The Enchanted Rose: A Tutorial

I have so many fond memories that are tied to Disney's animated, musical film version of Beauty and the Beast.  I remember when my mom and dad took my sister and me to see it in the theater shortly after it premiered; it was actually released on my birthday, a fact that I've enjoyed for a long time.  I remember dressing up and acting out the story, with Mom playing the role of the narrator while my sister and I played all of the other characters, and I remember how my sister used to love one particular bit near the end of the movie, where a wardrobe--enchanted and come to life--leaps off a balcony, singing an operatic musical note as her battle-cry.  

Somewhere along the line, my family acquired a book of Disney-themed parties, and for my eleventh--I think--birthday, I had the Beauty and the Beast themed party from that book.  My friends and I played a relay game where we balanced--on our two hands and our heads--three 'candlesticks' that were made out of cardboard tubes and construction paper, pretending to be the film's enchanted candelabra, Lumiére.  I remember the birthday cake that was made to look like the enchanted teapot, Mrs. Potts, and her little teacup son, Chip; I also remember 'Beastly Baked Potatoes', which were cleverly made to resemble the character for which they were named.  

I also recall when I was a little older--around sixteen, I believe--when I discovered the Broadway musical version of the tale, and wouldn't rest until my mom and dad bought us tickets to see the show when it came to town.  It was a theater-experience that was nothing short of sublime, and I was moved to tears by the tugging of my heartstrings and the sheer beauty of it all.  And I completely geeked out when my favorite television show, Once Upon A Time, did their own version of the Beauty and the Beast story in last year's Valentine's Day episode.  It was heartwrenching, and fabulous.

Now, all of that is yet another roundabout way of introducing my true focus of this post, which is the tutorial on how to make your very own version of the movie's infamous floating enchanted rose in a bell jar.  My designs for my little girl's nursery have included as many pretty, girly things as I could possibly think up...and/or manage to include...within reason.  Mom has some lovely bell jars around the house, and I kept looking at them and thinking, If I could find a bell jar of my own, I know I could something that would look like that enchanted rose. And, well--I did find a way to put together my own illusion of a rose floating in mid-air under the shelter of a bell jar!  I shall share with you how it can be done forthwith.

You will need:

- A mantelpiece clock, like the one below

- Wood paste, like this stuff
- Some duct tape
- Spray paint, of the color of your choice. I chose silver, to mimic a mirror.
- A hot glue gun
- Two clear or white buttons. It is very important that they have no color!
- Some transparent thread, like this, or fine fishing line
- A silk rose
- A needle and scissors

First, you'll want to dismantle the clock, removing the clock itself and all of its machinery until you're left with simply the clock's base and the bell jar.  Cogsworth would be horrified, I know.  Please forgive my rather haphazard illustrations...I was working in pen, and wanted to get the drawings done quickly, before Lil' Princess woke up from her nap.  

Place some of the duct tape on the underside of the clock's base, and then fill in any of the holes from where the clock was formerly attached to the base, using the wood paste.  Allow the paste to dry, and then sand over it a little, so that the filled-in holes are hidden.  Next, spray paint the base.  As I have already said, I had mine painted silver, so that it mimics the look of a mirror--another inanimate object that is predominantly featured in the film as a major plot device.  Allow it to dry, and there!  You're finished with that part of the project!

You want for the buttons that you are using to be clear or white, at least, because they will be helping to create the illusion that the rose is magically suspended in midair within the bell jar.  Take the two buttons and secure them, one at each end, to a short bit of the clear thread or fishing line.  I used about an inch and a half for mine, but the length of the thread really depends on the size and height of your bell jar.  You can make adjustments accordingly.

Cut the silk rose to a length that will fit under the bell jar, leaving it short enough to have room both above and below it, when you hold it inside the bell jar.  You might have to prune a few petals and rearrange and reattach some of the leaves, to make the rose fit within the jar in the manner that you find to look the best.

Carefully attach one of the buttons into the rose by parting the rose's petals and using the hot glue gun to plant a dollop of glue inside.  Press the button onto the hot glue to secure it inside of the rose.  Take the other button, at the other end of the string, and attach it into the center of the inside of the bell jar.  The rose should now appear--when you place the bell jar on a flat surface--to magically float in the air.  The transparent thread and the buttons create the illusion!

To complete your Beauty and the Beast inspired work of art, simply place the bell jar on its base, set it on a shelf or dresser or table top somewhere, and enjoy its whimsical, and...dare I say...enchanting charm. ;D

I found my mantelpiece clock at a thrift store, and it cost under $10, and the silk rose cost less than $3 at the craft store.  All of the other materials, I already had access to--so if you play your cards right, this project is beautiful and inexpensive!  I'm quite happy with how the one that I put together for Lil' Princess turned out.

Until I write again...

À bientôt!

--Cait

A Repurposed T-shirt Tutorial

I'm going to start this post with saying WOW, it's been one of those evenings that gets your mind spinning in crazy circles, leaving you wondering What the heck just happened?--These are all very common troubles, so why are they distressing me so very much?--and finally, Can life normalize and today just be over already? 

First, Mr. Darcy and I have recently been dealing with the usual frustrations that one can expect to encounter during house-hunting.  Mr. Darcy has been very proactive in working with a few realtors in the area where we will be moving, and that has proven to be much more helpful than trying to search out living places on our own.  All the same...it's going to take time to find the right new home for us; this I know, and we've just begun to look within the past few weeks.  Prayers and encouragement have certainly meant a lot to us in this process, as it is a major change in our life together.

Second, we've been having car issues today, and that always tends to get nerves riled and worries stirred up.   Fortunately, Mr. Darcy and I tend to manage fairly well together in times like these, and that is a wonderful blessing for our marriage.  Our personalities, strengths, and weaknesses balance each other out.  (The Lord knew what He was doing when He made us and put us together!)

The car situation was solved--as much as it could be solved today--with the help of his truly amazing, generous, and loving parents.  I could not ask for a better family-in-law than my husband's family.  They are all constantly selfless, giving, understanding, and warm-hearted people, and they have truly made me one of their own in the short few years that have passed since I met them.  The car will be fixed, one way or another, and in the meantime I'm again thankful.  I have such a wonderful family.  The stress will eventually wear off--and all of these things really aren't terrible.  They're just the kind of things that I unfortunately allow to get under my skin and, to re-use an earlier phrase, ruffle my feathers.      

Now, all of that having been said--how about that's enough storytelling, and let's move on to the promised repurposed t-shirt tutorial?  I thought you'd agree.  There are two t-shirts that I've made over recently; the t-shirt in the tutorial that follows is the second of the two, and at the end of the tutorial is photos of the first t-shirt makeover.

-Step #1: Materials- 

For this shirt, I used:

a pencil

scissors

fabric pins

a needle

embroidery floss

two knit materials (a shirt and pair of shorts, in this case)

a basic white t-shirt (from Target)

First, I made up a design for the words and pictures that I wanted to attach to the shirt.  Then, I used the pencil to lightly sketch the shape of a heart onto the old pink t-shirt, and the word "Paris" onto the heather-grey shorts.  At this beginning step, I did not do anything to the white t-shirt yet. 

-Step #2: Paris-

This step took some tricky scissors-work, I have to admit.  After I sketched the outline of the word "Paris" onto the grey shorts, I cut out the word and laid it out to make certain that the letters looked all right and lay well on a flat surface.  Then I cut out the shape of the pink heart from the old pink t-shirt.  So, to make certain we're on the same page--the white t-shirt is the base for the design, the grey shorts compose the word "Paris", and the old pink t-shirt is used for the shape of the pink heart.  Easy as pie! 

-Step #3: Lots of Pinning and Some Back-Stitching-

Unfortunately, this is not a great picture, but hopefully you can see what I did here in this step.  I pinned the word "Paris" and the pink heart onto the t-shirt, making certain to center them as much as possible.  (Note: be careful to pin whatever you're pinning to the front of the t-shirt only!  You don't want to pin through the front and back of the shirt, because you won't be able to get your hands through to sew the accents onto the shirt.)  Then, I began to sew.  

Using a lighter grey embroidery floss and the back stitch technique, I sewed "Paris" onto the shirt.  I had to be careful to sew through the front of the shirt only--breezing along and then suddenly realizing that you've sewed the front of a garment to the back of the garment is an awful thing to have happen when sewing!  But if you work slowly and carefully, you won't so much have this problem.  "Slow and steady wins the race!", as the old story about the tortoise and the hare tells us, and this is true in sewing projects as well as it is a lot of the time in life.

Using the same back stitch--I definitely recommend watching the YouTube video of this sewing technique; the video is a much better means of explaining it than a pictorial diagram--I then sewed the words "holds the" and "to my", using a darker grey embroidery floss.

-Step #4: The Key and the Heart-

Having sewed the words onto the shirt, I moved on to sewing the shape of the key and adding the shape of the pink heart.  I used a combination of pale yellow and metallic gold embroidery flosses for the key, and outlined the pale pink heart in a slightly darker shade of pink embroidery floss.  Again, I just used the back stitch technique, and didn't worry too much about a raw edge of the fabric showing here and there.  It gives the shirt a nice, worn look, and the back-stitch keeps the material from any threat of unravelling or falling off.  Then, I added a little knot for the period on the end of the sentence, after the shape of the heart.

-The Completed Project-

"Paris holds the key to your heart,
And all of Paris plays a part.
Just stroll two by two
Down what we call 'la rue'
And soon all Paris
Will be singing to you!
Ooh La La
Ooh La La
Ooh La La!"

--from the "Anastasia" soundtrack; 

song composed by Stephen Flaherty 

Well, truth be told...it is Mr. Darcy who truly holds the key to my heart, and he knows it.  But I have a great fondness for the City of Light, even though I have never visited it.  (The closest that I've been to Paris was when my family once visited a few neighboring countries...France was, unfortunately, not among them.)  So, the above photo is my statement t-shirt for my love of Paris, repurposed from an old, plain white t-shirt, an old pink t-shirt, and a pair of heather-grey shorts.

And here is the first t-shirt that I made over.

I cannot actually claim responsibility for the idea of this shirt.  On a few places on the internet, I had seen the idea of putting the word "y'all" on a t-shirt, with a pair of cowboy boots standing in place of the two L's, and I just had to try making my own version.  Again, I used an old t-shirt for the cut-out letters and sewed them onto the brown t-shirt with embroidery floss.  It's a somewhat time-consuming project, and you have to be willing to tackle a bit of sewing...but I promise you, it is fun, super inexpensive, and totally worthwhile!

Happy sewing, y'all!

À bientôt!

Cait

Tea Tins, Lavender, and Spring

Well, spring is literally in full bloom here.  Bradford pear trees are showering their snowy white petals all over the place, daffodils smile happily on lawns, and sinister neon yellow pollen is e-ver-y-where.  It's still a lovely time of year, though, and the weather has been notably pleasant this season.  I took some pictures from the yard when I got home from work today...

(The tulip tree.)

(I love daffodils...so crisp and sculpted, yet so beautifully ruffled and frou-frou!)

That being said, I'm moving on to my next topic: lavender.  

I love lavender.  I love its heavenly soft and alluring fragrance, I love its delicate and demure colors, and I love its versatility...so, obviously, this post has been a long time in coming!  I waited on writing this until the lavender seeds that I had planted had sprouted a bit, and now that they are well on their way to being nicely growing plants, I can share my tea tin project and my lavender lemonade recipe with you.  :)

I've wanted to grow a few little plants of my own, once spring arrive: inspired by the women in my circle of family and friends who have grown plants of their own.  Succulents, basil, green onions, parsley, and hyacinths have been in rotation.  After my first nerve-wracking adventure in harvesting lavender from the plants that grow behind the fence in my parents' yard--a somewhat forested area between the yard itself and the farm pasture beyond it, where a few venomous snakes have been known to lurk on occasion--I decided that it was high time that I grew some lavender plants of my own.  But first--I needed a container to start growing the tiny little seeds in, because the warm weather was not yet completely permanent for the season.

Inspiration came in the form of an old tea tin that I had save after the tea itself was gone.  (Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice is one of my favorite tea blends, and my BFF Micah had given a tin of it to me as a Christmas present...a delightful gift, to say the least!)  I had always been of the opinion that the Harney and Sons tea tins were much too nice and potentially functional-after-being-used-exclusively-as-tea-holders to get rid of, and so I found a lovely use for them as plant pots.  Turning a tea tin into a plant pot is possible in a few easy, easy steps.  

#1: 

The Hot Cinnamon Spice tin is a glorious fiery burnt-orange shade.  

I covered it in a generous coat of basic shiny gold spray paint, let that dry, 

and then gave it a second coat of paint, this time in a pretty robin's egg 

blue shade that was more matte than shiny.  I wanted the surface of

the tin to look weathered and a little antique, so I didn't worry about 

spraying the paint on evenly; it ended up looking crackled and distressed,

which is just what I was hoping for. 

#2:

See how the shade beneath shows through in the crackles and streaks? 

The fiery orange of the original tin glowed through the gold spray paint

that I added, giving it a nice coppery hue.  The robin's egg blue paint adds

to the aged copper effect too, which I really liked.  The only other thing that

I had to do, after that was have Mr. Darcy use a drill to put a few small holes

in the bottom of the tin--we made just three holes--so that water can drain out

of the bottom of the tin and not collect there and cause the plants' roots to rot.  

After that, I poured about a half an inch of aquarium gravel 

into the bottom of the tin, and then added the planting soil, filling the tin 

to just below the rim that you can see on the top of the tin.  I planted the seeds

as directed by the instructions on the back of the seed packet, 

and gave them a bit of water.   

And that's it!  

From tea tin to plant tin, 

using just an old tea tin, spray paint, a drill,

and a few basic gardening items.

And here you can see how my little lavender sprouts are growing.

Aren't they cute?  I'm so happy with how well they are coming along so far...

Growing a plant gives one a unique and happy feeling of accomplishment.  Even 

though it is something quite small, it is still a thing that you can do, and that is really nice.

I should add, as Mom advised me: when you first plant seeds, 

secure a little bit of plastic wrap over the mouth of the tin 

(or whatever you're using to hold the seeds) and allow it to act as 

a sort of miniature greenhouse for the first several days, 

until you start seeing the tiny green leaves peeking through the soil.  

It really helps get the seeds to sprouting quickly!

So, now that I've given you the tutorial of tea tin to plant tin, I'll include the lavender lemonade recipe.  I'm really looking forward to the day when my lavender plants are big enough to harvest them!

Lavender Lemonade 

- Gather a handful of lavender--about four or five decent-sized sprigs is enough--and give it a good rinse, patting it dry with paper towels.  Set it aside for the time being.  

- Bring one and a half to two cups of water to a boil on the stove; once the water has come to a roiling boil, stir in a cup of sugar, until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Reduce the heat of the burner to low, and let the water simmer.  It will thicken slightly; this is your basic simple syrup.  

- Add the lavender sprigs to the water and let them steep, stirring frequently and crushing the lavender leaves a bit with the spoon as you stir.  The lavender leaves will make an infusion, almost like a tea, and the water will turn to a greenish-bluish color; this is what you want to see it do.  Let the lavender steep for ten to fifteen minutes, over low heat. 

- Meanwhile, mix a pitcher of frozen lemonade concentrate--like this--according to the instructions on the can.  You can chill the lemonade while the lavender leaves steep, but you don't have to.  

- After the lavender leaves have steeped for those ten to fifteen minutes, carefully pour the lavender infusion into the lemonade and stir to combine.  (The color of this beverage wasn't lavender purple when I made it, possibly because I didn't have any of the lavender flowers to steep in the infusion, so I just added equal amounts of red and blue food coloring.  This isn't a necessary step, but it gives the drink a pretty pastel hue.)  Once you've done that, just fill a tall glass with ice cubes and pour the lavender lemonade over them, and enjoy!

I didn't pioneer the idea of making lavender lemonade, but after seeing it mentioned so many times on websites such as Pinterest, I just had to try making it myself.  So, the idea isn't originally mine, but the recipe that you see written here is the one that I used when I made lavender lemonade a few weeks back.  (And it was given rave reviews by the friends who sampled it, so trust me...the lavender and lemonade combination might sound a trifle bit odd, but it is a combination that totally works!)

Until my next post...

À bientôt!

Cait

A Burlap Rosette Wreath Tutorial

As promised!

In keeping with the majority of my posts, this one won't be a short one, but this is out of necessity rather than out of a wish to bore you to tears.  Hopefully the photos of this tutorial will speak for themselves...though I should preface the tutorial itself with an apology for the slight blurriness of some of the photos.  They were taken with a cellphone camera; what can I say?  One has to make do at times! ;P

To make a burlap rosette wreath, you will need the following items.

* A wreath form.  (Check the thrift store for these!)
* A hot glue gun and hot glue sticks.
* Burlap...natch. :D
* Ribbon, twine, etc. (Basically, any accessories that you want to use for your wreath.)

To begin with, here is how I made the rosettes for my wreath.  It is crazy-easy to do...

Step #1: Begin with a scrap of material; any kind of material--of any size--works.  I used a mix of gold silk, white cotton, and natural-hued burlap to make the rosettes for my wreath.  Bigger scraps of material make larger rosettes, smaller scraps of material make smaller rosettes...you get the idea.  Cut the material to a rectangle shape, with one end of it cut at an angle, as shown below.

(Step 1)

Step #2: Tie a knot in the angled end of the material.  This will form the starting point, and therefore the center, of the rosette.

   

(Step Two)

 Step #3: Start twisting the material around at the knot, until you have twisted the entire length of the material into a rope.  It's helpful to twist as you go along...this is where you start with the hot glue gun.  Carefully apply the glue to the inside of the rosette, so that it holds its form as you continue to twist the material around, making a spiral shape.  

In imitation of Martha Stewart, I would advise keeping a glass of ice water within an arm's reach during this part of the wreath's construction.  Speaking from personal experience, hot glue hurts when it comes into contact with your skin.  (Yeeeeeeeowch...the very memory stings.)

(Step 3a)

(Step 3b)

Step #4: Continue twisting and gluing the rosette until you run out of material, and then simply glue the end of the material under the rose so that it doesn't stick out.  And that's it!  You have a rosette.

The rest of the wreath's construction is up to you: how you wrap the wreath, what you wrap it with, if you decide to wrap it at all, what you use to embellish the wreath with...the list goes on and on.  After I pulled my original wreath apart--you remember, the one that I made with an old pool noodle--I went back to work with the glue gun and my new grapevine wreath base.

I wrapped the burlap around the wreath, overlapping it so that none of the grapevine showed through.  Grapevine wreaths...grapevine decorations in general...are so pretty, though.  I'd like to work with it in future projects.  I've seen really gorgeous wreaths made from a combination of a grapevine wreath similar to this one, burlap, silk flowers, and home address numbers.  Geesh, just try searching "burlap rosettes" on Pinterest or Google search, and you'll find scores of wonderful ideas!  

As I had already glued my rosettes onto the original wreath, I didn't have to--or rather I couldn't--glue them individually onto the new, sturdier wreath.  I had layered and glued them onto the original wreath in a semi-circle, so when I reconstructed the wreath, I just had to reattach the stuck-together rosettes collectively.  I'm happy that I was all right with the placement of the rosettes to begin with...otherwise, I would have been an unhappy camper with hot-glue-seared fingertips!  

To complete the wreath, I took some champagne-hued satin ribbon and some twine and wrapped them crisscross around the part of the wreath that the rosettes didn't cover.  I had already added on a twine bow, and with the addition of a refurbished brass wreath-hanger, the Burlap Rosette Wreath 2.0 was able to be hung on the apartment door.  

And here it is now.  (I'm so-so-SO much happier with the new base.  The other one was beginning to look sadly lopsided, as out of sorts as a wreath could be.  Well, not anymore!)  

And now, to preview my next blog post in honor of Thanksgiving...two pumpkin dishes!  One is my version of the pumpkin pie smoothie that I have seen around the web; the other will be the dessert that I make for my family's Thanksgiving Day dinner.  Until then...

À bientôt!

Cait