Busy, Busy, Busy!

Apparently once the word got out that Kate and I had enough spare time to make crafts, people decided to gang up on us and give us LOTS and LOTS of other things to do. ;) This time of year is crazy enough, but we both also got new (much more time consuming!) responsibilities at our church. We're excited with these new opportunities, but - WOW - are we busy.

In the madness, I decided I needed a moment of craftiness to help get me through the day. Remember the monogram wreath idea we had posted a couple of months ago? I've been dying to do one of my own. How do you think it turned out?

This was soooooo simple. I bought the letter M from Hobby Lobby for $1.49 and then mod podged paper on (FYI - the paper came from the same paper pack that I used to make the Gratitude Sign). Then I roughed up the edges and added a little walnut stain. I really love this new addition to our home. Now I just need to find a little more time in the day. Hmmmmmm... Until next time - Later!

Tis The Season - $5.50

We all have extra frames laying around gathering dust, don't we? Well, I took an old white one that I had, bought a $0.99 can of spray paint at Wally World, and turned it into this! I just took out the back and the wall color shines right through. LOVE IT! If you don't have one around, check your local thrift store. They usually have tons of frames that have an ugly old picture inside. You just need to take it out and make your own art!

We're selling the vinyl for $5.50. If we can find a frame, we'll try and get it ready for our next class. It's been busy lately, but we hope to get more ideas out to you soon.

Halloween Luminaries

We're going to start adding our frugal ideas to the blog listed under "Cheap Trick." I know, I know... now you're all singing "I Want You To Want Me...." ;) Great song. But, from now on when you hear the words "Cheap Trick," we want you to get SO EXCITED because you are about to see one heck of an idea for hardly any $$$. It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's one that I came up with a few years ago when we were a poor medical student + family. Not much has changed since then...now it's just the poor medical resident + family.

But, even if we ran into a truck full of money tomorrow, I would still do my halloween luminaries. They take very little time to make, cost hardly anything, and take up very little space in storage. Have you noticed that the storage part is important to me?

The hardest part for me was googling "Spider Clip Art" to find the pictures for this project. Ugh. I'm still a little creeped out and I made these 3 years ago! Anyway, I printed little sayings (such as "Scared?" or "Turn Back Now") with spider pictures onto white cardstock. Then I folded the printed cardstock so that it would fit onto the outside of a white paper bag, taped it on, and then taped a blank folded white cardstock to the back.

Add some tealights & sand (or dirt if you're dirt cheap like me) - and WHA-LAH! You've created a spooky little walk to your front door for trick-or-treaters. Every year I get TONS of comments on these and they are just so easy. Hope you like 'em! Do you have any "Cheap Tricks" you'd like to share? Can't wait to hear from you.

Boo!

What is it about Burlap that makes me think of fall? I love these two projects! If you have some fabric laying around, they'd be pretty easy to make...and cheap to boot! Thanks to Everyday Chaos and La.T.Da for these great ideas!

Gratitude Tree

Our family started a tradition a few years ago to sit down during our weekly family nights in November and write down some of the things we're grateful for. Last year I announced to my two little girls that I was grateful to have a baby in my belly. I will never forget the looks on their faces!

In the past, we would simply write our ideas down on leaves and put them on our kitchen wall. Well, this year I decided to "kick it up a notch," as Emeril would say. I took branches from outside, placed them into floral foam in a pot, and covered the foam with beans. Then I bought some tags from Wally World and started our tree.

We can't wait to fill it up - we have so much to be thankful for! It’s always fun to hear what my kids think up. Sometimes it’s “yummy food” or “fun toys.” But my five-year-old daughter came up with my favorite tag so far this year:

She’s a hoot! We also plan on keeping the tags from year to year, so we put the year on the back:

The tree looked a little lonely sitting there, so I thought I'd make a sign to go with it.

I think this chipboard tag sign adds just the right touch! I originally had ribbon on top of each tag, but I think it was a little overkill. I wanted people to notice the word GRATITUDE, not the swirls of ribbon surrounding it.

So, what’s my favorite part of this project? If you’re like me, you have boxes and boxes of holiday decorations. Those bulky items are a pain to haul around and cumbersome to store. Just imagine the small amount of space it will take to store this baby! I love it!

So, here’s how to make the sign. You’ll need:

Chipboard

Scissors

Scrapbook Paper

Ribbon (two pieces - at least 40” each)

Hot Glue

Hole Punch

Adhesive (I used Mod Podge – you can use whatever you prefer)

Letters (I used vinyl letters – again, use whatever you prefer)

*Optional - One Office Tag (measures 2-5/8” wide x 5-1/4” tall)

I started with an office tag for a template and cut out 9 chipboard tags.

I found some paper I loved at Hobby Lobby called “Della Fantasia” by The Paper Studio. It’s classy and yet, has just enough personality to make sure the sign wasn’t boring. It’s tricky to find that balance, know what I mean?

Now you have to decide how particular you are about crafts. This project could be done the easy way or the hard way. The difference? Showing off your backside.

Easy Way

This way takes WAY less time, but you can see the ribbon & glue from behind.

Hard Way

This way is a little more difficult, but looks gorgeous any way you look at it.

Basically, are you a Martha? Martha Stewart would never, ever show off her backside (thank goodness). If you are a Martha, skip this next step and move on to lining up the tags. If you don’t mind showing your rear off, simply glue scrapbook paper to the tag. As you can see, it still looks great from the front & side.

Next, line up the tags as straight as possible. I separated the tags by about 1/4” so that they would fold up nicely. Glue one piece of ribbon to the top of the tags and one to the bottom (about 2-1/2” apart). A word of caution: Don’t skimp and do just one ribbon! It needs two ribbons to keep it from falling over. I learned the hard way on that one. ;)

If you chose the easy way – you’re almost finished! Just add your letters. I told you it was simple! If you’re a little more particular, like me, let’s keep going. Take your scrapbook paper and cut some 2-5/8” x 12” strips. Match up one side of your strip to the bottom of your tag and fold it over. Repeat for each tag.

Now glue start gluing. I started with the smallest portion on the bottom of the backside.

When you glue the front, make sure to smooth out any bubbles or ripples.

At this point, you’ll want to mark where the hole is for the tag. In the end, you’ll punch through the scrapbook paper and you’ll want to easily find where the hole is.

Glue the back down and finish the top edge by folding over the corners towards the back (almost like wrapping a present). When you’re done wrapping the corners, punch holes in your tags.

The final step is to add your letters. I used vinyl letters because they’re easy to use and I love the shine they give.

Time to enjoy your finished project! What was I grateful for the day I took this picture? It was 70+ degrees in the middle of November in St. Louis, Missouri and I did the entire project on my back deck in the SUN! Some of you lucky Californians may not realize what a small miracle that was!

Thank you so much to Kate at Centsational Girl for spotlighting my simple idea. I hope to see some of you on my side of the blogging world more often. Happy Thanksgiving!

Glowing JARckolanterns

Yes, I did come up with the name JARckolanterns. Pretty catchy, right? I can't wait to make these fun little jars for halloween. All you need are old jars, tissue paper, mod podge, black paper (vinyl would make it easier), and white Christmas Lights.

Aren't these adorable? They are pictured on a mantle, but I think they'd look great peeking out the front window at trick-or-treaters.

Thanks to Not So Idle Hands for this great idea!

The Medicine Man

Want a cute, inexpensive idea to decorate your mantel for Halloween?

Just take some of your old bottles & jars and glue on some free labels by Johnny Love, which you can find on his flickr page. Add some creepy, crawly contents & a little spider webbing on the outside and - Whah-lah! You've got your own little medicine man collection!

Many, many thanks to Amy with "The Idea Room" for allowing me to post her incredible pictures! If you've never checked out her site, get over there quick. She's amazingly talented.