Sarah Hearts

I have another patriotic post for you! Today I collected my favorite diy tutorials for creating cute 4th of July decorations. I can’t wait to make the sparkler holders. They are so clever and I love the details in the design.

We are heading down to Miami tomorrow and will be spending the 4th with my parents. We’re planning on having a picnic in the park while we watch fireworks. I’m thinking I will make some kinda of dessert in a jar. Maybe cheesecake with strawberries and blueberries? Do you have any 4th of July traditions? Any  decorations you always make?

1. Glitter star banner via Better Homes & Garden.
2. Festive cans via Martha Stewart.
3. Printable sparkler holders, matchbook wraps, and straw decorations via Twig and Thistle.
4. Printable party bunting and flags via Creature Comforts.
5. 4th of july banner via Country Living.

The 4th of July is just around the corner and this upcoming holiday has left me thinking of all things red, white, and blue. So I thought, why not use this color palette for a summer wedding? I made a little wedding board inspired by the patriotic holiday.

Kevin and I got married a couple days before thanksgiving. We definitely didn’t want to have a cornucopia, pilgrim and indian, and wild corn decorated wedding. We did however, use fall inspired colors (which also happen to be my favorite colors, orange and yellow) for our wedding. I think the reason I don’t like holiday themed weddings is the same reason I would be bummed if my birthday were on Christmas Day. You know what I mean? I just wouldn’t want the festivities of one holiday to over shadow your big day (not to mention the idea of cornucopias are a wedding make me cringe).

I do think borrowing the patriotic color palette for a summer wedding would be so cute. I think it’s a great way to incorporate the season without lining the aisle with little American flags. What do you think? Would you use this palette for your big day?

1. Red velvet cupcakes with blueberrie via Bemidji Pioneer.
2. Red, White, and Blue Parfaits via Martha Stewart.
3.  Super cute photos via Stacey Kane.
4. & 5. Adorable table setting via Elizabeth Anne Designs.
6. Savoy dress via BHLDN.
7. Navy stripe and red canvas wedges via Toms shoes.

Update:: I made a video tutorial for this DIY. Check it out below!

Last night I download the July issue of Martha Stewart Living on my iPad. I didn’t get too far into the issue as I skimmed it’s pages until I fell asleep. They had a link to summer crafts and I was surprised to see several new cute tutorials. So today I decided to try one out and add my own twist. The results are above. All you need is paper plates and some cute tape and you have a great way to serve food for your fourth of July picnic or bar-b-que!

The following directions are based on the craft from Martha Stewart. The tutorial on her site said to hold the basket together with a rubber band. I think that would be cute, but I love love love washi tape so I decided to use that. You can use either method, if you find another way to hold the basket together, please let me know.

I can’t wait to serve appetizers and desserts in these! Or you can line them with wax paper and serve potato or pasta salad in them.

1. You will need the following supplies: white paper plates (1 plate per basket), scissors, paper edger scissors (I used my pinking shears), a ruler, pencil, washi tape or rubber bands, and 4 paper clips.

2. Using the paper edger scissors or pinking shears, trim about 1/4″ off of the circumference of the plate.

3. Flip the plate over so the front side is facing down. Use the pencil and ruler to make a 9-section grid. Try your best to make the center square in the center of the plate. If you want you can measure it.

4. Use the regular scissors to cut a slit along every other vertical line. Stop cutting where the vertical line intersects with the center square.

5. Fold one side at a time up to form the “basket”. Use one paper clip to hold each side together as you assemble the basket.

6. Use washi tape and wrap it around the basket and then remove the paper clips. If you are using rubber bands, simple wrap the rubber bands around the basket. And you’re done! Now fill them up with summer treats!

Today’s color palette reminds me of summertime in a Mediterranean village (and how I would love to be in Spain right now rather than humid Florida). There’s pops of bright saturated colors that are paired perfectly with muted hues. I think this color palette would be perfect for a baby’s room. The colors are gender neutral so it would be great for both a little boy or girl.

Photo by Julia Davila. Color palette by me.

I have been planning on making a headboard for our guest room since we purchased our home last year. After diligently looking at thrift stores and garage sales I finally found one to use as my “base” for only $3! After asking you which fabric I should choose, I ended up choosing the Lovely Lattice pattern from Waverly. The fabric has a “lattice” print in cream on a grass green background. I purchased it from Fabric.com and purchased the foam from Jo-Ann Fabrics site (I found great coupons for both here). All my supplies arrived by the end of last week so it was time to get started!

If you would like to see how I upholstered the headboard or would like to make your on, here’s how!

1. You will need:
- A flat headboard or a sheet of 1/2″ plywood cut to your desired headboard shape.
- Upholstery fabric (for a queen size headboard, I used about 3 years)
- 2″ sheet of foam (I purchased a roll and pieced it together)
- Batting (I purchased a large roll for $9.99 at Jo-Ann fabrics and only used less than half of it)
- Spray Adhesive
- Box cutter (if you have a small hand-held jig saw it would be  perfect for this step, but not necessary)
- Staple gun and staples
- Magic marker

2. Start by placing the foam on the ground. You may need to cut it so it will be large enough to cover the headboard. Make sure the foam is butting the other piece(s) so there are no gaps. Then place the headboard face down on the foam.

3. Using the magic marker, trace along the outline of the headboard. If you were to remove the headboard, you should see a marker path like mine above.

4. Using your box cutter or jig saw, cut along the marker path. It is easier if you remove the headboard while cutting the foam.

Flip the headboard face, or right side up. Using the spray adhesive, spray one side of the foam and adhere it to the right is of the headboard. Repeat until the entire headboard is covered in 2″ foam.

Place the batting on the floor. It should be large enough to cover the entire headboard with about 5″ extra on all sides. Cut a path through the  batting about 5″ from the edge of the headboard. Repeat this until you have trimmed all sides of the batting.

5. Use the staple gun to attach the batting to the headboard. Start in the center of the headboard and work towards the outside. While you staple, be sure to pull the batting taught. This will help secure the foam and ensure there are no wrinkles in the fabric later.

6. Repeat this process until the batting is stapled to the headboard on all sides.

7. Temporarily lift up the headboard and place the fabric, face down, on the ground. Then place the headboard face down on top of the fabric. Just like trimming the batting, trim the fabric to about 5″ all the way around the headboard.

8. Use the staple gun to attach the fabric to the headboard, the same way the batting was attached. Repeat this process all the way around. Be sure to start in the center of the headboard and pull the fabric tight as you staple. If your headboard is curly, you will need to fold the fabric slightly as you staple along the curved sides. If your headboard has any right angles, fold that the same way you would fold gift wrap on the package.

Let me know if you have any questions about this process if you are going to give it a try. This project took me about 3 hours to complete and cost me around $100 total. It’s an easy way to dress up a bedroom and create a unique piece of furniture.

For some great upholstered headboard ideas, visit moreheadboards.com. Happy DIY-ing!

Last week I shared a few ideas about how I would like to decorate our house for our big birthday party. I decided to stick with mint and bright yellow and pair it with a dark gray. I love this color palette! I also drew silhouettes of the Mr. and I for our invitations. I loved them so much I’m getting art prints made for our bedroom.

The party will be here before we know it, so I started making some decorations. The first thing I started with is making custom flags for paper straws. I was very easy to make and I love the way it looks. I even made a little tutorial so you can make them too. I’m loving little flags right now and these would be perfect for a wedding or a 4th of July party.

UPDATE: I made a free template for Word. All you need to do is type in the text boxes, choose your font color and print! I recommend printing it on smooth 8.5″ x 11″ card-stock. If you only want the text to appear on one side of the flag, delete every other column of text in Word.

Free Paper Straw Flag Template for Word

1. You will need paper straws (I purchased mine here), colored card-stock paper, the template above, and an desktop printer. You will also need narrow permanent double-sided tape.

2. Use a straight edge and x-acto blade or paper cutter to cut your soon-to-be-flags into strips.

3. You should have little strips of paper that look like mine above.

4. Use permanent (not removable) double-sided tape. Place this on the back side of the paper strip. I tried using a glue stick and they didn’t hold up. I also tried using removable double-sided tape and this also didn’t hold. PVA glue would probably be the best adhesive to use, but I was too impatient to wait for it to dry.

5. Wrap the paper strip around a straw. Then use small, sharp scissor to cut a triangle out of the end of the flag. This give it the oh-so-cute flag shape.

And that’s it! Easy, right? I can’t wait to make these for summer dinner parties and just about every occasion!

This past weekend I hosted my second “crafternoon.” The first time I host one, it was February so we made Valentines. This weekend we made hair accessories. We used buttons, fabric, feathers and ribbon to create some very cute accessories. I have already worn two of my pieces. Below are some photos of the peices a few of us made:

A very special thank you to Jaclyn, of Food Plus Words, for dropping off a million amazing baked goods even though she was unable to attend the party. You rock! I also made cheese straws to munch on. Good conversation and lots of wine spritzers were had. I can’t wait to host another one!

What should we create at the next crafternoon?

I love blush. It’s my makeup staple. For some ladies the can’t do without mascara or their “signature” lip color. My makeup necessity is blush. I feel naked without. When I was creating today’s color palette I thought of two things: blush and summer. I thought about blush because it’s part of my daily routine and summer has been on my mind because it’s been so hot here in Florida. I feel this photo by MayaLee captures both those things. I love how summer lends itself to heavily saturated hues inspired by nature. The blues with a hint of green in them pair perfectly with blush and a bright saturated strawberry. Now I want to paint my nail the pool blue color and wear strawberry lipstick.

Photo by MayaLee. Color palette by me.

Last week one of my manager’s at the “fruit stand” gave me a kitchen torch! I had been wanting one for awhile and she said she had 3, so she kindly gave me one. So that weekend, while I was at Home Depot picking up a few things for the house, I purchased a can of butane. The first thing I wanted to try with my newly acquired torch was choclate creme brulee. I used this recipe as was impressed with the consistency and texture.

After chatting with Jaclyn, she recommended I coat the custard several thin layers of sugar, burning the sugar between each layer. This resulted in a thick “crust” and made the classic crunch noise when I hit it with a spoon. Delish.

My birthday is July 6th and Kevin’s is July 9th. Last year Kevin threw a surprise party for me (I had never had one!) complete with streamers and Hello Kitty paper goods. Were in LA for Kevin’s birthday last year for a YouTube convention, but it worked out perfectly because his company was having a party the night of this birthday. This year we are planning on having a joint-party. I put together a little inspiration board to help me plan the party.

The color palette is going to be mint green (Kevin’s favorite color) and yellow with gray (maybe silver, I haven’t decided yet). I plan on making a “logo” of sorts that includes our silhouettes and ages. I will post this as soon I make it.

I’m thinking we’ll do finger-foods and fresh summery beverages. I also want to make a fringed tissue paper backdrop and set up my trusty T2i as a photobooth. Maybe make a few props?

Any suggestions on what to serve or how to decorate?

Images via:
1. Pinterest, 2.  Duet Weddings, 3. Confetti System, 4. Inkwhimsy, 5. PrettySmitten

Board by me.