Craft Night {Terrariums}

Last night Rachael and I had our monthly craft night.  Since it's almost spring we decided to make terrariums.  

Terrariums are live plants growing inside a closed clear container.  You can use any shape but it needs to be closed in order to recycle its water, oxygen and carbon dioxide.  

Our craft night was also a fundraiser for a women's community organization and we were able to raise $300 for them!   The organization is Ten Fold Plus and they do so many wonderful things in our community.  It was great to be able to help them out!  

 

 

I got interested in terrariums because last summer I went to the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck.  One of the speakers gave a talk on terrariums.   I loved her presentation and bought her book.  So much good information in this book!  

 

 

At our craft nights we like to have everything ready and we like the room to look nice when people come in.  We also want the crafts to be something our participants can complete in one hour.  Terrariums were a perfect project.  They are easy to make and they are so pretty when they are done :-) 

 

We had 20 people last night which was great!  We gave them instructions and they got right to work. 

 

Everyone loved putting their terrariums together. 

 

 

It's always fun for us to watch people have a good time  creating their projects.  

 

 

We always like to take a picture at the end of class with the completed projects.  A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out last night.  It was freezing outside and we had a few last minute cancellations because some people lost power because of the cold and wind.  

We hope these terrariums are a tiny reminder that spring IS coming!

 

Xoxo 

Craft night {burlap states}

Friday night Rachael and I had our monthly craft night.  This month we made adorable burlap states and they turned out so cute!  They were easy to make and it was a great craft night.

Here is the room before people came.  Since we live in NY most people wanted to make a New York. One lady did Massachusetts since  she is from there.  We used the silhoutte to make vinyl cut outs of each state.  We stuck the states on the burlap and then traced around them in chalk.

 

We had lots of paints and brushes so people could get crafty and creative with their states.    Since I'm from Illinois I made that as a sample for the class. 

 

Everyone worked hard on their projects.  

 

Here are the finished projects.  It was a great night! 

 

Next month we will be making terrariums :-) 

Xoxo

Craft Night {Wine cork planters and cork boards}

My friend Rachael and I have a craft business called Branch and Bloom.  Once a month we host a craft class and Thursday was this months class.  We have a Facebook page and we post all of our events there.  We have a lot of fun planning each and every class. 

 

This month we made wine cork planters and cork boards. We wanted something cute and simple for January and this was the perfect craft.  We needed 50 corks per person for this craft so we ordered our corks in bulk  from Amazon.

 

For the wine cork boards we got yard sticks from Home Depot for $1 and we spray painted them white.  Then our crafty ladies just had to add their corks to their yard stick.  We sat out bowls of corks so people could mix and match and find the corks they liked best.

 

Here's one finished craft and Rachael has one in progress.

 

The second craft people did was wine cork planters.  We drilled holes in the top of the corks and each person made 5 little succulent planters.  I ❤❤❤ the way these turned out.  

 

 

It was a great night. Everyone loved their wine cork creations! 

 

Next month we are going go

Craft night!

Last Friday night Rachael and I had our monthly craft night.   This month we made wooden signs. As always it was a great night.  Rachael was sick as a dog all day with a migraine so she sent her husband Michael to help me.  He was a big help!    

We spent the week before staining wood and cutting the stencils and vinyl for the signs.  Our plan was to have each participant make one with vinyl and one using a stencil.  However people LOVED the vinyl and hated the stencil so if we do this again we will just do vinyl because the vinyl was so much easier.  

Instead of brown wrapping paper we used Christmas wrapping paper for the table this  month.  It was so festive when people came in.  

 

People were SO creative with their signs.  Everyone was different but they each turned out so perfect!

 

 

I love monograms and I loved when a few of the ladies did monograms on their boards. 

 

We had two mother daughter pairs this month which was really sweet.

 

I was happy our friend Marisa came.  She is so crafty!

 

Here's our big group picture!  Even my helper Michael got on this one!

 

It was a great night!  Next month we are making wine cork boards and mini planters.

Xoxo

Craft night!

Friday night was our monthly craft night!   We did a repeat of our January class-chalkboard trays!  We also teamed up with a favorite charity to raise money for them.

Here is the finished product.

To make these you get a 1x12 and have it cut to the size you want your tray to be.  For this class we did 18 inch trays but you can make them smaller or larger depending on how big or small you want your tray to be.  

 

Here is one table all set up before the ladies arrived.  

 

We stained the boards before the class to save time.

 

After staining the first step is to add masking tape to the edges of your board to make your chalkboard.  We did two coats  and then let it dry completely.  Drying took about 15-20 minutes.

 

After the trays dried we seasoned them so when the ladies use their chalkboards the words will erase.  If you don't season,  the first words you write on the chalkboard are etched permanently on the board.  We rubbed the side of a piece of chalk all over the board and then we erased it with a wet rag.  Voila the boards are seasoned!

After seasoningse added one more coast of chalkboard paint.  

 

 

 

Here are some of our ladies with their finished trays!  It was a great night!

 

Xoxo

October craft night

Friday Rachael and I had our monthly craft night.  This month we made pumpkin floral centerpieces. We got both white and orange pumpkins so people could choose which one they liked best.

We had lots of flowers, branches, succulents, and moss for people to decorate with.

 

 

  

Here is one of our tables all set up and ready to go!

 

Here is Rachael with two of our friends hard and work on their pumpkins. 

 

 

 

 

Before everyone left we took a group picture.

 

And we took more pictures because they are fun ;)

 

Here are some finished projects.

 

 

 

It was a great night!

Xoxo 

Branch and Bloom {Body Scrubs}

Friday  we had our June craft night.  This month we made organic body scrubs.

Here are the tables all set up waiting for our crafters.

 

 

Our crafters loved making these scrubs! They each made 4 so they had a few extras to give away as gifts. 

 

Here is the recipe in case you want to make your own scrubs.

Organic Sugar Scrub

Combine 1/2 cup sugar (brown or white)

with 1/4 cup oil (coconut or olive)

5-8 drops essential oil (to your liking)

Mix well, scoop into jars. Enjoy! 

 

Here we are with out finished scrubs!

 

It was a great night.  And a big thanks goes out to my friend and business partner Rachael.  She did all of the work for this months craft.  Thanks Rachael :-) Next month we are making birdhouses!

Xoxo