Quarantine Creativity

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How are you handling your lockdown? Sorry…quarantine. I imagine this is what house arrest feels like. Forced purging, cleaning, cooking, drinking related pursuits.

If you’re like me, you have emptied lots of cans, jars and unearthed some unique household treasures. With Mother’s Day literally right around the corner, let me share some super easy craft ideas you can create for yourself or give as gifts.

A while back, I produced this video for Rodales Organic Life. All you’ll need are empty cans, fabric (for the cans), plant gravel, soil, and succulents. Remember, most plant nurseries have made it convenient by offering curbside pickup so getting your hands on a bag of soil, plant gravel and succulents shouldn’t be a challenge.

Stay safe, healthy and happy quarantine crafting!

Recycled Wine & Beer Bottle Candles

Welcome to my new line of all natural soy candles! I’m proud of the work that has gone in to carefully cutting the bottles, selecting the fragrances and especially the candle names. You see, the names are inspired from my childhood home, Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. It’s a quiet little village, founded by German settlers, located in the southwest corner of Schuylkill County, just north of the Blue Mountain.

I have a lot of fond memories of Pine Grove so I decided to honor those memories and label the fragrances after the names, lanes and lakes of that sweet little village. There’s actually only one lake but it rhymed, so….

To order one (or several), email me your fragrance selection when you place the order. It’s easy, simply follow the links below.

I hope you enjoy the candles as much as I enjoyed making them!

Recycled Wine Bottle Candles

Fragrances: Marie-Sweet Jasmine Vine; Pine Hill-Fresh Pine; Farm Lane-Lavender; Lorena-Lemon Drop

$35.00

Recycled Grolsch Beer Bottle Candles

Fragrances: Sweet Arrow-Sandalwood; Lover's Lane-Bergamot; Shoreline-Cool Cucumber; Waterfall-Sage & Citrus

$35.00

Madison & John’s Easy, Breezy Summer Wedding

What’s more romantic than a summertime wedding? Exchanging vows under rays of sunshine poking through a canopy of lush trees and gentle breezes sounds absolutely perfect …. Well, that was Madison and John’s plan but mother nature had other ideas. Exactly at ceremony time, a brief but intense afternoon drenching rain arrived in all its glory.

The season may be troublesome but the Mark Kintzel Design team is always ready to put on our plan B hats. That plan meant moving the ceremony indoors which also meant, moving the large and heavy altar hoop. We grunted, we laughed and we got it done. I have the best team. Truly, I do. Oh, and I forgot to mention the day started with another kind of drenching. On the way to the venue, team member Jules cracked a joke and I sprayed a full glug of coffee all over the windshield and myself. Needless to say I showed up that morning wearing my morning java. A real class act…not.

Please enjoy this beautiful summer wedding photographed by Sarah Brookhart at the stunning Hotel du Village in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Check out the video at the end of the gallery which features me in my coffee-free shirt feeling clean, fresh and sassy riding off to the next wedding.

Brittany & Xylon’s Hollywood Garden Wedding

Brittany and Xylon’s vision for a Hollywood garden wedding filled with vibrant flowers, love, laughter, family and friends came to life this past summer. They found their perfect venue at Philadelphia’s historic Morris Arboretum. Everything about the day was perfect. From the bridesmaids’ sparkly dresses to the Art Deco Hollywood touches. And can we talk about the bride and groom! The day and all the dreamy details was photographed by the talented Lora Reehling.

Join me for a garden walk through their special day.

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A Passion for Flowers

The first day of spring is March 19th and I can’t wait. Every year at this time I long for the warm days, cool evenings and the earthy fragrance after a spring rain. And how about the amazing abundance of fresh greenery and flowers!

As I start a new wedding season I reflect back on some of my favorite 2019 creations. I hope you enjoy these arrangements as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Today, here in the northeast, the temperature is a balmy 67 degrees. Maybe spring is closer than we think?

Please, take a seat.

Katherine & Shaine’s Sun Filled Wedding

Although the day started with an epic downpour, the rest of Katherine and Shaine’s wedding day was dappled with glorious pops of autumn sunshine.

Their wedding was held at the historic 1740 Duportail House in Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania. And photos are by the brilliant Lauren Driscoll. I hope you enjoy the images of their autumn wedding as much my team and I had pulling it all together.

Wondering what my team and I do to pass the time while waiting to break down an event? Check out the video at the end of the gallery. This is how we ‘break it down’. Oy vey.

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Creative & Budget Friendly Wedding Ideas

Planning a wedding on a budget can present challenges but with some creativity, time spent checking out YouTube ‘how-to’ videos, you can save a tremendous amount of money and achieve the perfect affair. Or you can hire me and I’ll do it all. 😎

However, to cut costs of your wedding without sacrificing style, here are some of my creative ideas worth trying.

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  Vintage flea market frame with chalkboard seating chart.

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  Search YouTube for easy DIY lettering projects!

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  Birch bark table numbers and signage.

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  Vintage painted furniture as wedding altars.

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  Fabric pennant garlands.

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  Make your own cake topper with craft store finds! PS-I made the little paper mache birdies. How to video coming soon.

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  Give a tree, plant a tree favors. Greenworld Project.

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  Create a custom rubber stamp on Zazzle!

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  Grab a leaf, glue two rocks together and voila!

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  Using your home printer, create your own programs and signage.

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  Place your drink list inside an open book.

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  Globe card drop.

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  Painted globe guest book.

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  For outdoor parties, cut some wine bottles and use them as lanterns.

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  Vintage bottles filled with flowers and greenery.

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  Centerpieces of plant nursery potted plants wrapped in burlap and twine.

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  Table numbers using glass frames with pressed botanicals.

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  Craft store wood rounds painted and hand lettered make the perfect seating chart.

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  Vintage flannel glued to paper leaf cutouts as guest favors.

I’m Back!

Hey crafters! I’m back and super excited to announce the reboot of my craft blog! The last time I dipped into my WordPress blog was 2014. Yikes! Am I clear on what future content will look like? Heck no! Am I excited to create new content. Heck yeah!

I was poking around on my Pinterest analytics page and discovered that my work has generated close to 24k impressions. Who knew! Clearly I didn’t but heres to generating more creations, meeting new friends and amazing crafters. My WordPress site is no exception where I also discovered a slew of followers and visitors patiently waiting for new content. So sorry for slacking off but I promise to fire up the glue gun and get cracking.

As I boldly dip my feet back into the crafting world, let’s start with this old but faithful traffic generating project, ‘It’s All About Air.’ Oh, and don’t forget to check out the ‘how to’ video below. Happy Crafting!

Chalkboard Contact Paper Gift Tags

Recently I discovered chalkboard contact paper … brilliant! Really doesn’t take much to make me happy. So, in the spirit of holiday season gift giving, I created these super cute snowflake gift tags. Let me show you how to make them for your family and friends.

You’ll need:

• Roll of contact paper
• Paper punch (mine is a circle but you can also pick up really cool tag shaped punches as well)
• Chalk pen
• Hole punch
• Card stock paper (any color will do)
• String or twine

I purchased the contact paper, and chalk pen on Amazon, although you can purchase all of the project ingredients at any craft store.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Cut a piece of contact paper which will cover the card stock paper.
2. Peel the backing of the contact paper and place it firmly on the paper.
3. Cut the shape of your tag using the paper punch.
4. Draw a snowflake or other image of choice. My method of drawing a snowflake is to simply start with an X then continue adding additional Xs on top of the first one. Then add little embellishments like dots or lines to create a unique snowflake.
5. Punch a hole in the tag, add string or twine and you’re done!

I created these little succulent hostess gifts using vintage red depression glass goblets. Super fun and super easy!

Happy crafting and happy holidays!

Tillandsias – It’s All About Air

Photo by Tom MacDonald

Hello Crafters!  Here’s a ‘sneak peek’ of a tillandsias (also known as air plant) story I worked on for Organic Gardening Magazine. The story and all the projects I created will be featured in the December/January 2015 issue of Organic Gardening Magazine which goes on sale November 4th.

Check back after November 4th for all the project details and how-to’s!