Valentines Gift Box with Arlo Cookies

Brittany

-

February 5, 2020

Printable Valentine cookie box

When Luna (creator of Arlos cookies) agreed to work with us we were ecstatic! We knew we wanted to create a box to put the cookies in but we needed them to be just as lovely as the cookies would inevitably be. With our task at hand we set out to make the most beautiful Valentine gift box worthy that would be carrying the elegant cookies.

To say we love the cookies and the box designed to carry them is an understatement! Wether you are putting Arlos Cookies in these boxes or any other Valentines treats they are bound to amplify your valentines gifting this season! Get your Valentine Cookie Box here!

Be sure to tag us with #larsloveslove so we can see how lovely your valentines gifts turn out!!!

Find Arlos Cookies

Website of Arlos Cookies
@arlocookies on Instagram

DIY Cloud Balloons

Brittany

-

November 8, 2016

2

These cloud balloons make me want to sing Frank Sinatra’s “Fly me to the Moon” all day long! This is a super simple DIY but one with big impact. We first created them for our Galentine’s Hearts, Hands, Eyes, party, but thought you might like to learn how to make them too. All you need is white balloons and a glue gun and you’ll be feeling like you’re on cloud nine! You can secure these to a backdrop as we’ve done here on blue paper, or you could hang them from the ceiling. Cloud balloons would be perfect for a baby shower, a birthday party backdrop, or any occasion that you want to give a little lift.

Continue

DIY birthday candle crown

Brittany

-

September 22, 2014

0

You guys loved the birthday cake chandelier. Hooray! Well, continuing on the Lars birthday celebration, here’s another for you, a birthday candle crown. Your birthday is no longer complete without it, right? Ashley nailed it again with this fun crown that your special birthday friend will love.

photography by Trisha Zemp
crafting by Ashley Isenhour
styling by Brittany Jepsen

Get the full tutorial below!

Materials:

scissors
cardstock
1/6 yard of fabric
gold thread for embellishment
safety pin
glue gun
paper straws
tissue paper
paint (optional)
crepe paper or fabric strip

Step 1: Cut a strip of posterboard 1.5″ wide and long enough to fit a little loosely around the guest of honor’s head (the candles will take up some space and make the crown fit more snugly). Glue ends together.

Step 2: Cut 3 1″ strips of fabric and 3 strands of gold thread at the same length. Hot glue the end of a gold thread to one end of each of the fabric strips. Secure the ends of the strips together with a safety pin and pin into your carpet / old upholstered chair / the pajama bottoms you’re wearing. Braid strands together. Braid enough to go around your crown twice.

Step 3: Hot glue fabric braids around posterboard base. Tuck end to the inside of the base and secure with hot glue.

Step 4: Cut paper straws in half to make candles. You can paint them or leave them as they are. Cut 1″ squares of tissue paper. Pinch each square in the middle and twist. Squirt a bit of hot glue in the end of each straw and stick the twisted end of your tissue in there. (This great idea is from Icing Design).

Step 5: Hot glue the base of each candle along the inside of your posterboard base. Try to space candles as evenly as possible.
Step 6: Cut a fabric or crepe paper strip and glue over the candles along the inside of the crown. This just makes the crown more comfortable to wear.

Flower Lane Kids Birthday Crowns

Brittany

-

June 16, 2021

0

Months ago I was dreaming of releasing a line of kids birthday crowns. I wanted them to be whimsical, colorful, and such high quality that they would become heirlooms. In my research I stumbled across Flower Lane and I realized that Sarah, Flower Lane’s founder and designer, had already realized my kids birthday crown dreams!

I reached out and asked if we could collaborate on a collection of Lars x Flower Lane crowns and I’m so glad that it worked out! Our collection has such beautiful colors and I’m considering myself lucky to have gotten a few for my boys and their cousins.

Heirloom Quality Kids Birthday Crowns

Lars x Flower Lane kids birthday crowns are designed to last and will make your kiddos feel like birthday royalty year after year. They have adjustable straps, too! This means you need not fear about your child’s growing noggin sizing them out of their crown.

I’m so impressed by the time and care that goes into each Flower Lane kids birthday crown. Sarah sews and then embroiders each crown by hand. She also makes the crowns with super high quality linen. You can totally feel the difference in their lovely texture and softness.

When you order a crown, you get to choose the main color, the embroidery color and style, and any pom pom colors you want. All this paired with your child’s name lovingly embroidered on the crown make for a truly customizable heirloom. Jasper’s is so perfectly customized to his personal taste that he may never take it off. Good thing Sarah built these babies to last!

I’m so happy that we collaborated on this collection of Lars x Flower Lane kids birthday crowns. I really believe that this collaboration is better than anything we could have made on our own. Hooray for joining forces!

More Birthday Inspiration

You can buy our collection of Lars x Flower Lane kids birthday crowns in our shop here. Don’t forget to share your birthday photos with us with #LarsParties!

DIY Birthday Felt Pennants

Brittany

-

July 8, 2020

0

Why decorate?

Birthday decor is just too fun. And since birthdays are so rare, celebrate longer by crafting in advance! You can print off felt pennant patterns and phrases from our shop, then iron them onto felt. These make for perfect props in photo shoots, mini-celebrations, and they’re cute enough to leave up long past the birthday.

How to make DIY Birthday Pennants

Materials

Felt (8×12″. We used the beautiful colors here at Purl Soho)
Iron-on Vinyl (we used these from Cricut)
Scissors or Craft Cutting Machine (we love our Cricut Maker!)
Iron or Easy Press from Cricut
wooden dowels
Handwritten birthday phrases (you can find the ones we made here)
Pennant shape (you can find the SVG and PDF templates here)
Glue gun

Instructions

1. Connect the Cricut machine to your computer & open Design Space. Upload the pennant document and cut the triangle & rectangular shape on a piece of card-stock. (You will use these as a template to trace on the felt) OR the Cricut Machine can cut it out for you.

2. Upload the desired phrase document to your Cricut machine and MIRROR it! (Select the “Mirror” toggle while editing). **If you go to cut and the letters separate & aren’t in order as the phrase layout shows, go back to edit & highlight all the letters, right click & select “Attach,” and then they should stay in the correct layout.

3. Place the iron-on material shiny side down on your Cricut adhesive cutting mat. Cut out the phrase, checking again that it’s mirrored so it will be read the right way when it’s ironed on!

4. Pull the iron-on phrase off of the cutting mat. Then separate the two layers of the iron-on material, leaving the phrase stuck to the clear layer. (Be sure to remove the small pieces in the holes of the letters!)

5. Trace the triangle & rectangle shape from the template onto a piece of felt & cut them out.

6. Lay the iron-on phrase onto the triangle piece of the felt pennant, with the clear layer on top and the phrase touching the felt so the phrase isn’t mirrored, but is read from left to right.

7. Hold an iron set to 280 degrees F. on the pennant for 30 seconds. Wait for the iron-on to cool completely before removing the clear layer. (Check the Cricut website for information on heat & time to hold the iron or Cricut Easy Press on your fabric, depending on fabric type and iron-on type.)

8. Cut four strips of extra felt for your ties – the length will depend on how long you want the ties to be & whether you want to tie them in a bow or knot them.

9. Layer two felt tie strips, lined up on top of each other, and hot glue the very ends together. Do this to all 4 strips, creating 2 ties total.

10. Glue the two ties an inch away from the corners on the vertical edge of the triangle pennant.

11. Glue the rectangle piece of fabric on the vertical edge of the triangle pennant, covering the ties.

12. Wait for the glue to dry & tie your pennants on a dowel. Enjoy your festive birthday decor!

Go celebrate!

I’m sure I’m like you right now– you probably miss spending time with certain people right now. While I am glad to be safe, I miss people. So! I’ve decided to start birthday researching and planning for different people in my life ~in advance.~ It’s something to keep me busy, and it’s a way I can feel and share love. One easy place to start is to make a DIY felt pennant! This piece of decor is cute, classic, and personal. And you can send it to a friend in the mail if you can’t celebrate together.

DIY hair pinatas

Brittany

-

January 21, 2016

11

On Tuesday evening we were pleased as punch to host the release of Rubi Jones‘ book, The Art of Hair, with a braiding workshop and book signing here at the studio. We knew we needed something punchy and celebratory for the event so we decided to go all out with a brigade of hair-inspired piñatas. Along for the ride are a metallic comb, hair brush, blow dryer, shears (I was corrected that they are not scissors), and hairspray. “But, Brittany, what do I need a brigade of hair-inspired pinatas for?” Friends, the possibilities are endless (and I’m sure you can add to it):

braiding party (a la the intro of Full House)
treat yo’ self night
your salon, your friend’s salon, your wanna be salon (a la, your living room)
girl’s night out
weekend retreat
your bathroom/party room
surprise at a friend’s door for a birthday
and last but not least, Galentine’s Day party as shown by Kelly Of Studio DIY

You catch the drift.

Well, I’ve combined with Kelly of Studio DIY to complete the hair product brigade with an adorable hair spray complete with an air pouf along with a detailed step by step tutorial. Scroll down to see how hers completes the puzzle or check the full post here.

See the full troop and instructions below!

Continue

Birthday pancake cake

Brittany

-

September 23, 2014

6

A pancake cake. I know, I know “but the calories, the sugar…”, SNOOZE FEST! It’s a PAN and it’s a CAKE! A pancake cake! And it’s delicious, which these days is my hashtag 1 requirement. Can you imagine anything more scrumptious to arrive to than a pancake cake surprise awaiting the birthday boy/girl?

Photography by Laura Sumrak
baking by ME Hammond

Check out more birthday projects here
And more delicious recipes here

See the full recipe below

Birthday Cake Pancake Batter:

1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. funfetti cake mix (yellow cake mix also works great)
1 t. baking powder
1 T. sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. milk
pinch of salt
Sprinkles

1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk to dry ingredients (whisk well, try to avoid clumps)
3. Fry pancakes in a medium high griddle
4. Top with syrup and sprinkles
5. Eat up!

DIY Birthday cake chandelier

Brittany

-

September 18, 2014

1

It was this time 6 years ago that I started The House that Lars Built for a residential design class for graduate school. I used my new blog as a place to put my homework assignments and my ode to Trader Joes* and other frivolous yet totally important stuff. It continued that way for a couple of years until our wedding was released online and people started to ask how we made the decor from it, like the big paper flowers. Soon I was getting asked to contribute DIYs to different websites and all of a sudden, without realizing it, Lars became a DIY site. Though it’s only been a couple of years that I found the DIY focus on Lars, it’s been SIX years since I started it for class and that deserves a celebration, non?

To kick off the birthday festivities Ashley made a birthday cake chandelier that would be perfect to create as an heirloom piece and bring it out for each holiday. She took the traditional tiered chandelier, flipped it upside down, added some birthday candles, and voila! Let’s get to it shall we?

photography by Trisha Zemp
craft by Ashley Isenhour
styling by Brittany Jepsen

Click below to see the step by step tutorial!

Materials:

scissors, x-acto knife, cardboard, posterboard or cardstock, 3/4 yard of fabric for cake (optional), pencil, ruler, glue gun, pipe cleaner, 1/6 yard of contrasting fabric for trim, pipe cleaners, paper straws, tissue paper, paint (optional), embroidery thread

Step 1: Use your x-acto knife to cut two circles (one about 3″ smaller in diameter than the other) out of cardboard. Cut two circles of the same sizes out of colored cardstock. Mine were 12″ and 9″ in diameter. Nesting mixing bowls make great templates 🙂 Glue the cardstock circles to the corresponding cardboard circles. These circles will be the tops of your cake layers.

Step 2: Cut 6″ strips out of posterboard or colored cardstock.

Step 3: Cut 8″ strips of your fabric. Place your posterboard strip on top of your fabric strip. Fold the extra inch of fabric over the bottom of your strip and secure with hot glue. Pull the extra inch of fabric at the top taut, fold it over the top of the posterboard strip, and secure with hot glue. Repeat steps for the wall of your top cake layer. (Note: the easier way is obviously to use a colored posterboard or cardstock to begin with… I just go I little crazy sometimes 😉 )

Step 4: Squirt a 3″ strip of hot glue 1″ down from the top of your posterboard strip. Place the edge of your cardboard circle on the strip of glue. Squirt another 3″ strip of glue and roll the cardboard circle along the glue strip. Continue this process until the entire wall of your cake layer is wrapped around the cardboard circle. Secure the overlapping end with hot glue. Repeat process for the other cake layer.

Step 5: Squirt hot glue along the bottom rim of your top cake layer. Attach top cake layer to the bottom tape layer. You may need to squirt more hot glue along the seam once the top layer is placed on the bottom layer.

Step 6: Twist the ends of a few pipe cleaners together to make one long pipe cleaner (long enough to wrap around your bottom cake layer). Hot glue one end of a fabric strip to the pipe cleaner and wrap the pipe cleaner so that it is completely covered. Hot glue wrapped pipe cleaner around the bottom rim of your bottom cake layer. Repeat at the top rim of your bottom cake layer and top rim of your top cakelayer.

Step 7: Cut paper straws in half to make candles. You can paint them or leave them as they are. Cut 1″ squares of tissue paper. Pinch each square in the middle and twist. Squirt a bit of hot glue in the end of each straw and stick the twisted end of your tissue in there. (This genius idea is from Icing Design Online).

Step 8: Hot glue the base of each candle on the inside rim of your top layer.

Step 9: Cut 6 strands of embroidery thread to the same length. Bundle threads together and tie tight double knots along the length of the bundle. Cut to the sides of each knot. Hot glue these “faux french knots” onto your cake layers as decoration.

Step 10: Cut 2 long strands of embroidery thread to the same length. Holding the strands together, fold them in half and tie a knot at the mid point, leaving a loop. Hot glue the four loose ends to the inside rim of your top cake layer. Space the four ends as evenly as you can. Once glue is dry and secure use loop to hang cake chandelier.

*Are you just as puzzled why there isn’t one in Provo? Let’s get it here! Join the Facebook group! I’m serious! I do love me my TJs and I made the Facebook group to prove it.

DIY Happy Birthday Banners

Brittany

-

January 4, 2018

0

A new year means another birthday is on the horizon! I know a lot of people who get to a point in their life when they don’t want to draw any attention to their birthdays. Those people and I don’t get along very well. There is always reason to celebrate your birthday! Plus, who would pass up an opportunity to throw a party or eat cake? Not to mention the balloons! So whether you’re planning your own birthday is fast approaching or your planning a party for a friend, we have the perfect party decor for you! These DIY Happy Birthday Banners are bright and bold and say it all! Print off these quintessential birthday phrases in whatever colors you want, and you’ve got a party!

Download the letter templates to make your own DIY Happy Birthday Banners!

Continue

Birthday Cake Topper with Brother

Brittany

-

March 18, 2020

1

As you can probably tell by now, we can’t stop talking about how much we love National Craft Month. It’s the perfect time to celebrate your creativity and get to work crafting up all of the amazing things you’ve been thinking about. If you are feeling like you are in a bit of a craft funk we have teamed up with our friends at Brother to bring you a sweet yet impactful project to get you out of your slump and on your way to crafting town!

Using the Brother P-touch ELITE we created these colorful flag cake toppers inspired by our newest line from Abby Low found in the Lars Print Shop. You may know by now that we love celebrating and since we are already celebrating craft month we figured we may as well celebrate anyone and everyone out there with a March birthday with these adorable birthday flag cake toppers.

Birthdays are so very special and we tend to go bananas decorating and that’s part of the reason we love using the P-touch ELITE because of how easy it makes it to create personalized ribbon! Think up your birthday phrases and print them on ribbon (the P-touch Embellish ELITE prints on tape too!) so you can create the perfect phrases, specific for your birthday queen or king!

Here’s how you do it!

Directions:

Pick your color palette
Paint your skewers to the colors you have chosen. We painted three skewers of each color and used 21 skewers and six colors (the more the better in our opinion)
Set aside to dry.
Paint the wood beads in the same palette, three of each color in all six colors.
Set aside to dry.
Download the Ptouch Design&Print app to your phone!
Select “Create your own label”.
Select “text” and add in whatever you want the ribbon to say or even a graphic!
Once the text is in click “Done”.
Adjust the “Taper length” depending on how long your message is.
Scroll to the left to find “label alignment” and align your text to the right”
Once your text is in and the alignment is correct click “print”
Set your ribbon to the side and begin building your flag frame.
Attach a piece of wire around the dried painted skewer by wrapping it around the top.
Once the wire is attached, measure the length of the wire against the length of the ribbon and cute wire accordingly.
Using the glue stick apply glue to the back of the ribbon.
At the mid point on the ribbon place the skewer there and fold the ribbon in half so the wire is in in between the two halves.
Attach a painted wood bead to the top using a hot glue gun.
Place completed flag in cake!

We love using the Brother P-touch ELITE it is the perfect easy-to-use ribbon and tape printer that you can use to create any and all of the exciting crafts you have planned for this Craft Month! We can’t wait to see what you create!

The green polka-dot background is from our Lars Print Shop. Thank you @glweddingcakes for the lovely cake!

Twisted Birthday Candles

Brittany

-

June 7, 2021

0

Whether you’re a fellow birthday traveler or contentedly partying at home, you can also celebrate your birthday in style with these very on-trend twisted birthday candles.

What We Learned About Twisting Candles

Do you remember when we showed you how to DIY the twisted candle trend? Well, what you didn’t see then was that it took some serious trial and error to get the candles to come out right. It turns out that when you’re making big twisted candles, you’re working with kind of a thick pillar of wax. You have to be really careful about temperature (not too hot!) and how long you leave the candles in the warm water (a surprisingly long time!). If not, you run the risk of melting the outside and leaving the inside cold and hard. Don’t get me wrong! It’s still a great project with our Lars stamp of approval.

I’m pleased to announce, though, that miniaturizing the twisted candle trend bypasses a lot of the project’s potential pitfalls. And thus: twisted birthday candles are born!

The narrower candles don’t have to sit in warm water for as long before they get nice and floppy. This means that they’re far less likely to snap or crack when you’re flattening or twisting them and sets you up for twisted birthday candle success!

Make Your Own Twisted Birthday Candles

You will need:

Long birthday candles, water, a tall, microwave-safe vessel (I just used a mason jar!), a microwave, parchment paper, a rolling pin.

Instructions:

Fill your jar, vase, or tall glass with water.
Warm it up. I found that a few 30 second blasts in the microwave did the trick. It’s key here that your water is warm enough to soften the candle wax without just melting it. Think pleasant bathwater, not hot tub.
Place your birthday candles in the water and let them soak for several minutes. I recommend using more candles than you’ll ultimately need to make room for error.
Your candles are soft enough when they start getting floppy. You’ll want to work with them one at a time and return them to the warm water after you work with them. If at any time the candle you’re working with starts getting stiff, just plop it back into the water until it’s nice and soft again.
Flatten your candles. Put a candle on parchment paper, then fold the paper over the candle. Use a rolling pin to flatten the middle of the candle, leaving its base unflattened so it can easily stick into a cake. Return the candle to the water and repeat for the rest of your candles.
Twist your candles. Take a soft, flattened candle out of the water and gently twist it. If you want it to be very twisted you will probably have to return your candle to the water a few times. Experiment with different degrees of twistiness to find what you like best.
Twist all your candles, then dip them in cold water to harden them.
Don’t forget to make a wish when you blow out the candles!

More Birthday Decorations

These twisted birthday candles would be lovely on any cake, but in case COVID got you worried about blowing on a communal cake you could celebrate with cupcakes and this individual cupcake stand.

Check out the printable birthday suites in the shop and browse even more of our Lars birthday decor, because you deserve the most festive birthday party around!

If you’ve aged out of your pin the tail on the donkey years but still are looking for engaging birthday party games, use this birthday bucket list printable! Entertain your guests and find out about their favorite things, and facilitate conversation all in one fun activity.

And most of all, happy birthday!

DIY Doily Honeycomb Decorations

Brittany

-

January 20, 2021

3

DIY Paper Doily Honeycomb Decorations

You might recall that we made these custom Honeycomb Christmas decorations from templates that we designed, but we wanted it to be a bit easier. Turns out, doilies are great because the shape is created for you and all you have to do is cut them down the middle and assemble. Plus, the doilies create that beautiful lace effect.

The More You Know

I had to do a bit of digging to find out more about what a doily is and why we have them. Turns out, the term doily came from the last name “Doily”, a London firm of linen merchants who made fringed napkins in the 1700’s. Then, from 1711, a doily was a small ornamental napkin used at dessert. THEN, they were placed on the backs of chairs to protect them from the oil that men used on their hair. Nowadays, some people use them to protect surfaces of tables from decorative objects.

Ok, so now that we know the history of doilies, let’s get to learning how to make these honeycomb decorations. I’m thinking they would be lovely to give as a Valentine or adorn a branch tree (you know we love a decorative tree!) or taking the place of a wreath.

Here’s how to make it!

DIY Honeycomb Valentine ornament

Materials:

See above for where to get the doilies
Glue gun
Scissors or paper cutter

Instructions:

Measure a line down the middle of the doily to create an axis of symmetry
Cut doilies in half. If your doilies are heart-shaped and have different colors on each side (ours are white on the back) keep the right-sided halves separated from the left-sided ones. You will alternate gluing left and right sides of the heart.
Glue a line down the middle of one half-doily (starting at the axis and moving to the edge.
Place another doily on top. For heart-shaped doilies or ones with different colors on each side, glue the same colors together. The contrasting color/blank side will now be facing up.
Glue two lines down the sides of the doily on the top of the stack.
Place another doily on top, again gluing the same colors together.
Carefully separate the layers where glue may have escaped to lower layers through the holes in the doily.
Repeat steps 4-8 until the stack is tall enough to open up and wrap back around so that the first and last layers meet. This will be about 50 layers or 25 whole doilies.
While pressing down the layers of doilies, glue a line down the spine of the stack and even it out with the warm tip of the glue gun. Make sure that all the layers are adhered together with this glue.
Glue a loop of ribbon to the top of the spine.
Fan open the ornament, carefully separating any layers that may still be stuck together, and glue the first and last layers together. You’re finished!