Fall Light Up Pumpkin!

Quick post, I have been wanting a light up fall pumpkin since last year! I found one at Hobby Lobby for 35$ back in October, but was I willing to fork out that kind of cash, I think not. So I waited patiently, and a few weeks before Halloween all the fall grapevine pumpkins were on sale for 50% off I found the perfect one size and all and only paid 10$. I was also lucky enough to wander over the the Christmas lights section where I bought a box of 20 twinkle lights for 1.20$. The goal is to tape over the lights and spray paint the cord brown but that wont be happening until next year. So for now I just stuffed my small strand of lights into the pumpkin plugged it in a walla I now have a light up pumpkin for $11.20, Huge Savings! It is not actually sitting on this chair in my house it is on a shelf, but it was very rainy when I took this and I could not get any decent lighting for my cheapo camera.

We don't put up Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving at our house, so we get a bonus few weeks of fall before I take this down!

Picture frame

Our friends just had a baby so i made a bright fun little picture frame. I started by buying an unfinished picture frame(2.50) from the craft store and a piece of bright paper(0.72) and a baggy of rihnstones(1.50) I started by tracing the frame and cutting out my paper. I put a layer of modge podge on the frame and stuck my paper on and smoothed out all the air bubbles and let it dry. While the first coat dried I went into all of my scrap paper and found bright colors. I used my cricut to cut out letters for her name and i did the shadows to make it pop a little. i used my little scrapbooking xyron sticker maker to stick the letters together. i stuck them on the frame how i liked and modge podged over the entire frame. when it was dry i took a q-tip and dabbed a little modge podge on the frame and stuck my rhinestones on. I also tied a piece of ribbon i had around it and stuck it down with a little modge podge.

it took about 1 1/2 hours to make mostly for everything to dry and it cost about $5.00. When i am looking for embelishments like buttons, rhinestones, ribbon,ect i venture away from the scrapbooking section and into sewing and jewlery and where ever else. I can find what i need and it usually costs half as much.

wooden sign

I made this sign for one of my husbands friends that was getting married. We are poor graduate students with a baby on the way so finding ways to cut costs is key. I just bought an unfinshed wood sign(4.98) from the craft store and put a wood sealer(2.00) over the top and let it dry. next i put a very thin layer of black paint(i used paint i already had) over the sign it was just a real sloppy coat. next i put an even coat of crackle finish(3.48) over the black paint and let it dry just until it was tacky. When the crackle was still tacky i put a coat of cream paint(i used paint i already had) over the the top and as it dried the crackling effect starts to happen. when it was completly dry i put another coat of sealer over the entire thing to keep it from chipping while that was drying i got out my cricut and just cut out the couples last name and the date they were married out of vinyl(used black vinyl i already had) and stuck them on and i was done. the entire project from start to finish was abut 2 hours and it cost about $11.00. You can use spray crackle and spray sealer it cost a little more but would be easier. When i am buying a neutral paint color i usually buy it in a larger bottle becasue chances are i am going to be using that color again. is save a little bit of money and thats one less trip to the store.

Shamrock

The other day I was looking through one of my favorite blogs and I came across a no sew wreath made out of fabric. I thought that the wreath was a great idea however I wanted something for my wall to celebrate St. Patricks Day which we love at our house. So instead of using a round pattern I printed off a shamrock pattern from the Internet and made that instead this was a great project it only took a few hours for me to complete.



I went to my moms and raided her scrap fabric because I don't have very much in green I found the colors I wanted and cut them out. I also found some matching ribbon to attach to the back of my frame.

I also went through my old boxes and found a frame I liked instead of purchasing a new one. The frame I found was red and I did not like that look so I simply painted it black and took out the glass.

Here you can see that I have just folded over and glued the material. If you want to make one of your own let me know and I will tell you where to find the tutorial.

picture frame

ok so this was another vinyl project. I kept seeing these cute frames at hobby lobby with just letters and I wanted one and I was convinced I could make one for less than 8 dollars and well I did. So I just cut out a C as big as my little cricut would let me but i suppose it depends on what size of frame you use mine is and 8.5/11 and i just got it at the dollar store so that brings my total so far to 1.07 next I cut out christensen and i just practiced on paper until i got it to fit . my last name is really long so the letters are pretty small. Then I jsut cut out a few flowers. Next I removed the glass and put the letters on. After that I threw the cardboard backing to the picture frame away and stuck the glass in the frame with heavy duty glue dots that I already had. I bought a half yard of fancy black ribbon .62. I already had the vinyl it only took a scrap. So that brings my total to 1.69. Not too bad.Ii have not put the ribbon on to hang it yet because I need my husbands help I am not very good at making things even.

Ok so just made so pictures to hang in my kitchen and all i did was buy some canvas's and some scrapbook paper that was in the same family. i just cut the paper down to size so that it would cover the front and the edges. if you want to can paint your canvas to go with whatever color paper you choose but i am lazy and just left mine blank. any way i modge podged the papers onto the canvas like i was gluing them down waited for it to dry and then went over the whole thing and smoothed out any air bubbles there might be. for the center pictue i cut out a designs using the sweethearts cricut cartridge on black vinyl but i think it would be cute if you cut out a design using scraps of one of the other pieces of paper you are using but that is just an idea so after i stuck the design where i wanted it i just modge podged over it and waited for them to dry. it took me about a half hour to finish and then a little bit longer for them to dry.