{Clemson Wreath Number Two}

Last year, I made a Clemson wreath for my front door.  I left it up until recently when there was a weird substance growing on it.  After I threw it away, I knew that I needed to make another wreath.  So I did!  

I started with a grapevine wreath, burlap, ribbon, and material.

I cut strips of burlap and wrapped it around the wreath.

I wrapped purple ribbon around the burlap.

Then I added different embellishments with fabric and felt, buttons, and glass gems.

I reused the banner from my old Clemson wreath.

I was worried at first that it looked too "grandma-ish."  But I think I like it a little better now.

It's definitely not the best wreath I've ever seen, but for a person who always struggles with finding the right "balance" with wreath embellishments, I think it will do.  :)

{Clemson Tiger Nails}

This weekend, my husband, SIL, BIL, and I went to the first Clemson game of the season.  I'm not one of those girls to get dressed up in heels and a sundress to go to a game, but I do like to show my Tiger spirit in cute ways.  For this game, I decided to give myself a Clemson Tiger manicure.

I used these nail polishes.

From left to right: Milani's Nail Art in Black Sketch Wet n Wild's Fast Dry in Orange Wet n Wild's Wild Shine in Sunny Side Up Revlon's Nail Enamel in Impulsive Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry Anti-Chip Top Coat I started by painting all my nails except for my ring finger nails with the purple color.  I must mention that this Revlon polish is definitely not my favorite.  It seems to take a long time to dry without smudging.

And I painted my ring finger nails with Sunny Side Up.

I painted over the orange with the glittery Wet n Wild orange polish.  Then I used the black nail art polish to create tiger stripes.  Get a little polish on the brush.  Starting on the edge of your nail, apply pressure and slide the brush while releasing the pressure.  This will create the thicker bottom and thinner top of the stripes.

You can paint as many stripes as you want in any pattern you want.  Then wait two minutes and paint all your nails with the top coat.  (I never use any remover to clean up the edges of my nails unless I am leaving to go somewhere immediately after I paint them.   When I get in a hot shower, I'm always able to simply peel the paint off my skin.)

It is then mandatory that you cheer the Tigers on to victory!

You could use this same tutorial to create zebra stripe nails of any color, which I often do on my toenails.  And if you still aren't sure how to create the stripes with the nail art polish, you can search YouTube to find a video tutorial. If you want to see another nail art idea, check out my princess inspired manicure {HERE}.

Clemson Jack O'Lantern

I've been MIA for a while because school has had me super busy the past two weeks.  But I was able to get a lot done today.  I have some neat projects to share with you soon, but I wanted to share this project with you first since Halloween is Monday.

My husband and I have gotten a pumpkin the past few years and carved a tiger paw in it.  This year after seeing the fake, carve-able pumpkins in the craft stores and in blog land, I decided we would try to carve a fake pumpkin. 

First, I bought a fake pumpkin at Michaels.  (It was 50% off!)  I spray painted the front of the pumpkin purple and painted over the spray paint with purple glitter.  I used my Silhouette and re-positional vinyl to create a tiger paw.  My husband used a craft knife to carve the design into the pumpkin.  (He had to be extra careful when he carved around the skinny, mini pieces!)  I popped some dollar store LED tea lights in the pumpkin, and then we admired our handy work! 

I love that I can keep this and use it again next year.  And every year I can can come up with a new design to create a Clemson Tiger jack o'lantern collection.  Go Tigers! :)

Clemson Wreath--GO TIGERS!

During football season, my husband is all about Clemson football!  (Well, actually, it's all year long, but I digress....)  Though I'm not quite as exuberant about football season as he is, I do pull for the Clemson Tigers!  I have seen all the yarn wrapped wreaths on the internet, and I saw Kimberly's awesome team wreath on her blog Simply Living a while back.

Kimberly's Boomer Sooner! Wreath

I have made some different wreaths for friends and family, but I wanted to make one for myself.  (I'm really bad about always making stuff for other people and never making anything for myself!)  Kimberly inspired me to make a Clemson wreath.  I started out with a straw wreath form and some purple yarn.

I took the plastic off of the wreath form, but I'm not so sure I should have done that.  Every time I worked on wrapping the wreath, I had to get the vacuum out to clean up the mess.  Not fun.  Also, it took me a LONG TIME to wrap the wreath!  I'm talking like four episodes of Law & Order!  Maybe I just didn't have the right technique.  I don't know.  So my recommendation to you would be to get a styrofoam wreath form and wrap the wreath when there are some good tv shows on!