Simple Fall Wreath in 5 Minutes

I had a grapevine wreath on hand that I got on sale at Michael's, so I decided to incorporate it into a fall wreath.

Very simple was my goal.

I also had this roll of burlap garland (also from Michael's) that had been sitting in a corner of my room gathering dust.

I cut a length of it off to hang from my ever-present over-the-door wreath hanger, & secured the wreath.

Finally, I had some other fall-ish ribbon in my stash, & I dangled a monogrammed letter behind the wreath, by hanging the ribbon directly from the wreath hanger to the desired length for the letter to dangle in the center of the wreath.

Here is the finished product:

Done in 5 minutes!

Goodwill Hunting: Ugly Frames - Repurposed

What can you do with someone's old, discarded, ugly a** frames?

I have devoted a whole category in Pinterest to reusing old frames.  Check it out for some inspiration if you feel so inclined.

Here is a sample of 3 ugly frames I purchased on a recent Goodwill outing:

Yeah, my favorite is the windmill painting, which was dated 1976.

I actually liked the floral print, just not the dark bamboo-ish frame, & the owl print, but again it was too dark.

Here's a closer look at the windmill painting, just in case you missed it the first time.

Beautiful, huh?  I really picked this one up for the burlap border.

What to do, what to do?

A little paint does magic.

For the windmill painting, I first painted all the wood, even the painting itself with a buff/cream color using craft paint from Michael's, & left the burlap.

It already looks better.

Then I took a lighter creamy off-white & very lightly dry-brushed over the burlap.  I just wanted to freshen the color, not lose the texture of the burlap. This was a very tricky process.

Finally, I took a metallic finish (the same one I used on my pumpkins) & just went over the inside wooden frame with my finger dipped in the paint to give it some shimmer.

For the other 2, I taped off the portions I didn't want painted, & used the buff/cream color again.

              


















And again, I added some of the shimmer paint using my finger around the inner rim of both paintings to give them some shimma-shimma.  I even added some over the owls eyes.

Here they are completed:

See how the metallic gleams in the light?  I love that stuff.

Stay tuned for how I used these in my decor.

Once again, don't pass up an ugly a** frame just because it's ugly, it may turn out to have some potential!

Halloween Hoopla: Halloween Wreath

I needed a quickie little Halloween wreath, so I whipped up this little baby:

It only required a few ingredients & a few simple steps: 

• Metal wreath form (from Michael's)
• Ribbon of various colors: the bigger, patterned ribbon came from Michael's - I used 1 spool of each type. The filler ribbon came from my previous visit to the Dollar Tree (otherwise known as DT) - 1 spool of each color - purple, black, & orange.  I cut lengths of ribbon from each spool, & tied/knotted them through the middle two "rings" of the wreath. The wreath form was comprised of 4 separate concentric "rings". This helped my ribbon supply to stretch further, & you couldn't tell once the ribbon was all added. I tried to make the ribbon look kind of haphazard-like & spidery for a Halloween-ish effect.
• White tinsel garland (has spiders on it also, but you can't really see them - also from DT). I felt lazy & didn't want to tie on more ribbon, so I just weaved this throughout the ribbon to fill in any "bald spots" & make it look fuller (including the outer "rings" of the wreath form). Talk about lazy, I actually did this step while the wreath was hanging from my front door right before the trick-or-treaters hit!  
• Finally, I hung a felt spider web (actually a placemat, I think, which also came from DT) directly behind the wreath from the over-the-door wreath hanger. No, they are not attached, although it gives that illusion.  

So, there you have it.  Simple, quick, Halloween wreath.  I did have some inspiration from Pinterest: 

                   

However, I know mine didn't turn out quite as good as these.  Oh well, worked in a pinch!

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween Hoopla: Craft Pumpkins

Ever wonder how to dress up those plain white-ish craft pumpkins you can find at Michael's or (insert name of any other craft store)?

Here's a quick tip to give them a little glam:

Before: blah-blah white

After: va-va-voom!

This metallic paint I also picked up at Michael's (champagne gold), & I love the finish it has. Not too bronze, & not too gold.  I also love how they shimmer in the light. I just painted 1 quick coat to give it a weathered finish.  I still may add a little brown glaze to the creases, but I haven't decided yet.

Now the pumpkins all dressed for the ball, & ready to be interchanged in Fall, Halloween, & Thanksgiving decor!

Halloween Hoopla: Simple Dollar Tree Finds

The Dollar Tree is such a fun place. I mean, really! Especially if you are looking for a few little touches to complete your holiday festiveness. And of course, everything really is $1!  I have gone so crazy in there before, I ended up spending an amount of money that I was embarrassed about...

Anyway, I found this skull head (sorry, I neglected to take a before picture), so here it is after I embellished it with some colored glitter glue that I found there to give it a little extra "sparkle" (3 colors of glitter glue for $1!)

  

I know, there is only so much that can be done with a plastic head - unless you follow the pathway of Martha Stewart & pour glitter on the whole thing... but, I didn't feel like getting messy with the glitter, nor being Martha, so I made due with the glue thing. 

This skull thing fit perfectly in my cake stand, so there it went to sit & stare at me from my buffet.  

Not a very good picture I guess, as it appears to be staring at the ceiling... but really, I swear it was staring at me!  

I also found some little rubbery/plasticky spider things that I shoved in one of my apothecary type jars that I got from Goodwill.  Unfortunately, it didn't come with a lid, but hey, it cost all of 2 bucks (you can also see it behind the skull head above).

I also got another plastic skeleton-man that I pulled apart, let my kids attack with the red glitter glue, & then shoved in another hurricane-type jar. I think the red gives it a nice bloody-like touch.

A few other finds: the crows, cute little spiders & spooky sign, which I hung with ribbon from my favorite upcycled frame that I interchange with whatever-holiday/season-it-happens-to-be decor. 

I also got these 3 glass vases to copy an idea that I found as inspiration while browsing Pinterest, but originally from our friends @ BHG. I think also the cute little ghost candle holder came from there last year, as did the ingredients to make my skull-heads-in-a-jar. Just left it all in there & stored it away. I guess I'm lazy that way. 

Anyway, it's always lots of fun at the Dollar Tree!

Creating a Decoupaged "Memory Box"

This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, to store those keepsakes that belong to my children.  


Right now, I just have a drawer in each of their dressers that I stash those important things to keep, but not only is that not very stylish, but it is taking up valuable drawer storage space in their room.  


I looked around for far too long for the perfect "box" (I wanted something plain & cheap that I could decorate), & finally found 2 round paper mache boxes at Michael's (the last 2 as well, I must say!)  They were $10 each, but I had all the rest of the materials at home, so I figured what the hay.  


Here they are straight from the craft store:

The Other "Ingredients" Needed:

• Scrapbook Paper (you can see my tablet in the right side of the picture- which I found was the most economical way to buy scrapbook paper- for about $10-15, you have about 50 pages, which not only last forever, but better yet, they all coordinate!)
• Mod Podge (I used Matte finish)
• Paintbrush
• Craft Paints of various colors 
• Scissors (I used scrapbooking scissors to provide a decorative edge)
• Glue (craft, hot, or wood - I ended up using a combination)
• Other embellishments you might like: ribbon, scrapbooking embellishments, wooden letters, etc. 

My daughter decided she wanted to put her handiwork into it as well.

Steps to Creating Your Masterpiece:

• Select several different sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper in the color scheme & design you desire.  I was making a box for a girl & a boy, so I used pinkish toned & bluish toned paper (which thankfully, was all in the same tablet!)  
• Using scissors (plain or decorative), cut the paper into various shapes (the goal is to create a patch-work effect).  It doesn't have to be perfect, in fact, it looks better if it is not.  
• Take the Mod Podge (which functions as an adhesive also), & start adhering the paper pieces around the circumference of the box.  This is where the smaller pieces & strips of paper come in handy, they work much better following the curve of the box than a large piece would.

It still may look a little lumpy when pasted on the Mod Podge, but don't worry.  

• Continue this process until the entire box is covered, then allow to dry.
• Apply a 2 top coats of Mod Podge as a sealer, allowing to dry between each coat.

The finished box:

I wanted to place a monogram on the lid of each box, so I picked up some wooden letters I liked while I was at Michael's.  I painted each of these with craft paint.  

• For the lids, I wanted them to coordinate with the scrapbook paper, so I took some craft paint & painted 2 coats over each lid, again allowing to dry well between coats. 
• Then, I traced a circle using the lid as a template onto a page of paper to place on top of the lids.  I used my decorative scissors to cut out the circle.  Tip: if you use the outside of the lid as the template, make sure when you cut out the circle to cut on the inside of the line, otherwise your paper will hang over the edge slightly.

• The paper circle received the same treatment as the rest of the box, Mod Podge.  
• To attach the letters to the top of the box, I used wood glue, since the letters were made of wood (duh).  
• Embellish the box however else you wish, besides the monograms on top, I just hot glued some ribbon around the center of the lid edge & added a bow.  

All finished!  I was pleased with how they turned out.  

Now to go empty those drawers...


Linking up to these fun parties ~ check them out!

3 Easy Updates Using Scrapbook Paper

If you saw a tray like this at Goodwill, would you have passed it up?  

Well, I am not one for the landscape, it's not quite my style (it looked hand-painted by the way).  But, I liked the green color of the rest of the tray, & also the black handles.  So for $4, I took it home.

Or this?

You can tell it had 3 tiles glued on the upper part of it, but it came to my house with only one (which I pryed off, & it did NOT want to come off).  But once again, I was looking past that into what I could do with it.  I had been wanting a chalkboard for my kitchen to use as a menu board, & again, I think it was only marked either $2 or $3, & I also liked the base color of it.

Here is my "road to recovery":

1) Scrap book paper.  

For the tray, I picked two coordinating designs, since the width of one was not enough to cover the whole tray surface. 

2) Scissors & Mod Podge.  

I think both are pretty self-explanatory, so I don't think a picture is required.  

Simply cut the scrapbook paper to fit the surface (in this case, there was an enclosure I was trying to fit, which previously contained the tiles.  

Mod Podge (in case you didn't know), can be used as not only a sealer, but also as a glue.  Make sure you let it dry well after gluing on the scrapbook paper before adding the top sealant coat.  

3) Something heavy to use as a "press" (I used stacks of magazines).

I did have a bit of an issue w/ the paper wrinkling after adding the top coat, but after it was dry to the touch, I used a heavy item as a "press", & weighted it down overnight, which worked like a charm for flattening the paper out.  After 1 more coat of Mod Podge the next day, I repeated this process.  

After doing the same thing with the tray, here it is finished:

As you can see, I used two strips from the coordinating paper to fill in the gaps of either side of my top paper.  I think I ended up putting 3 or 4 coats of Mod Podge on this one, which took about 3 or 4 nights of sitting under a stack of magazines to flatten out the wrinkles.  See, a nice, flat surface now.  And, it looks great in my living room (much better than that farm-scape would have).

Here, I glued on (using wood glue, this time) some wood letters that I found at Michael's & had already pre-painted.  You can't really tell, but I used a base coat about the same color green in the scrapbook paper, then added a layer of crackle medium, then coated w/ cream.  It didn't crackle as well as I would like, but it'll do.  

It needed a little something else to make the letters standout.  I had a sample of chocolate brown paint I had bought about 2 years ago, so it had turned itself into kind of a watery "glaze", (even after lots of stirring & shaking).  In this case, that was perfect since I just wanted a hint of color.  I used a q-tip to lightly apply the old paint  "glaze" around the edges.  

Here is is finished:

I think it gives it a little "sumpin' sumpin'" extra that it needed.

For the final update, I took a plain letter (again from Michael's, but this one was already came pre-painted white) & used spray adhesive to glue it onto the opposite side of scrapbook paper I wanted to show:

After letting it dry & trimming it out around the shape of the letter, painting the edges w/ cream (I didn't want the white) & adding a few coats of Mod Podge as sealer, this is what I had:

I just LOVE the look of that scrapbook paper, all vintage-y & stuff.  

To showcase my monogram, I surrounded it with a frame that I found in someone's trash pile on the side of the road.  Yes, I stopped my car to dig through someone's trash pile.  Hey, if you spot something, go for it!  I actually got 5 cool frames out of the deal, and they were all - FREE!!!

I didn't do anything to this frame except clean it up a bit to get all the dirt & dust off it.  I loved the finish, & it was already naturally "distressed".  It didn't have any hanging elements, so I decided to just hang it up with some fabric toile ribbon I had left over (which matches my quilt in my room, by the way).  

Ta Da!  There you have it, 3 easy updates using scrapbook paper. 

Linking Up Here: http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/02/frugal-friday.html; http://www.freckledlaundry.com/