Silk Flower Unicorn Wreath

My sis-in-law gave me this great FloraCraft styrofoam unicorn horn that she picked up at a trade show recently. Suggested projects were a bunch of unicorn horn headbands for kids and pets. I've seen plenty of those and didn't want to make another existing project. Then I thought, what if I attach it to an actual horse head? I scoured the Internet for a wire horse head form and found this stylized one that I liked.

Craft Outlet 24" Horse Head Tinsel Work Form

I spent a good chunk of time taking off the pipe cleaner tinsel and the metal bands holding it on to get it down to just the wire form. Sore hands and blisters are optional.

The rest of the supplies include:

FloraCraft Styrofoam Blocks and the unicorn horn (available at Hobby Lobby in July)

A big mess of silk flowers and picks that you like for your project.

Crafting wire to attach the blocks to your frame.

16 gauge floral stem wire for your unicorn horn

Peacock Feather picks for the eyelashes

Martha Stewart Pearl Craft Paint (I used the Gold Mother of Pearl Color)

Mod Podge Extreme Glitter

Wire Cutters

hot glue gun

Ribbon to hang it up.

I used a long serrated knife to trim down my styrofoam block to fit in between the wires on my form to have a place to attach my flowers and stems. Then, I wrapped the craft wire around them and the frame to keep them in place.

I took apart about 4 large picks of white hydrangeas to start hot gluing them all over the front and the sides of the styrofoam and the the frame, leaving the side of the mane open for later. Watch out for hot glue burns!

You want to make sure that you can't see the styrofoam or the frame through the flowers. Choose a small flower as the nostril if you prefer. Next get the picks you chose for your mane and start stabbing them in the foam down the side. These long picks of colored foam balls are perfect as a mane. I pushed the parts of the pick closer together up the stem to make a fuller bunch and layered them in a rainbow color. Hot glue them to the foam so they stay where you want them.

I added a row of big roses to cover the back of the mane, or if you have enough mane picks add more to the side.

I pushed the horn on the floral stem wire and added a few coats of pearl paint and a final top coat of the Mod Podge Extreme Glitter. It's glittery and pearlized.

Trim the wire down and insert the horn in its proper place with more hot glue. Add some more flowers around the base to cover seams and give your unicorn a flower crown. Cut a piece of peacock feather off the tip and sparingly hot glue it in the correct spot as the eyelashes. On mine, you're actually looking at the back of the feather, which is black.

Thread some ribbon through the wires on the back and hang it up on your door wreath hook.

She looks so pretty!

#FloraCraft #ModPodge #Plaidcrafts #PaperPoniesCrafts

Vitafusion Hair, Skin & Nails Follow-Up Review

I'm back with a follow-up review for the Vitafusion Gorgeous Hair, Skin & Nails Multivitamin gummies. My previous post on this product was for Smiley360 as a free product review, and oddly enough is my most popular pin on Pinterest. Who knew that so many of you want to know about adult gummy supplements?

I wanted to go back to this product because over the winter my hair, skin and nails were very stressed out. Some due to the dry Utah weather, but mostly because my husband's company that he works for was in the process of being sold to an appropriate buyer. Crazy-stupid hours, not allowed to use time off, and the holiday season was barely passable as happy. I'm sure the families of his coworkers were  about to call mutiny if the company didn't get their act together sooner.

If the thought of that winter-long nonsense doesn't stress you out, imagine what it was doing to my hair and nails! I had my hair falling more than usual, dry flaky patches on my face, and my nails were brittle and chipping the corners almost daily.

I couldn't keep my nails any longer than pictured, and some spots were also peeling. It felt like the tips of my fingers were amputated without my nails.

I had enough and bought myself a bottle of the Vitafusion vitamins and also a hair growth supporting shampoo and conditioner (Pronexa by Hairgenics). I preferred the Vitafusion Multivitamin over others because it had the most Biotin per dose and a better support of other vitamins. The full list of vitamins are A, C, D, E, B-6, B-12, Folate, Biotin, Pantothenic acid, Iodine, and Zinc. A full dose per day is 3 gummies, and other brands suggest taking it with food. Extra bonus is that there are no artificial flavors, no gluten, no high fructose corn syrup, no dairy and no synthetic dyes. It does have coconut oil in it if you're sensitive to tree nuts.

I rarely managed to get all 3 gummies in a day, but got in at least two. I did notice that the formula of the gummy improved over the last time I tried it. The texture didn't have odd extra gummy bits in it. Good for them! The bottle has 135 gummies and costs around $20.00. That should last you a little more than a month.

Things I did notice over the month as I was using the vitamins was that I had extra energy later in the day and didn't need to take a nap. Yay for B vitamins! I didn't get sick like everyone else around me. My nails stopped chipping daily and were allowed to grow, finally. The dry patches on my face subsided, or that could be the very wet spring we've had this year and there was plenty of humidity in the air. Also my hair stopped dropping like crazy. I did get a second bottle of vitamins because for me I think it will take a little longer for everything to recover. Something about getting older and things take longer, or the phrase "that's appropriate for your age."

See, they look so much better after some nourishment! That's the length I'm used to for my nails. My right hand's nails are still a little shorter, because I work them harder. They're my favorite craft tools.

My hair has some regrowth along my hairline under my bangs because that section was thin and bugging me. The vitamins helped from the inside and the Pronexa helped heal my scalp from itchy dandruff and washing off product buildup. I hope to find a shampoo that will help maintain that and not as expensive. I'll keep taking the vitamins for the other benefits.

My skin happens to be oily most of the time, so the dry patches was a combination skin nightmare. The extra vitamins of  A, C and E managed to balance out the stress and ease the flakiness. It also eased the acne breakouts. Anyone who said you'll grow out of teenage acne is lying! No wrinkles yet, thank goodness. Let's keep it that way.

The good news is that my husband's company is finally sold to another parent company, and he can use as much time off as he wants! We can go on vacation this year.

#Vitafusion #vitamins