How To: Valentine's Lightbulb

Here's how I made my Valentine's Lightbulb from my post "How do I love thee?".

Valentine's Lightbulb project instructions

Materials: lightbulb, wooden block, wire, paper for tag, glue gun

1. First you need to hollow out a lightbulb. It was my first time hollowing out a lightbulb so I learned how to do it here.

2. Next, you make your heart "filament" with a piece of wire like you see in the photo. After forming the heart, twist the wires together all the way down. The filament should be about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in length (it's better for it to be longer than shorter because you can always trim it). Be careful not to make the heart too large because it may not fit into the narrow opening of the bottom of the lightbulb. Spray paint the wire red if desired.



3. I bought this wooden block for $1 at Michaels. You could also use a piece of scrap wood that you have lying around. Bore a little hole in the middle of the block. This will hold the filament and keep it from moving. The hole should fit the filament wire and hold it straight up. Put a little hot glue over the hole and poke the filament into the hole and hold it until it sets. WARNING: make sure you test how much of the filament will be showing through the glass when placed inside the hole and lightbulb is "tried on for size". Do this before gluing filament in hole! Trim off at the bottom of the wire if too long.

4. After the glue sets, carefully place the lightbulb over the filament and glue lightbulb in place.

5. Glue your message onto the wooden block

6. Enjoy!

Lightbulb (burned out, on-hand)=FREE

Wire (on-hand)=FREE

Wooden Block=$1

Paper/Message=FREE

Grand Total=$1

How De"light"ful!

Brandi-Lee

How To: Crepe paper rose pomander ball and topiary

Here's how I made my Valentine's projects, the Crepe paper rose pomander ball and the topiary from my other post "How do I love thee?".

Crepe Paper Rose Pomander ball instructions

Pomander Materials: crepe paper (duh!), ball (foam or crumpled paper), glue gun, ribbon

1. I made a ball from crumpled paper and tape (I could also have used a foam ball but I didn't have any on hand so I improvised). I was wondering if my homemade ball would work but it did just fine. Make sure you make the ball as round as you can or it'll look weird!

2. I cut strips of crepe paper to lengths of 24 inches. It's better to cut several at a time so you don't have to keep stopping to make more.

3. K, this is the hardest part of the project. . .making the rose. I tried to illustrate as best I could.

Remember to twist and go around at the same time. Glue the "layers" together every so often. Repeat until you've used up the entire strip. WARNING: The rose-making process is very time consuming!!

Here's some finished ones. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it.

Here's the back of a finished rose. You see that little tail there? Just take some scissors and snip it off so that it'll lay nicely on the ball.



4. When you've made a few roses, you can start gluing them to the ball. I used a roll of tape to hold my ball for me.

5. Attach the ribbon to the ball. I used a piece of wire and bent it into a U shape. I poked it through the ribbon and into the ball. It worked just fine. Do what works!

And here's the finished pomander ball!

So pretty hung together aren't they?

Crepe Paper Rose Topiary instructions

Topiary Materials: same as pomander ball materials except you also need a dowel or stick, a cup or flower pot of some kind and floral foam (packing foam or even rocks).

1. Prepare your flower pot or cup. I had a tiny terra cotta pot laying around. It was painted a hideous brown color! UGH! I painted it a color that would match the topiary.

2. After the paint dries, put a piece of floral foam in it.

3. Push a dowel or stick into your finished Crepe Paper Rose Ball. I stuck it in half way so it would be solid.

4. Lay some crepe paper in folds over the floral foam.

5. Push the topiary into the middle of the crepe paper and the floral foam in the pot.

6. Tie a bow on the dowel with some pretty ribbon and Voila! You've got yourself a pretty Valentine's topiary!

Crepe Paper (on-hand) = FREE

Faux foam ball = FREE

Wooden Dowel = FREE

Mini flower pot (on-hand) = FREE

Ribbon (on-hand) = FREE

Floral foam (on-hand) = FREE

Brandi-Lee

How do I love thee?

How do I Love thee? By showing you how you can make some inexpensive and easy Valentine's decor for your home!

Ahhhh, Valentine's. The holiday of Love. Valentine's Day is a special day for me because I was married on that very day (for those of you that like getting gifts, do not. .I REPEAT. .DO NOT get married on Valentine's Day! Why you say? This is the reason. . .

ANNIVERSAY=1 gift
VALENTINE'S DAY=1 gift
ANNIVERSARY on VALENTINE'S DAY=. . . . .wait for it. . . .1 gift!)

LMBBO! (laughing my big booty off!)

So, ok. I don't like those cheezy valentine's decorations that I usually see around this time (you know, the frilly kind that Walmart sells). I wanted to make things that were pretty, easy, inexpensive and totally non-cheezy. So I came up with this. . . .

Ok, ok so the lightbulb is somewhat cheezy. But not too bad right? I hunted online for some pretty things I could make and I saw roses made out of crepe paper (you can get 2 rolls for $1 at the dollar tree). I love topiaries and pomander balls so I knew that it would be one of the things I would make. I also saw a  hollowed out lightbulb with a heart "filament" in it. I thought it'd make a cute gift. 
Now who doesn't have a burnt out lightbulb laying around their house? Well here's something interesting you can do with that lightbulb. This is just a little something would make a cute gift for someone to put on their desk.

Here's the one I made with a wooden block. . .cute right?

 and here's the one I made with a paper mache box. If you really wanted to go extra inexpensive, you could make the box yourself with cardboard and paper mache it.

Here are my pomander balls made from those crepe paper roses I was talking about. Tell me these wouldn't be too pretty hanging from somewhere in your house! La-la-la-love it!

and here's my rose ball as a topiary. . so pretty!

All these projects were made with stuff I already had on-hand. I love being able to whip up pretty stuff whenever I have an itch for crafts. You likey? Well, check out my How-to's for the pomander ball and topiary here, and the Valentine's Lightbulb project here. Happy Valentine's Day!

Brandi-Lee