Author: jennifer

Bird Nest Place Card Holder DIY (like Pottery Barn’s)

Decorating

A month or two ago I spied these cuties in the Pottery Barn catalog:

I really liked them, but at $24 (plus shipping) for a set of 4, that was awfully steep.

Then I spotted some little 4 inch birds nests at a craft store for 99 cents each, and decided to make my own.
Here’s what you need:  nest, wire, wire cutters, pliers, spool or dowel about 1 inch in diameter.


I began by making 4 loops in my wire, each about 4 inches long.


I then pinched the other ends of the loops and wrapped the wire tightly around them.


Next I measured about 20 inches from where I’d just wrapped and cut my wire.  This left me a nice long piece to work with in securing the nest to the base and for making the paper holder.


Now push the end of the wire up through the bottom of the nest.


Push the nest down to where the loops are, and then decide how far above the bottom of the nest you want your loops for securing a place card to sit.  Then, using your spool or dowel, wrap the wire tightly around the dowel to form a good circle.  I wrapped mine 3 times.


Remove the dowel and twist the wire at the base of the loops to secure them together.


Now push the end of the wire back down through the bottom of the nest (in a different spot for better stability) toward the loops.  If the nest seems a bit floppy when you hold it upright, then loop the wire back up through the bottom of the nest and down again to secure it.  Then tightly wrap the end of your wire around the base near where you wrapped previously.  Use your pliers to tuck the ends of the wire in.


Now decide on the height of your place card holder and carefully bend the ends of your loops to form the base.


My nest had some long pieces sticking out in random places.  I chose to clip them so I could have a more compact piece that won’t catch on things when I use them.


Fiddle with the base until your nest stands without tipping.


Now squeeze your loops on top together and make sure they will hold a piece of paper.


I like it!  Each of these holders took me 5-7 minutes to make, and because I had the black wire on hand, the entire project cost me $4.00.  SO much better than $24 plus shipping.  I have a feeling I’ll enjoy them even more because I made them.

bird nest place card holders
Now to use them!  These would be fun at an Easter dinner, but you could also use them to hold little trinkets.


Hope you’ll try it!

Posted at DIY Day , Transformation Thursday and Blue Cricket Design .

15 comments , ,

Cucumber Punch

Beverages


cucumber punch in glass
A friend of mine passed this recipe along to me when I was planning for my baby’s blessing celebration.  We found it to be a hit:  simple shopping list, easy preparation, and a great taste that people are just a bit surprised by.

Ingredients needed:


2 liters of Sprite or 7-Up, a can of limeade concentrate, water, sliced cucumber (peeled or unpeeled according to your preference), raspberries.

Mix the limeade concentrate with water according to directions, then add a 2 liter bottle of soda.  Mix together, then add sliced cucumbers, raspberries and ice.  Let sit for about 30 minutes before serving so the punch can absorb the flavor of the cucumbers.

It looks pretty in a punch bowl cucumber punch or in a glass, cucumber punch and it turns a beautiful pink after the raspberries sit in it for a while.


This has become a favorite in our house.  I hope you like it too!

Leave a comment

My (slightly) embarrassing morning

Musings on Life and Beauty

This morning my children did NOT look like this:


I sure wish they had.  My day so far would have been different if they had.  Instead, my two and three year olds woke up with their boxing gloves on.  Big time.

It started innocently enough, with this little conversation:
boy:  “I woke up at seven.”
girl:  “Oh yeah!  I oke up at sits (six).”

The girl then wags her little hips and says “Mm  Mmmmm!” in a nice in-your-face way that is actually cute but only because she’s so little, and you can’t even crack a smile because it most definitely won’t be cute when she’s older.

Remember, neither of them have any concept of time.  They had no clue what they were talking about, only that they were trying to 0ne-up each other.  We went downhill from there, and after a little while I realized that my best option was to just do my best to stay between them.  While feeding the baby, cleaning up breakfast, etc.

Let me interject here that my usual routine is to get up and get ready for the day before I wake my kids up for school.  Due to lack of sleep, however, my second choice is to get the kids off for school and then shower right after they leave.  I usually have a tiny window of time between the good-byes and the waking up of my three littlest, so I’ve traded some productivity for the chance to sleep longer and try to catch up on my rest.  Well, this morning that tiny window never presented itself and it was plain to see that I couldn’t risk leaving the two toddlers alone even for 5 minutes because of their bickering.  SO, I figured I’ll just shower during naptime.

Except for the fact that I had to run some food to a funeral this morning.  Now, I can count on ONE HAND the number of days I’ve gone in public without a shower since #8 was born.  I can think of only 3, including today.  I’ve still got weight to lose and so forth, but I do try to take care of myself and look good every day.  I really didn’t think that I was risking too much if I just ran in the back door to the kitchen at the church, dropped off my food, and took off.  So I put on a sweatshirt, brushed my hair into a ponytail, and donned my favorite hat.  Off we went.

Here’s where it gets embarrassing.

I walked through the back door into the kitchen at the church, and guess who was standing there?

Julie Beck , General President of the Relief Society organization for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .  Yep.  It was her, all right.  Looking tall, thin, and VERY classy.  She was there to attend the funeral.  She’d just popped into the kitchen to check on the ladies who would be serving everybody lunch after the funeral, because that’s just one of the things that Relief Society sisters do (and in my ward, its something we seem to do almost monthly).

I had to laugh at the irony of it all.  Attending to my first responsibility as a mother this morning made me look like a total loser in front of someone I really admire.  Oh well.   Naturally it had to happen on the ONLY occasion I’ve ever stepped into a church looking like this.

I drove away laughing at my luck.  Then I remembered that I’d agreed to take my son’s library book to his classroom when I picked up my kindergartener.  With a deep breath, I headed into the school, prepared to face the two lovely ladies who work at the front desk who always look great and who have like 2 kids each and who probably already think I’m a complete crazy woman. (Yes, that was a run on sentence.  I intended it to be one.)  Well, not only were they in the office, but every other mom I know happened to be there, too!  Looking fabulous, of course.  They were re-decorating the front office for a new month, in their fashionable ruffles and cute skirts and so forth.  You know how cute they looked.  And here I am, the crazy woman with 8 kids, in her sweats and a hat, with a Calvin & Hobbes book in hand.

So I took a deep breath, told them all my story about meeting Julie Beck in the kitchen, congratulated them all on looking fabulous and perfectly ready to meet Julie Beck with no warning, wished them a great day, took the book to my son, and left.

Then I came home, broke up another fight between my little boxers, and wrote this.

Warning to you all:  never go anywhere without a shower and makeup.

Hoping for a shower…..
Jennifer

One comment ,
1 … 452 453 454 455 456 … 523