Lottery Ticket and Liquor Birthday Bouquet

I was on the fence whether or not to post this. First, the picture isn't the best quality, and second, I made this literally 4 months ago (around the same time that I disappeared from the blogging world whooooops.....).  I figured I would post this anyways because one..I LOVE IT and two...these posts seem to be very popular. It's really such a great DIY gift. I made something similar for my brother's 21st birthday three years ago and it remains one of my most popular blog posts yet. You can see that here. I had so much fun making this birthday gift. I love making bouquets/baskets (or whatever you call it) for birthdays or other special events because you can personalize it and decorate it based on the their favorite things. It also looks so darn good.

What you'll need:

1. Some type of pot or can
2. Styrofoam ball or block to fit in can 
3. Wooden skewers 
4. Tape
5. Lottery Tickets, Liquor, Decorations (your choice!)

It is really quite easy to assemble! Place the styrofoam ball or block into the can. You can cut around the edges to ensure that it fits. Tape the lottery tickets and liquor bottles to the skewers. Stick the skewers into the styrofoam, arranging it so that small items are in the front and large items are in the back. Decorate around the bouquet with ribbons and other decorations.

 

Beer Themed House Warming Present

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I took this week off from work, and my family and I used it to reconnect and go on tons of day trips. My favorite day involved wine tastings at several New Hampshire wineries. Don't worry, I took tons of pics and will be sharing about it later on this week hopefully.

On Saturday night, Dan and I were able to get away and visit two of our friends (shout out to Mark and Lindsey) who just moved into a new apartment. We wanted to get them a housewarming gift. Dan suggested getting them a case of beer....I of course had to take it up a notch and create a beer themed basket. Believe it or not, Dan helped me pick out most of the items. He stayed far away as I was assembling the basket though claiming that I can sometimes become a "craft bitch." Is it odd that I find that to be a compliment?

Anyways, I love making baskets! There are endless amount of themes that can inspire you to build a basket. Here is how I assembled the beer basket and some tips that I go by.

Basket Items:

• Beer (of course!) I used shipyard pumpkinhead. 
• Beer glasses
• Bottle opener
• Pretzels (the perfect snack with beer!)
• Dish towels (helpful for stabilizing the bottles)
• Decorative storage bin

Basket Tips:

• Make the basket out of something practical. I hate making baskets out of actual baskets. If someone gave me a wicker basket I would have no use for it! Make the basket out of something that would be useful to the gift recipient. Be creative! In the past I've used mixing bowls, coffee mugs, and decorative boxes to put the items in.
• Save up on newspaper and plastic grocery bags. This particular decorative bin was pretty deep. In order to stagger the items so you could see them at eye level, I used crumbled up newspaper on the bottom to prop them up. I simply used tissue paper as the top layer so the newspaper was hidden.
• Use dish towels! Dish towels are always a great addition to a basket. They really help to stabilize the items so they don't shift around. It is especially useful to tuck them around the fragile items in your baskets like the beer bottles.
• Personalize it! Think about the gift recipient and his/her likes and needs. Dan and I knew that Mark loved shipyard pumkinhead so we included that as the featured beer. 
• Have fun! Remember, there is no right or wrong!