Crafty Marie

This weekend, I spent a large chunk of time repotting plants that had really outgrown their containers. I was amazed by how much growth there was with the mixed Alpine container particularly and thought it was time to give each one an individual plant pot where they can grow without being overshadowed by anything else. I'm showcasing a number of these Alpines in this post with some detailed close up photos of the flowers on them. So if you love this particular group of plants, you will probably want to take a look for inspiration on your own collection.  I got a little bit hooked on these once I saw them at our local garden centre. I love the fact that, since these tend to be pretty small, you can enjoy collecting a lot of them, even if you have just a small space to work with. Come see the photos.

A fun paper craft project ideal for birthdays is to create a novel popsicle shaped card which is ideal to give out at any time of year and especially in the warmer summer months. Included is a free printable popsicle card template that you can use by saving it first to your own computer and then printing it off. This fun photo tutorial will walk you through how to make up, decorate and embellish a cute shaped handmade card. So, if you're stuck on a fun crafting activity or need something to do on a rainy day, come look at how you can make up this delicious, sweet iced treat. This is 'guaranteed' to be much better for you than the real thing.

You can easily create some rather fun looking and modern style pom poms out of a number of different materials and not just the standard wool based yarn. I enjoy making the more traditional yarn versions as well as modern ones too. Fabric versions of these fun pom pom embellishments look a little scrappy and shabby chic because they have those raw cut edges and also, depending on the type of material used, some fraying too. Fabric makes for a fun look that can really suit a number of more modern craft projects.  You may want to use them for garlands, cushion and pillow embellishments, occasion wreaths, bags and more. See how to make a fabric pom pom craft with this easy, step by step tutorial.