Spring Blossom Popsicles

 Nothing is better than an icy-cold, sweet popsicle on a hot day... especially when it happens to have lovely little flowers frozen in it! 

So many of the glorious spring blossoms are edible. What a treat! We thought we would put them to good use and make some spring blossom popsicles, or as we like to call them... flowersicles!

To make:
we gathered up some edible blossoms.

Sunny dandelions and wee strawberry flowers.

Fragrant and delicate apple blossoms.

Loved this part, especially the sweet scents of these beauties. 

We thought some pink lemonade might be just the right base for these flowersicles.

We placed our blossoms into the bottom of our popsicle molds and filled them halfway with lemonade. The flowers tend to float to the top, so we froze them half full and then added more blossoms and topped them off with lemonade.

Aren't the results lovely?!

Thinking these might just be a new favorite around here.

Yummy and beautiful. A winning combination.

 Looking forward to trying some new flower and flavor combinations as summer rolls in. 

In a bit of blossom heaven, 

Flower Print Sachets

With bright green shoots peeking out, but few flowers yet to be seen... we thought we would find something fun to do with these lovely pansies that were gifted to us. Then, with the added bonus that  Mother's Day is on its way, we decided we had some serious flower crafting to do!

I have always wanted to try doing flower prints on fabric and thought we'd give it a go. We were delighted by how beautifully and easily the flowers transferred! Not to mention... how fun is it to get to pound with a hammer. My littlest couldn't get enough of it! 

After admiring our flower kissed fabric we decided we needed to make something with it. Seeing as every mama loves flowers and these flowers never die, we thought why not fill them with more flowers!

So here is our flower printed ~ no sew ~ rose petal filled sachets.

Here is what you need to make them:

white cotton fabric (we just cut up an old pillow case)

hammer

fresh flowers for pounding

double-sided fusible interfacing or fabric glue

iron 

dried flowers (we used some roses we had dried)

To Begin 

Fold your fabric in half, measure out a square and cut it out.

Keep the fold, as that will be a seal for one side of your sachet.

Choose your layout for your flowers and then flip the flowers face side down.

 Fold your fabric over top of your flowers.

Take your hammer and on a solid surface pound the flowers.
Yep. I think she could have done this part of the craft again. and again. and again!

You will see your flowers begin to bleed through after a minute or so of pounding. 

I know. It seems barbaric. Poor little flowers. Just think though, this is a way they can have a much longer life!

By this point they should have transfered nicely.

Gently peel off the flowers and admire the results. 

Lovely!

I loved how the back of the sachet has the backs of the flowers transfered onto it. 

Hard to believe just a piece fabric, a few flowers and a hammer can create this!

Now to seal up part of your sachet for filling...

At this point you can either glue the sides (leaving open a hole for filling).

Or this process...

Cut out a square of interfacing the same size as your square, so that it tucks neatly inside.

Fold over your fabric over.

Carefully iron (an inch or so in) on two of the sides.

Be sure to leave one side open for pouring your flowers in.

Crush up your dried flowers.

Now you can fill your sachet with those sweet smelling flowers.

Iron the last side shut and there you have it. 

A lovely flower printed ~ flower filled sachet!

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Have a lovely day!

Coaxing Lilacs To Bloom Indoors

I had read somewhere that you could bring lilac branches in during winter and coax them into bloom. I decided I had to give it a try. How could I resist the thought of getting to experience one of my favorite spring gifts a little early?! My eyes yearned for the bright green of new life and buds blossoming.

It was such a wonderful thing for us to watch the day-by-day process as they unfurled their gorgeous green. Then their delicious flowers came forth to bring us the scent of spring. A small miracle in these parts right now.

I thought I'd share the journey in case you are inspired to give it a go!

I cut some branches off our favorite lilac bush.

Gently, I broke the cut ends open with a hammer to help them drink.

I put them in water (with a bit of sugar), misted them daily and together we waited...

Such delight at the sight of all that green and sweet little lilac blooms.

Can't you just smell them?!

Soon they shall be bursting forth *for real* in all their spring glory.

In lilac love,

Rainbow Wreath & Flowers

We are mildly obsessed with rainbows over here. With spring around the corner and St.Patty's day inspiration all around, we thought we would have some fun and bring you a week of rainbow crafts! Today we are sharing our rainbow tissue paper flowers and our rainbow wreath. A fun way to bring some rainbow beauty to celebration, play, gifts, dress up... so many possibilities!

Here is what you will need

 rainbow colored tissue paper

 pipe cleaners

scissors

glue

To begin,  take a sheet of each color of your tissue paper and place them on top of each other.

 Next cut your stack into 4 squares and arrange them in the order of the rainbow on top of each other.

Then take your piles of tissue paper squares and fold it accordion style ~  folding it over 1/2 inch to 1 inch then folding it back the other way. It should look similar to a fan when you open the folds.

Tie the middle together with a pipe cleaner ~ leaving the majority of the pipe cleaner for the stem.

Next, use your scissors to form the shape of the petals, by rounding off each end of your folded fan.

Now you are ready to open your flower.  Gently and gradually pull the top sheets away from the others up towards what will be the center of the flower. 

 Repeat this step with each subsequent layer of tissue paper until you have done this for all of them.

After you have separated the layers play around...fluff them up and bring them to life!

There you have it!

Rainbow love.

With left over tissue paper we thought it would be nice to dress up with it a bit! The rainbow wreath is super simple. We twisted a pipe cleaner to fit the head. Cut rainbow tissue paper into squares, scrunched the paper into "little flowers" and glued them on to the pipe cleaner.

To top it off we cut some strips of rainbow tissue paper and stapled them on the back.

It was a hit!

Rainbows just seem to bring out the smiles.

In rainbows and sweet smiles,