Pepper Design Blog

Liv’s Mother’s Day Candy Bag Cards

Liv has just recently discovered the world of crayons, colored pencils and drawing (right about the time I made the floating bookshelves for the tree painting in her nursery and stocked up on the art must-haves), so this Mother’s Day I’m creating little gifts for her Grandmas and Great Grandmas out of her very own art. Speaking of, if you are one of the above mentioned, I recommend skipping this post or you might spoil your surprise . Oops, maybe it’s too late.

I call these guys candy bag cards because they’re made out of the small clear bags found in the make-your-own-candy aisle of most craft stores. They’re perfect for packaging up wedding favors, homemade lollipops, handfuls of M&Ms and adorable pictures or pint sized drawings by your kids!

To add a little of my own artistic love to each drawing bag, I made little rosettes out of cotton fabric and felt. They’re really simple to whip up and are a favorite little accent of mine.

The last time I created these little treat bags-turned-card was for Valentine’s Day when I sent salt water taffy and a photo of Liv to family.

Super easy idea.

For this version, Liv had a blast drawing on several pieces of white card stock for the bags. I included a picture of her making each creation because it was just too darn cute.

Here’s a look at all of the contents:

********************************************************************

Candy Bag Cards
m

Materials: translucent bags, card stock or greeting cards (for the top of the bag), fabric for rolled flowers, needle and thread, felt for flower leaves, art, a photo to share, confetti for the bag (or candies that won’t melt), stapler, scissors, glue

Creating the rolled flowers was a quick and simple project, one that I’m thinking I might copy for a few cute barrettes or headbands for Liv?

To begin, I cut my fabric into roughly 2×6″ pieces (I used a t-shirt cotton found in my remnant box), and then began rolling the fabric lengthwise. Then I wound the thin roll around my finger to create a flower and added a small stitch at the end to keep the rosette in place. A second stitch helped me to tuck the edge of the fabric under so that it was hidden from out of view. Once I had my supplies together it took me 2 minutes per flower, maybe.

Lastly, using two contrasting colors of green felt I cut out little leaves for the rosette.

Next up was cutting out Liv’s art into bag-sized pieces. In went the confetti, the small picture of Liv drawing (which I just printed right from the home computer onto photo paper) and the actual drawing.

I used a little floral craft punch and burgundy card stock to make the confetti.

The last time I created these I used left over greeting cards cut to size to create the top of the bag (still love that idea), but this time I simply cut card stock and scrapbooking paper to the appropriate size and scored the edge with a credit card.

The card was stapled to the top on either side of the baggie and then I added the little rosettes for a finished look.

You could also write a little message right onto the front or back of the top of the bag making this a Mother’s Day present, drawing and card all in one!

********************************************************************

I love this idea for a birthday or shower invite, too! The possibilities are endless.

Another idea is to deliver the treat bags with candy instead of confetti. Choose a candy that won’t melt, such as a wrapped hard candy, conversation hearts or another favorite.

Perfect for Mother’s Day! I’m mailing these guys out as we speak, the Grandmas and Great Grandmas in Liv’s life should have their drawings by Sunday.

 Happy Wednesday to you all!

PS All Mother’s Day ideas can be found under the pink ‘Entertaining’ button in the left sidebar (with the rest of the posts sorted by holiday or event), or by using this short cut right here.

Kitchen Update: A New DIY Chalkboard Decal

Have you seen those adorable chalkboard decals floating round the web? I was initially inspired by this one, but decided that it was a bit ornate and pricey for our space. So instead I ordered a long sheet of chalkboard vinyl off of Amazon and made my own.

Our fridge is stainless steel so it doesn’t hold on to magnets for lists or invites or pictures that we want to hang. It’s usually nice to keep it clutter free (and we actually have a little white board for proudly displaying invites, cards and Liv drawings in the corner of the kitchen) but I thought a memo pad for the fridge would be nice.

It’s proved to be a pretty little addition to the space, too!

************************************************************************

DIY Chalkboard Decal
m

To create the chalkboard memo pad, I designed a little swirly edged rectangular shape in Adobe Illustrator and printed it out on 16×20″ paper (here’s a link to download my high res version). The graphic ended up being about 12×18″ to accommodate the size of the vinyl.

Then I cut the above out and traced it onto the back of my vinyl paper.

And then carefully cut out my vinyl decal.

Easy peasy.

Attaching to the fridge took a little bit of time and a lot of smoothing (my Driver’s License worked great for slowly smoothing out bubbles as I applied the decal). I used the ice and water fridge door insert as my guideline for where the decal should sit on the door. This stuff is completely repositionable! I must have pulled it off and reapplied it 5 or 6 times before settling on the final placement.

Will the vinyl decal leave a mark when it’s removed? I love my fridge too much not to double triple check! The packaging said that absolutely no residue would be left behind, but I tested anyhow.

I cut a little strip of the decal and left it on the side of the fridge for a couple of hours and no residue – and then a second strip for over two weeks! with no residue to be found when I gently pulled the decal up.

There was a faint outline of where the decal had been placed, but I think it was a little bit of moisture build up because a dry cloth was all it took to gently wipe it away.

************************************************************************

Now the memo pad is available for little grocery messages or inspirational reminders. The easiest way to memorize a helpful quote or saying is to see it everyday, after all! I think that that probably becomes especially useful as kids get older. But, if we change our minds long before Liv can read, I can rest assured that this baby should come off with no problems and no damage, at least as far as our particular fridge is concerned.

Kind of adds a little something, don’t you think? A little curvy art to a big grey box has a nice look to it.

No eraser needed if I want to remove the message, just a soft cloth and a little water and it’s completely gone. Not a trace of chalk left behind. In that sense it’s not really chalkboard material – no opportunity to screechingly scratch nails (thank goodness), the decal is actually more of a vinyl feel.

Now both chalkboards are in full use at the house! Liv loves her kid-friendly height version, and my list-making side loves my kitchen version.

If you’re not interested in making your own, here are some great Etsy options, too! There are so many great options out there.

But now back to the refrigerator, which Liv finds incredibly fascinating. So many good things come in and out of it all day – I wonder what sort of magical box she must think it is.

All kitchen makeover posts can be found right here.

Easy Vase Terrariums

I’ve been so inspired lately with all of the decorating ideas on bringing the outdoors in. One trend that has especially caught my eye is the glass vase terrariums that we’re seeing on dining room tables, in kitchens and even in outdoor spaces.

I was rummaging through my buffet recently, attempting to reorganize, clean it out and cut down on what I no longer use, when I came across a few vases and vase fillers that I thought would be perfect for a couple of indoor terrariums for our dining room. In fact, I didn’t buy a single thing for this project – everything was either from under the buffet (where lots of vases live), in my craft bin, from around the house or from the garage.

Here’s what I managed to find to put these guys together:

*A large clear vase (you could also use a fish bowl or punch bowl)
*Several smaller, shorter vases for holding the potted plants (I used votive holders)
*River rock (this can be purchased in mass at a home improvement store in the gardening section, just hose off those dirty river rocks and you should find beautiful black ones! these are left over from my wedding as vase fillers, believe it or not)
*Dried Spanish moss (also from my vase filler collection – can br purchased at any craft store)
*Dried or live green moss (mine came from the craft store as well, also left over from a wedding)
*Succulents for planting (from Ikea and our yard)

First up was to replant my little succulents in the votives with a little potting soil and a little water.

There are actually three little votive candle holders in the bigger vase above, though it’s hard to see that last one.

Then I filled in rocks around the votives:

Next up was a layer of Spanish moss:

And finally a thin top layer of the rich green moss:

Put it all together, and what do you get!

Lots of layers or prettiness!

I ended up ‘planting’ a few more cactus varieties from our yard to add a little color, and I added a few rocks to the top after bringing these guys inside.

The smaller one was super simple – same as the above but just one votive of planted succulents.

I’ve been playing with styling these guys – maybe with a cloche? He’s holding on to a few left over clippings.

I think they look great in the dining room. The terrariums would be neat as a centerpiece for the table over a burlap runner and surrounded by simple white flowers for a dinner party. Oooo, I can see it now.

Again, the layering is what really makes these guys. Though some sort of tinted vase might be kind of neat as well.

I love that I had all of the supplies on hand, makes for a super easy weekend project!

I kind of have a thing for collecting and holding on to great vases and different filler decor. It all started with my wedding five years ago and has grown to help plenty of friends with their big day centerpieces (yes, that many vases. times three). So that little stash in my garage is actually a cabinet that really needs to be emptied out… one indoor terrarium at a time.