Re-purposed wood CD holder--Hydrangea Floral Arrangement

I LOVE hydrangeas.

 I am always trying to make low cost arrangements with them. As I'm out at garage sales or estate sales I look for things I can use for containers. I found this CD holder in raw wood. So I bought it and left it in the garage thinking I'll do something with this one day....

And that day finally came!!

These are the steps I took

1) Stain or paint your wood CD holder. Allow stain to dry for a few days if its humid. I used Minwax Dark Walnut 2716. I did not seal it or wax it afterwards. I lightly sanded the wood before I stained it to make sure it was smooth.

2) Take a large piece of burlap, I used a burlap sack cut in half, then stuffed it inside the CD holder. It doesn't matter how much fabric you overhang, I left a lot of overhang so I could cut it off in a way I wanted it to look.

3) Stuff Floral Foam inside. It took almost 3 pieces to fill my container. I used a serrated knife to cut the last piece of foam. I found this type of knife to cut foam the best.

4) After stuffing the floral foam tightly inside the container I cut up 2 bushes of Hydrangeas from Hobby Lobby and placed the flowers into the foam. I started out placing one on each end, then placed one on the left and right side of the first one working my way up to the other end. I decided to add in 2 green hydrangeas after filling it up with the white ones. I just added them in-between the white ones. 

5) Cut the excess burlap in a wavy pattern curving left to right all around the perimeter. Then I glued a metal handle in the center using this great new glue I just discovered called collall. I purchased mine on ebay. I'm very impressed with this glue. I used it to glue a metal handle to a pillow and it is holding strong.

 

Part 2 an Interview with Miss Tracy

Welcome back for Part 2

An Interview with Miss Tracy

www.misstracycreates.com

www.thelittlebluehouseblog.blogspot.com

I had the privilege of sitting down with Miss Tracy to find out more about her and how she arrived at this place in her life.

I have to say I was not expecting to hear what she shared with me about how she got to this point. I was very relieved to hear her story because it gave me hope for my own life.

First of all she is a mother of 5 children. Now that in itself is quite an accomplishment! As a child she did various crafts with her grandma and it always brought her joy.

 She describes herself as a 'Jill of all trades' sewing, painting, and crafting. I have personally seen her smash glass so I have no doubt that she can handle any power tool to create any project. She has always had a passion to create but it was expressed as a hobby instead of a business.

She previously worked in the mortgage and banking industry and for Southwest Airlines  where she learned a lot about the business world and customer service until one day she decided

 "I want something more rewarding"

So She took some time off to pursue what was in her heart. She ended up taking a part-time job with Recollections, a Scrapbook company Michaels used to own, teaching craft classes. She began designing her own projects until eventually she became their Corporate designer for all of the projects being taught. This is where her passion for creating merged with the business world.

Now I have to take time out to impart my thoughts....

I am fascinated about the background stories of peoples' lives. We can learn so much from each other. Too many times we see people in their accomplishments then we judge ourselves by where they are and where we aren't. But we fail to consider how they really got there. Each job or experience prepares you for the next stage of your life. No experience will be wasted especially if you give it all to the Lord. He has a way of weaving things together to create a beautiful life...

Now at this stage of her journey you may think 'wow a dream come true it couldn't get any better than this'. But as the saying goes when life hands you lemons make lemonade....

Changes came to Michaels and they decided to close the Recollections stores....

So again she had some time on her hands. This is when the Create Joy workshops was born. Her pastor wanted to start an outreach to the community and she wanted to help out with this by bringing women together who share the same passions, because she believes it is very therapeutic.

Her motto is 'keep your hands busy while your heart heals'...

When she said this statement to me my heart leapt. I know that to be true in my own life but I never heard anyone put it into words. Regardless if you have natural creative talents, creating something with your hands is so rewarding whether it's growing a garden, sewing, painting, or baking it's all an expression of our hearts and in the process our hearts get tended to...

This outreach became very successful. The women really enjoyed coming together to create.

Then the opportunity came to open 'The Little Blue House" where she was able to carry over that sense of community and continue to fulfill her creative dreams as well as passing on her wisdom and talent to all of us!

I was having so much fun learning her background story but I was really itching to find out How in the World do you do all you do! I have a lot to juggle in my own life with a part-time job, this blog, my booth business and a husband with health issues. I can't imagine adding 5 children to this...

She really had some wise words to share...

She said it is a constant work in progress, you have to let some things go in order to focus on the really important things. The key is to bring in team members who can help you and you have to allow them to help you. Be flexible. This comes in handy when you are a dreamer and an overachiever as she is. When you see inspiration everywhere and have the drive to do it all you have to discipline yourself to reign it in.

Now her final words of wisdom is to explore your creativity, be bold try new things don't be afraid of making a mistake, new things come out of mistakes. Don't worry about trying to do it right just let it flow and see where it takes you....