Part 2 of my DIY Centerpieces - Construction of the Stands

I wanted tall centerpieces as I mentioned in my pomander tutorial, and by golly I was going to get them without spending an arm and a leg. Pssshhh $50 - $200 per centerpiece, no thank you!

Here again is one of my inspiration images

I've tackled the pomanders on the cheap, now here come the stands for said pomanders.

I needed long, decorative, wood pieces. Hmm.... where was I going to find these without having to pay too much for them? I did a once over on all the scrap wood we had in the garage and wasn't seeing anything. Then I turned around and saw our old drop side crib for the kids. As I stared at it I realized the bars would be perfect! And since you can't sell those drop side cribs anymore I figured I might as well get some use out of it, so I took it apart

There we go, the poles for our tall centerpiece stands. 

Now the trick was to get them to stand up. With all the scrap wood we had in the garage I knew I would be able to figure something out. At first I thought, "oh I'll just cut out some squares and glue it together." I thought about it and quickly dismissed the idea as that would look funky. I needed circles. I went to my finance for this step. He suggested a circle blade for the drill. Whadduya know, they cut out circles!

These bad boys rocked! It took awhile to get the hang of using them , but it cut perfect circles in the 1 inch thick (what I think is) plywood. It came in huge sheets and it was what we used to make the castle loft bed. 

From This

To this

I cut out 2 different sizes of circles so the base wouldn't look so plain. Then I widened the holes a bit with a large drill bit so that the poles would fit perfectly. Now for the assembly. I just threw some wood glue in the holes on the circles and them pushed the poles in and let it dry. 

Woo hoo! now we have a stand. It doesn't look like much right now, but with a little paint and some embellishments it will really shine!

That concludes part 2 of the centerpieces. Part 3 is coming soon!

DIY Pomanders for Tall Wedding Centerpieces

I really wanted those gorgeous tall centerpieces I had seen on Pinterest, but nearly fell over in my seat at the prices on these things. $75-$250 per centerpiece. I have 15 tables to cover, and I most certainly do not want to spend thousands on centerpieces. That would be nearly half of my budget. I pulled out my DIY thinking cap and got to planning on how I could make these bad boys for a fraction of the cost.

Here some of my inspiration images.

 




Now on to how I made the pomanders (the stand I will get to in another post)

I looked online for tutorials and how to's but they all required Styrofoam balls. Those suckers are not cheap. $5-$10 per ball. I'm trying to think cheap sooo.... I thought, "round....can glue things to it.... paper lanterns"

That's right paper lanterns, and I found them nice and cheap, less and a buck each!

These are my base and can be found here

 

Now I have something round on which I can glue things, so let's see how that works. 

I'll need a glue gun, glue sticks, and some roses. The glue gun I had and the roses I got here 

 

I pulled all the roses off of the stems, so I just had the little plastic stub at the bottom of the rose. This is where I will put the glue.

 


Now that I have that little stub, I'm going to add some glue to it.






Here comes the tricky part, pressing it into the paper lantern. You have to press hard enough to pop it through the paper but not tear it, so forceful and gentle at the same time. You will hear a little pop when you get it right. Don't worry if you do make a little tear it will be fine.




I start out by make a circle around the entire lantern and then building from there.

                                                                                       




It took me about 42 roses to cover a 6 inch paper lantern, and here is my final product

They are surprisingly durable too. I've had these few hanging from my ceiling, out of reach of my kiddos, for a few months now. 

I can't wait to put them all together with the final touches. Here's a little sneak peek, the stands, of course are not finished, and the ostrich feathers and crystals need to be added. 

Review Time >>> Fiber One Protein Cereal

My newest free product from BzzAgent was Fiber One cereal.

I love my cereal in the morning because I am suuuuper busy and need something fast in the morning.

Fiber one, I've always been a little hesitant to try it because of the jokes I've heard about it. Calling a cereal "colon blow" doesn't make it sound very appealing. I went in with an open mind, and I am glad I tried it.

It tasted amazing. It reminded me a bit of the old Honey Smacks from when I was a little kid, only this had a nice grown up twist. Both flavors were great! The fact that it had protein was a nice benefit because I don't get too much meat in my meals these days because I need them quick and on the go. An even better benefit to this stuff is that it does keep my regular ;) which is one of the reasons I've been recommending it to some choice friends.

Overall it's a big ole "yes give it a whirl"
It tastes great and the health benefits deserve a high five.