put anything on my front door since the Christmas decorations came down

So I cut out a big, fat heart.

I put a quick primer coat of white paint on it.

And then I grabbed some pink paint.

A little bit of quick sketching.

And then I just quickly painted some images
 from my favorite blue and white dishes that I have around the house.

 It was a lot of fun.
 You just need one color of paint and some white paint. 
That's it!
I used Sherwin Williams Eros (deep pink.) 

I wanted to freshen things up a bit. It's been so gray lately.

And Mollie has a friend coming to stay for the weekend. 

A group of them are going out to celebrate "Singles Awareness Day" this weekend. 

The name for February 14th if you are unattached :)

I had the perfect pink Greek Key ribbon!
A quick bow and on the front door it goes!

 There! 
Nothing says "hello" like a pink Chinoiserie heart
 and some sunshine!

This was a quick and easy project. 
And since I have wanted to make blue and white Chinoiserie Christmas ornaments for literally two years
 I'm feeling pretty accomplished to get this painted 
and show the front door some love!!

Whole Lotta Burlap

In addition to painting on furniture,

a "whole lotta burlap paintin' been goin' on."

We started waaaay back with hearts for Valentine's Day.

We got "stripey" (cause I will stripe pretty much anything.)

Then I decided to add an initial

and it would make the heart work for a little longer than just Feb. 14th.

Next up, a burlap heart class. 

They always turn out so differently but each one is so cute!

I love the black and white stripes in the back. This lady drove 2 hours to attend a class that started at 9 am on a Saturday morning. And then she was super creative.

Impressive.

Well, the ladies wanted to make something Springy that wasn't strictly "Easter-y."

So cute carrots it is!

They all turned out so well - more pictures are on madebymolliesmom on Instagram.

Vegetables were followed by fruit.

In case you have not noticed, I use Sherwin Williams Color To Go to paint my burlap door hangers.

 Actually, it's my favorite paint for canvases, too.

I have a SW fan deck in my car and in my studio. All those colors. So inspirational.

(They do not pay me to say this, it's just my favorite paint.)

I actually got a burlap door hanger on my own door this Summer!!

College Girl was in town so she came along to class and 

painted a watermelon for a friend who couldn't make it.

Ms. Dawn this fruit's for you.

Again, a lot of variation but each one turns out great.

 We had to offer the watermelon class twice so this time College Girl decided to paint a burlap door hanger for her place. 
Not being a fan of watermelon as art or food she decided to go with a peach!

 As we say in the South, It turned out stinking cute!!

The gray checkerboard border makes it for me (all her idea!!)

Before long we will be painting owls (but in Fall-ish colors) or candy corn!
As crazy as that seems ... school starts here on Monday. In August. And Hobby Lobby has already put out Halloween and Christmas items. Yikes!!

That means Summer is pretty much over as far as our mindset goes - just not as far as the hot weather  goes.

Life Is Like ...

... a pinball machine!
I know I'm supposed to say " a box of chocolates"
since it is Valentine's Day ( Happy Valentine's Day, BTW)

 But I'm all over the place so pinball machine is more on target.

I said in an earlier post that I had forgotten to take any more pictures of this sign I did take a few more after all. But still a fail because none of the finished product with its beaded wire hanger and ribbons galore. Oh well. It has already gone to cheer up a little friend who had surgery yesterday. We met at Starbucks on Saturday to "catch up." Since when do 10 year olds instigate Starbucks dates??

Anyway, I substituted a glittery heart for the "O" :)

I used a mix of pink and red glitter. It's awesome.

I'm working on a big painting right now. Kitchen table big. Lots of dots. Lots.

I showed you the other day how Chloe helps me blog. Well, Biscuit is the art dog.

Wherever I am painting his furry self is right there!
Still dealing with the cone! He destroyed the $40.00 cone so he is in the plastic kind now.
A big dog in a cone is a dangerous thing. He bumps in to everything and has tried to chew it off ... hence the bulldog clips on it.

... and pinging right along like a pinball... this wall mounted light was ostracized from College Girl's room when we purged and painted stripes. It was laying in the guest bedroom waiting for a new home or a trip to the attic or something... the shade was disgusting so I tossed it and then today cleaning up the guest bedroom I had a thought....

It would work great to replace a tall table lamp that was on my work table in the studio with the wall lamp! So I hung it right next to the wonderful chippy shelf, that we rescued a zillion years ago from a demo on a construction site, which holds my ribbon tubs.

Note to self. Roll ribbon. Soon.
... and I tossed the shade and I want to hang it now. I made the lamp shade on the other table lamp from a small fair trade  basket woven from recycled plastic bags. I wanted an unique shade that didn't block light so I turned it upside down and put a crystal clear bulb in the lamp. I love it and it has little specks of every color in it. Matches my Sharpies on the shelf behind it.
 

I might need to talk to someone about the Sharpie obsession. Really.

I love it and I wanted something unique acroos the room on the new wall lamp and I wanted to do it now. So I looked around and this wire mesh hanging veggie basket thing was in plain sight.
Waiting to be a lampshade.

I took pliers and pulled the 3 baskets and chains apart and grabbed the middle one.

I painted the brass wire lamp shade part white with spray paint.

I let it dry. Almost.
 

And then I put it all together. I love it. The feel of a shade but nothing to block the light.

It's funky. Free. And it's all finished in 5 minutes! 

 

I think I need a clear bulb here too but I still love it.