Dried Wedding Flower Ornament

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Holidays everyone! I have a really easy but special DIY for this Season. And of course they don’t have to be from a wedding bouquet but these are from my wedding which was last June.

I wanted to preserve a bit of my flowers but I don’t want them in a shadow box because I had hydrangeas and things with tiny parts that would just fall apart anyway.

I don’t know how many years they will keep but they should last at least a few years.

All you need is some clear glass ornaments and dried petals and leaves. Be careful when placing everything in the ornaments because they are very thin glass and you don’t want it to break and cut you. It’s that easy! If you don’t celebrate Christmas and/or have a tree they would look great handing from ribbon in a window or from a shelf also.

I added some of my wedding pictures also, since I realized I never shared them on here last summer.

Have an amazing holiday season!

30Oct2017

Spider Mobile

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

So I know I’ve been pretty m.i.a. for a while. The truth is that I just didn’t feel like blogging really. I’ve been focusing on my art and other things for the past year. (Oh yeah I got married this summer! More on that later.) I just didn’t want my blog to become a chore that I dreaded, so if I didn’t have anything to blog about I didn’t. I’m ready to post more here and there and I actually do have some stuff to share. So, in honor or my favorite holiday Halloween I present to you:

Duh duh duh! A spider Mobile. I actually made this last year after Halloween. I bought the spiders and mobile for way cheap the day after Halloween and made it. So this year is the first Halloween I’ve put it up. I got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens magazine’s Halloween Tricks and Treats magazine 2015. I had wanted to make it back in 2015 but it took me forever to find some plastic spiders that weren’t attached to rings. Last year I finally did so here you have it.

You’ll need:

200 or more plastic spiders
a wire rimmed spider web
fishing line
a needle or something sharp to pierce spider butts
optional- I tied little seed beads to the end of my strings for a little weight so they hang straight

Its pretty easy just pierce a whole in the abdomens of all the spiders and make different length strings with them spacing them about 5-6″ apart and tying a knot in the fishing line under each spider. I finished each string with a clear seed bead under the last spider for a little weight.

After you have your strings tie them all on the spider web strands. You might want to do this as you finish the strings to so they are out of the way and don’t get tangles up.

The last step is to tie string onto four sides of the web so that it hangs horizontally from the ceiling. (most are made to hang vertically)

And there you have it! Perfect for a Halloween party or I guess all year round if you really like spiders, I don’t judge!

On a side note, when storing this I put each string of spiders in it’s own individual baggie so the strings don’t get tangled beyond saving. Next year you will really appreciate it.

Enjoy!

23Dec2015

Chocolate Peppermint Marshmallows

Posted in Food, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Holidays everyone! I have two parts to this post. First of all I would like to announce that Ben and I are engaged! So actually we have been since the first of November but I was waiting to make it official until we told all of our family and friends in person. Also I didn’t have my ting yet, but anyway yes, this is my good news!
Now on to the absolute easiest Christmas treat recipe you’ll ever find. For these easy chocolate peppermint marshmallows you will need:

Dark chocolate or semi sweet chips
Crushed up peppermints or candy canes
Large marshmallows (I used my favorite vegan brand Dandies)

Just melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler or the microwave. (30 seconds at a time) Then dip half of each marshmallow in the melted chocolate. Next press the chocolate top down into a bowl of crushed mints and put on wax paper to dry. It’s that easy!

7Dec2015

Christmas DIY Roundup

Posted in diy, Holiday, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hey all, remember me? Ah I just realized I haven’t posted since October! The reason being grad school is keeping me super busy. But even though I have been working on my art more than crafts I still want to spread some holiday cheer so I found a couple of my favorite diy’s I posted last Christmas time for a little refresher.

First there are these super fun and easy to make Snow Globes

Next the ever amazing Dyed Bottle Brush Trees and Wreath

And last but not least…Clay Paw Print Ornaments

I hope these give you some inspiration and fun and I’d love to see what other Christmas diy’s you come up with so show me on Instagram with #peppermintsandhoneybees. Also I have an exciting announcement to make soon so stay tuned!!!

30Oct2015

Concrete Pumpkin

Posted in diy, Gardening, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Halloween! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I have one more pumpkin diy to share. I wanted to make this last Halloween but just ran out of time so it was definitely on my list this year. The Concrete Easter Eggs were my first experience with concrete and it was pretty easy so I was pretty excited. Also I did some research and I guess cement and concrete are not the same. Cement is an ingredient of concrete. Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste. So Concrete is stronger and will last much longer. The original idea is on the blog Fox Hollow Cottage.

First cut a hole and and design you want on the pumpkin with a knife. This one was a light I got at Goodwill so it already had a face and a hole in the bottom.

Next put plastic wrap tightly around the face so the concrete won’t leak out. Turn in upside down and spray the inside with cooking spray. I forgot this stepsons mines isn’t stick too bad but I would recommend using spray. I put my pumpkin I. A bucket to get it to stay upside down while I poured the concrete in. The concrete I used was Quikrete from Home Depot.

If you’ve never mixed concrete it’s pretty easy. Some people add the powder to the water, I like to add water gradually to the powder while I stir. Only add a little water at a time until you get an even and thick but pourable consistency.

Let the pumpkin sit for at least 24 hours after you pour the concrete.

When you cut the foam pumpkin off use a knife, scissors, and a screw driver came in handy for prying pieces off.

When I took my pumpkin off the eyes and eyes didn’t fill in all the way so I mixed some more concrete up in a cup and speckle some on to make them bigger and more triangular. It doesn’t have to be perfect though. The cracks and rough spots are what makes the concrete pumpkin interesting!

Show me your costumes in Instagram by using #peppermintsandhoneybees. Now go get your spook on!

15Oct2015

Pumpkin Terrarium

Posted in craft, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

When I was in elementary school I always secretly loved projects where I got to make dioramas. I’ve always loved miniatures and love making little scenes. So when I found some pictures on Pinterest here and here that combined my love of dioramas with my love for Halloween I knew what I had to do! I found the foam pumpkin at Goodwill. Someone had tried to carve what sort of looked like a castle and gave up so I buggy it and just cut a big hole out where they had started carving. Of course you can just by a new foam pumpkin from any craft store in the fall. Just make sure it’s the hallow carve-able kind!

I chose to spray paint the inside black as shown below but it’s totally up to you what you want the inside to look like.

I used rocks, sticks and different kinds of moss for the terrarium. The moon and stars are glow-in-the-dark stickers and the fox is a little figurine from Joann’s. Finding things to put in is half the fun! I’m still on the hunt for very tiny battery powered led string lights that I can attach the the top inside to shine light down on my scene. It’ll be fun to switch things around every year. Now get to crafting!

25Mar2015

Concrete Easter Eggs

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hey everyone, it’s Wednesday, woohoo! We’re half way to the weekend and even though we just got about 4″ of snow here on Monday, (not cool Mother Nature) I’m excited for Spring and Easter. My family never did a whole lot to celebrate Easter other than Easter egg hunts and and getting together to eat too much food, but its always been one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I think its because I love rabbits and animals in general along with anything Spring/Summer related. I found this diy on Pinterest by Camille Styles for making concrete eggs with real egg shells. I’ve actually been working on this for a while because I needed to get enough egg shells to fill. When I would use an egg to cook with I would just break out the bottom with a knife of my finger. You want to take the bottom out so that you can fill it from there and then when the concrete is dry they can stand up. Below are the supplies I used; the cup and knife were for the concrete mix and make sure to have paper towels handy. You can usually find concrete mix at any craft or hardware store, it’s pretty fun to work with! If you’ve never mixed concrete, plaster, or anything similar, I use the mound method which is where you fill the cup up with about 1/3 water and slowly add the mix until there is a little mountain on top that doesn’t sink down immediately into the water. Stir it up until there are no clumps or bubbles. it should be about the consistency of pancake mix. I have to admit I got some of mine a little too thick and some didn’t quite turn out perfect but I like some imperfections in mine.

I got a little messy and broke one, whoops! 😉

After your eggs are filled let them dry outside for at least 24 hours. Use an exact-o knife to help peel the shell of and that’s all! If you’d like you can paint or stamp you eggs or anything else you can think of. I might do something with mine but I’m not sure what yet. If I do change them I’ll give an update.

My Easter Table

P.S. the adorable basket and grass cloth are from my good friends at Glory Days Mercantile, check them out they have tons of cute Easter decor!

19Jan2015

Valentine’s Day Garland

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hola peeps! I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging, not really on purpose but more because I was too busy to start/work on new projects and before I knew it January was half over! I am totally scared by the way time works and wish things would slow down just a bit. Now its that time of year that I just want to bypass to warmer days but I’m trying to enjoy the here and now and find the good, even in this frozen wasteland, because one day I’ll look back and miss these times!

I’ve never really decorated too much for Valentines day but since I have a craft blog now I figured I’d see what I could come up with, and love the results. I’m really starting to get in that heart everything spirit now and even though I don’t do frilly decorations (unless they’re vintage of course!) I made some simple nature inspired pieces. The arrows are inspired by similar ones I found on Pinterest. I used sticks for mine though and used paint and marker for the feathers. the heart tips are cardstock. I also made some of the feathers into earrings for my Etsy shop Peppermint Emporium. The garland is straight from my noggin and is just sticks, coffee filters dyed with watered down craft paint and twine. grab your glue gun and there ya go! Ben buys the unbleached coffee filters so I was a little disappointed that they weren’t white, but afterward I decided I liked the brown color better, it lends itself to the natural rustic vibe I was going for.

27Dec2014

Holiday Gifts

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are resting up with family and friends! I know Christmas is over, but I couldn’t post any of the stuff I made as gifts until I gave them out, but you could still make them for yourself or birthdays, or just wait till next year. So here we have wood burned bamboo spoons, hand stamped cork coasters, and yes, those are the marble clay dishes from A Beautiful Mess!

23Dec2014

Clay Pet Paw Ornaments

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

I made these ornaments of my cats’ paw prints for Christmas, and love how they turned out. I used crayola model magic because I needed something that was light and easy to press into since cat paws are not very big, plus it air drys so there’s no baking! For dogs you could also use polymer clay, or salt dough as well. I might experiment with some more clays to see what I can use also.