4th of July Hurricane Craft

I am just beginning to realize that I get to decorate an entire house for the holidays. An ENTIRE HOUSE. My crafting and decorating mind can’t stop jumping up and down for joy. So it just dawned on me that Independence Day is just as great of a holiday to begin the madness that will unavoidably come forth. I know it’s last minute, but here is a fun little project to get you in the spirit for the 4th of July- a hurricane jar filled with red, white and blue lima beans!

Here’s what I did:

I purchased my supplies at Wal-Mart (spray paint, lima beans and a candle) for about $10-excluding the hurricane jar, that came from heaven–I mean Marshalls.

Then I laid the lima beans out as thinly as possible on top of plastic bags, which isn’t very flat while on top of grass, and gave them a coat of spray paint. I waited for them to dry somewhat and then flipped them around to try and get the other side. I definitely didn’t coat them completely, but I think the imperfections are ok for the end result.

**Note: I would NOT recommend spray painting on top of a plastic bag. Maybe I’m the only dumb one that wouldn’t think this through, but the paint made the beans stick to the bags and it was a big pain in my rear to get them off. Just a helpful little tip from someone who learned the hard way.

 

Once they were completely dry, I began layering them in the dish.

  

And here’s the final product! This project can be changed in so many ways for so many different occasions. I’m thinking of doing coffee beans or candy corn for the fall and the good Lord only knows how crazy I will go for Christmas. I love it and every time I walk into the living room, it makes me smile. And that’s the point, isn’t it?

DIY Moss Topiaries

 

In an effort to bring the outdoors in (sans insects) and add a little color to my bedroom, I decided to give these DIY Moss Topiaries a try. I found them a while back on a blog that I follow and you can get the instructions here.

You will need the following:

• Styrofoam topiary form
• Terracotta pot
• Packaged moss
• Hot glue gun/glue

In the blog I followed, she suggested using the moss that comes in little squares and cutting them up and gluing them on, but I think using the loose moss might be a bit easier. But I used the sheet moss so what do I know.

Basically I just cut various sized pieces of the moss and hot glued them on the styrofoam balls so it would look natural and messy. Don’t forget to cover the base in moss as well.

Then I painted the pots with some acrylic paint to go along with my color scheme and that was that.

The link above provides more in depth instructions if you want to try this out yourself but they are a great spring/summer addition for home décor! 

 

I also made these little canvases just by messily painting strokes of various yellows. For each stripe I added a little white or a little gray (which is how I accidentally ended up with green-oops! Guess I missed the “mixing colors” day in art class in 7th grade.)