halloween wreath

Marigold Wreath DIY (and Garland) – Perfect for Fall

Is that time of the year!!!! My favorite time to blog! I am hoping I can get into a regular schedule again because the Fall and the Holidays deserve it.

Let’s start with a charming and EASY decoration I made last weekend. This marigold wreath turned out beautiful! It lasted looking good for more than 72 hours. You heard it! Marigolds are tough flowers and survive looking sharp and fresh for a long time without water, just like my children. Their vibrant orange color scream FALL!!!!! Just like I am screaming right now. I love Internet scream, in case you haven’t figured that out.
marigoldI took my family to the Flower Market on Saturday morning and bought two bundles of marigolds for $20 each. One bundle is enough for the 12″ wreath, but I also wanted to do a marigold garland because, why not? It turned out gorgeous, too. See photos and instructions at the end of this post.
making a marigold wreathMarigold Wreath DIY

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 45 mins Cost: $25

Materials:

instructions marigold wreathStep 1: Cut the flowers right under the blossom – where the stem begins, and receptacle ends. wreath diyStep 2: Add glue to the side of the flower (or receptacle) with your glue gun. Low temperature. marigold diystep by step marigold wreathStep 3: Glue your flowers to the wreath. Press for at least 5 seconds to attach. I added a line of flowers to the interior and one to the outside first (see photo below) to make sure the straw is completely covered with flowers.how to do a marigold wreath marigold dia de los muertosStep 4: Start adding the rest of the flowers. Follow one direction to ensure most of the receptacles are covered – meaning the green part of the flower.marigold diymarigold diy Voilá!halloween wreathhow to marigold wreathhow to make marigold wreathmarigold wreath detailsfinal marigold wreathmarigold wreath dia de los muertosmarigold garland

6′ Marigold Garland DIY

Difficulty (1-5): 1  Time: 30 mins Cost: $15

Materials:

  •  90-100 marigolds
  • Flower wire (or needle and thread – I like flower wire better because the flowers don’t slide down as easily once you hang up the garland)
  • Cutters

how to make marigold garlandStep 1: Get yourself a helper that likes flowers.

Step 2: Tell her/him to stick the flower wire through the middle of the flower.

Step 3: Keep on adding flowers. Follow the same direction for all your flowers.how to make marigold garland marigold garland halloween

 

Happy Fall!!!!

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foraged flowers

Foraged Arrangement

foraged flowers

 

I think I did something illegal last week. I grabbed plant cutters, threw them in my car, and drove around LA to find tall grass to make a foraged arrangement.

I end up stopping at a public park to cut overgrown Miscanthus Sinensis. While at it, the possibility of doing something illegal came to mind. It went something like this: “Wait a minute Mila, you do NOT live in Chile anymore. Am I allowed to cut random greenery in public parks here, Los Angeles, CA, one of the most regulated cities in the world? A place that doesn’t allow you to smoke, drink or swear in public spaces?” I wondered with the cutters on my right hand and a bunch of grass on my left one. I decided not to take the chance and run to my car with what I had cut already.

Once in my car, I realized that I didn’t have enough greenery to make an arrangement and how sad it was to cut greenery that remained unused in the end. I braved up and went out of my car to cut some more. From my point of view, the Miscanthus Sinensis bushes needed trimming anyway. They had grown two feet into the street, so the city was OBVIOUSLY not doing its job of keeping us safe, so I did. Although, the question remains, is it illegal to cut small amounts of greenery in public spaces? Greenery that needs cutting anyway? I am yet to have an answer, and I am afraid to Google it.

foraged arrangement diywildflowers bouquet

So, before you make a foraged arrangement, learn your rights and the laws of your city. Of course, it is a lot more convenient if you live near the countryside and don’t have to worry about breaking the law when beautifying your home!! In any case, the result is gorgeous, isn’t?

The vase I used is a vintage vase used for pressing cheese. I got it at the Rose Bowl last month. As I mentioned before, the greenery is Miscanthus Sinensis. It took the Miscanthus two days to flower and expand. In the beginning, their shape was not as full and happy as shown in the photos.

Let’s take a look at more images:

how to create arrangement free arrangement diyarrangementforaged foliage how to do arrangement free foraged arrangement greenery

How easy, simple and cute! Isn’t?

So that is my post for today. Giving you small ideas to beautify your life for close to no money (although a lot of danger). It is not often that I see grass used as flower arrangements, and I liked the result, don’t you?

If you enjoyed this post and if you are the kind of person that wakes up in the morning happier when looking at a flower arrangement, you might like the following posts:  how to make a romantic flower arrangement, a visit to the Flower Market in DTLA, and a flower arrangement workshop.

Have a great week!

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Colorful Coasters DIY

If you believe that the “entertaining” devil is in the details, this post is for you!

Have you noticed how people get fixated on one or two things you do for entertaining and those set up the tone for the whole event? Well, here is an idea you can do to start your dinner/brunch with a bang: colorful coasters!

This is how the conversation with your guests would go:

Guest: WOW! Did you make these?

You: Yes, I did.

Guest: They are gorgeous.

You: Yeap, they are!

Guest: How did you make them?

You: I got the idea from this amazing blog called Jest Cafe. You should read it.

Guest: You are the best host ever!!

You: I know.

A wonderful brunch/dinner will follow where everybody talks about your fantastic craft woman abilities.

You are welcome!

How to make colorful coasters that will impress your friends

Difficulty (1-5): 1  Time: 2 hrs Cost: $20-$35

Materials:

For this project, I got the inspiration from this image I found on Pinterest. The image is from Ampers and Design Studio.

Isn’t so happy and cute? I decided to use a similar motive for my coasters. Here is what I did.

paint coasterscork fun coasters

Instructions

1) Draw your designs with a pencil. Use blue scotch tape for straight lines.

painted coasters DIY2) Because the cork is uneven, is easy to get lines that bleed. To get straight lines, you need to do a paint stroke starting in the blue tape and moving into the cork. colorful coasters instructioncork coasterswhat you need to paint coasters3) Be creative! I played a couple of podcasts while painting and I like the results.pastels coastersHere are more photos of the coasters:bring color to party with coastersfun coasters

how to paint coasterscoasters for partycolorful coastercolorful coasterspaint coastersbeautiful coasterscolorful diy coasterhow to paint coasterscreate coasterscoasters instructionsdiy coasters

 

For more ideas for your dinner party, here are some posts about an easy-to-do flower arrangement, 3 cute tablescapes, and a naked cake. Hope you like them!

 

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garland diy

How To Make A Copper Garland With Cricut

garland diy

Doing a copper color garland for my kids’ room has been on my to-do list since I designed their room last year. I have wanted to add shapes and texture to their bedroom but I couldn’t figure out how to cut the shapes (moon, ring & circle) in a thicker material, little did I know that help was around the corner!

(Drums of excitement!)

Enter the Cricut to save the day! Or, at least, make my dreams come true. From the moment I knew I was going to get my hands on a Cricut, I knew I wanted to do this garland first.

I mean, it is pretty amazing to see how far has technology come to create wonder machines like this one. I don’t remember (or probably don’t want to remember) how I survived before the existence of things like a cell phone, Waze or Lyft. Well, now add to that list of essentials: the Cricut,

You know I am a crafty aficionado, but with Cricut, I have become a crafty expert because this machine simplifies so many projects that seemed really difficult to accomplish before, like this garland that I am talking about.

Here is what I did:

How to make a copper garland with Cricut

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 2hr Cost: $50

Materials

Instructions

1) For this project, you need to use Cricut Design Space which is on the Cricut website. I found images with a ring, the moon, and a circle on the Internet, uploaded the images to Design Space and then told Cricut to cut the shapes accordingly.

2) I used a Deep Blade and strong settings to do the cutting and it worked! Look:

3) I sprayed the figures with copper paint and then drilled a hole through them.

how to make a garland

4) I used the twine to hang the figures to a main piece of twine. This is how it looks:

garland projectgarland diygarland how to make

I like how it looks against the copper and blue wallpaper, don’t you?

garland diygarland cricut decoration

cricut basswoodring coppercopper garland diy

What do you think? I kind of like it. I am happy it turned out OK and that Cricut was able to cut the thin basswood. It was fun to watch.

Now, this garland hangs in my kids’ room making the space more happy and beautiful. Perfect combo.

Ok, so here concludes the three-part series of “how to craft your way to a beautiful home with Cricut.” I really hope you liked it. I know I really enjoyed the opportunity and sharing these projects with you.

Thank you so much!This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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doormat diy

How To Make A Fun Doormat With Cricut

cute door mat design

When I told some of my friends I have a Cricut, they freaked out. I am not exaggerating. It is the honest truth. It seems that Cricut is the holy grail of the crafty tribe. Literally.

Now that I have a Cricut and have used it a fair amount, I know why. It is so easy to use and very versatile, it makes my crafty dreams come true.

In this “Crafting Your Way To A Beautiful Home” series, I am focusing on home décor. Related to this, something that I have been needing desperately for the longest time is a new and colorful doormat, so I decided to tackle that project.

Am I the only one around here that has not been able to find a unique, colorful, and fun door mat for their home? I have looked everywhere and haven’t been able to find something to my taste.

Well, thanks to Cricut, this is not a problem anymore because when I looked through the Home Décor projects available on their website, I found this project in the Cricut Design Space:

Cute, ha?

I didn’t want that much color or motives, so I decided to do only two in the middle. Here is what I did:

How to make a fun doormat with Cricut

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 1 hr Cost: $40

Materials

*I bought the exterior paint at Michael’s but couldn’t find the links to them online.

cricut design space
Instructions

1) Find your project in Cricut Design Space for the DIY Aztec Rug. It has seven images on the canvas to cover the whole mattress but I only used it two for a simpler look. Place your vinyl on the StandardGrip Mat and let Cricut do its thing.

2) Weed excess stencil vinyl from around and inside the images with the weeding tool.

door mat stencil

3) Find the center of your door mat and place the first stencil to the right and the other one to the left. Be careful doing this because the stencil is sticky and gets stuck together easily. Make sure this doesn’t happen.

decorate door mat

4) Apply paint to fill in the design using the small brush and the exterior paint.

how to make a door mat cricutbeautiful doormat

5) After the paint dries, remove the stencil and voila! Now you have a new, fun, colorful door mat! Very simple and cute.

Here are more photos of the final product:

make your own door mat with cricutdoor mat cricutmake your own door matdoor mat handmadedoor mat door mat diyhow to decorate door mat

My entrance looks so much better, don’t you think?

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow I will post about another fun project I did with Cricut for my kid’s bedroom. To read about my opinions and general views on Cricut, go here.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Comments submitted may be displayed or featured on other websites owned by Cricut.

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