Valentine Cherry Blossom Wreath

Not the best pics but this started out as a dollar store woven wreath. Also from the dollar store I found a bag of red glass beads.  I hot-glued the beads all over the wreath (front and sides.) Then wrapped with some black & white ribbon and finished off with some artificial cherry blossom petals.  (Yes, all of these too were bought at dollar store.) 

 

The only problem I found with the finished product was the weight.  The glass beads make for one seriously heavy wreath.  I couldn't hang the wreath with the ribbon as I had planned so I took my wreath hanger and just covered it with the ribbon for the same effect. 

Bean Art

 First off, let me say that these look waaay better in person.  They really do not photograph well for some reason.  Anyway, these are Christmas presents I made one year for various family members.  Each piece had something to do with their own personality or life.  These were easily made by gluing various beans and rice to a canvas. Then once finished I sprayed them with a high-gloss sealant.  This kept the rice from falling off and gave them the wonderful shiny look.

 One lesson I learned while doing these....I sketched my design on with pencil first.  If you don't have great rice coverage you will be able to see some of the pencil markings when finished.  And once it is sealed there is no getting an eraser in there to get rid of the marks.