Rustic Jute covered Vase for Spring

Urgh the weather is just miserable! It's almost March, we can hope for some actual Spring weather now right? All my attention lately is on Spring colours, light clothes, Easter, Mother's Day and getting out in the garden. Anything to take my mind off the damp, overcast days.

All the things I have been making have a definite Spring flavour about them. If the weather can't cheer up at least my home can!

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of vases, either gifts or items I have bought. Some of them are, well, a little boring. Sometimes a plain vase is a good thing when you have a huge bouquet of beautiful blooms to display. Other times it seems like an opportunity to make something truly unique. This is what I felt when I looked at this old vase of mine.

It's a fairly unusual shape, being so wide at the top but I rarely used it. I prefered the coloured vases I own or the more delicate one bud style vases.

I've seen all these jute covered wine bottles and jars over on Pinterest. I just love the way they look and thought it would be a nice change for this vase!

Armed with my glue gun I started at the base of the vase and wound the jute string around the bottom securing with hot glue every so often.

I didn't need to use glue all over, just in a few places to hold the string in place.

I found that as I reached the narrower part of the vase, the less glue was needed. A little was needed to secure the string to the top of the vase.

Some other bloggers have left the vases as is, and they do look lovely with flowers placed in them but I am not a minimalist type girl!

I decided to paint the string at the base in a cream colour to create a colour block effect. I had also seen this on a few jars over on Pinterest. I used some tape to section off the bottom which enabled me to have a defined line.

But I was still not done! I had some of the wooden hearts left over from other projects and hot glued a medium sized one to the front. I finished it off with some cream lace ribbon at the top, also secured with a little hot glue. I at least kept things neutral!

I was given some lovely flowers by another Mum for looking out for her son. It was a lovely surprise and very unexpected and perfect timing for christening my newly updated vase!

It goes so well with my house lamp.

Even the cat agrees!

Would you update a vase this way?

Hop over to Facebook and share!

QUICK AND EASY DIY GIFTS - PART THREE

So you have been all creative but the kids want in on the action? Here are some quick, easy and fun gifts the kids can make for the special people in their lives.

I spotted this idea on a blog (which I now can't remember!) where you traced the hand and lower arm to form a trunk and branches in fabric and then cut out a number of leaf shapes in different fabrics to stick onto the hand shape to form the leaves of the tree. The shapes were glued onto a hessian covered canvas. You can add the name of the child along with the date they made the picture. A nice keepsake for Grandparents especially!

 Another very quick craft is to paint or draw onto a glass with glass paint pens. You can then fill up the glass with the recipients favourite snack, stationary, bath supplies etc. A unique gift!

If you have kids that want to get a little more creative, they can make these easy felt cupcake magnets.

You will need a couple of different coloured felt sheets, ribbon, buttons, glue and magnets. Find yourself a cupcake template or freehand the base of the cupcake and the top. Trace onto felt and cut out. Glue the 'frosting' to the base so that it overlaps the bottom half. Take a small piece of ribbon and glue this to the base of your cupcake. Next get your buttons and attach these to look like sprinkles in the frosting. You can sew or glue these on. Finally, get your magnet and glue this to the back in the middle. These work well as fridge magnets.

I found these Flannel reindeers and thought it was such a clever little gift. Simple and festive.

For the little ones or those who like quick results, you can make a personalised bookmark. You will need some card, stickers, wire and beads. Cut out a shape big enough to be a bookmark then get your child to decorate it with stickers. You can then cut a hole/shape at the top of the bookmark and thread through some beading/craft wire. Get some beads and have your child thread them onto the wire. Form a knot at the other end of the wire to finish the strand off. To make the bookmark more long lasting you can laminate it or cover in sticky back plastic once the stickers have been applied.

Finally, home made cookies are always nice to receive and are easy to decorate for children of all ages!

I hope these posts have inspired to make something truly personal this Christmas.

Happy making!