Country Crafts for a Good Cause (cheap too, of course!)

Happy Tuesday! I haven't posted in a couple of days, as I have been busy. The youth of Bronston First Baptist Church in Bronston, KY (including my handsome son, Peyton!) who are part of Bronston Changers will be going on a mission trip to the Frankfort area in a few months. They will be performing repairs on the homes of those who are unable to do it themselves. Each of our kids has already paid $50 cash to go, and will raise the remainder of the funds needed. Therefore, everyone who lives near the area is invited to attend a Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Here are some of the fruits of my efforts for the Silent Auction. I will also be making some fudge later in the week.

Assorted country primitive rough cut wooden signs. These signs are my own designs, and are made of discarded wood from one of our local pallet factories. They are more than happy to give you as much as you want for FREE!! Bottles of acrylic craft paint are cheap and last a long time. I got the twine from Mighty Dollar, the clothespins from Dollar Tree, and the other little decorations from a yard sale. I thought they turned out cute! They would be nice gifts, too. There is a store in the local mall that sells stuff very similar to this, but you can make your own for next to nothing using free wood. Start now for Christmas *wink*!

Terracotta and glass "bubble gum machines". The glass ivy bowls came from Dollar Tree, while the pots and saucers were less than a dollar at Walmart. The little round piece on the front where the gum ball would fall from on a real machine is a clothespin stand, and came several to a pack from Walmart years ago. I used a clear silicone adhesive to attach the base to the bowl. Fill with candies and enjoy!!

I am hoping to have time to make more items for the Silent Auction, but we will see!! Tomorrow night is church night, and I also have an order for a teddy bear cake for this weekend. I will be really busy this week, indeed - - - but with doing all the things I LOVE! Thank you, God for blessing me!

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous week from our house to yours!

Pottery Barn-inspired on the Cheap

Good Monday evening, folks! One work day down for the week and four more to go. Yesterday I shared a primitive Dollar Tree craft with you, so this evening, I thought I would share one that would fit in with other types of decor: a Pottery Barn knockoff. Pottery Barn has some beautiful glass apothecary jars, but be prepared to open your wallet a little wider if you want to add one to your collection. The "PB Classic Glass Apothecary Jar" is not only "modeled after those used for centuries to store dried herbs" but is also "hand blown by talented artisans in Poland". I do send my regards to the (exhausted, I'm sure) Polish glass blowers who worked really hard to perfect their craft; however, I don't feel the need to blow (no pun intended, actually) a few hours' pay to buy the "classic" glass apothecary jar when I can re-create a similar one for a couple of bucks.

On Pottery Barn's website, you can choose from various sizes ranging from 14.5 to 27 inches tall, cylindrical or round, $29 - $69 (?!?!). Here's a pic of the cylindrical ones:

$29.00 - $69.00

Now, my creations (hate to call it that since they literally took about 30 seconds to glue together, LOL). ranged from 11 to 14 inches in height, so I will consider them to be "small", or similar to the dimensions of the "small" PB version. Here is mine:

$2.12 + a few cents for adhesive

I know, I know......the now breathless Polish artisans took the time to create a lid. Mine do not have lids, but I am fine with that. If I really wanted to, I could come up with something for that purpose. Anyway, what did I use to "create" these knockoffs? Three things:

Dollar Tree glass vase (buck + tax). They carry all different shapes and sizes.

Dollar Tree glass candle holder (buck + tax)

Amazing Goop brand Craft Adhesive (about $3.50 + tax from Wallyworld)

   

It really is as simple as scraping the label from the bottom of the vase, applying plenty of adhesive and sticking the two pieces together. Be sure to let them dry for a couple of days or they will fall apart. So, by making these yourself, you save serious cash PLUS help to save a few Polish glass blowers some breath. Win-win all the way around!

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day, from our house to yours!

Primitive Crafts....from Dollar Tree? Sure!

Anybody who knows me also knows that I do not like to spend money on my craft supplies. If I am inclined to spend money to make something, it has to be cheap. That is but one reason I love the Dollar Tree and Mighty Dollar. While perusing the web recently, I came upon a blog that had SUCH cute things that the lady had made using Dollar Tree materials. Her blog, called Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night (find it HERE), is great and the craft ideas are easy. So....the family and I spent this past wild Friday night getting free Dunkin' Donuts drinks and shopping at Dollar Tree. We are just loose cannons that way, you know.

I love anything old, old-looking, crafty, cozy, shabby, cast-off........whatever. I don't have any one particular style. I just pick what I like. That includes primitive stuff which is so popular right now. Dollar Tree has a really good selection of things that are already nice, but have potential to be better. I love candles, and it seems that we always have one burning, and the other blog had some nice ideas on how to make DT's cheap looking candles match country or primitive decor. In my excitement to get started, I forgot to take a before picture of the products, so I pulled these from the Dollar Tree website. Check out the before:

  

I was only able to find one package of the LED tealights, so they may be seasonal with the ones I found being stragglers left from Christmas. They had plenty of the 8" white jar candles, though. The idea was to "grubby" these things up....make them look old and primitive. The lady in the other blog used something called Texture Fierro to get the grubby, textured look. However, I am always one to substitute and use up things I already have; therefore, I thought I would try mixing up some white glue and used coffee grounds. After mixing into a paste, I spread it onto the jar candle as well as the body of the tealights (bulb was taped with masking tape so as not to mess it up). After that dried (took about 2 1/2 hours with the help of a blow dryer), I squirted on some acrylic craft paint in cinnamon brown, and spread it around gently with a mildly stiff paint brush. Throughout the drying process, the paint / coffee grounds / glue kept trying to run down the sides of the jar. I simply used to brush to dab it back into place. This is a messy craft and I had cardboard on the kitchen counter underneath it, BUT this is how they looked after the paint was about half dry (ignore the clothespins......still working on that project):

And, THIS is how they turned out when complete and after a second coat of paint and a bit of torn fabric for a ribbon (the woman in the other blog calls the ribbon "homespun"):

Cute, huh? That candle is not only cheap, but it is supposed to burn for 80 hours. Also, for those who are allergic to certain scents, it is unscented! Yep - - that's a little bit of Dollar Tree potpourri you see there surrounding the little LED tealight in the cast iron skillet. I am inspired now to make more of these for gifts. I I might even dry brush a little black paint on the next ones I make just to make them a little "grubbier". Acrylic craft paint is cheap, white glue is cheap and used coffee grounds are free. There are only 325 more days until Christmas, our Lord and Savior's birthday, so I hope you're inspired! Making gifts a dollar at a time is not only better for the budget, but you are prepared and stress-free by the time it rolls around.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous Sunday, from our house to yours!

Oh, fiddlesticks..........er, tobacco sticks!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone's week is off to an awesome start. Need a new and crafty idea to get you going on this chilly winter day? Primitive and rustic country decor is in great abundance wherever you look these days. One popular and sought after accessory that goes quite nicely with such decor is anything made from tobacco sticks. Usually I post on things that I have made, but there are many more creative folks hanging from the branches of my family tree. Today I thought I would share the fruits of the efforts of these fine folks! At one point in time, my family grew tobacco on their farm; however we are now left with the remnants of this page in history in the form of oodles of "baccer" sticks once used to hang freshly cut tobacco in the barn rafters to dry. I have been fortunate enough to have received several pieces of furniture and decor made by my mother and father as well as my sister and brother-in-law. Let me share, shall I?

• Chair. Just look at this little chair made by my Mommy and Daddy. I think it looks so cute, and the bears (given to me by Mommy) think it is super comfy.
• Ladder. My sister and brother-in-law surprised all the ladies in the family at Christmas with homemade tobacco stick ladders, embellished with a cream colored bow and red berries. I thought it was the perfect spot to hang my hay hooks given to me by my Daddy.

• Star. This huge star, made by my Mommy and Daddy, is the perfect size for the gable end of my garage on the front of my house. 

• Tree. Mommy and Daddy made this also. This picture was taken at Christmas, and as you can see, i have it all dolled up with a bead garland, feathers, berries, twigs and greenery. It is great because it is so versatile and can be decorated for each season.

I am so proud of my creative family and the things they turn out. I can't wait to see what they make next (hint, hint Mommy, Daddy, Tammy and Damon.....).

So, you don't have access to tobacco sticks, you say? Well, almost anybody can come up with some sticks that could be whipped up into something fantastic. Take a look at this cute little willow twig table I spotted while surfing the internet:

You can read more about it HERE on the Woodworkers Workshop website. Maybe you will get some inspiration. It's not too early to get started on Christmas gifts, you know! These primitive pieces and pieces like them are all wonderfully frugal as well as fab gift ideas.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day from our house to yours!

Free Fun with Phone Books

I can honestly say that I have never lived in a place where more telephone directories are distributed than in Somerset, Kentucky. It seems as if my driveway becomes home to a bagged phone book, tossed haphazardly from a speeding car at least three or four times a year. As evidenced by my collection of glass jars, plastic grocery sacks, bread ties and straws, I just don't feel right about the thought of tossing the poor phone book into the trash. For one, it has already suffered so much in its short life, narrowly escaping serious injury in the midst of a rough landing on the surface of my concrete driveway. But also, much like a bright eyed child, it has SO much potential! So what do I do? I rescue it and give it new life! Just so you know we're not getting all hoarder crazy here, I only keep a couple of phone books at a time. I actually do put excess ones in the recycle bin (but don't tell their friends).

IDEA #1:  One big advantage of saving a phone book from the trash is the fact that it is essentially FREE craft material! Consider this wreath I made from phone book pages, a pizza box and a wire clothes hanger. For this thrifty wreath, the only things I had to actually purchase were the letters. The letters were less than a dollar each at Hobby Lobby, and I already had the ribbon on hand. I used probably 25 cents worth of ribbon overall. I just love the little areas of yellow peeking out from the rolled pages, don't you? To make this, I taped the lid shut on a clean (yet used) pizza box. I then cut the pages from a phone book, rolled them and hot glued them to the box. For the hanger, I used duct tape to secure it to the back of the wreath, and then hot glued ribbon to the front to conceal it. If you want a totally free wreath, just omit the letters and ribbon!

IDEA #2:  Use as gift wrap! At one time, this may have been considered really cheap and tacky. However, I have been noticing more and more printed scrapbook paper and decorative items that have newspaper and similar print. It has become fashionable to wrap gifts with newspaper and book pages tied up with a pretty burlap or jute bow! Or, you could also cut a pretty flower out of the pages and tape to the top. This is awesome if you are caught suddenly in need of gift wrap and have none OR just want something different and cute.

IDEA #3:  Tissue paper or gift basket filler. You probably saw the gift bags I made using recycled calendars. Instead of the traditional tissue paper, I stuffed these gift bags with phone book pages. They turned out cute and helped to reduce trash can waste created by more and more store-bought tissue paper

IDEA #4: Have you ever gotten caught out someplace and needed to make a call but didn't have the number? If so, you probably called somebody in your family, had them find a phone book, look up the number and wasted several minutes of your day. Why not use one of those extra or old phone books to carry in your vehicle? My husband actually gave me this bright idea a few weeks ago when he asked for one of the phone books from my "craft stash" to keep in his truck. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the extra phone books could be used as...............................phone books!

I hope you have a blast using some of my ideas or your own awesome ideas for your old phone books. One thing I REALLY want to do next is to figure out how to make paper from old phone books. I'll keep you informed of the results. Have a fun, frugal and fabulous evening from our house to yours!

Calendars: Where to Get Free Ones and Stuff to Do With Old Ones

Once January rolls around, I always have a few calendars that I hate to toss out to make way for the new year. So, I don't! But, it is impractical to just keep things lying around, all hoarder-style (though I do like those TV shows.....), simply because you hate to get rid of things. The goal is to make use of the resources you have before you for your benefit and the benefit of others, NOT to make life harder by living in the midst of clutter and junk, right? I have received the most beautiful Joyce Meyer Ministries calendar three years in a row. The 2012 calendar had such nice photography on it that I didn't want to stick it in good ol' File 13, so let me will show you what I did with it!

Wall Art 

This is the most obvious option as well as the easiest way to reuse a calendar. The images on the calendar were so bright and inspirational that I decided to choose four of them to hang in groups on each side of my bed, directly above the bedside tables. They look blurry in my photographs (I have told you that I am not a good photographer, haha), but they actually look quite nice in person. The best part is that I can recycle them or even toss them when I want to change decor.

Gift Bags

The first photo illustrates the size box I used to fold the paper to create the gift box. The box doesn't become part of the finished gift bag; it just serves as something to fold the bag and tape it over to get the correct size. After I folded and taped the bags together, I slipped the box out. So, simply fold the bag the way you would wrap a present on the side and one end and tape, and THEN slip out the box. At this point, you can punch holes and insert ribbon, jute or yarn for handles if you want. Notice that I used the pages of an old phone book for tissue paper. This is just one more idea that goes along with the "use what God has provided you" philosophy. I thought they turned out cute despite the fact that I made one of them upside down. Oops!

Kitchen Tool Canister

This project also goes along with a post from the other day about things to do with old jars. Below is simply a pickle jar, some paint and a calendar page. I had admired the look of mercury glass jars and other accessories such as those offered by Pottery Barn and Anthropologie, but I wasn't willing to pay the prices they commanded. So, with a can of silver spray paint in hand I went to work. Once it was dry, I chose a calendar page and trimmed the edges with scrap booking scissors. I secured the edges with tape and decoupaged it so that it can be cleaned easier. 

Now that you are armed with some ideas, just where can you get calendars (without buying them, of course)? Unfortunately, Joyce Meyer Ministries is all out, as is Betty Crocker and the West VA Dept of Tourism. These are some of the prettiest ones. HOWEVER - - I was able to locate more sources that still have calendars on hand, but you must act quickly:

1. Ontario Outdoor Adventures 2014. Go here to request this calendar, filled with "stunning photography from across the province" of Ontario, Canada: http://www.ontariotravel.net/TCISSegmentsWeb/gn/travelGuides/outdoor.xhtml?_nfpb=true&_nfls=false&language=en&WT.ac=BA:Calendar
2. Farnam Horse Calendar. If you like horses, it looks like this one has some nice photography. http://go.farnamhorse.com/Calendar?source=apha 
   
3. The Calendar of Mathematical Imagery from the American Mathematical Society. I actually received mine in the mail this very day, and it included "albums of mathematically inspired works in a variety of media--computer-generated fractals, quilts, origami, sculpture, painting, and more". The pages were actually quite nice. Request it by email here: http://www.ams.org/cgi-bin/fmail/fmail.cgi?emailto=52616e646f6d4956ccb23a27f6aa46e261e30b517a3caeae1562eec714a6cbe36ed52b88a62eef16&name=AMS%20Public%20Awareness%20Office#  In the box that says "body", tell them you would like a free calendar of mathematical imagery, and then tell them your address. Mine arrived in one week!
   
4. The HR Green Annual Calendar. From their website:  "Each year, HR Green creates a calendar that highlights our clients' projects across our business lines. Featuring projects around the United States, the 12 month calendar also includes major holidays, lunar cycles, and seasonal dates. A colorful and functional tool for any office, sign up to receive your copy today, FREE of charge. Simply select the 'receive FREE calendar' option below and include your contact information." I have never ordered this before, but, hey - - -it's free. If it's really ugly, you could use it to start a campfire, line the botton of your kitchen trash can with it so it doesn't get dirty OR toss it! The picture beside the request form is of some green grasses and the edge of a pond, though. It might be nice, so here's the link: http://www.hrgreen.com/aboutus/contactUs_HRGreenCalendar.aspx

To get a beautiful Joyce Meyer ministries calendar or one of the others that is no longer available, be on the lookout around October or November before supplies are exhausted. Stay abreast of available freebies by reading one of the blogs I mentioned the other day: freestufftimes.com, freestufffinder.com, free-product-samples.blogspot.com or hip2save.com. I get no compensation (or even thanks) from mentioning these other blogs. I just want to share with everyone what resources are available to them just by taking a couple of minutes to ask for them. Like I said before, be creative and make use of what God gives you. It's fun! From our house to yours, have a fun, frugal and fabulous day!

Throwing away that empty salsa jar? STOP AND READ FIRST!

Remember the December post about Redneck Travel Kits? Well, as I mentioned, I have an obsession with jars - - big, little, short, tall, skinny.....glass and even plastic. I like 'em all. I die a little inside when I am at someone's house and see such useful articles discarded, tossed away in the garbage can like an old shoe. Hmm....an old shoe (an old L.L. Bean boot in particular) MIGHT make a cute container for a marigold on the porch in the summertime....but I digress! Back to the jars. I rounded up a few recycled jars that are just plain fun, frugal and fabulous. Indeed, I (and my sister) saw the potential for that which is typically trashed.

Here's a reminder of the results of a year's worth of jar-saving and freebie-requesting. I think it is a super great way to reuse and recycle an old jar:

BUT, that's not the only cool thing you can do with a jar. Check this out:

What a lineup......let's talk about 'em, left to right:

1. The first jar with the cute grasshopper is actually not a glass jar, but a plastic jar that began life holding stinky (yet dee-lish) pickled bologna. My parents gave me some cool old books, some of which included a paperback song book. I decided it wouldn't be too awful to sacrifice just a few pages to decoupage onto a couple of jars, so decoupage I did! To finish the top a bit, I simply wrapped some off-white yarn around the jar and glued the ends.
2. This short little jar was a glass salsa jar. I wanted another one to match the taller one, so this was perfect! Big brother and little brother. Or father and son.
3. This little cutie was made by my sister and was given to me for Christmas. She scrubbed it up, cleaned off the gooey label and painted the lid a cool chalkboard black followed by my initial in white. Then she filled it with some yummy smelling potpourri. What an elegant yet simple project!
4. Mr. Barilla pasta sauce jar is still humbly working full time behind the scenes in the food storage industry. However, in his retirement, he serves as a container for rice instead of pungent spaghetti sauce. This suits me and my kitchen cabinets perfectly. You see, Mr. Barilla is akin to a bad liar. You can see right through him and his other jar friends. This makes it oh so easy for me to keep tabs on my rice and dry goods inventory!
5. If you read about how to make sweet tea the other day, then you've already seen the last suspect in the lineup. This was a little relish jar that was just the right size to sit perched on a candlestick from Dollar Tree. I am sorry to say, but I don't really remember what brand of adhesive I used to attach the top and bottom. BUT, hot glue does NOT work, FYI. Most adhesives will list on the back if they are appropriate for adhering glass, so just read up on it. Also FYI, there is a very similar looking drinking vessel (they called it a Redneck Wine Glass) on walmart.com right now priced at $19.95 for a set of four. With tax, that's a little over 5 bucks for each glass. Now why would you do that when you can make a set of four with four free jars that you've saved, $4 worth of candlesticks and MAYBE a $3 - $4 tube of adhesive?!?

Well, whadda ya say? Are you inspired yet? Make your garbageman happier with less heavy trash bags and keep those jars! You've got craftin' to do. Have a fun, frugal and fabulous week, from our house to yours!

How to Fake a Pressed Tin Backsplash

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! My wish for you is that it will be the best and most blessed year yet. Perhaps you want to try something new this year or have plans to re-do something in your home. Well, here's a little something that may give you some inspiration.

Have you ever seen and admired a backsplash or ceiling all dressed up in pressed tin? Well I had admired them for many years, both in magazines as well as in the homes of a couple of family members. One day I headed out to Lowes to do a little snooping to see if this was something I could do in my own kitchen. Unfortunately, here's what I found (copied from Lowes website):

From www.lowes.com

Ughh.....one 18x24 inch tile for $19.95. And how many would I need?!? I would probably have to buy the adhesive to go along with it too, and whatever else, I don't know. On to Plan B. But just what is Plan B? I really wanted something other than just the blaaaank walllll behind the sink and stove, so I pondered several other options. I thought about other options like cut up pallets, stones and ceramic tiles, but kept running into the same issues - - too difficult, too pricey.......etc, etc. I finally concluded that I really wanted the pressed tin look to go along with my decor, so I searched on. One day I came across a photo of some textured wallpaper that had the same sort of pattern to it as the pressed tin tiles. Best of all, it was less than twenty bucks!!!! So I thought that maybe, just maybe this might work!

From www.lowes.com

In my opinion, the pros were: it's cheap, I can cut it with scissors, I can do ALL of the backsplash with one roll, I can paint it with whatever shade or tint I want, I can remove it later if I get tired of it with little regret of wasted money. The cons - - well, okay, only one "con": If you look closely, you will know it isn't authentic. So, my decision was obvious. I went to Lowe's and bought a double roll of allen+roth brand Paintable Ceiling Tiles Wallpaper for $18.97 + tax. No adhesive was needed, as it was prepasted. The only supplies needed to install it were simple: a tape measure, pencil and a sharp pair of scissors. I didn't fool with buying a wallpaper trough for water, either. I installed it in the kitchen, so the sink was literally right there! The pattern was easy to match up and I had the paper up in one evening! I let the paste dry a couple of days prior to painting it. Fortunately, I had plenty of paint in the garage to mix and match, so I simply mixed up some black, gray and white and painted 'er up! After that dried, I touched up here and there and then sponged on some silver metallic acrylic craft paint, followed by a dry brushing of some gloss black. These paints together gave the wallpaper depth and an authentic metal look. So, without further adieu, here are the before and after shots. Ignore the objects in the pictures. This is the only close-up of the "before" that I could find:

BEFORE: "Plain brown wrapper"

AFTER: Fab and Frugal!

I was thrilled with the results, and still may go over it again with the metallic paint for additional shine. I am still thinking about whether or not to paint the outlets to match....but I am sorta leaning toward no. What do you think? My hope is that this will inspire you to do awesome and creative things while on a budget. Most everything in our house would be considered "builder grade", but I am slowly making it our own! It doesn't matter WHERE you live, really. With a little imagination and some effort, anyplace can be nice if it is your heart's desire.