Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas time and I love making my house look festive. There is nothing better than sitting in your living room and enjoying the lights and smells from your Christmas tree. However, the few christmas decorations that we got last year in our little apartment didn't go very far in decorating our home. So, I had to be a little creative in coming up with some cheap, new decorations.

1. Gingerbread house




I decorated it with mostly frosting so I wouldn't have to buy a bunch of candy. I like it better with out all the colorful candy anways. I put Christmas lights in the house and under the snow and it looks so pretty at night when it is all lit up.

Cost: I don't know because I used ingredients from my kitchen. I spent $6 on candy (most of which I didn't use. Peter enjoyed having a candy jar on out table. Thats a first)

2. Wreath



We got our Christmas tree at Lowe's for $24. What a deal. The tree is 7 ft tall and perfectly shaped. They were selling small and pathetic looking trees at Wal-Mart for $30. And they gave us all the free clippings we wanted. I hauled a shopping cart full out to our car and filled our truck. I love free stuff. Then I made this wreath with the clippings.

COST: $1.99 for the wreath wire form. I will be reusing this alot in the future. I love having something cute on my door.

3. Coffee Table Centerpiece




Holly trees grow all over the place here. So I bought a glass bowl at Goodwill and filled it with some free holly clippings. I used wrapping paper folded for my table runner.

COST: $0.99 for the glass container

4. Christmas Tree Decorations


I popped some popcorn and strung it on a thread with cranberries.
Cost: $2.00 for a big bag of cranberries plus $0.50 worth of popcorn




I bought some cheap glass balls from Hobby Lobby and covered them with stips of scrap fabric using fabric glue.
COST: $4.00 for 24 glass balls



I wanted to make a garland out of dried oranges and apples but it was too heavy for the branches of my tree. So, I just hang up the orange slices with a ribbon. It is very simple, but one of my favorite things on my tree this year.

Cost: $2.00 worth of oranges



I used the left over gingerbread dough and frosting to make men to decorate to hang from my tree. They were so fun to frost.

Help!

I found a tutorial on how to make roman blinds on a blog and I was so excited to try it out. Our neighbors can see right through our back door windows and I have been wanting to do something to cover the windows. It seemed like a fairly inexpensive project because you use very little fabric and the $3 blinds from Target. But, now that I have put all the work into making them, I am very dissapointed. I don't think I like the fabric anymore. When I first brought it home, Peter said it looked like something from IKEA, and ever since then I can't help but think IKEA everytime I look at them. (Nothing against IKEA, its just too retro/modern for me) And the tutorial told me to use glue to glue the fabric to the blind. Doesn't work! It doesn't hold well and it is hard to create straight lines when you aren't ironing and sewing.

I hate when you put money and time into a project and then you don't like the end result. You can't just take it back.




Any suggestions on how I can improve them?

Kitchen Makeover

My least favorite thing about my cute house is the long, skinny kitchen with the washer and dryer at the end. Not that I am complaining because I love having a washer and dryer and everyday I feel so lucky to have one in my house. And even though the kitchen is small, it is at least 4 times bigger than my previous apartment kitchen. But I figured it would be pretty cheap and easy to change the two things I disliked most: the old, dirty cupboards and this hideous, plaid curtain separting the kitchen from the washer and dryer.
Before:




After:




It was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I had to do 7-8 coats and of course, you have to paint both sides. The painting isn't the hard part. It's the waiting between coats. It took 5 days to get the job done but it was worth it. I love how much more clean and open my kitchen looks.



I sewed the curtains with fabric I found on sale at Jo-Ann's. I don't miss that ugly plaid curtain at all!

I used scraps left over from Laura's quilt to make this to hang in her bedroom. I liked how it added some more color to the drab tan walls. (If this were my house, I would paint her bedroom with a fun color) Next project for her bedroom: Curtains.



I found this idea on someone else's blog where they hung a branch in their little girl's room and sewed these fabric birds. I decided to paint my branch white because the natural look was too rustic for me.



Total Cost: $0 (Everything was made with scraps. The branch I found in my neighborhood on one of our walks.)

Pillows

I used the scraps left over from my shower curtain to make some pillows for my bed. I've been wanting to do this for a while now because I wanted to make some pillows to make the red bedspread match the green walls. So much better than the black pillows we had on the bed before.

Fabric: $0 (left over scraps)
Pillow forms: $4.99 (only had to buy the little one because I used my old black pillows for the two large ones)
Total Cost: $4.99

Shower Curtain

My friend made a shower curtain with ruffled fabric that I loved. I found one at Anthropology that was solid white ruffles. I added some colored fabric. This was one of my more expensive projects and I am still deciding whether I like the way it turned out. It was really hard to keep all of the ruffles in straight lines because the shower curtain that I used as the back was crooked so my measurements also turned out a little crooked.



And I found this cool frame that matches perfectly at Salvation Army. Now I just need to find a picture to go in it.



Fabric for ruffles: $34.00
Shower Curtain Back: $5.99 (TJ Maxx)
Ribbon for Top: $1.97 (Wal-Mart)
Total Cost: $41.96

Pink Tutu

I learned how to make this on Martha Stewart. I love it because it is so simple and takes less than an hour to make. Plus, it is just so cute and girly.




Cost: tulle: $4.00
ribbon:$1.97
total: $5.97

More Onesies

Here is my silouhette onesie. I added some little flowers to add a little bit of color.



I made these for a baby shower. It was actually kind of fun making things for a little boy. I love the guitar one for thier little Nasvhille baby.




Cost: $1.75 per onesie

Next Project

I love these onesies. This will be my next project for Laura. I won't even have to go buy anything because I already have black fabric and white onesies.

http://lifefrosting.blogspot.com/2009/05/silhouette-appiquesmy-new-fave.html

Owl Onesie

I decided to use some scraps of fabric to applique a design to a onesie. I think it turned out pretty cute.




Onesie: $2.99

Mary Jane Shoes

I bought a pattern for these Mary Jane shoes on Etsy for $3.99. So worth it. I have already made 3 different pairs and look forward to many more. I think it is so fun to have my daughter wearing stylish flats that I can make out of scraps of fabric.







Skirt:
tulle: $5
ribbon: $2

Wings:
Red and Black Fabric: $1.50

Antennaes: Pipe Cleaners: $2

Total Cost: $10.50

Halloween Decorations

I was at Wal-Mart and found all their halloween fabric on clearance so I put 1/4 yard of 5 different fabrics. Then I came home and made these:

Cost: Halloween Fabric: $3.50

Pumpkins: 2.50

Black Ribbon: 0 (had it in my ribbon box)

Total Cost: $5.50