Halloween Decor on a Budget

Friday, October 18, 2013
The holidays are always hard for us budget wise when it comes to decorating.  I usually make a list of things that need to be bought for a particular holiday, and decorations are usually at the very bottom.  For this Halloween in particular we have not one but TWO Trunk-or-Treats we are participating in.  We also had to factor in the candy we needed for anyone who stopped by our home, so a big chunk of our budget went towards candy.  Our two boys outgrew their costumes from last year and we had another little one to buy an outfit for, so another chunk of our budget went to replacing costumes (P.S. They are adorable!).  By the time all of those things were taken care of we had a small amount left for decorations.  I turned to my husband that night and said,
“I’m giving myself a $10 budget for decorations… and I’m sticking to it!”.
I set out to do just that.
The first thing I did was stop by JoAnn’s.  It is absolutely crazy how early each holiday’s decorations get put on the shelves!  I’m already seeing Christmas decorations and it’s not even past Halloween. ANYWAYS..  As much I am annoyed by it, it also means that the Halloween decorations go on sale quicker.  When I went they were already 50 percent off.  Awesome!  I figured I would use half of my budget at JoAnn’s for pre-made decorations, and half on supplies for making some decorations myself.
A small pack of cobwebs with spiders (around $2.50) was enough to cover our entire porch and even have some leftover for other parts of our house.
I realized later I probably could have made this door banner
 (also around $2.50) with stuff I had on hand, but it was much easier to buy it and still SUPER cute!
I decided I wanted to use the remaining budget to make something fun to hang on our front porch.  I came up with an idea for hanging
bats/ ghosts/pom-poms decorations.  All the materials costed around 5 dollars and I had a TON of supplies leftover.
To make these I decided to use some diaper boxes to weight the cutout… and I had A LOT laying around.
Then, I traced some bats and ghosts for my shapes but you could do any shapes you wanted.
I cut the shapes out and then used them as a stencil for the felt.
I cut the felt out about 1/4″ bigger than the stencil.  You will be making a sort of felt/cardboard/felt sandwich, so you’ll want to cut out TWO felt shapes for every ONE cardboard shape.
I grabbed my trusty glue gun and hot glued the cardboard cut out to the first piece of felt.
At this point I attached my length of string.  I tried to glue at least 3-4 inches onto the cutout so it would be well anchored.
Next, I glued my second piece of felt to cover the other side of my diaper cardboard.
** This was my first one, and at this point I didn’t glue the string in between the felt/cardboard.
 Let me tell you that anchoring it that way IS A MUST.
 I had a couple of casualties that I am still unable to talk about. **
Next, I made a TON of pom-poms.
(Super easy and fun! I used this tutorial.).
There are only 5 here, but I made around 40!
Ready to thread on the pom poms!!  I simply thread a large needle the top end of the string.  This string was pretty thick, so a simple knot was all that was need to hold the pom pom in place.  I would tie a knot where I wanted a pom pom to be placed and then use the needle to thread the line through the pom pom, letting it finally rest on the knot.
Tie a knot, thread the pom pom, repeat.
Then, voila!
Very inexpensive, and they turned out oh so cute!
What are some ways you decorate on a budget?
As always,

Claire Hartburn
October 19, 2013 at 3:20 PM
Great project !!
I would love you to come and share @ Craft, Create & Inspire linky party !!!
Look forward to seeing you there 🙂
http://lemonpaperdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/craft-create-inspire-linky-party-2.html
Claire x

LIZALOU
October 20, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Thank you for stopping by Claire! I will head on over to your link party.

 

Quilted State Silhouette

Monday, September 30, 2013

We recently decided to redo the paint and decor in our master bedroom (and when I say “we” I really mean “me”, for it was not at all my husband’s idea.).  I loved the art that was above our bed (which you can see here) but I have three young children who can often cause mass destruction, and are above bed decor was one of their most favorite targets.  I realized it was time for it to go and since then have been trying to figure out what I should put in it’s place.  I’ve always loved the idea of doing state silhouettes.  We are a military family and have lived in many wonderful places and I thought it would be the perfect way to remember each of the states we at one point called home.

For this craft I used:
A burlap canvas
(mine measures 12X12 inches and was
purchased at Wal-Mart for under $5)
freezer paper
fabric of choice
single-sided fusible batting
button, or other embellishment
acrylic paint

I was SO excited when I found these burlap canvases.  They were exactly what I was looking for and look how awesomely thick they are!

I am fastly discovering all the amazing uses for freezer paper.  This time I used it to cut out my image for the state of Utah.  After printing off the image I was using onto freezer paper, I simply ironed it onto the front of the fabric.

Next, I just cut around the image.

I realized later that it probably would have been a lot easier to iron on the whole sheet of freezer paper, instead of cutting the shape out before hand.  At least it will be easier next time around!

I love how easily the freezer paper just peeled off… oh freezer paper, I am falling fast in love with your crafting capabilities.

To accomplish the quilting, I fused the single-sided fusible batting to the back of the sihouette (making sure that the fusible side faced the fabric.).

I decided to just quilt along the chevrons.

After I finished, I attached the silhouette onto the burlap by stitching a simple running stitch along the edges.  I placed the button roundabouts where the city we lived in was.

I decided that I really wanted to include the name of each state with each silhouette so I used another freezer paper stencil to paint the name on the side of the silhouette (find out how here).

I am so excited with how these turned out and can’t wait to do the other three!

As always,
HAPPY CRAFTING!

Linked to:
The Shabby Creek Cottage
The Brambleberry Cottage

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest
October 1, 2013 at 5:39 PM
What a really cute idea!

Leslie Lambert
October 3, 2013 at 7:41 AM
You did a great job with this…I love the attention to detail! This would be great to link-up to Create It Thursday #22…it’s live now! Hope to see you there!

Clydia Mangold
October 5, 2013 at 6:19 PM
This is awesome plus what a great tutorial! Thank you for linking up to ITS PARTY TIME. I shared your post via G+. xoxo, Three Mango Seeds

 

Freezer Paper Stenciling

Tuesday, September 24, 2013
This upcoming Saturday is my church’s women’s broadcast.  I am so excited to be able to spend time eating a delicious dinner with wonderful women and then be spoken to by, what I am positive will be, some amazing speakers.  Every year they ask for volunteers to set just one table for the dinner.  There are multiple volunteers that decorate, and it’s so fun to see all the different kinds of table themes everybody comes up with.   This year I decided to volunteer!  It may have had something to do with the fact that I have had oodles of projects that I have wanted to do (I blame Pinterest), and this was the perfect excuse to do them.
The main craft that I wanted to try out was freezer paper stenciling. I’ve seen lots of people use this for baby onesies or decorative pillows and they turn out so cute!  Since the theme for my table involved burlap and lace, my goal was to stencil some custom designs onto some of the leftover burlap I had.
For this craft you will need:
Freezer Paper
(I found mine by the canning supplies… who knew?)
Fabric of choice
(I chose burlap)
Exacto knife
Iron
Paint and paint brush
First, I designed an image in PicMonkey (my favorite photo editor).
I knew I was going to be cutting this out by hand and I wanted to keep it really simple and sweet.
Next, I cut a piece of freezer paper to 8.5 x 11 inches.  I love that you can put freezer paper in the printer!  Make sure that you have it facing the right way.  You want it to print on the paper side, not the waxy side.
Ready for the cutting!  All I had for a mat to go underneath was a stack of cardstock.  Use whatever works!
Cut along the outline of the letters.
It took me awhile to get used to using the Exacto knife, but after a while it got easier and a lot more fun!
Next, I ironed on the cut out images to the burlap. I put my iron on the hottest setting and made sure the waxy side was on the fabric.
When you iron the freezer paper the waxy side adheres to the fabric and seals all the edges so no paint gets through.  So cool!  I only had to iron the paper for a couple of seconds before it adhered to the burlap.
I had three different cutouts for this image:  one for the border, one for the words, and one for the inside of the O.  I did these one at a time, just so I could place them more accurately.
Ready to paint!  Just paint in the open areas like so…
By this point I was so excited I didn’t even wait for it to dry all the way.  After a couple of minutes I took it right off.
Oooh!  I just loved how it turned out… so much so that I made two more to go with it.
I will definitely be trying stenciling again!
Happy Crafting!
Linked to:

Allie Bobe
September 25, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Thanks for stopping by! Love your ideas. Following you, hoping you’ll follow back 🙂
~Allie

Allie Bobe
September 25, 2013 at 8:23 PM
Thanks for stopping by! Love your ideas. Following you, hoping you’ll follow back 🙂
~Allie

LIZALOU
September 26, 2013 at 7:16 PM
I am your newest follower Allie! Thanks for visiting my blog!

 

Oh Good Golly…

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
I feel like I have to apologize and give a brief explanation as to why I have been slightly slacking in the blogging department lately. You see, when I found out I would be separated from the hubs for the holidays, I decided it would be an awesome idea to come home to be with my family.
(Technically both of our families, since they only live a few miles apart from each other.)It has been amazing to be back and visiting with everyone.
My boys finally get to be with their cousins and they are loving every minute of it!

There were just a couple of things I did NOT think about, one of them was my little blog.
I had a bunch of pics ready for about 10 future posts, and I didn’t even think to e-mail them or put them on a memory card before we left.

I know… I know.
I am quite literally hitting my head against the table.

Just thinking about it makes me frustrated all over again.
…
Okay, enough feeling sorry for myself.

The good news is I DID bring my camera with me!!
I have been working on some cute crafts for the holidays and am taking pictures galore.
I am also starting to work on a gorgeous
Buggy Wheel quilt that my wonderful grandma is helping me with.
(Seriously, she is a quilting genius!)

Keep stopping by, I am still here and as always

Happy Crafting!

Meredin
November 30, 2011 at 1:12 PM
Are you still in town? Or have you gone home?

What I’m grateful for.

Thursday, November 24, 2011
Today I am grateful for my family.
I’m grateful to for my two healthy beautiful boys.
I’m grateful for a hardworking and loving husband.
I’m grateful for my wonderful parents.
I’m grateful for all of my extended family &
that I can be so close to all of these amazing people for the holidays.I’m grateful that it is this time of year again.
It’s a time for turkeys, twinkle lights, and soon to be put up Christmas trees.
It’s a time for reconnecting with good friends over hot cocoa
and graham cracker gingerbread houses.
It’s a time for celebration.
It’s a time where it’s hard for me to find an excuse NOT to be happy.It’s time for the holidays, and I just love it.So from me to you have a
Happy & Lovely Thanksgiving!!

What are you grateful for this holiday season?