Potted Moss Topiary

The Lord has blessed our mom's group with the best team of servant-hearted ladies! My talented craft-minded friend has come up with the cutest and easiest projects for our moms to work on! And I view our craft time as more than just busy work. It's amazing to me that when hands are busy (hot-gluing or stringing beads), conversation happens. I also love watching the moms leave feeling a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.  That little craft may be the only thing truly completed that week (because we all know the dishes and laundry are never ending), but I pray that it helps those moms feel that what they do is important and does eventually have results.

 Using Dollar Tree items, these topiaries were the perfect nudge towards spring decor. 

 In fact, I picked up a few bags of the moss to make a wreath as well with this same technique. 

For this craft we used:

• 3.5" Terra Cotta Pots (They come in a 2 pack)
• 4" Styrofoam Balls (You want the sphere to be slightly larger than your pot opening)
• Moss (One bag of this moss would easily cover 3 to 4 topiaries)
• Hot Glue
• Hot Glue gun

To help contain the mossy mess, we laid out plastic tablecloths at the hot glue stations. 

The strofoam cones would make adorable Christmas trees. A wreath form would work perfectly. And you could always purchase larger balls and pots for a larger topiary. I even thought about using a bamboo skewer to add another sphere or two on top of the potted one, for a stacked topiary look.  

It was easy. It was fun. And any time I can add some natural green to my home, I feel refreshed! 

Make Your Own Wooden Christmas Ornaments

At our Christmas Moms Group Meeting, we made a couple quick wooden Christmas ornaments. I am loving the unfinished wood look against the green fir trees...but you could easily stain or paint the wood too.

For the snowflake ornament...

I tried to come up with an idea for using those metal clips once removed...but I couldn't.

So far, hot glue has held everything in place.

The joints seemed to require a hefty amount of hot glue.

And the little notch from the metal clips provided the perfect hole for the twine.

Ribbon would also be pretty...but as I mentioned before, I am loving the natural look this Christmas season.

The Nativity ornament turned out adorable as well.

We had several different fabric options for Baby Jesus' swaddle blanket. Burlap would be adorable too.

Be sure to hot glue each fold of the blanket to the wooden Baby Jesus.

I added some natural wood bead garlands to a tree with these ornaments.

These ornaments also would make adorable gift toppers.

Paint Stick Frame Wall Hanging

Monday's craft for our mom's meeting was simple but well-liked. Using some paint sticks we had leftover from a previous craft, we were able to make these fun wall hangings.

In order to make the craft time run smoothly, I prepped the paint sticks ahead of time. Since the wood was super thin and flimsy, I was able to cut the sticks down to size with a sturdy pair of scissors. I stained one side of each cut paint stick as well.

We had four cardstock printables for them to choose from. You can find those to print here and here.

Two feet of jute twine was more than enough to create a hanging point.

To secure the twine to the sticks, we suggested tying a small knot around the paint stick. Then, the knot was secured to the back of the paint stick with a little bit of hot glue.

A line of hot glue along the top and the bottom of the printed cardstock held the paint sticks in place as the frames.

I have loved seeing pictures posted as the moms hang these in their homes.

This would also be a fun way to give your kid's artwork as a gift.

It was a fun, quick and inexpensive craft that they all seemed to enjoy. I love when a craft is easy enough that the moms feel empowered when the finish it!

And I love having another way to hang some Scripture around my home.

Fabric Covered Bible

I was stocking up for the up-coming MOPS year at Hobby Lobby this morning when I spotted the prettiest fabric ever! And so I bought a yard! Those that know me know...I HATE sewing. I love the idea of it. And I come up with millions of projects that I usually have to have my mother-in-love help me execute. I have a machine. I can sew pillows and simple things, but I usually finish the project so angry. I am a bigger fan of hot glue!

I am proud to say that I was able to use that fabric during nap time on the same day that I bought it! Other yards of fabric are still folded neatly in a stack in my craft cabinet.

My parents had given me this New Living Bible with wide margins for my birthday. It has some adorable illustrations for key verses already drawn in. I am loving it! I can write devo notes in the side or even sermon notes. Even though the cover is cute, it just didn't feel like "me."

Following this simple No-Sew Fabric Book Cover Tutorial, I put my hem tape and iron to work!

The Bible slipped into the cover easily -  I love that it's not permanent. So, the next time I walk through Hobby Lobby and spot more fabric that I "just have to have!" I can make another cover!

And there's no zipper or buttons or handles to get in the way during a Sword Drill (anyone remember those?).  I never wanted a Bible cover growing up because it slowed me down. My Sunday School teacher even had these pads that sat on our chairs and would indicate who stood up first. It was a serious thing! 

I might even make my journal and ipad match! One yard of fabric would easily have covered 4 of these sized Bibles. 

Leather Tassel Keychains

Our craft this week at MOPS was super simple. (You can read about our topic of discussion here). Using pieces of faux leather, each mom went home with a cute leather tassel key chain.

I had prepped the leather rectangles before the meeting. Using a rotary cutter, I had cut the pieces into 4"x6" rectangles. I had also drawn a line on the back side of the material with a sharpie one inch from the top.

The first step included cutting a strip off the end that was about 1/4" wide. This would be come the loop to attach to the key ring.

Then, a fringe was cut from the bottom of the material up to the sharpie line. Each of these fringe pieces were approximately 1/4" wide.

Using hot glue, the initial cut strip was attached to the top of the material.

The tassel began to take shape as the material was rolled and glued. As long as a thin line of glue was applied every inch or so, the tight roll held.

I think the tassels look cute on their own, but I had prepared some embellishments as well.

It was fun to watch the individual styles of the moms emerge as they finished off their tassels.

I had been given a book of upholstery samples that provided some of the leather. I was surprised to find out how cheaply it could be purchased, by the yard, from Hobby Lobby. $9.99/yard regular price. Thanks to a sale, We paid around $6/yard - and one yard yielded over 70 key chains. I may plan to top my Christmas packages with these next year...a cute, cheap and practical bow! 

Paint Stick Stars (MOPS Craft)

You might say I am on a mission to find cheap, cute, easy to duplicate crafts for our MOPS meetings. And, this Christmas project ended up costing just a few pennies, thanks to some generous businesses and a few supplies already on hand. 

Two local hardware stores donated the sum of 1,000 paint sticks. 

That meant that each mom could have 10 sticks...she could either make two small stars or one large star. 

We hot-glued the paint sticks together. For the larger star, two paint sticks made up each side. 

Twine, fabric, pine-cones, bits of greenery and floral wire were available for decorating. 

I always love to hear the conversations that begin around the hot-glue stations. 

It was easy for me to find lots of places for my cheap stars. 

One spray painted black sits beside a lantern on my table. 

Another star, with the business name exposed, sits on top of my hutch. 

After wrapping some twine around another small star, it made the perfect rustic tree-topper for my son's room. 

While I had my pile of example stars in the kitchen, another idea occurred to me. 

Two small stars make a cute snowflake wreath for my backdoor. 

The lightness of the paint sticks make them easy to glue together, easy to hang, and cheap to pick up. In fact, I will be posting another paint stick craft in a few days. 

Many hardware stores will give you a few paint sticks if you ask...start a collection and let me know what ideas you come up with! Used one - with paint splatters - would even make a cute rustic star.