How-To Make Fruity Ice Cubes

Can you say genius? These are great for pitchers of water and ice tea, or even punch bowls at a party. They look beautiful, they are very functional and super simple to make. You can even use different types of fruit to make it even more beautiful. How about raspberries, blackberries or even strawberries. Honestly the possibilities are endless. Thank you Pinterest for bringing these into my life and thank you Martha Stewart for being a crafty entertaining goddess. When I grow up I want to be just like you, minus the whole stint in federal prison thing. I can do without that.

Supplies

• Muffin pan
• 6 lemons/limes/Oranges

Directions

1. Thinly slice up lemons and limes.
2. Place two or three slices of lemon and/or lime in each section of the muffin tin.
3. Carefully fill the muffin pan with water.
4. Freeze overnight.

Notes: If using fruity cubes for ice tea or punch, fill tray with ice tea or non-alcoholic punch instead of water. This way you won’t dilute your drink with watery ice cubes.

• Source: Martha Stewart

Valentine’s Day Treat Packages

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Moms are you prepared?!? If not, that is okay. We all know you are busy. You can go to the store and buy generic valentines, which is totally acceptable and allowed, or you can make these little packages of awesomeness with a tad more time an effort. However, you will get to skip the CVS last minute Valentine’s Day lines, which is a huge plus. These are a super simple Martha Stewart project that you can throw together in no time, but still feel like you went above and beyond with personalized treats. Check it out… Happy Love Day Eve my friends!

Supplies

• Picture of your child
• heavyweight matte paper or card stock
• Scissors
• pinking shears
• Stamps (optional)
• Cellophane bags
• Preferred treat (candy, cookies, etc.)

Directions

To make these Martha Stewart custom treat packages, cut out a picture of your child, scan it, and print onto heavyweight matte paper. Cut tags using pinking shears for the bottom edges, draw hearts, and stamp or write a message on each one. Fold the tags and tape them to cellophane bags filled with sweets.

Let Love Cleanse You!

This is possibly my favorite DIY project for the Valentine’s Day season. Well, right after the Love Coupons of course. While the coupons are fun and kitschy, the love soaps are so adorable and useful at the same time. I found these from non other than Martha Stewart. She seems to be the DIY Queen and tends to offer the best Valentine’s Day projects around. These heart-shaped soups are great for friends, family members, teachers, co-workers or anyone with good hygiene really Check out the how-to below!

Supplies

• Nonstick 9-inch square pan
• Heart-shape cookie cutter
• Glass measuring cup
• Glycerin soap
• Bench scraper
• Soap colorant or food coloring
• Spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
• Cutting board
• Needle nose pliers
• 1/8-inch metal letter stamps
• Masking tape

Directions

We used a 2-inch cookie cutter (1 inch high) and 2 ½ pounds of glycerin soap-sold at crafts stores-to make 16 hearts.

Depending on your equipment, yields may vary. To determine how much glycerin you’ll need, fill pan with water to ¼ inch below height of cookie cutter, and pour water into measuring cup. Record amount and discard water.

Cut soap into small pieces with bench scraper, and fill measuring cup. Microwave on medium heat until melted and stir. Add soap and heat until you’ve reached the water amount. Add colorant and stir. Pour liquid into pan. Spray with alcohol to eliminate bubbles.

Let harden at room temperature, 2 hours. Freeze 10 minutes.

Turn upside down onto cutting board. Create soaps with cookie cutter and pull cutter out with pliers if it sticks. Tape stamps together to form words, and imprint on soap, applying light, even pressure.

• Source: Martha Stewart

Heart-and-Lollipop Flowers

Supplies

• Lollipops
• Card stock
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue

Directions

Use card stock to make a half-heart template about 3 inches high and 1 ¼ inches wide. Fold a 12-by-3 ½-inch piece of construction paper in half vertically, and trace four half-hearts along the fold.

Cut out hearts and unfold.

Stack hearts and punch a hole ¼ inch up from bottom. Position petals to form a flower, making sure holes line up. Secure by applying glue around holes and let dry. Write name on a petal. Insert lollipop.

• Source: Martha Stewart

Poof Balls Outside the Box

If you know anything about me you know I love me some tissue pom-poms poof balls. Martha Stewart may call them tissue pom-poms, but I call them poof balls. I can’t help it. It is just want comes out of my mouth when I think of them. I have used poof balls to decorate for parties, dinners, gift wrap and even used them at my wedding rehearsal as my bouquet instead of those horrible shower bow bouquets (I hate those). I made about 50 of them for my wedding shower and could not bare to throw them away, they were just too beautiful. So I ended up storing them in my childhood bedroom at my grandmother’s house. They looked absolutely perfect in there, because the room is covered head to toe with pink flowers. The wallpaper… The bedspread… Everything! Adding piles of pink textured tissue poof balls only added to the ridiculousness and sort of made it all work. So I guess you could say I have used them as home decor as well. I would like to use them in our new home hanging in a room somewhere. I always thought it would look so cool if you covered an entire wall with them. You could do it in a baby’s room or make it for a photo backdrop for a party or wedding. It would definitely make for some interesting a colorful pictures. There are tons of uses for these adorable little buggers, which got me wondering how else I could incorporate them in my life. So to the internet I went in search of fun and unique uses for Martha Stewart Pom-Poms My Poof Balls. Trust me I was not disappointed. Check it out!

These are all so great. I love the little animal poofs for a kids party, or the monogram for a baby or wedding shower. However my favorite has to be the tissue paper wreath. You can use it year round as every day home decor, or you can personalize it for the holidays. So amazing!

Click Below for the How-To

1. Animal Poof Balls // 2. Monogram Poof Balls // 3. Poof Ball Wreath

Martha Stewart Pom Poms

Martha Stewart calls them Pom Poms, but I call them Poofs. Tomato… Tomahto… Either way I love them to death and cannot get enough of them. They are absolutely amazing in every color. For my purposes, however, I did them in shades of pink and they turned out fabulous!

Of course this was another wedding project that we used in many different areas. I made at least 50 of these puppies and hung them in the backyard for the Cowboy Chic themed Couples Shower, then my mother-in-law used them as decor at the rehearsal dinner and then my grandmother used them to decorate a sign she had made for us that said congratulations as people left the church. I definitely got my money’s worth out of these suckers and they were worth every penny.

Supplies

• Tissue paper
• Floral wire or pipe cleaners
• Scissors

Directions

1. Stack eight 20-by-30-inch sheets of tissue and make 1 ½-inch-wide accordion folds.
2. Fold an 18-inch piece of floral wire in half, and slip over center of folded tissue; twist. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes.
3. Separate layers, pulling away from center one at a time.
4. Attach string for hanging.

Notes: Read more at Marthastewart.com: Tissue Paper Pom-Poms How-To – Martha Stewart Crafts