DIY Sunburst Mirror

Sunburst  mirrors are becoming so popular right now. They are in almost every huge catalog out there and you see them in designer magazines. I love the look but not the price tag. So what does a girl do but figure out how to create it on a dime.

I took this sunburst mirror from Ballard Designs for inspiration

 and then googled some amazing sunburst mirrors but fell in love with addicted to decorating tutorial-- I love following her blog and all the amazing projects she creates. I didn't take pictures thru my process and I didn't do exactly how she did it but a break down went sort of like this.

I took an old mirror that had an ugly blue ring around it that I found at goodwill for 2.50 and took the backing off. Then I took the old blue part that I took off and traced onto an old box. This was my frame that I had to work with. I then took my wood shims ( I used two packages $5x2=$10.00) and started hot gluing them all around. The first round you could see some major gaps. So went around and filled in the gaps with row two. I liked the look of all my wood pieces being even and I also liked how it wasn't so pushed together so I stopped at two rows. I then glued my mirror on to the wood with hot glue. My mirror was not that heavy just HUGE. So I also hot glued a pop can top to the back for my hanger.

When my husband comes home normally his reaction to the messy floor and crazy craft table is what did you start today? and how much money have you spent? However, when he came home and seen a giant mirror with wood everywhere covering our whole floor he said, "wow honey that looks super cool" I couldn't believe he actually liked it and commented on it before I had to ask what he thought. I love it in our room and think its perfect. So instead of paying the $350.00 from Ballard Designs I paid 12.50 and I think my mirror looks way better anyway. :-)

Castle Princess Pinata-DIY

Another post about the princess party I have been working on. It has finally come down to the night before the big show! I am the lucky one who has just been able to help with a few little projects and not the momma who is probably baking/cleaning and stressing about how everything will go. So I was able to finish up last minute details to the Pinata I have been working on. You can go to any store really and buy a pinata and princess ones are not hard to find. However, they range from $20.00-$40.00 depending on what you get. Now doing a princess party on a budget that didn't really fit. So whats the next best thing? Home made, well yes! Free, well yes! being green and recycling, well yes! I was able to gather a few boxes and go to town with creating this magical castle for a cute little princess.

I used two juice/milk cartons along with two cereal boxes. Or you could have just used one big cereal box the best thing about this is use what you have. I also used a tea box for the opening/draw bridge as well. Plus glue stick, ribbon and crepe paper all that I had on hand.

(sorry for the blurry photo-didn't realize until after the pinata was completed but wanted to post what I really did use for this.

Now did you really think that old boxes could be turned into something so cute??

Just a few notes on how I did this- after I took the boxes and arranged them on the floor of how I was going to make it look like a castle I then started doing crepe paper around the boxes. There are a few ways you can go about this. At first I took a glue stick and ran it all around the box. then wrapped the paper around the box. After you get the full box covered I then went back and cut little strips so it looked more like a pinata feel. You can just leave it as well both looked super cute. Or another option is before you start to put the glue on the box take the paper and fold it several times and then do your cuts. After you get all of the cuts then glue and stick to box. I then just cut out little rectangles out of the tops of all the boxes to make it look more like a castle. Made windows out of crepe paper and glued everything together! Put a slit in the bottom and attached some ribbon. This will be a pull the string pinata but you can also open it by hitting your choice. I will add a few little princess things on the top tomorrow for the party but have to adventure to the dollar store before I can do that. Of course I will add more photos of the party and how it all goes! I sure hope this little princess likes all these little creations!