I refuse to pay money for something I can make for cheaper!

I remember being at a craft fair with my mom & sister once, a long time ago (like late 1980s, early 1990s) and seeing a sign at someone's booth... "yes, you can make it yourself, but WILL you?"

I think of myself as somewhat crafty and handy.  Where I shine, though, is recreating stuff. It's not that I am unable to come up with new ideas, I do sometimes, but I think my talents lie in making things better than they were, or at least making my own version of something. That's probably why I like organizing - I can take a jumble of stuff and make it better.

Pretty much any time I see a cool decoration, craft, etc. that I think I'd like to buy, I wonder if I could make it myself cheaper.  Then I think about that sign, and wonder if it would a) be worth the time to actually make it vs. buy it, b) end up looking as good as the thing I'm considering making and c) be doable.

Pretty often the answers to the above questions are maybe, no, and possibly if I had all the right tools but I don't.  So I buy it.

But sometimes I pull it off.

Today I am sharing 3 things that I saw and then made myself.  The first is a wreath I saw on Pinterest.  I looked around to see how much a wreath like this would cost, and was amazed at how expensive they can be!  This wreath took me about 4 hours, cost about $10, and was very easy to do.  I apologize for all photos - I tend to only take photos at night (because, you know, that's when I'm home) and so they're either too dark or washed out, but use your imagination to fill in the rich, elegant colors).

I started with a white styrofoam wreath form (use your 40% Hobby Lobby coupon!). I guess you could paint it first, but I didn't and I am fine with the results.  I took natural colored coffee filters, about 200 of them, and sqwunched them one at a time in to the wreath form using a finishing nail setter.  You could probably use a pencil or something too, but that worked for me.  I then finished it up by gluing on some floral stick/bead thing I got at Hobby Lobby.  One of the beads fell off, but I used it to my advantage by turning one of the coffee filters into an accent flower!  Finally I hung it with some ribbon. I didn't glue the coffee filters in - they just kind of stay in there on their own, and I do hang it on the outside of my door and so far they haven't blown away or anything.

All in all, I'm very happy with this festive autumn accent and kind of had fun making it!  You could probably use white coffee filters and dye them if you wanted, and use this idea for just about any season.

The next project I saw in a movie theater.  One of the ads they were showing before the main feature had a photo of a restaurant, and on the wall of the restaurant there was this decoration.  It had sticks on it, and you know I love decorating with sticks, so I scoured the internet to see if anything like that existed for me to purchase.  I could not find anything - so I went to... Hobby Lobby!

My dining room walls are really fairly burgundy - "October Red" specifically - and the photos make them look a little pink.  I do not have a pink dining room.  Not that I'd judge if you did... cough cough.

Anyway, the materials for this random wall hanging include a wooden shelf, some river stones, and some sticks.  I think I got the sticks at Garden Ridge, but you could find similar sticks at Hobby Lobby, Ikea, the ditch behind your house...

First I painted the shelves black.  Then I drilled holes in them about the same diameter of the sticks - one per stick about an inch apart.  I then put some hot glue in the hole and stuck the stick (heh) in there.  I thought I'd be done - but I could still see some of the hot glue and it wasn't all that.  Thus -the river rocks.  At first the rocks were just loose, but the cats were knocking them off, and it sucked taking each rock off when I did my annual dusting.  So, I glued the rocks into one long strip so they a) stay in place and b) can be easily lifted off when I want to clean the black shelf (which is usually just when a bratty kid makes a line in the dust... sigh).

Close up of the rocks

I made two because that's what filled my wall.  Also I'm pretty sure my living room is haunted, because of all the orbs.  That, or I watch Ghost Adventures too often. Ignore the builder's special overhead light and 1985 table please.  One project at a time.

The final project is another Pinterest inspiration. I'd give credit, but the original pin links back to a blog that kind of looks like a virus site now, so if it was your original idea and you ever find my blog, please let me know.

While I admit I like the Pinterest version a little more, I don't dislike mine.  I think what I need is more colorful hats & scarves - something with red in them. Also I stuffed the hats on mine with paper to make them stand up more, and now looking at it I think it's a bit weird, so I may revamp that too.

Anyway, cost of this project was again around $10 - $15.  I bought a landscape timber ($3) at Home Depot and had them cut it into 3 different lengths for me, a short, medium and then whatever was left for the longest one.  I painted them white and then painted on a face. I like the glued on wooden carrot noses in the original, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just painted mine. The original also didn't have mouths, and ever since the Matrix that creeps me out, so I added some to my snow family.

You could paint on buttons, but I found some cute giant black ones at (where else) Hobby Lobby in the kids craft section.  I cut up some fleece I had on hand to make scarves, and got 3 child-sized hats from the dollar bin at Target.   That's it!

The back is still plain white, and I am contemplating painting a bunny face on them so I can turn them around and use them in the spring.  I'd add bunny ears and set a basket of eggs next to them.  Awwww.

Ok so there are three of my really cheap, very easy crafts that I've made. Thanks for reading this far!!