Colorful Solar Vases (And A Tute!)

The prettier solar lights are sooo expensive, aren't they?
I've seen the stained glass looking ones be as much as ten bucks a pop, and pretty as it is, it's still out of my budget. Last year I made etched jar solar lights, and I forgot them on the deck when winter hit, so I had to start from scratch this year.
I came up with this:

 So how do we get to this? ^^
First materials!
Glass vase (I got mine at the dollar tree)
Gems (In your choice of colors. I have a huge tote full, making bowling ball/gazing balls for years.)
Clear indoor/outdoor silicone
Solar light with wide top
Popcicle stick to spread the silicone

Materials ready!
Bead the silicone around the glass, you can start at the top or the bottom, two of these were started at the top, one at the bottom, and spread an even thinner coating around the vase, start sticking gems on. (I slip my hand into the vase to work around, but know the longer into the project you get, the heavier this becomes.)

Starting it off.
So now you have this very pretty, but kinda heavy vase. It's nice, but what next?
Have a snack! It's got to set up a little before you go any further. If you look at the first picture you'll notice a package of Nutty Bars, Snack!!
So now it's all set! You need to prepare your solar light.

Yep, this guy here. Untwist the top so you have the inside out.

And simply place on top of your vase....

And it looks like this at the top now.

Ta da!!
Now, not all solar lights are the same, though they should untwist at the top. Most have metal at the bottom, to reflect the light out. These don't. But the ones I had last year did. So to get the light to reflect, I'm going to make a small pyramid from foil and place at the bottom of the vase.
Another thing, these are not waterproof. If it's going to rain, I do bring them in. The silicone is good, but a driving rain is going to fill the vase up. Make sense?

I hope you enjoyed the tute, and make something pretty today!

Spring Banner

Look! Another post!
The wonderful comments have swayed me to pay more attention to my blog. Makes sense, right?
I also need to shout out to the Lovely Blog Hoppers. They did a great job! And I won two giveaways! The irock, which has interested me in a while, but I just haven't gotten around to buying it and figuring it out. And a Cuttlebug folder, chipboard album, bling, and journal. Wow! I'm so happy!

So on to the Spring banner. I'm concentrating this year on the things I already have. I did buy the doilies, but 150 for a buck... (And I'm sure I'll be buying cardstock, you can't do much without it.) I used the Birthday Cakes cartridge for the letters, Bazzil and DCWV cardstock. Even though the Cricut really doesn't like to cut the DCWV textured stock. I am stubborn. Textures rock my socks. After the letters were glued together, I used Smooch Spritz and gave 'em a bit of glimmer, along with some Prima flowers, and bling.
Because between texture and bling, it's perfect. Right?
I had some ribbon, and the doilies had holes naturally, so I strung it through those, and voila!

 Nice little close up.

What have you made today?

~Roberta

Lovely Blog Hop

Welcome Hoppers!
A little while back, my friend Dawn put out a call for help. She wanted bloggers to hop for her. So after I jumped around my kitchen, I read the rest of her post. She wanted scrapbook layouts with the theme of "What It Means To Love You".
I immediately volunteered, and thought to myself it would be a breeze! It would get me out of my bloggy slump.
Oh, crap.
I haven't blogged in forever. To make matters worse, I haven't actually scrapbooked a page in several years. I have all the cool supplies, machine, paper, glue..... pictures! But hear me! I'm a Jane of all crafts! There are school projects, sewing, mod podging, stitching.... the list goes on. And scrapping has gone by the wayside.
My palms were sweaty, my eyes darted about in a futile attempt for another project, but the date was drawing upon me!
EEK!
 I knew from the very start I wanted to a layout dedicated to my Husband. And there isn't enough paper in my craft room to do Him justice, so to do just one page......
(Really, my first thought was to go about taking pictures of the messes He leaves behind, testament to my love, indeed!)
So without further ado...

I'm K.I.S.S.

His love is unconditional, eternal, and everything. What does it mean to love Him?
Everything.
(I'd never make a good scrapbooking blogger. I buy things, use them, cut things up... I couldn't tell you half of the names I used, it's never important to me. The sentiment is. The floral vellum? It's 6 years old, easy....)

Now you've hopped here, get hoppin' to the next! 
Linky?
Roberta You are here!
Liza http://www.hooscrafty.blogspot.com/
Vicky http://sassysscrapinblogin.blogspot.com/
Kymberlee http://papermidwife.blogspot.com/
...Sue http://www.lifesgr8whnbugged.blogspot.com/
Bobbi Jo http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com/
Michelle http://paperaffair.blogspot.com/
Sara http://www.snugasabugdesigns.blogspot.com/
Misty http://www.abusyplace.blogspot.com/
Kate http://www.sassyandscrappykate.blogspot.com/
Liz http://liz-lavendarandroses.blogspot.com/
Laura http://lauras--piece--of--paradise.blogspot.com/
Michele http://greengirlscraps.blogspot.com/
Shawn http://shawnsfiresidecraftingroom.blogspot.com/
Mary http://www.marebearscraps.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://www.scrap-obsessed.blogspot.com/



Have a great Saturday! And perhaps I'll see you again? Should this frizzy frazzled crafter have another go at it? Hmmm....

~Roberta

See What Happens?

I love Kim over at Today's Creative Blog, she was the first blog I ever faithfully followed. She featured so many cool creative people, and opened a lot of creative doors for me as well.
Have you ever gone to someone's blog and liked what you saw so much you just kept clicking on older posts, and before you know it you've reached the end?
(Yeah, it's a disease!)
And how many blogs do you follow, read all the time, but never comment?
I am one of those sad people.
I have tried to leave some comments, but for whatever reason, if it's Firefox or what, it won't let me sign in, the box is blank. I did take the time to email the person, just to let them know I thought it was cool enough to say something.
Just some random thoughts to share...

Cupcakes Galore!

When approached to make 75 cupcakes for the VBS at our church, I didn't even blink. 75? No problem!
Originally I had planned on having them topped and looking the coolest ever!
But then they didn't want them frosted, because they were going to decorate them at the church, and thought the frosting would get too hard to decorate.
Maybe.....
So I knew I wanted to kick it up a notch.
How does one do that?

Colorful cupcakes!
I loved this, and it doesn't take much longer to do at all! Just divide the batter into however many bowls you're doing colors, you can use food coloring (I used color paste) and go crazy!
Dip it into the cupcake holders, a color at a time, and bake as normal.
Here is a picture of the 75:

Do you see the chocolate ones in there too? Yes, when committing to baking to many, make sure you have enough for the whole project, right? But who doesn't love chocolate? It's variety!
Here are a few pics of extra ones I kept to make pretty for us:

Have a great one!

-Roberta