Living La Vida Holoka


How to Make Tropical Drink Stirrers for Your Summer Sips

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Summer officially starts tomorrow!  In my family, we have lots of reasons to celebrate during the summer.  We’re talking loads of birthdays, a graduation, and our wedding anniversary.  And honestly, I’m probably forgetting something because there’s always so much going on! I feel like the summer itself is just one, big celebration. Forget the birthdays, anniversaries, and everything else that’s happening during the next couple months.  We made it through a cold, snowy winter and summer is like our prize for patiently waiting for its return!

Or not-so-patiently waiting.

The entire summer season seems reason enough to gather with friends and family and pour a few cocktails or a tall glass of lemonade or sun tea!  So I thought it would be fun to make some tropical drink stirrers to have on hand for our summer celebrations!


These simple drink stirrers start with clear swizzle sticks.  I made little, tropical shapes out of oven-bake clay to glue on top of the sticks.  I found a cute pineapple mold at Michael’s. Then, I found a set of tropical molds on Amazon to use to make palm trees.  

I would suggest sticking to shapes that have a sturdy base.  While the palm trees definitely worked out in the end, I had a little patching up to do on the tree trunk when I glued it onto the swizzle stick.  The pineapples, on the other hand, came out ready to party!  

SUPPLIES

STEPS

  1. Start making your pineapples and palm trees.  Press yellow clay into the pineapple mold leaving room at the top for green clay.  Then, press green clay into the top of the palm tree mold leaving room for brown clay at the bottom.
  2. Carefully remove the clay shapes from the mold.  Smooth any edges, if necessary.
  3. Gently push a clear swizzle stick into the bottom of the clay shape.  Remove the swizzle stick and set aside.
  4. Place parchment paper on a small baking sheet.  Bake the clay according to package.
  5. Remove the clay shapes from the oven and allow to cool completely.
  6. Once the shapes are cool, add a little super glue into the opening and, once again, gently push the swizzle stick into the bottom.
  7. Set the stirrers aside until the glue has completely dried.  Then, whip up a batch of cocktails and get your stir on!



So even if you’re just serving up lemonade and tea to the kiddos this summer, these tropical drink stirrers will make those summer sips all the more fun!  Want to designate drink cups?  Make a bunch of different shapes for everyone to choose from!  

These drink stirrers took just minutes to make!  Even though I used mine in simple glasses of lemonade, imagine how fun they’ll look in your favorite mocktail or cocktail!  Cheers to summer!

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Looking for some drink inspiration for your tropical drink stirrers?  Check out these posts:

How to Make a Simple Floral Summer Wreath

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A couple weeks ago, I decided that it was time to change the wreath on our front door. I wanted something new, but I didn’t want to pay over $40 for a really nice wreath.  So I took a ride to the craft store to gather supplies and a little inspiration.  I was looking for something with a muted color palette that wasn’t your typical summer wreath.  No seashells, beach themes, or super bright colors.  I just wanted something modern and minimal with just enough color to stand out on our white door.

The first thing I grabbed at the craft store was an 18 inch grapevine wreath.  I would say it’s basically the perfect size for a wreath.  Not too big, not too small, and a great, natural canvas for florals.  The hard part was deciding what kind of flowers and greenery I wanted to add to it!  


I found some pretty trendy stems while I was wandering around the floral aisles.  The best part was that they were 40% off!  So I got two eucalyptus branches, a really cool air plant stem, and a couple ranunculus stems in white and a pretty, peach color.

The first I did when I got home was plan my wreath.  My grapevine wreath wasn’t a perfect circle.  It had a flatter side to it and that’s where I decided to fill it with flowers and greenery.  The next step was laying out my florals.  Once I knew where everything was going to go, I used my hot glue gun to glue everything into place.

SUPPLIES

STEPS

  1. Heat your hot glue gun.  While the glue gun is heating, plan your wreath.  Lay out all of your florals and decide where everything will go.
  2. Trim down the stem of the eucalyptus branches until there’s about an inch left.  Glue the stems down onto one side of the wreath, tucking the bottom of the stem into the grapevine branches.
  3.  Next, cut the ranunculus flowers off of the stems.  Glue them onto the wreath.
  4. Finally, add the air plants to fill in any gaps on the wreath.
  5. Allow the glue to dry completely, give the flowers a little fluff, and hang on your front door!


This wreath only cost me a little over $20 to make. Way under what I was willing to spend for a store bought wreath!  The other plus is that this wreath is totally unique to me.  No one else is going to have this exact wreath!  I absolutely love the way this turned out and I hope it’s inspired you to make something new for your front door!

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What are your favorite summer florals?

Stenciled Pallet Photo Display

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Guys, I am getting so excited for some of the home updates we’re planning on doing this summer!  So far, the kitchen’s getting just about completely made over.  We’re keeping the appliances and counter tops as they are, but putting in new flooring, painting, and cabinet fixtures.  The other room I’m really excited to make over is the bedroom.  We’re going from completely outdated, ugly furniture to some gorgeous, solid wood pieces with loads of storage space!

As excited as I am to move new furniture in and have new flooring down in the kitchen, I really can’t wait to redecorate!  I keep telling myself to wait until the rooms are done, but it’s so hard not to want to buy decor.  In the meantime, I decided to DIY some new decor that would be fitting for either room.  My husband and I are both fans of farmhouse style rooms, so that’s basically our inspiration.


The kitchen flooring we’re going with is going to look weathered and worn in.  You know, that rustic charm that doesn’t make a person go, “OMG!  What happened to your floors?”  Yeah, that.  The furniture we’re looking at for the bedroom is going to be classic solid wood.  Simple, traditional, and sturdy.  But that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to country chic it up in there!

So I wanted to make a pallet decoration that we could use in either room.  I wanted to keep the DIY simple, but pretty.  Nothing that really screamed “farmhouse,” but would certainly fit right in to that decor style or any other room in the house.  The craft pallet I bought was already stained so I got to skip a step.  Then, I added a small “family” wood word and bulldog clip to one side and a floral stencil to the other.  


I used a dry brushing technique for this project. Basically, you add paint very little to a brush, wipe off the excess, and use a quick, sweeping motion across the surface.  So I did that for both my “family” wood word and the stenciling.  Once the word “family” was painted and dry, I used sandpaper just to give it more of a weathered look.



Once that was done, I used a ruler and a pencil to mark off where I wanted to eventually glue the word and the clip and place the stencil. I taped the stencil down with painter’s tape. Then, I once again used a dry brushing technique to give the design a worn out, aged kind of look.


The last step was to fire up the hot glue gun and get busy attaching the word “family” and a clip to hang a 4″x6″ photo.

SUPPLIES

STEPS

  1. If necessary, stain your craft pallet.  Allow it to dry overnight.
  2. Dry brush paint onto the surface of the “family” wood word.  Allow paint to dry.  Use sandpaper to give the paint a rougher look, if desired.
  3. Position the stencil.  Use painter’s tape to keep it in place.  Then, use the dry brushing method to fill in the stencil. 
  4. Allow paint to dry completely.  Then, remove the painter’s tape and stencil.
  5. Heat a hot glue gun.  Then, glue the word “family” and bulldog clip into place.
  6. Clip your favorite photo and display or hang with twine!

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Have you made any pallet projects lately?

20 DIY Gifts to Make Your Mom for Mother’s Day

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Add a handmade touch to Mother’s Day this year with one of these DIY Gifts for Mom! She’ll love and appreciate the time you’ve taken to create a DIY gift that’s just for her!

My mom is a rockstar.  I seriously don’t know how she does it all and more for her family and still has time to sleep!  She’s one of the strongest women I know and has given us more than we deserve just to make us happy.  I try to give back as much as I can, but Mother’s Day gives us the opportunity to really give her one day that’s absolutely special.  It used to be a Mother’s Day tradition to give both moms in the family a trip to a really large, popular garden center here in Central Jersey.  But as we all started to cut back on our garden plans (at least when it comes to the floral section), tradition changed a bit.  So now, I pretty much leave it up to mom.  Whatever she wants to do, I’ve got her covered!  

Even if you plan on taking mom to brunch, or you’re just celebrating Mother’s Day over dinner with the family, it’s always nice to add a homemade touch to your Mother’s Day gifts.  Make her a spa day inspired gift basket, a wine glass that’s all her own, or get inspired by these 20 DIY gifts for mom! 

  1. Easy Homemade Lavender Soap – Happy Deal – Happy Day!
  2. Citrus Sugar Scrubs – Delia Creates
  3. Painted Wooden Bead Necklaces – Homemade Lovely
  4. DIY Coffee Bath Scrub Recipe – Thrifty Jinxy
  5. Easy Rose Gold Foiled Pencil Cup – Damask Love
  6. An Etched Monogram Pendant – Dukes and Duchesses
  7. DIY Succulent Key Holder – Lolly Jane
  8. Homemade Milk Bath Recipe with Dried Red Rose Petals – Suburbia Unwrapped
  9. Oatmeal Lavender Bath Soak – Carolyn’s Homework
  10. DIY Wood and Resin Pendant – Resin Crafts Blog
  11. Heavenly Lavender Lemon Salt Scrub – Busy Being Jennifer
  12. Cute Heart-Shaped Bath Bombs – A Cultivated Nest
  13. Outdoor Terra Cotta Candle Holders – Uncommon Designs
  14. Fizzy Scented Bath Bombs for Mom – Playdough To Plato
  15. DIY Body Butter Recipe – Cuddles & Chaos
  16. Linen Stitch Spa Cloth Knitting Pattern – Nemcsok Farms
  17. Foldable Recipe Stand – Cherished Bliss
  18. Wooden Polaroid Magnets – Homemade Lovely
  19. How to Make a Candle in Jar – Tidbits
  20. DIY Mason Jar Succulent Pots – Lolly Jane

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How will you make Mother’s Day special for Mom this year?



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