{3 Weeks}

3 weeks away.

Summer.

I can feel it.

Not to mention, read it.

Since everyone and their mother is already out of school for the summer.

I have 3 weeks of school and a week of finals to get through

and then

I'm free!

I have so many plans, like last summer, to do a bunch of stuff I have neglected or have been unable to carve out time for. I can not wait to get started!

My plans include revamping my room, crafting up a storm, possibly a trip to St. Louis, spending a week decorating my Best Friend's room, beach trips, baking, Disneyland, run aways to where ever the car leads.....you name it, I can't wait to get out there and do it.

Here are a few of my inspirations for summer 2012, thanks to lovely Pinterest!

DIY Sunburst Flower

Crayon Art

Oven Baked Egg Roles

Grilled Artichokes

Peaches and Vanilla Cream Pops

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk

Button Shoes

........

okay. okay.

The list could go on and on.

But, that's a basic list of where my head will be for the next 3 weeks.

What are your summer plans and inspirations?
Remember to Sparkle!

{Flower Power}

{DIY Planter}

My mom cracks me up.

She is so selfless, that usually when she wants something it usually is in passing or in a "I like that" statement. So when things like Mother's Day come around and you ask her what she wants, she usually says "I don't know"

And this year was no exception.

Thankfully just a month prior she saw something on Pinterest and "Ohhhh I like that" and thank goodness I remembered!

She saw this adorable planter!

I would include the link, but the page is gone! So sorry!

Credit to whomever did it! It's lovely!

Anywho.

This was my inspiration.

So here is the DIY.

I must warn you, this project isn't super cheap but it is most definitely worth it.

{DIY Planter}

Now, my dad says that these are actually "Color Bowls"

So if we must get technical, this project is DIY Color Bowls.

But to me, its a freakin' planter!

Okay, here you go.

You will need: three terracotta pots (1 small, 1 medium, 1 large), spray paint, potting soil, Stencil(s) if you choose, and flowers of your choice.

There is a new Hobby Lobby in town so I was ecstatic to pick up my project needs from there!

My first step was to lay down paper on my outside table to protect from the paint. Then I took my smallest and largest pot and painted them both the same color. This was my little twist on my inspiration, to have the smallest and the largest pot frame the middle pot that would be a different color. i.e. 2 cans of spray paint in 2 different colors.

Then I took my medium sized pot and painted it my other color.

The colors I chose were, Krylon indoor/outdoor Gloss spray paint. Blue Ocean Breeze and Almond.

Teal has recently become my mom's favorite color so it was fitting for the pots to be this color! I used Almond, because I was afraid white or gray would be too stark of a contrast.

When they were all painted they looked like this

Now, I was running short on time so I only let them dry for a few hours before trying to stencil on top of them. Bad idea.

Wait at least a day before stenciling.

and

Be careful, the spray paint doesn't like to stay in the stencil. It has a mind of its own. My suggestion would be to spray each letter at a time, don't go side to side on the stencil. This creates the bleeding of the paint.

I created my own stencil out of stencil letters because apparently Hobby Lobby didn't have a stencil that said "Home" or "Sweet", but its cool, we are pretty smart individuals. We can create our own.

This is how I made mine.

Take your letter stencils and punch out the letters that you need.

There was only one "E" in the pack, so you have to improvise and move that letter around if you are doing Home Sweet Home like the inspiration.

Line up the letters you just punched like the "Home" above.

Then flip it over like so.

It is sort of hard to see, but I have placed small pieces of masking tape in between the letters to hold them in place.

Make sure the pieces don't hang over into the letters. That will show up in your finished product.

To protect all your lovely previous paint on the pots, I set up the stencil like this.

The bags will protect from the neew paint getting on the previous paint job. And tape tape tape!

The plan was to use Almond on Blue and Blue on Almond

Like so...

This I am sure would have turned out fabulous if I hadn't of done the dummie paint job and gone side to side with the spray paint.

I ended up having to paint over the terrible stencil job and leave the pot blue.

I chose to go with out the stencil, because 1) I was again, running short on time and 2) I couldn't except defeat again.

Please forgive me, the next steps do not have pictures because I was in such a rush I blanked and forgot to grab the camera.

So once the pots are completely dry:

Start with the largest pot, fill it with potting soil almost completely full, then set your middle pot on top of the soil. This pot should butt up to the lip of the large pot (to the back of the pot). This will give you an idea of where your flowers should be planted so all of the pots fit together stacked. Once you have done that, you can plant the flowers for that pot or repeat the steps for the middle and small pots and then plant the flowers. I choose to plant the flowers each tier as I went. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, comment if it doesn't and I will try to explain it better.

Once you have done all this, Tada! you are finished! Place the planter (or color bowls) where you will enjoy them best and sit back and relax!

Here is my finished project:

The funniest part of all of this, My mother didn't even remember that she had said she liked the idea. She thought, my sister and I had come up with it!

I hope you have enjoyed this DIY!

And most of all, I hope you understood it!

If you make your own, please share! I would love to see your own variations!

I am really happy with the way it turned out, I am even okay that it doesn't have the stencil.

Happy Mother's day!

Remember to Sparkle!

{Pins}

All of the sudden I have become obsessed with making pins for birthdays...or anything for that matter.

Maybe because I had two in one week? hmmmm

Anywho.

Point is, I am obsessed.

My head always trails back to ideas for new and exciting variations.

And

I am looking for more reasons to make them.

Like I'm not busy enough. Ha.

Here is the one I made for my Sister's 16th Birthday.

As you can see, we were at Disneyland for this oh so special event!

And this one I made for my Hunny's Sister's 21st Birthday!

Please forgive poor picture quality.

Each pin had its own flair for each girl. I enjoy seeing their personalities come out in the pins.

So, if you need a pin for a special occasion or birthday, I'm your girl!

You know where to find me!

Remember to Sparkle!