Dollar Store Christmas Tree Revamp

Well, it's official. I have an addiction to Dollar Tree. It's palpable. It's outrageous. It's a wonder of wonders.

Can you believe I've been putting up my own Christmas Tree for about seven years and never invested in a tree skirt? Who am I? This is uncivilized behavior.

2016 may be the worst year known to man but I will not let it go down without a TREE SKIRT!

After my cheap self refused the double digits of Cyber-Monday-tree-skirt-browsing, I succumbed to the Almighty Tree of Dollar for a felt skirt that was.... fine. At best. Still better than the oddly wrapped plush throws of yesteryear.

One stop to the Dollar Spot at Target and voila! A sensible tree skirt makeover was born!

I encourage you to go through whatever little crafty trinkets you have. I found some rhinestones, pearl appliques, puffy paint, glitter string, jingle bells. Target had pom-poms and trim, each for a buck. And the hot glue gun is your friend. Go to town. Let the creativity take over. 

And BAM. Your Christmas tree looks a little fancier and you feel a little jollier.

Share your frugal Christmas revamps with me right here! I'm always excited to embrace the simple and give it a little extra shine. :)

Linking Up With:

Tater Tots And Jello

Tree String Art

For what seems like years, I've been living for the nail and string art I've seen all over Pinterest. So, I finally decided to go for it. Yes, there's some tedium involved. But, once you have the foundation laid down, this is a very mindless (and gratifying!) project that you can achieve in about an hour and a half to two hours all while watching the TV (in my case, "The Office").

What You'll Need
• Wooden Wall Plank- like the one pictured below (I decided to spray paint mine in a darker wood spray paint but you could leave yours as is or stain as wanted)
• Flat Head Nails- be sure that they are the right size according to the thickness of your plank (... that's what she said)
• Hammer
• Crochet String- you can also use embroidery string or any string that is to your desired thickness
• Chalk

Walnut Hollow Basswood Country Decorative Plank, 23-Inch Long

Use chalk to outline your tree or desired shape. I chose to do mine freehand to achieve a more homespun like. You can Google or Pinterest a number of templates if freehand is not your thing. Your cats will be undoubtedly interested in this entire process as evidenced by the photo above.

Begin hammering your nails along the chalk lines. The more nails you use, the more curvature you can achieve. Then, start stringing away! I chose to outline the entire tree first and then fill in. Do this as randomly as possible and pay attention to gaps once you are nearly finished. Wipe off the excess chalk with a wipe once you have completed your design!

Boom:

A Thrifty, Homespun Christmas: Easy Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

I've loved these since I was a kid. They're cheap, easy and make your home smell delicious!

What You'll Need

• 1 Cup of Cinnamon (Powder, not Cinnamon Sugar!)

• 3/4 Cup Applesauce

• 1 Tbs Ground Cloves

• 2 Tbs Elmer's Glue (I used Dollar Tree white glue)

• Cookie Cutter

• Straw

• String, Yarn, or Ribbon for Hanging

Directions

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine cinnamon and cloves.

2. Add the applesauce and glue.

3. Knead by hand in bowl for a few minutes, until you have a firm, pliable dough. If the dough is too wet, add more cinnamon if the dough is too wet, more applesauce if it's too dry.

4.  Dust your work surface with cinnamon.

5. Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.

6. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. 

7. While the dough is still moist, cut a hole in the top of each ornament with the end of a straw for hanging.

8. Place ornaments onto a cookie sheet (with no wax paper or tin foil and this could leave imprints on your dough during the drying process) and air dry for several days. Carefully flip them several times while drying so they won't bend or warp.

9. For a shorter drying process, bake ornaments at 200 degrees F for two hours, turning occasionally.

A Thrifty, Homespun Christmas: Simple Yarn-Wrapped Holiday Wreath

Yarn-wrapped wreaths are one of my favorite crafts to do, especially during the holidays. They're easy to whip up while watching a Christmas flick and sipping cider. They're brainless, cheap and turn out lookin' super fancy and quirky. On Etsy or other specialty shops, these wreaths can range anywhere from $17- $50. But, you can make them yourself for just around eight bucks. Crafters will already have most of these items on hand.

What You'll Need

Foam Wreath (Got mine at Wal-Mart for $3.97)

Yarn (Had on hand; you can purchase at Wal-Mart for $2.40 and always keep your eyes peeled for sales!)

Holiday Accessories (Got mine at Dollar Tree for a buck!)

Tacky Glue

Hot Glue Gun and Glue (optional)

Scissors

Directions

1. Place a dot of glue at the top of your foam wreath.
2. Cut a manageable length of yarn (I like to wrap the yarn continuously around my hand until I have a large amount, cut, and begin from there).
3. Simply begin wrapping! I prefer applying a line of glue to ensure that the yarn stays in place. Wrap away, let your mind go wild with patterns and color combinations. Since I was using gold, glittery add-ons, I decided to keep my yarn simple and monochromatic.
4. Place your holiday add-ons where desired. For heavier add-ons, hot glue will work best when applying. For lighter add-ons, tacky glue will work fine. Let dry. Voila! 

Linking Up With:

The DIY Party || DIY Sunday Showcase

Super Sweet Autumn Leaf Garland

I am yarn and felt crazy right now. What I love about these craft supplies is that they are SO stinkin' cheap, so easy to work with, and always produce a beautiful homespun product. To complement my yarn-wrapped Autumn wreath, I decided to make some simple (albeit somewhat time consuming) leaf garland that I had found on- where else?- Pinterest. 

This is a great little craft to do while watching your new (awful, I hate it, it's stupid, I can't stop watching it) guilty pleasure, Pretty Little Liars.

// Supplies //
- 4-5 Sheets of Felt in colors of your choice (I bought 5 sheets for a $1 at Michael's)

- Yarn

- Scissors

- Sharpie

// Instructions //

- Create a "prototype" leaf and trace it repeatedly until you have filled every sheet of felt.

- Cut out your stenciled leaves.

- Using scissors or a whole punch, cut three-four holes in each felt leaf.

- Weave your yarn through. Repeat until you have your desired length of garland! :)

Happy Autumn Crafting!

Easy Autumn Yarn Wreath

I've been wanting to make one of these wreaths since the invention of yarn.

This may or may not be an exaggeration.

And, by that I mean, I love a good hyperbole.

Pinterest is blanketed in wreath ideas. Especially, at this time of year. So, in honor of the FALL equinox (that's TODAY, folks!), I present you with my simple Autumn wreath. Perfect for any crafty, quirky, frugal front door like ours. :)

What You'll Need
- Yarn of your choosing (I bought the cheapest I could find at Wal-Mart- $2.22 per spool)
- One foam wreath ($3.00 at Wal-Mart)
- Felt (whatever colors you prefer- 5/$1 at Michael's or $0.29 per sheet)
- Tacky Glue

Directions
1. Place a dot of glue at the top of your foam wreath.
2. Cut a manageable length of yarn (I like to wrap the yarn continuously around my hand until I have a large amount, cut, and begin from there).
3. Simply begin wrapping! I prefer applying a line of glue to ensure that the yarn stays in place. Wrap away, let your mind go wild with patterns and color combinations. This is nice to do while watching a movie and sipping some cider. ;)
4. I cut my felt freehand into leaf shapes. Feel free to use a stencil if you'd like more precise shapes.
5. Apply leaves with tacky glue and allow to dry. Voila!

Linking Up With:

The DIY Party || DIY Sunday Showcase

Our Wedding: Window Shutter Guest Book

I fell in love with the window shutters guestbook idea in the early months of planning our wedding. If fate wanted to have a hand, it surely did. One Saturday afternoon, we learned there was a yard sale happening next door to Timothy's folks' house. Low and behold, what shoudl we see but a closet door lying haphazardly on their lawn. "How much?" After a simple shrug, the neighbor responds, "A buck?" SOLD!

What you should know about me is that I'm a freebie whore. I use the term, "whore" lightly because you should also know that I am not a prostitute. To put it simply, I'm an avid advocate of signing up for samples online. You should try it. It's awesome. So, when I received a coupon for free paint at Ace Hardware, I immediately ran to our local store and grabbed our seafoamy little wedding color. And if that wasn't enough freeby-ing, I also order a bucket load of free customized Vistaprint cards in our wedding color for guests to write their messages upon.

This was a great, simple project for us to work on together and it looked beautiful at the reception. We had such a blast reading our sweet little notes the night of the wedding over chocolate-dipped strawberries in the hotel room. Perfecto.

Total cost of our guestbook? One dolla. Nailed it.

Framed Fabric

In an effort to keep our apartment as Pinterest worthy as possible, I had to give a shot at one of my favorite finds: framed art. I'd been storing this huge picture of a snow lion that I found propped aside a dumpster upwards of a year ago.

Now, as much as I enjoy a good feline, ain't no way a snow lion is going to find itself on the walls of the Candace-Timothy abode. But, the frame was too good to pass up. The frame sat in our closet pointlessly until my lightbulb moment of framing an old shower curtain of ours in it.

Who knew that fancy frames were such a tizzy to disassemble? That mess took me forever. I have to say I love the homespun, loosely imperfect look of the final product. I think I'll look into scrapbook paper next. Voila!

Our Wedding: Rustic Burlap Jars (Craft)

My dear sweet husband dealt with a year's worth of jar hoarding from me which is how I REALLY knew he was a keeper. :) Pickle jars, pasta sauce jars, salsa jars, and jelly jars made up the bulk of our wedding decor. Jars, glue, twine, and burlap: one of the simplest and cheapest ways to decorate your own wedding. I even added in some scrap trim that just happened to be one of our wedding colors and Disney World packing paper to the mix. Let your imagination go crazy!

Our Wedding: Paper Flowers (Craft)

Since Timothy and I have been doing musical theatre our entire lives, we had heaping piles of sheet music in our possession. We thought it would be a nice personal touch to use sheet music from our past shows to bring our theatrical sides into the wedding. I spent weeks coffee and tea-dying the pages to turn them into these little paper flowers that we used all through out the wedding, even on the cake! It was a SUPER simple detail that gave a great touch of personality to our special day. :)

You could also do this with pages from your favorite book or newspaper clippings.

Materials Needed

Paper
Brewed Coffee or Tea

Paintbrush (I find that sponge brushes work best)

Stapler

Tacky Glue

Buttons

1. Use a shallow tray and fill with a pot of brewed coffee or tea

(the tea will be darker if you use multiple bags)

2. Brush the paper in three-four coats of tea. Allow to dry completely overnight.

3. Cut the tea-stained pages into strips.

4. Form the strips into a flower formation and staple at the center.

5. Cover the staple in a decorative button, attach with a dot of tacky glue.