Kentucky Derby Table Toppers

It's Derby season here in Louisville, and life has been a little crazy lately. Sorry I have neglected my blog, but Derby season is our busiest time of the year. I co-own a jewelry company with my cousin, called Lulubelles, and we are working crazy hours to try to get all our jewelry made and out the door. Can't wait to see all the beautiful ladies wearing one of our handmade pieces.
Lucky for me, I have this lovely friend Melissa, who has an amazing blog,  and she had an idea to make a Derby craft together. She also needed help styling her fascinator, and outfit for Oaks, so I was so happy to help. It was a welcomed distraction ;). Styling is one of my favorite things to do! So we made a lunch date at my house, and knocked several projects out in a short amount of time. Multi-tasking at it's best. We had both picked up these plastic horses the other day at a local shop. We loved them because they looked vintage. They just needed an extra special touch. Melissa had the idea to put them on a box, which was perfect!
Here are the supplies you will need:
Plastic Horse
Scrapbook paper
Ribbon
Trim
Embellishments
Paint
Box
Mod Podge
Sponge brush
Paint Brush
Glue gun
Double sided tape
Tickets-found at a party supply store

The first thing that we did was cover the boxes. I chose a fun Dear Lizzy, modern chevron print. I love incorporating modern with vintage. We measured the box, and cut the paper to fit.

After that, we then Mod Podged the paper on to the box, so that it would stay on there securely.
I then painted the top a light aqua, no big surprise there ;)

Next I embellished the top with cute little pom poms. We then made little ribbons to put on the box out of paper. I embellished it with a little gold star, just for fun.

A lot of craft stores will already have embellishments made up, so all you have to do is glue them on. I love mixing patterns, I am not a matchy matchy kind of girl. And I think these papers and colors all coordinate nicely.
Next I had to make the first place ribbon for the larger horse. This is done by just using the accordion technique. You fold the paper back and forth. You will need two 1/2 inch strips. Then you use double sided tape to secure the ends together. Or you can make some like the ones I made in this blog post. 
I then glued some pretty pink vintage flowers in the center, added some pink tickets, and glued some vintage velvet ribbon the the back. Very easy, and it's a fun way to personalize it to your liking. I am so happy with the way they turned out, and the best part is that I made them with a dear friend. :) Melissa also has some other awesome Derby decoration ideas on her blog here.

Here is my friend Melissa, and the fascinator we designed for her Oaks outfit. I think it turned out nice, but I am not a professional, just happy to help a friend. She is going to look beautiful for Oaks, she is wearing a polka dot dress, that she made herself. Yep, you heard me right, she is a seamstress extraordinaire! I already told her I wanted to sew my Derby dress for next year, I have lots of ideas already going around through my head. I better get started on it in June!

I hope you feel inspired to make these fun little Derby table toppers. Maybe if you don't get them made in time for this year's Kentucky Derby, then you can have a triple crown party. Or I think these would be adorable if you are having a horse themed birthday party for a child. :)
Until next time,
XO~Gretchen

Shadow box ornaments

I wanted to share with you an easy shadow box ornament that you can make. Tis' the season for ornament exchanges, and I thought it would be nice to have one that is handcrafted. This one is really easy to make, and took less than 30 mins.

What you will need:
A shadow box ornament. I found mine at Michaels
Some paper for the background
A bottle brush tree, you can see my previous post about how to bleach and dye them here.
Paint, to paint the shadow box, and a paint brush.
Glitter
Some type of Holiday clip art
Tinsel for the outer edge of the box. This is optional
A glue gun and scissors

I also found these mini trees and the mini wreaths at Michaels.

The first thing that I did was paint the shadow box a minty bright green.

While it was drying I cut out the circle to go in the back of the box. I used the template that the box came with as my guide.

Once the shadow box was dried, I glued my scrapbook paper to the back of it. I used my glue gun for this.

Next I glittered my bottle brush tree. I just dabbed Elmer's glue on it, then sprinkled glitter on it over a plate.

I then glued the tinsel around the perimeter of the shadow box, and glued the banner "Merry Christmas" to the top. The last step was to glue the tree in the center. You could put whatever your creative mind comes up with! I would love to find some vintage reindeer and put one in the center. Still on the hunt for some small enough :) 

If you are going to make these for an ornament exchange, I think it would be nice to write your name and the date on the back, for a personal touch. I also think these would be fun to make with the kids over the holiday break.

Hoping to post some more Christmas DIY's, so be sure to check back.

XO~Gretchen