Trim Your Tree for Cheap : Felt Garland

Last Christmas , I posted a few ways to decorate your tree on a budget, and this year I came across another idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. So simple its genius! Lately, I have been on a felt ” kick”. Making anything and everything out of felt. The other day, I saw an ad in the newspaper and the decorated tree in the ad had a chain link garland made out of none other than FELT.

I made a bee line for my nearest craft store and stocked up on the color theme I wanted to do this year. Rounded up my crafting supplies and got to work.

What you’ll need:

Felt sheets  in your choice of colors.

note: we have a six-foot tree this year and I used 12 sheets of felt. To give you some idea of how much felt you need.

cutting mat and rotary blade

hot glue gun and glue sticks

What to do:

Using a cutting mat and rotary blade, cut felt sheets into strips. I was doing two sheets at a time cutting 1 inch strips from top to bottom. You should get twelve strips per sheet. Note: if you don’t have these tools, scissors and a ruler should work just fine too. 🙂

Once you have your pile of strips, whip out that glue gun and heat it up. When your gun is ready to go, start gluing links together to form a chain…..

…Keep gluing and gluing and gluing until you have used up all your felt strips. 🙂

Then drape it onto your holiday masterpiece.

I think the total cost for the chain garland was 3 or 4 bucks? Not to bad. I think, I might make another next year and change-up the color theme.

More DIY ornament ideas:

https://nwgreengirl.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/trim-the-tree-for-cheap-candy-cane-ornaments/

https://nwgreengirl.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/trim-your-tree-for-cheap-gingerbread-people-ornaments/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Getting Thrifty for Halloween: decorations

Tis the season! It’s that time of year again….. the beginning of Fall, football, the change of foliage colors…. and, and HALLOWEEN!

I always LOVE to decorate for fall and Halloween, but being on a budget and still getting that “spooky” house can sometimes be tricky.

My three main staples for decorating the house for the season are candles, pumpkins, and cheesecloth. LOTS and lots of cheesecloth!

Cheesecloth is pretty cheap and adds instant “spookiness” 🙂 You can get cheesecloth at most grocery stores in the baking aisle. Don’t buy the stuff at the Halloween stores, they are over priced and you don’t get as much.

Candles are also a great way to add an eerie feeling when dressing your house for the occasion. The more candles the better. 😉 First, make a stop at your favorite thrift store ( Goodwill, St Vincent, Bargain World….) and load up on candle sticks of different shapes and sizes.

 

 

Then, on your way home, make a stop at the hardware store and grab a can of black spray paint. Well, when I say “grab” I do mean to pay for it first. 😉

Oh, and if you’re not a candle collector, like myself, you might want to make one more stop on the way home and pick up some candles of different size and shapes to go with your candle holders. If you are lucky enough to live close to an IKEA, I would recommend getting your candles there. Also, when picking out candles, stick to one color, I prefer white( goes with everything)

 

When you get home, spray paint those bad boys( candle holders) black!

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, as you can see ^. Don’t forget the cheesecloth!

I used the cheesecloth with my candles on the fireplace mantle, but chose to forgo with the candles on the table. It’s totally with what you feel like doing. 😉

Happy Halloween!

 

Floyd the Camper: getting back to work

 Ok, so for about half of July, I soaked up some California sun 1200 miles away from my little camper.I missed it so much. The break was much enjoyed, but now I am back home and ready to get crack’n on the trailer again.

Now, I need some professional help out there in the cyber world…. I put up a few shelves in the trailer and think they should be painted. The problem lies in the color they should be painted, so I would like to know what you all think. 🙂 The first color is hunter green, which I am digging at the moment. The second is a gold/mustard yellow? The third is hard to see, but it’s just a dark brown. And last, is the same color that is on the cabinet doors in the kitchenette.Not sure the name of the last color…..coppery tan?

So which color should make the cut?

Had to show off my art project. 🙂 My paper mache antlers are now mounted in my trailer.

 

The handy husband installed the old propane lamp back into the trailer. I think its pretty cool looking, gives it that ole rustic charm. As you can see in the background, we have a few frames “stuck” to the wall. I saw  “stuck” because we used Velcro to attach them. Using the Velcro helps keeps holes out of my walls, which make me a happy camper. Get it? Happy. Camper.

…anyways, I thought it was funny.

 

Don’t think I have shown you yet, but the benches and table are in. YAY!

 

This is the way we chose to deal with the table-into-bed situation. Oh yes, there is a table to bed situation… We decided to use slats that reach across the bench and place the table top across the slats.

 

Because as you can see from the picture, the table top does not reach all the way across like it should. Eventually, we will build a better table top that fits better, but until that day…. this seems to work.

 

The bed all set up and ready to go. This will more than likely be the boys bed when we go camping. Hopefully here soon, work will move to the outside while the weather is in our favor.

until next time….happy camping. 🙂

 

Floyd the Camper: starting to look like a camper!

Holy mashed potatoes, Batman!

The trailer is coming back together and starting to look usable again. Well, at least from the inside it is. 🙂

Just hanging out with my power tools getting some work done.

The funny thing is…before I started this process, I had limited knowledge and use of power tools, short of the cordless drill. I’ll admit, I was a little intimidated at first. Though shortly after, I got more comfortable, and now my power tool resume includes the cordless drill, two different saws, and the nail gun. YAY.

The boys supervised while the dinette benches were put back in.

“Hey, Tanner, why don’t you offer up some of that water? ” 🙂

The benches are finally back into the trailer. Now a place to sit.

Forgot to mention, the handy husband got the floors finished, and look pretty nice, if I do say so myself. We did the click together lament flooring, which is durable and pretty, but not AS easy to install when your trailer is not perfectly straight front to back and side to side. Pretty sure, linoleum would have been easier.

Lesson learned.

Now the walls and floors are all in, I got back to work on the trim and paint. Exciting stuff, I know.

Then one day while the handy husband was at work, I decided I was going to tackle putting in the couch/bed…..myself.

The frame wasn’t so bad, but the board that goes on top of the frame to hold the mattress up has to go in a certain way…. After about, taking the board in and out of the trailer three or four times (exhausting, by the way), I set it correctly. VICTORY!

After all that work getting the mattress, blanket, and pillows in the trailer, I took a nap. 😉

    

Later, I took a break to do some arts and crafts inside. I absolutely LOVE Ansel Adams and one of my most favorite photographs of his, is a picture of Mt Rainier.

There aren’t too many pictures taken by him of Mt Rainier Nt’l Park and when we are out on the road, itll remind me of home.

The picture I am using above is from last years calendar and I would have framed as is, but the white border around it was uneven and would have look weird framed that way. So, I simply cut out some white poster board the same size as the frame and cut out the picture itself without the white border. Next, I centered the cut photograph on the poster board, glued it down and framed it. Ready to go!

 

Decorate Your Walls for CHEAP.

So, I don’t have a ton of money, but I don’t want my walls to go bare. Its time to get creative and find ways to decorate the walls of my home on the cheap. 🙂

One of my FAVORITE things to do is round-up my past years calendars and use them as art around the house. One of the artists I admire the most is Ansel Adams. Thanks to my family, just about every year for Christmas I get an Ansel Adams calendar for the new year. I then use the past years calendar for art around the house.

For frames I try to go as inexpensive as possible, and for that, IKEA is my store! or maybe a garage sale if you hit one up.

This is one of my most favorite Ansel Adams prints I have. Again, it’s just a print from a past calendar, but it’s of Mt Rainier. A very unusual thing for mr adams. Since most of his more well know pictures were taken in California, Alaska and Montana. Images of Yellowstone, Yosemite, the great redwoods, and the Rockies are what we think of when we think of Ansel Adams. Apparently….. the Washington cascades just weren’t that inspiring to him, I don’t know…. ;P

So I am glad he did take this wonderful picture to remind me of home. 🙂

These two pictures hang in my entry way. I wanted a little color, but didn’t want to give up the black and white. I located some poster board and traced the correct dimensions to the frame, cut it out and painted them the color of my chosing. Then mounted the pictures to the mats, and voila! instant art.

Now, if you’re the artistic type, fill free to draw, frame and hang. 🙂 The picture above shows ANOTHER Ansel Adams ( my second fav) framed next to a framed piece that I drew myself.

Oh, here’s another idea…. if you’re not the ” artistic type” find one of those artsy friends and get them to whip you up some art. Maybe, throw them a few bucks. 😉

Ok , back to being the artistic type…if this is you, but you need a little inspiration, spend some time going through the painting greats and copy one of theirs. I found this great painting by Shirley Novak called Pumpkin Poppies.

Just, so happened I had some unused frames and some craft paints, and I whipped up these little beauties to hang over my bed for a fraction of the cost.

Family pictures are always great to hang on your walls, but maybe something that brings back a memory other than a picture? well, hang it up! The picture above is a framed card. The card is special to me, because it’s the card I received from my husband on our first year anniversary. Awwwww, how sweet. I know. 🙂

The picture below shows some kind of framed Asian print…… it’s actually a silk scarf that my grandparents brought back for me from their trip to China. Thanks grandma and grandpa. Just in case I never said so.

Moving on to the kids room. Before my boys were born I set out with an idea in mind of how I wanted their room to look. A theme, if you will. The problem was, at the time, finding things to decorate in that theme, was most difficult, so….. I made my own.

This was one of four paintings I did on a cheap craft store canvas and some craft paint.

As the boys have gotten older and want less “baby” like art in their room, again, I turn to the internet…. I found both of these simple graphic images online, which I printed at home, matted and framed.

PALLET PROJECT: Pallet Wall

OK, so I like finding creative and fun projects that reuse materials either around the house or easily accessible around the neighborhood. I found this interesting project online and ( well….my husband found it and put all the hard work into to it) thought it was pretty cool as an accent wall. I am drawn to that rustic feel. With that being said, it spurred my interest into what else you can do with pallets….

I have a feeling a few of my next posts will have something to do with pallets….

http://www.myluckylemon.com/2011/04/pallets-of-love.html

this is the original picture that was posted.

….and this is how it turned out for me…

OK, so this in our garage…before we had just the frame and insulation. I  don’t think it turned out super “stylish”, like in the photo above, but I still think it pretty cool and was cheaper than buying drywall, considering it was free. 🙂 My husband liked it so much and was so proud of himself he decided to do more walls…..

This is still in the garage, but over by our washer and dryer.I think the red pulley hooks add a nice touch. Note to reader: if this is something you would consider trying and you go looking for pallets. I recommend finding ones that are heat treated and not chemical treated.

Reuse: Decorating with Frames

I think a trip to the thrift store is in order! If you have a few extra frames laying around and idea to put them to use, try this: Get some frames together and decide on a color that will work in your room. Then get your can of spray paint out. Spray the frames all one color, let them dry and hang on the wall in a pleasing arrangement.

I think I just used thumbtacks, but some small nails would work well too. Also, when collecting the fames I like to get different styles together and lay them out on the floor to get and idea on how they will look on the wall.

One small touch I added to this project, was a hook or two, as these hang on my wall in my bedroom. I use the hooks to hanging belts, scarves, purses, etc.