Glow-In-The-Dark Bubbles

Looking to wow kids one evening now that it's warming up outside? You will have to pick their jaws up off the ground when you spring this one on them. Take a bottle of bubbles or make your own by combining 2/3 a cup of Dawn dish washing soap + 1 gallon of water + 3 tablespoons of glycerin, and include the contents of a standard sized glow stick. You will have awesome glowing bubbles! Making your own bubbles and need wands? Use pipe cleaner and bend them into fun shapes for kids. Check out an example:

     

xOxO - M

D.I.Y. Upholstered Wall Treatments

I tend to be a big D.I.Y.er when it comes to furniture rehabbing. There are a lot of really easy and inexpensive ways to inexpensively create one-of-a-kind pieces for your home. One recent venture was to make a wall panel installation for the wall behind my sofa. It was super easy and so I wanted to share instructions for those who have requested them after seeing my project pictures on Facebook.

Materials:
-12" x 12" Canvas' (Buy @ Michael's in Value Pack)
- Staple Gun
- Staples
- Pencil
- Exact-o Knife
- Fabric (I used fabric that I had covered an ottoman with that complimented the color of my green sofa)

Instructions:
1. Place fabric printed side down on the ground. Place the framed canvas facing down on the fabric. use the Exact-o knife to cut the fabric in a square shape 16" x 16"
2. At the corners of the square cut slits 1" long to keep fabric from bunching in the corners.
3. Staple fabric to the wood frame doing the 4 sides first and then fold the corners neatly and staple. (make sure you are pulling the fabric so there are no wrinkles, but not so tight that your pattern is stretching)
4. Once you have your canvas' recovered you can iron and hang them anyway you like on the wall. This is how I patterned mine:

 

I will be posting how to turn an old coffee table into an upholstered ottoman in the near future! Here is what the finished product looks like though:

 

 

xOxO - M

 

 

 

Guest Blog Whitney: Keep Calm and Plan On!

Hello again Confessions of an Entertaining Hostess Readers! True Story: I got a call from the bride-to-be 3 days before the wedding asking if I could PLEASE plan the decorations (that she kind of forgot about, but really wanted) for the her post-reception party. Since it was her wedding day & we have been friends for 17 years . . . I enlisted my mom to help and we made a plan.
Oh, her only instructions . . .  “make it cute” and stay within the budget, $70.
So in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation here’s how we did it:

1. Make a list & prioritize:

We created a list of everything we needed and prioritized based on cost. There were a few “musts” we set aside money for those. For example, we wanted balloons in the bride’s wedding colors. I called Party City and got the price for 20 balloons ($1 each) and we set that $20 aside.

               

2. Make a Plan:

             With only 3 days, so there was no time to spend shopping around. We decided to start at the dollar store and see what we could knock off our list there. After that we planned to go to Michael’s where we had a coupon. (I have the Michael’s app on my phone, which downloads coupons automatically every week!)

3. Make flexible plans:

            We originally wanted 12 mason jars but the sand was expensive and we would need A LOT of sand to fill up an entire mason jar. So when we found cute 8oz bowls for $1 and needed ½ the sand, we changed gears.

4. Use what you have!
 

 

Shells were originally on our shopping list, but we couldn’t find any we liked for the right price. We had a box of sand dollars in our garage. A little bleach + paint = the perfect shells for our decorations.

So what can you accomplish in 3 days for $70?
 

 

We made 12 votives to place on each table with decorative sand (in the wedding colors!) and battery-operated tea lights.

Supplies: Michael’s: sand, ribbon, rose bowls. Dollar Store: tea lights & white ribbon

P.S. With red, white, and blue sand & citronella candles these would be the perfect decorations for a 4th of July BBQ!

 

We decorated 4 vases and had originally planned on using flowers from our garden to fill these vases, but when we found out all the flowers from the reception were simply going to be thrown out, we grabbed them! 

Supplies: Dollar store: vases. Michael’s: ribbon.

We made 2 of these prints celebrating the bride’s new last name!

Supplies: Dollar store: frames. Michael’s: burlap fabric & black paint.

 

Meredith, thanks for letting me guest blog again! & Happy entertaining!

Herb Infused Olive Oils

 

Start with the best ingredients you can find or afford. For example, using good quality olive oil, fresh herbs, and organic ingredients will give you a stronger and cleaner flavor in your infused olive oil.

This is the perfect thing to do this time of year while your herbs are thriving outdoors.
Wash all herbs going into your oil and pat them dry as much as possible. Bacteria can not grow in  olive oil itself, but it can grow in the water left on the ingredients going into the oil.

When considering your container or bottle make sure you have something that has a good seal on it. Canning jars work well for this, but if you are looking for something a little more high end check out an Ikea Slom Bottle (pictured above is available for $1.99 in stores.) Just like the ingredients, be sure to wash and dry your containers thoroughly.

Bruise your herbs and put them in your container. Cover the ingredients with olive oil and seal the bottle. Build flavor by placing filled containers in a cool, dry and dark place for 1 - 2 weeks prior to use. Strain out the solid ingredients and re-bottle the oil once the flavor is to your liking.

Don't have 1 - 2 weeks to wait? Heat oil and ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-low heat (ideally cook to 180°), let oil cool, and then strain out the ingredients before bottling. This method not only cuts down on time, but also reduces the risk of bacteria growth.

Botulism is always a concern when infusing an olive oil. Infused olive oil will keep longer in the refrigerator (about a month.)

xOxO - M

Wine and Lilly Guest Blog: Whitney Wilder

Hello Confessions of an Entertaining Hostess readers! My name is Whitney and I am honored Meredith invited me to guest post on her blog today! I just love all of Meredith’s clever and classy party ideas, because let’s be honest…entertaining is hard work! But…there is nothing better then the perfectly-put-together get-together! I made these Lilly fabric wine glasses for a bridal shower my mom and I recently hosted. I think these glasses went perfectly with the “beachy” theme without going overboard!

Supplies you will need: 

Fabric (I cut up old Lilly pants to use but any bright and fun fabric will work!)
Wine glasses
Tacky glue
Sponge brush
Sharp scissors
X-Acto knife
Paint brush
Varnish / sealant
Sharpie pen or fabric marker

Step 1: Making Tacky-Glue adhesive: (2 parts Tacky Glue with 1 part water)
Use sponge brush to mix water and glue together. This takes some time because the tacky glue is so thick.
 *To be honest I never measured exactly. I just mixed until the glue was translucent (rather than white) when applied to the glass and I made sure mixture felt “gummy” between my fingers.

Step 2: Cut Fabric
Using the bottom of your wine glass as guide, use marker to draw a large circle around the base onto the fabric. It is important that your fabric circle is larger than the wine glass bottom so the fabric sticks to the glass.

Step 3: Apply fabric to wine glass!
Using the sponge brush paint a layer of the tacky glue mixture onto the base of the glass and place fabric so that the design will show through.43 Then apply mixture to back of fabric, making sure to soak the entire fabric circle with glue. (The excess fabric will dry paper-like and fabric will not fray as you cut it!)  

Step 4: Remove air bubbles (Helps fabric stick to glass & prevents wrinkling)
Using you finger, start at the middle of the glass base and drag your finger towards the edge ensuring all air bubbles get removed. Helpful hint: As you remove air bubbles, flip glass right-side up and you will be able to see the air bubbles so you don’t miss any!

Step 5: Let dry & apply finishing coat
Allow glasses to dry upside down for about four hours. Before you remove excess fabric, apply 1 coat varnish of choice to fabric. When that varnish coat dries, remove excess fabric cutting as close to the glass as possible. Then apply another coat (or two) of varnish.

Step 6: Remove excess varnish and glue
Using the X-Acto knife, remove excess varnish or glue that may of accumulated on the sides of the glass base. I also used the X-Acto knife to trim any excess fabric from base of the wine glass.

Not many things I love more then Wine & Lilly! Happy crafting! –Whitney

(Thanks so much for letting me share this Whitney! You are the best! xOxO - M)