Tuesday, June 25, 2013

A Scented Strawberry Surprise: May Arts Swap


Strawberries that in gardens grow
    Are plump and juicy fine,
But sweeter far as wise men know
    Spring from the woodland vine.
  No need for bowl or silver spoon,
    Sugar or spice or cream,
Has the wild berry plucked in June
    Beside the trickling stream.
~Robert Graves


 Just as the banner says, three great companies swapped projects and we are having one majorly awesome blog hop of inspiration to show you featuring May Arts Ribbon, Little Yellow Bicycle and Xyron.


My grandmother just loves strawberries so I made up a little gift for her. Let's start with the outside first...


I recycled some fruit packaging and to start, topped off the gift with a banner of Striped Grosgrain and Red Chevron Twill as a base. I used the Xyron Cheetah Runner and Adhesive to secure the loops in place and the ribbon to each other. I created the tag with LYB's Poppy Collection's tag and sticker sheets, then tied a bow with May Arts' Red Burlap String (SM14) and secured it with LYB's cork pin.


The gift rests in a regular and coffee stained coffee filter and crimped strips of LYB's double sided paper.


Then to the gift! I started with an egg-shaped foam ball, sawed off the one end to make the strawberry shape, and painted it red and then squirted it with strawberry scent (I had some from the local bath and body shop.) I allowed everything to dry, and then ran adhesive from the Xyron Cheetah Runner around the egg. For extra stability, I then selectively placed a Xyron Adhesive Dot in the bottom, and then began wrapping May Arts Red Burlap String around.


When I reached the flattened end of the strawberry, I secured the burlap string with another Xyron Adhesive Dot and then arranged May Art's Faux Suede Leaves in Green (XL16) around the top, securing with hot glue. I used Forest Green Burlap String (SM15) to make a holder, and then also embellished with a large, loopy bow of the same string.


Finally, I added a few stick pins to the strawberry and topped the ends with black enamel accents.


I think my grandma will really like this...she can hang it in her kitchen for a pleasant, fragrant air freshener, or even keep it for the holidays to hang on her tree.

It was a pure joy to work with the three products! Of course, there are prizes up for grabs too! May Arts will be giving away three spools during the week (just post a comment along the way) and a grand prize will be posted on Friday: LYB - Vintage Summer Collection, Xyron - 5" Creative Station, May Arts - Two Spools of Ribbon.

I hope you enjoy the hop, here's a complete listing...

Monday
Virginia Fynes
Sandy Allnock

Leah Farrar-White

Tuesday

Lalo IK
Karen Baker
 

Wednesday
Jenifer Cowles
Jen Shears
Gini Williams Cagle

Thursday

Erin Thiem
Emily Lanham
 

Friday
DeeDee Catron
Charlene Driggs 
Candy Rosenberg

53 comments:

  1. Karen, I have no doubt that your grandmother will absolutely love this. It is a fabulous project!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think this is my favorite project from you EVER Karen! Wow I am just blown away!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. super clever and creative...excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very sweet gift idea for your grandma and great packaging too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ohhhh how cute! I have seen the fruit containers as gift packaging before, but this is so sweet( no pun intended)! That strawberry is so clever and adding the scent to it was a great idea- thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This strawberry is totally unique. Thank you for sharing. This is on my list to try to make now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just love your Strawberry! It's so sweet! And scenting it too! Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great gift for your Grandma, I'm sure she'll love it. Are you including a little bottle of the strawberry scent so she can refresh it as needed? Love the whole box you made to place it in as well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are soooo inventive and creative!! Your Grandma is going to be so delighted, as are we--just getting to look at it.

    Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy the poetry at the top of your posts??? Keep them coming. They are a fresh breeze of early summer morning air to me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The strawberry is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for including instructions on how you did this. Fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautifully created and love the idea you did some recycling too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohhhhhhhhh - I just love how everything is packaged up in one of those throw-away containers. Great recycling!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my goodness ! how cute is this. Love that you recycled a plastic container. Adorable !

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm sure your grandmother will absolutely love this !! Great idea . Thanks for sharing .

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a treat for your grandma... this is truly lovely and oh so creative.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wish I was your grandmother. So much love has been put into this gift, she will cherish it for years to come. Thank you for sharing your incredible talent.

    ReplyDelete
  17. your grandmother is going to absolutely LOVE this! what a clever idea! I bet it smells heavenly. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fabulous gift for Grandma. Love that you added a strawberry scent and the seeds just made it so much more realistic. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is really darling! How on earth did you think of it?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Karen, all I can say is WOW!!! There are really no words to describe how wonderful your project is, cute doesn't do it. What a talented lady you are thanks for share your creative spark!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very inventive. The smells of summer - who could ask for more!

    ReplyDelete
  22. How cute and thoughtful!
    This would be fun to hang
    up and enjoy the scent and
    just the loveliness of the
    strawberry.
    Carla from Utah

    ReplyDelete
  23. This strawberry is fantastic! LOVE it! Must have taken a long time and a steady hand!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I so appreciate all the time and effort that went in to this clever and fantastic gift! LOVE it, thanks for all the great inspirational ideas...the container, the scented twine wrapped foam and using the scraps for crimping!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Speaking as a grandmother I would say that your's will be tickled pink when she gets her present. The strawberry looks so real and the presentation box is really cute.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The strawberry is adorable. You are one clever crafter.

    ReplyDelete
  27. You hit a crafting home run with this. I love the twine, felt, beads--it all looks so great together.

    ReplyDelete
  28. How super creative this is!!! Love it! Thanks for inspiring me!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Karen, this has blown my mind!!! This hanging strawberry scented sachet is perfection! The burlap string is lovely around the strawberry and I never knew those suede leaves existed until now! This is a must do!!! I could make oranges and lemons and strawberries and limes... Oh I'm so excited now! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  30. this is so adorable. Wow. So very clever and creative.

    ReplyDelete
  31. How clever and how adorable! This feels so summery, love it!

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is so creative and the scented part makes it even more fabulous! So sweet!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Clever pretty and useful, lovely indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Your strawberry is darling! I love how you sprayed it with matching scent :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. What a beautiful gift! Such a wonderful memento of summer.

    ReplyDelete
  36. What a cute gift! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Fabulous idea! TFS

    Have a wonderful day!
    Liz O.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I think your grandma would love this, especially since you made it just for her, great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. I absolutely love this, your Grandmother is so lucky...

    ReplyDelete
  40. Great idea! It looks really cute.

    ReplyDelete
  41. This is great! i love this, I'm sure your grandmother will too!

    ReplyDelete
  42. What a lovely creation and gift! You did a super job of using all the products to advantage. Just love your strawberry and I'm sure your grandma will too!

    ReplyDelete
  43. MY, OH MY!! LOVE everything here! That strawberry is just stunning!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  44. What an adorable gift set! I'm sure that your grandma will love it!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Such a creative and thoughtful gift for your grandmother! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Great idea! I never would have thought to cut off the end of the egg to come up with the right shape! Thank you for sharing a delightful idea.
    Lyn

    ReplyDelete
  47. Karen, this is a little treasure if I ever saw one! Your talent is endless. It's lovely!

    ReplyDelete