Craft D.I.Y. – THE JUICE (2024)

In our annual rush to catch up on the oscar nominated movies this past weekend, I noticed that the Phantom Menace in back in theatres in 3D. To most Star Wars die hards this movie could not have been more of a “menace” in the “perfect record” of the original Star Wars trilogy.

I grew up watching Star Wars over and over and over with my brother, “Bogues”, who loved the movie growing up and may be even more obsessed with it these days! He and KF quote Star Wars often, collect Star Wars “art” and even named their Tough Mudderteam the “Nerf Herders”. I’m not sure they will never forgive George Lucas for Jar Jar binks, or for editing the scene where “Han shot first”.

For Bogues’ birthday last year and we thought a Star Wars movie celebration was in order. Hope’s adoption birthday is around the same date and since she is the perfect Wookie, we figured she would enjoy celebrating then too.

Of coarse a real Star Wars party involves having to watch the movie!I had a really great time creating a Star Wars inspired menu and signage- which I am more than happy to share!

Keeping the appetizers easy for handling while movie watching was key…

After movie watching we sat down for dinner and enjoyed my “black and white chicken chili”, grilled steaks and Amanda brought along “Aunt Beru’s Mac and Cheese” (really a Barefoot Contessa recipe- soooo good!).

Of coarse it couldn’t be a party without a photo booth!

This was a really fun and easy party to pre-prep party. (To make it even easier, download my Star Wars Menu signage here:Sweet Dani B Star Wars Party Food Signage)

It could be great to translate some of these menu ideas for Oscar viewing this Sunday! Or keep it real (AKA: anti Phantom Menace) and host a Star Wars party of your own! Look for my “Dark Side Hummus” recipe in an upcoming post… I’m also excited to share my “Black and White” chickenchili recipe with you!

In the meantime… May the Force Be with You! Xoxo Dani

I’ve definitely had the mushroom inspiration “bug”for a while. Aside from being a huge foodie fan of mushrooms (shiitakes are my fave) in the past few years, toadstool mushrooms have been popping up all around me…

Around the holidays,I was so excited to find these adorable mushroom ornaments with wire spikes in the flower district one day and I just had to buy a box.As a craft hoarder I’m lucky to have a space to keep all my craft materials and these items pretty much magically found eachother just in time to make KF a totally excellent “TerrariumValentine”.

While my crafty ‘shrooms were drying, I cleaned out an antique ball jar (which I collect) and filled it 3/4 full with a combination of potting soil and horticulturalcharcoal.

I am so happy with the way my toadstool mushroom terrariumValentine turned out! KF loved it and the reindeer moss does not require any special care. The sign has weathered a bit due to the moisture, but I love the way it looks (plus I can always replace the sign when needed).This would be a really fun project to do with your kiddies or with friends and family at a Craft Brunchnot to mention, your Gnomes and Gnomis will love it!

Happy Crafting! Xo Dani

P.S. Look for our March Gnome & Gnomi how to coming soon!

In this age of the cell phone and digital cameras, its so easy to take a photo, but what do we do with those photos? Photography is a hobby of mine that has really developed over the years but even before my photo skills developed, in all the places I have lived, I have always had a frame wall… which is a gallery of my favorite photos and memories.

Recently, we made some renovations to our apartment and we “upped” our usual frame wall to a shadowbox gallery. We purchased different sizes and shapes of the white Ribba Framefrom Ikea. This frame comes with a photo matte and is very well priced. I opened up my “trinket archives” (storage bins labeled: “sentimental stuff” that I have kept over the years) and we paired up photos with trinkets. For balance we let some frames just be photo frames, but in others we created full collages of keepsakes combined with photos and trinkets. The result? A beautiful, interesting, and sentimental memory wall of “All Good Things”…

Since we are always making memories and I’m always taking photos, we left room for extra frames (which I already purchased in the case that the Ribba frame was discontinued).We played around with order and arrangement by laying all the frames out on the floor.

There was also a bit of trial and error by hanging, but since our walls are white, touch ups were easy to make if needed.We liked how the different sized frames created a busy un-eveness but you could easily do a more balanced frame wall using one or even two sizes of frames.

To get you inspired, here’s a few of our frame wall highlights to inspire you to create your own gallery wall…

I hope our gallery inspires you to create a gallery of your own. We enjoy looking at it over and over and it has become a fun focal point when we entertain.

This project could be done on a small or large scale depending on the space of your wall. Either way, give yourself some time to gather and organize your supplies and do all the framing and hanging. We stretched this project out over a weekend; we chose photos and paired up trinkets one night, framed everything another night, then hung on the 3rd day. We especially had a lovely time choosing photos, re-living and reminiscing…

Don’t forget to leave some space for future “All Good Things”! Xo Dani

My brother got married the first weekend in December and in preparation for the big day I hosted a craft brunch for his lovely bride, Nicole, and her friends. The craft we worked on that morning- glittered pine cones- is especially lovely for this time of year and will be beautiful on your table well into the New Year.

We decided this idea would be great for their “Winter Woodland” theme early on, so I collected the pine cones over the summer at the beach!

We had over 100 pine cones to glitter plus a few mini ones for the cake. We also had to put the finishing touches on the dinner menus. Luckily the ladies didn’t seem to mind I was putting them to work!

After brunch we got right to crafting. Nicole figured out how to divvy up the pine cones and approved the glitter colors. Then we each chose a glitter color to work with.

We chatted and crafted and drank mimosas and before we knew it we were all set!

Since this is a fun and easy craft it’s the perfect activity for a craft brunch or any friend and family gathering. Download my place card templates and they will fit beautifully into the pine cones for your holiday table!

As a thank you for all the craft assistance, I sent everyone on their way with a piece of Amanda’s delicious crumb cake and a heart cookie. It was a very SWEET afternoon!

Happy Holidays & Happy pine cone glittering! Merry merry! Xo Dani

By now your Thanksgiving dinner is planned and you have either decided to bake cookies or not to bake cookies– I hope I might have inspired you to bake! There are so many options for cookie baking for Thanksgiving since the true holiday meaning resonates with ‘what you are thankful for‘.

Our friends, Tamara and Tom had us over for a lovely “Friends Thanksgiving” dinner this past weekend and with their cookie place cards, Tamara, chose to represent their newest family member, Mel- the sweet and adorable dog they adopted last Thanksgiving!

Tamara asked me to design a write in place card for the Mel cookie and I based it on the menu design I used last year for Thanksgiving.

This “Give Thanks” tag could work wrapped around many different favor gifts… a bag or box of candy, a ball jar of spiced nuts or of coarse, a cookie!

Click on this link to Download our “Give Thanks” Tag: SDB Give Thanks Tag

If you are not baking for the holiday but are still looking for a festive place card idea, look no farther than your local grocery or farmers market. My friend Bianca hosted a beautiful Christening dinner for her twin boys this past weekend and asked me to design a seasonal place card for the event.

Bianca, who is a definite “hostess with the mostess” requested I design ‘something Fall inspired, in shades of Autumn colors’. Currently there’s a wide array of beautiful fall related produce available in all the beautiful colors of the season…

Long stems on pears and apples add to the beauty of this place card but if you can’t find produce with stems, you can attach the leaf card with a beautiful floral pin. (We used pins to attached the adult leaves, and twine to attached the kiddie leaves.)

Here’s link to download our “Give Thanks” version of the leaf template place card: SDB Give Thanks Leaf Placecard

I hope either of these simple, fun & fabulous place card designs find their way to your Thanksgiving table and remind you and your loved ones exactly what it means to “Give Thanks”.

Happy Thanksgiving! xoxo Dani

One of my favorite gatherings to host or attend lately is a “Craft Brunch”. Its a simple little gathering featuring a craft activity + coffee and bagels or a simple lunch. The best way to go about planning a craft brunch is to keep the project fairly simple so you while you are crafting with friends or family (or both), you still get to enjoy spending time together eating and enjoying the activity.

My friend, Bianca, hosted a craft brunch for us recently… She is one of my oldest (as in longest time known) friends. She and her husband, Dimitri, are the amazing parents of 4 gorgeous children. When her oldest (as in age) son, Jorian, came home with a “Turkey in Disguise” assignment, she asked if we would like to come over and help with the project.

After enjoying a delicious bagel and fresh fruit salad, we got right down to business. As I unpacked my craft bag, KF paired up with Jorian to discuss strategy on how to “dress” his turkey in disguise. Outcome? Zombie Turkey! (Obvi!)

I hope Jorian’s teacher doesn’t mind, but I re created the blank turkey shape to share as a template! This is a really fun project to work on with kids and your “Turkeys in Disguise” could be an adorable and fun addition to your Thanksgiving decor. Or print out blank Turkeys and put them out with markers, paper and glue sticks for the kiddies to work on Thanksgiving day!

As always, we’d love to see your masterpieces- feel free to share them with us on Facebook! Have fun and Gobble Gobble! Xo Dani

Click here to download your very own Turkey in Disguise template!

As it turns out, Shark Week usually coincides with my husband’s birthday and he LOVES sharks. This year we planned to have a fun party with our friend’s and their adorable kiddies, so I thought it would be super fun to make our own shark hats.

I started out with plain paper party hats purchased at Party City. I bought 3 packs (some matte, some metallic) so I could use only the colors that matched our theme.

Using a 1 inch circle punch, we punched dark grey and black paper to use for the eyes and attached them with glue dots. We used plain white paper cut in strips and then triangles for the teeth.

On the inside front brim, I drew a line with craft glue and attached the white triangles in a row.

Place the hats on their sides while the teeth dry for about 10 minutes.

Happy Shark Week! Happy Birthday Keith! Xoxo

I stopped by the Martha Craft room last week and crafter, Jim Noonan (otherwise know as Professor Figgy), told me that he was the one who hung the amazing sign!

I had forgot about the first few lines that say “Don’t worry”- I will definitely be adding those words into my final sign. Have you hung your “Amazing Sign” yet?

Have an amazing week!

xo Dani