Pot for Grandma's Cactus

We had purchased a plain terracotta pot for this cactus.  It was a cactus of my Grandma Novak's that was given to me after she passed away in September of 2006.  God's work has kept this cactus alive!  And it has been growing...so much that it is time for a new pot.  The little green plastic pot is just getting too small.  We found the wide-mouth pot at Meijer and thought it would be perfect.  We are going to replace the plastic green pot with another one similar in shape but larger in size and then fill between the two pots with decorative rocks.  I will definitely post an update when we do that!

As for decorating the wide-mouth pot...I started with plain brown tissue paper.  I wasn't sure what direction I was going to go from there, but knew I wanted to keep colors neutral.  I thought about cream colored tissue paper hand cut in a simple shape, and then started exploring some of my scrapbook paper.  I saw some tans, ivory, and orange.  I was going to go with orange, but as I have been not sure of the settings for the Cricut, I decided to do a practice sheet.  I found one that was about the same weight as the one I was going to use and went for that practice run.  Much to my surprise, the flowers cut quite well!  AND they just happen to match nicely too!  So practice run ended up producing some keepers!  Randomly, I placed them on the pot with a little extra Mod Podge as the paper is thicker.  Finished with some ruffly brown ribbon, this pot is going to be a great addition to our kitchen!  Todd thought the ruffles were a little girly, but I reminded him that I spend more time in the kitchen so it is ok!  I finally have a piece of my own handiwork displayed in my house! 

Red and Classy

 

Nothing says classy like formal red gown right, well these vases have the same feeling to me!  Two of them are displaying elements with Swarovski crystals.  I didn't know such fun things existed until I started doing this!  For all of us girls who like sparkles, these are the details for us!!!  They add just the right touch to each vase and make them catch anyone's eye.  

Take a look.

The vase above is tiny.  It stands only about 5 inches tall and accenting are red and white Swarovski crystals.  The swirled design makes the flower look wrapped in beauty!  A great accent for any flower.

 

The vase below is large, standing more than 12 inches tall.  It is accented with gold Swarovski crystals.  For this one I used Gold Shimmer Mod Podge instead of the plan which, comparing it to the one above, brings a completely different look.

 The vase on the left I made with strips of ripped red tissue paper.  It brings a whole different look to the vase.  It allows you to see stems or the filler that may be inside.  It is accented with three white roses.  A great Valentine gift.

Enjoy this class red collection!