DIY scrap wood picture holder - no fuss quick and easy to make

Needing a quick & easy picture holder using reclaimed wood? This DIY craft might be what you are looking for.

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This scrap wood picture holder was insanely easy to make. While I love painting there was no painting, no drying times, no staining, literally no fuss! I had it up and holding pictures within minutes.

I’ve been redecorating our master bedroom on a shoe string budget. From the paint to the décor my goal is to spend less than $100 to redo our bedroom. This DIY craft most definitely fits into the budget since I only had to pay for the photo prints (they were a whopping .09 a piece).

I can’t wait to get our room all finished up and show you guys how it turns out but for now I will show you the DIY picture holder I made to go along with the rest of my frugal décor in our room.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

—-> Check out more scrap wood projects, click here <—-

Here’s what you need to make your own DIY RECLAIMED WOOD PICTURE FRAME HOLDER

• a piece of reclaimed wood

• clips like these (I got mine from the Dollar Tree in the office supplies section)

• hammer

• hanging hardware of choice

Click here to learn how to attach a sawtooth hanger. It’s super simple especially if you have a piece of painter’s tape.

1.GATHER MATERIALS

I didn’t have any sawtooth hangers so I used some fancy picture hanging hardware and it required a drill.

2. LAY OUT YOUR PHOTOS

To be sure I had the spacing right I laid my 4x6 photos out on my reclaimed wood. I just eyeballed this but if you want yours to be perfect and exact you can use your tape measure to perfect your spacing.

3. HAMMER IN THE CLIPS

The clips I used already had nails attached to them. They were a little difficult to hammer in to the wood though. I am fairly certain, since the clips I used were in the office department of the store, that they were made to push into a cork board and not wood. But hey, it worked!

4. ATTACH HANGING HARDWARE

If you need a visual on how to attach a sawtooth hanger check out this post. I used my Ryobi drill to screw in my hardware but a drill isn’t completely necessary, a screwdriver will work too it’s just not as quick and easy.

5. ADD YOUR PICTURES & HANG ON THE WALL

This reclaimed wood photo holder is going in our master bedroom so I tried to choose photos that were good ones of both my husband and myself.

I hope you found this tutorial both simple and motivating to use up some scrap pieces of wood that you may have lying around. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Check out more posts below. Happy Crafting!

Dollar Tree moss bunny peeps on wood + FREE SVG

EASY SPRING CRAFT

DIY DOLLAR TREE SHEET MOSS BUNNIES + FREE SVG

Need an easy & inexpensive spring or Easter craft? This little moss bunny sign will fit in perfectly with your farmhouse or rustic decorations! And it won’t break the bank!

I love the Dollar Tree and I also love my Cricut machine. So when I can make projects combining the two it’s like fireworks in my craft room! Today I made little moss peep bunny cutouts using both my Dollar Tree find and the help of my never fail me Cricut machine. Be sure to check out this DOLLAR TREE BOOK STACK if you love this spring dollar store craft.

This spring Easter craft was super easy, crazy quick and it represents my gaggle of girls. I am a momma to four daughters so I wanted there to be four little moss bunny peeps to represent them <3 !! It just so happened to work out perfectly that I had a 10” piece of scrap wood I originally made for a different craft over a year ago {yes I’m one of those craft hoarder ladies} to use for this simple DIY. So there was no need to cut, paint, or stain anything today at least.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you need

• moss sheet

• scissors

• glue gun

• glue sticks

• piece of scrap wood

• cardstock

• Cricut cutting machine

• green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• FREE PEEP SVG- grab it in my free resource library
  
  
  

1. WOOD BASE

I used a piece of scrap wood from another project. It was already cut, stained, and painted so I didn’t need to do that for this project. If you want to know how to get that distressed wood look check out this DIY sign painting post.

2. CARDSTOCK BUNNY

I used my Cricut to cut out a cardstock template. You can grab the same SVG I used from my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY. That is my personal library where I share all of my free printables, SVG cut files, and patterns. This is a much easier way for my readers to get access to my freebies rather than filtering through emails or worse deleting an email that contains a file you needed.

You will only need ONE cardstock bunny no matter how many bunnies you plan on cutting out of the sheet moss.

If you are new to the Cricut world be sure to check out my post on the top 10 supplies & accessories you need to get started using your Cricut cutting machine.

2. TRACE

I flipped my sheet of moss upside down on my craft surface. Then I traced around it using a dark colored permanent thick marker. I tried doing this with a pen but it didn’t work out so great so I grabbed the closest thing to me I could find that would work, a permanent marker. This was a little tricky only because the moss backing is so uneven but since I’m not a perfectionist it worked just fine.

I tried to fit all four bunnies on one side of the sheet so I could make the most of my $1 find lol!

3. CUT THE MOSS BUNNIES OUT

Using a pair of regular scissors I cut the peep bunnies out of the moss sheet. Some of the moss fell off in some pieces leaving it looking a little bare in spots but don’t worry if that happens to you. You can fix that at the very end.

4. GLUE

Before I glued my moss bunnies down I placed them on my piece of wood so I could make adjustments before they were glued down.

Then I used my fine tipped hot glue gun to glue them in place.

For the little areas that were bare I glue some leftover moss in those spots. You couldn’t even tell once I was finished that I had to add moss.

That’s it! So quick and easy. Click here for more DIY DOLLAR TREE CRAFTS.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

DIY farmhouse Dollar Tree bookstack + FREE SVG

DIY FARMHOUSE BOOK STACK

Farmhouse book stacks are such an easy craft to DIY especially if you are just starting out in the crafting world. This is one of those craft projects you can do in less than 30 minutes start to finish. You don’t even have to wait for paint to dry. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE painting but it is so nice to do projects once in a while that have almost that instant satisfaction like this one does.

There are many different variations of ways to making these book stacks too. I chose to make the most simple stack out there but you can also paint them, you can make them out of wood instead of using real books, you can stamp them, or like in this craft tutorial you can use vinyl decals. No matter what rustic farmhouse book stack you choose to make it is sure to turn out gorgeous!

If you love this farmhouse craft be sure to check out these tiered tray mini farmhouse signs.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Click here to see more DIY DOLLAR TREE crafts on my blog

how to make your own book stack using Dollar Tree books & your Cricut cutting machine

Here’s what you need

• 3 paperback books (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)

• twine

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut Design Space

• green cutting mat

• matte black vinyl (here’s the vinyl I recommend)

• transfer tape

• xacto knife, sewing pin, or picker to weed vinyl

• vinyl squeegee

• FREE ‘it’s good to be home’ SVG

1. CUT OUT DECALS

You can get the SVG I used to make my book stack in my free resource library. In Cricut Design Space I adjusted the height of the words so that they would fit on the spine of the books. Also want to note that I left my words on lock mode so that the width adjusted with the height if that makes sense. My book spines measured around .75” with the covers on so I made my decals .69”. That size seemed to be perfect for my book stack.

I cut my words out on black matte finish vinyl using my Cricut cutting machine and green cutting mat. Then I weeded my design using an exacto knife.

2. REMOVE THE OUTER COVER & PAGES

This is super easy! to get that rustic look of your books you just need to remove the cover, the shiny spine of the book, and the first few pages. They will rip right off. Something I also did was rip out a few extra pages so that I can use them to make some Easter bunny garland out of them. You want to do this with all three books.

This is what my stack looked like after I removed the covers. There is still paper and it’s not completely smooth but that was the look I was going for. I could have kept peeling or taken a sanding sponge to it but I like this look.

3. APPLY THE DECALS

When you get to this step be sure you take your time. This word decal has super skinny lines so it’s easy to mess up especially if you’re moving too quickly. I actually messed mine up a little and lost the dot to my “i”. I ended up having to recut just the dot but if I was more focused I wouldn’t have lost that tiny guy. A little behind the scenes while I was making this book stack…I had 5 kids, 15 baby chicks, 4 baby ducks, 2 dogs, and a cat all in my craft room while making these lol! We most definitely have that beautiful chaos going on 24/7 in our home. We had just picked up our new feathered babies the day before so their temporary home while they grow is in bins with heat lamps over them on my craft table.

I used my favorite clear transfer tape to transfer the decals on the spines of my books. I didn’t measure or get super exact with this. I just eyeballed it and that worked great. I used my trusty blue vinyl squeegee to help press my decals down so that they were good and adhered to the sides of the books.

Then I slowly removed the transfer tape. Be sure to go super slow on this step.

4. TWINE

Stack your farmhouse books in order then take some twine and wrap it around your books. I chose to tie a bow on the spine side but you can also do this on the top. I did glue some lambs ear and flowers to the top of mine but I didn’t like it at all. So I removed those. They came off pretty easy because I glued them to the twine and not the page itself.

Look at that before and after. So pretty!!!

That’s it! Such and EASY rustic home décor DIY project! I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions about this craft or any other projects on my blog comment below or message me in the about section.

Check out more DIY crafts below

Dollar Tree mini St. Patrick's Day sign makeover + FREE SVG

I’ve been working on this little cozy space my girls have claimed in our new home, well it’s actually 100+ year old home but it’s new to us. It’s their play/reading area/hangout zone but I really wanted this space to look like it had more purpose than that. I wanted to create a space that screamed (in a super sweet polite kind of way ;)) “you are loved, you are beautiful, and your heart is amazing, daughter” kind of vibe.

While I’m creating this darling daughter you are loved space I want to share with you not just how I DIY-ed it all but I also want to share with you the same exact cut files and printables I used so you can use them too if you want. You can find all of my freebies in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Total transparency here… AFTER I wrote this post (meaning I had already finished the sign, took all the pictures, uploaded everything, pushed publish on the post and posted it to social media) I realized a big UH OH moment! I had added the word to too many times to the “it’s ok to have a bad day” quote. HUGE facepalm to myself. But I have since fixed my error, and honestly though how fitting of a mistake for this project. It really is ok to have a bad day ;)!

Since I’m a frugal kind of momma I extra love how affordable this sign was to make. While I love using my power tools I didn’t use any to make this sign. I actually bought an already made sign from the Dollar Tree and gave that a little makeover. I spent less than $2 to make this small free standing sign using my Cricut and I want to show you how you can make your own without power tools too.

DIY FREE STANDING SIGN + FREE SVG

See the picture below…I wasn’t going to completely retake every single photo so you see my mistake, it’s ok to to have a bad day lol!!

Here’s what I used

• Dollar Tree free standing sign

• sanding sponge

• white acrylic paint

• paint brush

• paint tray

• black matte finish vinyl (I used StarCraft bc it’s what I had on hand but I would recommend Oracal 651 instead)

• clear transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• it’s ok to have a bad day FREE SVG

• Cricut cutting machine

• green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• drop cloth to protect your surface

1. CUT & WEED THE DECAL

I used my Cricut to cut out my vinyl decal. I used StarCraft vinyl in matte black but honestly it’s not my favorite. I highly recommend ORACAL 651 (or 631 if you have it since this project is for indoor use). I bought the StarCraft thinking I would love it as much as 651 but sadly I don’t.

Grab the SVG for FREE here.

2. SAND

A drop cloth is a must for this if you don’t want glitter everywhere. I usually always lay down a drop cloth when I crafting. It doesn’t make for a super gorgeous backdrop for my tutorials BUT it keeps my surface clean AND I can throw it in the washer when I’m done.

I used a sanding sponge to remove all of the glitter from the Dollar Tree sign first. This surprisingly comes off easily. Then I wiped it down with a paper towel to get all to the sanded stuff off of my sign.

This is what my sign looked like once I sanded it down. I could have sanded more but this much was good enough:)! You mainly want to get all of the glitter off because paint won’t cover over glitter smoothly.

3. PAINT

Then I painted my little sign. This took quite a few coats, 3 actually. I did thin layers so that they would dry smooth and fast. Acrylic paint is what I used but if you want better coverage with less coats chalk paint is a great option too. Be sure to let your paint dry fully between coats.

Here’s what my sign base looked like after the first coat of white acrylic paint.

And this is what it looked like after I painted the 3rd coat of white acrylic paint.

4. APPLY THE DECAL

I let my sign base dry overnight before applying my vinyl decal. You just want to be sure your sign is completely dry, vinyl will NOT stick to wet paint. It will peel up and the paint will be stuck to the backside of the vinyl and it will be a mess to fix…trust me I’ve been there and it’s not fun.

I used my favorite clear transfer tape to apply my decal on to my dollar store base.

After I was happy with the placement I pressed it down using my trusty blue vinyl squeegee then slowly rolled the transfer tape off of my decal. Be sure when you do this to go VERY SLOW. It’s really easy to go too fast and rip your vinyl. A vinyl squeegee isn’t a must but it does make the job easier. If you don’t have one you an use a library or rewards card.

Then found the perfect spot for it on this industrial ladder tiered shelf I scored off of Amazon. BTW this one is SUPER easy to put together if you’re looking for an easy to assemble tiered shelf. I have bought some DIY shelfs before that were total nightmares…this one was a dream to assemble!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY craft tutorial. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below. Happy Crafting!

Check out more Cricut craft projects below

Hobby Lobby picture frame makeover

EASY CLEARANCE PICTURE FRAME MAKEOVER

I love browsing the clearance aisles. Idk what it is about a good buy but it sure does give this momma a feeling of accomplishment lol! Even if what I find isn’t exactly what I’m looking for it’s usually affordable enough to buy it up and give it a little makeover.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Like these cute floating cubby shelves I picked up at Big Lots. They were nothing close to the color I wanted but the bones were good. With a little paint, my Cricut and some vinyl those boy themed shelves took little effort to transform into boho floating shelves for my girl’s bedroom.

When I found this almost outdated looking frame at Hobby Lobby for $5.49 I wasn’t loving the look it had BUT again, it had good bones so I bought it.

CLEARANCE FIND HOBBY LOBBY PICTURE FRAME MAKEOVER

Here’s what the frame looked like when I bought it. I mean, it’s cute because I actually really do love that old lady old fashioned style. But I bought this to put in my girl’s hallway/lounge area and this would totally clash as is.

I couldn’t believe this frame was $22! And this is why I love strolling the aisles of the craft stores.

This was such an easy craft!

Here’s what I used

• clearance picture frame

• pink paint (I found mine at my local home improvement store and bought a sample)

• chalk paint (I used the color sheepskin)

• paint brushes

• hot glue gun

• hot glue sticks

• xacto knife

• painters tape

• heat gun

• drop cloth to keep my area clean

• hinge clips (I picked mine up from the dollar tree but these are similar)

1.PAINT THE FRAME

The first thing I did was paint the frame. I wasn’t totally sold on painting over the florals at this point so I wanted to paint the frame first to see how it looked.

I used a paint sample of Valspar pink paint that I found at my local home improvement store. It’s more of a peachy pink color, super soft but not too girly.

I started painting and realized I forgot to tape off my edges which is why you can see the pink paint along the edges of the frame while I’m taping it off with my wide painters tape.

I used a dry 1” paint brush (is my FAVORITE CRAFTY PAINTBRUSH to use) and painted a thin layer of pink paint all over the front and sides of the frame.

I didn’t worry about painting inside the cutouts and I painted lightly so that the dark on the frame would show through in some spots.

Once the first coat of paint was dry I painted a second coat on my frame.

2. PAINT THE INSIDE

After the frame was all dry and the painters tape taken off I removed the little good vibes only decal using my xacto knife. It actually came off pretty easily. I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep it so I set it aside instead of tossing it in the trash.

I used chalk paint, the color sheepskin, to paint the frame. I would have preferred white but I didn’t have that on hand so I made do with what I had in my craft room. Sheep skin chalk paint it was!

I painted on a super thin layer, just enough to still be able to see the floral print through the paint.

After that was dry I paint a second layer of the chalk paint. I used my handy heat gun to help the paint dry a little faster.

3. ADD THE ACCENT & PICTURE CLIP

Once my paint was totally dry I used hot glue gun to attach the picture hanging clip and the good vibes only metal decal.

I arranged them on the frame before I glued them down to be sure I was happy with it.

I just love how this frame turned out!

I hope you enjoyed this frugal crafty makeover. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Dollar store Christmas star makeover

The dollar stores are really outdoing themselves lately with their Christmas selections. I have found so many great finds there to either add to my Christmas décor OR give a bit of a makeover then add it to my Christmas decorations.

I found this little wire star at the Dollar General last night and since it was just $1 I snagged it up to take it home and give it a little makeover. Frugal living just runs through my veins. If you like this budget friendly Christmas DIY you will probably love these DIY TWIG STARS that basically costs $0 to make.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I was originally going to wrap the wire star form in twine but that turned out hideous lol! It was bulky and just plain ugly. So I thought instead to remove the middle pieces and then wrap it and it turned out so simple but perfect for my Christmas decorations.

DOLLAR STORE STAR MAKEOVER

Here’s what you’ll need

• wire star form

• twine or jute

• wire cutters

• hot glue gun

• hot glue sticks

• scissors

• lighter

DISCLOSURE: not responsible for any damages caused. Please craft at your own risk :)

1. REMOVE THE MIDDLE WIRE

This was actually harder than I thought it would be. I had to try and cut it with all my might then bend it away in pieces.

2. WRAP THE STAR

Then I cut a long piece of twine and just wrapped and wrapped and wrapped till I got back to the starting point. Around the corners of the wire star I added hot glue to reinforce the frame then wrapped it in twine.

When I got to the very end I secured it in place with hot glue.

3. REMOVE THE FRZZIES

My star had a ton of frizz to it from wrapping and wrapping. So I used my lighter to remove those. I just lightly waved my lighter over the areas that I wanted the frizz gone and was sure to blow as soon as it touched the star so it wouldn’t catch fire.

That’s it! Quick and easy dollar store Christmas makeover craft.

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Interchangeable Christmas pallet sign

INTERCHANGEABLE WINTER PALLET SIGN

I love decorating for the holidays. Especially Christmas. Now that I have a bigger home to decorate I’m finding it a little challenging to do AND keep it in budget. I have always had the heart of a frugal women so spending an arm and a leg to put up Christmas décor just wasn’t happening.

That’s why in the fall I made this lightweight faux pallet sign. It’s a blank pallet style sign that I can change out with the seasons. It’s a big statement type piece that I prop up on my dining room hutch. I love this so much. Best of all the planks I used to make this sign were left over from this plank wall project.

I really tried hard to spend minimal funds for Christmas decorating. So, for Christmas I had this great idea to make stars from twigs I had in the backyard. And they turned out so cute! I want to make more!!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I made 2 smaller twig stars and 1 medium sized star. You can see how I made my twig stars click here.

I was so glad I snagged up a package of silver bells from the Dollar Tree prior to making this craft because without them I don’t think it would have turned out so cute or looked as festive for Christmas.

Here’s what I used

• 3 twig stars

• pallet sign

• jute

• 2 silver bells (these are similar to what I used)

• pushpins

• scissors

1. PLACE THE DECORATIONS

The first thing I did was place my twig stars and bells on my pallet sign to see where I wanted them.

2. MEASURE

Next I measured out how much jute I would need to hang my decorations from the backside of my sign. I doubled the amount of jute since I was looping it and hanging it from the backside.

3. ADD THE JUTE

The stars were easy to add the jute to. I just fed the jute through the top of each twig star. The bells were a little more difficult. I wanted to see the snowflakes that were on the bottom side of the bells so I had to hang them sideways.

I fed the jute through one side of the bell and then out the other side and tied the two ends of the jute together.

4. HANG

I hung my twig stars and silver bells from the backside of my pallet sign. I just kina eyeballed where I wanted them to be. Placed a pushpin there and pushed it in as far as I could get it.

Then I looped where I had tied the jute ends together around the pushpin and draped it over to the front side of the pallet sign.

I prop my pallet sign up on my dining room hutch, which one day I need to make time to give a makeover and I will most definitely post the before and after for you to see on here:)!!

Happy crafting!

Check out more below

MINI glittery fairy jar Christmas ornament

DIY FAIRY JAR CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Day 9 of DIY Christmas ornaments

If you enjoyed one of my very first ever craft tutorials that I wrote, HOW TO MAKE GLITTERY LIGHT UP FAIRY JARS, then you will love this Christmas version. It’s such a cute mini version of the large light up fairy jar and I love the winter twist that it has. With the faux glitter snow it makes me think of the winter fairy from Tinker Bell. So adorable!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I was browsing the aisles of the Dollar Tree last year when I came across a mini plastic looking mason jar in Christmas ornament form. And I instantly knew my girls and I had to make a fairy jar for our Christmas tree.

Click here for 30 days of DIY Christmas ornaments

MINI FAIRY JAR CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Here’s what you’ll need

• Dollar Tree mini plastic jar ornament

• white tissue paper

• extra fine translucent glitter

• oracal 631 vinyl

• contact paper

• faux glitter snow

• matte finish mod podge

• paint brushes

• scissors

• assorted winter accents

• battery operated tea light

• hot glue gun

• hot glue sticks

• xacto knife

• Cricut cutting machine (I use a Cricut Explore)

• Cricut Design Space

• green cutting mat

• FREE FAIRY SVG LINK

1. CUT OUT DECAL

The first thing I did was cut my fairy decal out using my Cricut cutting machine. I used my GREEN cutting mat for this and THIS SVG CUT FILE (you can use my shareable Cricut link).

I measured how big my jar was then sized my fairy to fit. I used black Oracal 631 to cut my fairy out of. This is one difference from the larger mason jar version. In that version I used a cardstock cut out fairy but for this one I wanted to use sticky vinyl, make it a little easier.

2. APPLY THE FAIRY DECAL

I applied the fairy decal to the INSIDE of the Christmas ornament. I used contact paper as my transfer tape. The end of a pen worked well to help me position the decal before pressing it down. Once I was happy with the placement I used my fingers to work out any airy bubbles.

Then I slowly rolled the transfer tape, contact paper, off and away from the fairy decal. Since this has some delicate lines it can rip easily so be sure when you do this step to go very slow.

3. APPLY TISSUE PAPER

To get the frosted look I cut a piece of plain white tissue paper so that it was a little bigger than my mason jar Christmas ornament. I wanted it bigger in case I messed up I would have a little extra to work with. You want you tissue paper to be able to fully wrap around your ornament plus cover the top.

Then I used matte finish mod podge to apply the tissue paper to the Christmas ornament. A regular artist paint brush works great for this. I covered the front of my ornament in sections with the mod podge.

The I placed the tissue paper on top of it and carefully smoothed it out with my fingers. I did this all the way around the jar.

Once I got to the top of the jar I cut off so there was just enough to cover it. Then I cut slits in the tissue paper so it would lay down smooth.

I used my paint brush again to apply mod podge to glue the top pieces down. I trimmed off the excess with my scissors.

4. ADD GLITTER

After my tissue paper was pretty much dry I applied a thin layer of the matte finish mod podge to the front of the Christmas ornament and then sprinkled it with extra fine translucent glitter. Then I let that dry.

5. ADD WINTER EMBELLISHMENTS

To make my fairy jar more winter themed I added faux glitter snow to the flowers and moss. I glued the moss down first then glued the florals to the moss.

I even glued the moss to the bottom piece that screws onto the Christmas mason jar. I added the faux snow here and there.

6. ADD A TEA LIGHT

I let my ornament dry then I added a tea light.

I think it turned out SO CUTE!

If you have any questions please ask below in the comments.

Happy Crafting!

Check out more DIY Dollar Tree crafts below

Dollar Tree Christmas Tree rustic decoration

Have you been to the Dollar Tree lately? I don’t get there as often as I’d like but I did get a chance to stop in last night and WOW their Christmas supply gets better and better every year!

They have these cute Charlie Brown looking Christmas trees this year and I just couldn’t leave the store without buying a couple of them.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

This DIY was SUPER easy! It was almost mess free and it was ready to put on the shelf in just a matter of minutes from taking it out of the plastic Dollar Tree bag.

EASY DOLLAR TREE CHRISTMAS TREE DIY

Here’s what I used

• Dollar Tree Christmas tree

• scrap piece of burlap

• old jar from the Dollar Tree

• twine

• glue gun

• gorilla hot glue sticks

• scissors

• fairy lights from the Dollar Tree

I had everything except for the Christmas tree on hand which was awesome because when I bought the tree I had no idea what exactly I was going to do with it. Which is usually how I shop for my projects lol!

1. CUT THE BURLAP TO SIZE

I used a piece of scrap burlap I had from years ago (I don’t throw anything away lol). I placed my old jar on the burlap, pulled the burlap up over the glass so I’d know how big of a piece I’d need.

Then I cut that into a circle. I just eyeballed this. Also, this glass used to hold craft supplies and since I was covering it I didn’t think I needed to give it a bath first.

2. ADD TWINE

I didn’t get super fancy with this at all. I cut off a piece of twine I thought would be long enough to tie around the bottom lip of the glass then then pulled it tight and tied it in a bow.

3. ADD THE TREE

I didn’t want to mess with stuffing anything into the jar to hold the tree up so instead I hot glued it in. This took a bit of trial and error before I finally got it to stick right.

What worked for me was taking a piece of the discarded burlap and hot gluing it to the bottom of the tree.

Then I added more hot glue to the bottom of the burlap and stuck the tree in the glass jar. I held it there till the glue was dry. It didn’t budge after that!

4. LIGHTS

My tree was looking kind of sad so I found some lights I had bought from the Dollar Tree over the summer and strung them on the tree. They are battery operated so I just stuck the battery pack into the glass jar to hide it.

That’s it! It turned out SOOOOO CUTE! And so crazy easy! It’s nice to do a craft sometimes where the results are kinda instant and you don’t have to wash out any paint brushes or clean up hardly anything.

I can’t wait to get more of my Christmas decorations made for my new house! Let me know if you have any questions about this DIY in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Check out more Christmas DIY tutorials below

Simple Halloween décor using a witch hat

Easy Witch Hat Halloween Decoration

There are some really super cute Halloween decorations out there. I love simple AND frugal! I’m not one to spend a lot on décor so I really loved this easy and cheap project!

If you want even more fun HALLOWEEN DECOR IDEAS be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for more DIY’s for the fall season.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you’ll need

• witch hat

• something to measure with

• vase - I got mine from the Dollar Tree

• glue gun

• glue stick

• Cricut (I used my trusty old Explore cutting machine)

• Cricut Design Space

• green cutting mat

• black cardstock

• grab the Cricut file here to make it even easier

The first thing I did was measure the opening of the witch hat.

Using Cricut Design Space I made a 9” circle and cut it out on black cardstock using my Cricut Explore.

Next I used my glue gun and added hot glue to the top of the vase.

Then I quickly placed my cardstock circle cut out on top. Be sure to do this step quickly because hot glue can dry fairly fast.

Then I placed it on my hutch and added my witch hat.

I love it! It was so super easy and adds so much height to my Halloween display.

I hope you enjoyed this super simple Halloween craft. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Check out more of my fun Halloween & fall crafts below

Painting with nature, a creative and fun experience to enjoy with your kids

Painting with nature, have you tried this with your kids? If not you are totally missing out on a ton of fun and creativity! I’m a momma to four girls and I LOVE that my almost preschooler loved it just as much as my middle schooler. So this craft is truly one for all ages.

What made this even more fun was that the girls gathered their own materials. They each went hunting in the yard and selected some really cool pieces of nature to paint with. Some of the nature items they found were dandelions, tree leaves, clovers, broken acorn shells, seeds from inside of pods, tree bark, and I know there’s more I’m forgetting. They really enjoyed this part. Watching them pick up the different materials that nature was offering and thinking how that would look on their paint canvas was too cool to see.

If you want to paint with nature but you need a mess free option be sure to check out my post on how we painted with pine cones. I don’t think my girls got a drop of paint on them for that project.

After you read this kid friendly DIY craft be sure to check out my other fun projects that are kid approved. Click here to go to my kids craft projects.

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

This is such a great activity to do outside if you can. If you can’t no worries I promise it will be just as fun! We gathered our nature painting pieces from our backyard but if you don’t have a backyard you can take a stroll around the park or even just down the sidewalk. The kids are sure to find some useful nature pieces there, even just a twig and a dandelion are perfect for this craft.

HOW TO PAINT WITH NATURE, AN EASY AND FUN CRAFT FOR KIDS

Here’s what you’ll need

• pieces of nature, let them gather whatever their creative hands can pick up

• canvas, we used 4”x6” canvases we found at the Dollar Tree

• food coloring, we used these gel ones

• acrylic paint

• water

• paint tray

• paint brushes

• aprons

• table covering, I invested in drop cloths for my crafts and LOVE using these!

Let the kids get messy! Getting messy is all part of the creative process. We kept our nature painting outside. I put a drop cloth over our patio table and had my girls wear aprons. The older three daughters wear adult aprons like these that we tie up on the neck and the youngest daughter wears a kids apron. With all the crafting we’ve done over the years these aprons have held up really well.

We used a combination of food coloring and acrylic paint to paint our nature canvases. I thought a watercolor look to these would be really pretty but we didn’t have any watercolors paints to use. Food coloring on the canvases turned out AMAZING! They looked just like watercolors, well they did at first but then the girls kept painting over their masterpieces to get them just right lol! We also used food coloring during our TIE DYE experiment and those turned out way better than I thought they were going to. Read about how to TIE DYE with food coloring here.

Painting with nature process is overall pretty simple, here’s how-

ONE- Gather your pieces of nature, canvas, paint and other materials and prep your work area

TWO- If you’re using food coloring you can mix that in your paint wells on your paint tray. I used a medical syringe, like the kind you get from the pharmacy, to squirt water into the paint well, this way I didn’t overfill them, then added drops of food coloring. I used a paintbrush to mix the water and food coloring together and that worked great.

THREE- Get creative and start painting with nature. I just let my girls paint with whatever and however they wanted. The only rule I had was to not argue lol! Let’s be real here, crafting with multiple kids, especially preteens, isn’t always the most enjoyable when the bickering starts. My girls know that if they start arguing with one another there's a good chance momma will make them pick up and put everything away. It’s a wonderful way to keep the peace.

We found that painting on the leaves worked really great for making prints of them. The key was to not apply too much of the food coloring mixture/paint.

Then press the leaves, or other nature items, onto the canvas.

If you want a good print of it press gently, don’t push it around this will cause the paint/food coloring to smear and will not give a good crisp print.

Here’s a leaf print my oldest daughter, who’s in middle school, made. I was actually surprised at how much she enjoyed this nature painting craft. She took her time and carefully picked her nature pieces, colors, and placement of all the things.

Just remember, if their projects turn out to be a crazy dark blog looking painting embrace it! Tell them they did a BEAUTIFUL job and enjoy the time you spend together creating. These are special memories you’ll look back on <3!

Let me know if you have any questions about painting with nature. Happy crafting!

How to make your own corsage with faux flowers

DIY YOUR OWN CORSAGE WITH FAKE FLOWERS

Real corsages are gorgeous! But they can be a little pricey, especially for being a small part of the fancy attire. Our small town held a father daughter dance and I really wanted my girls to feel extra special and wear a corsage. Since my husband was taking three of our four daughters I figured it would be more cost effective if I ordered them from a big chain grocery florist. I looked online and they were $20+ per corsage plus $20 for my husbands boutonniere. A total of $80 for accent flowers…that was not in the budget. What I did instead was take a trip to our local Walmart and picked out some inexpensive flowers, hair ties, and floral tape. I spent a total of $13 and everyone got a beautiful corsage/boutonniere to wear to the fancy daddy daughter dance.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

I’ll be honest, I tried to make one for the oldest of the four daughters when she was in the first grade and it turned out awful! I used a real flower that was WAY too big and it seriously looked like a Pinterest fail! This time around I extra crossed my fingers they would turn out as a win and thank goodness they did! The girls got SO MANY C0MPLIMENTS on them at the dance.

DIY FLOWER CORSAGE

Here’s what I used

• faux round roses

• faux babies breath

• faux spring flower bunch

• green floral tape

• felt

• scissors

• wire cutters

• black hair tie (pony tail holder)

• hot glue gun

• gorilla glue hot glue sticks

Make this DIY even more inexpensive by visiting your local DOLLAR TREE. They have a great floral selection depending on the season.

I found everything I needed at Walmart. I already had the glue, glue gun, and felt on hand so I didn’t need to pick those up. I also had a ton of supplies left over. I used some in their hair for little accents and then still had some left over. I couldn’t believe it cost around $3 per corsage to make. That beats $20/ wrist corsage any day!

1. I cut a rectangle that was smaller than the width of one of my daughter’s wrist. This is what I glued my flowers to. Then, I cut a second rectangle that was a little smaller than the first rectangle.

2. I picked out 2 main flowers for the corsages. I used these gorgeous round roses I found at my local Walmart that were about $3 per stem. I used 2 per corsage and 1 for my husband’s boutonniere. I made these round roses the focal point and added the other flowers as accents. I pulled the round rose flower heads off of their stems then I cut them flush at the bottom of the flower so that the bottom side of the flower was flat.

3. I started layering the flowers that surrounded the main flowers. This took me a little while to get the flowers where I wanted them to go. I used a combination of baby’s breath, lavender, and a spring flower bunch. I had to trim them up here and there, so don’t be afraid to do that too. This will keep your corsage from being gigantic. See the picture below, I had to trim down the lavender stems so that they wouldn’t be so long. I did this carefully making sure I wasn’t removing too much.

4. I attached the accent flower stems together. Basically I made double ended floral stems. I tried to make them somewhat similar in size in both length and width so that the corsage wasn’t lopsided. I didn’t make them identical, I used different accent flowers on each end but was sure to incorporate baby’s breath on each end. Then I wrapped the middle of the double ended floral stem in green floral tape to keep them together.

5. I placed them on the bigger rectangle to see where exactly I wanted to place them before I started gluing anything down. This is the time to trim your felt down if you need to.

6. Then I used my glue gun to glue everything down to the felt. I first glued down the double ended floral stem I made. Let that dry so that it gets secure. Then I glued down the main focal point flowers, the round roses.

7. Fill in the gaps. After I got the roses glued down and the glue dried I added in more accent flowers where I thought the corsage was bare. I even cut off single leaves, this spring bunch I picked up had the most beautiful soft lambs ear like leaves. I added in several of those leaves where I thought they would look good. I attached some to the sides of the roses. I also did this with the baby’s breath. Before I glued them down I was sure to double check I liked that placement. A tiny dab of glue is all you need for these little pieces.

8. Once I was happy with how it look and the glue was dry I flipped it over and added a thick hair tie. While recording this tutorial I actually attached my hair tie the wrong way. For the most comfort I suggest gluing on the hair tie so that the corsage lays vertically against the wrist. So you would want to attach your hair tie so that it would sit on the rectangle horizontally. Once that glue dries glue the second rectangle on top of the hair tie so that the hair tie is sandwiched in-between the two pieces of felt. This will make it really secure and will be difficult for the elastic to come off.

I hope you enjoyed this inexpensive tutorial. Like with all of my posts, if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy crafting!

DIY Dollar Tree work for hire chore chart

Easy work for hire board

I don’t know about you but in my house we don’t do allowance. Well, not the traditional allowance anyway. Instead, we have a work for hire board. And I so wish I would have made this sooner. For years my girls have been asking “what needs to be done” for them to earn money for the not so everyday chores around the house. Of course they would ask at the times when my brain was on anything but that and I would have to stop and think hard about what needs to be done and how much to pay for that chore.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Now my brain doesn’t have that extra stress (yes, it’s a stress when your sweet daughter is asking to do work around the house so she can make some cash and your brain just draws a blank :(! ) Having this work for hire board is WONDERFUL! I clip the money to the chore that needs to be done. Then they do the chore and take their earnings. This gives them so much independence and instills a good work ethic that they will carry with them through adulthood. Everyone is happy! They get paid and I didn’t have to wash the windows lol!

Now, I don’t pay the girls to do everyday things like washing dishes, picking up the living room, washing their clothes. Those are everyday kind of chores. The chores on the work for hire board are more like washing the windows, wiping down the baseboards, deep cleaning the bathroom, organizing the stockpile, etc.

And to make it even better was that I picked up the metal tin I used for the work for hire boar from the Dollar Tree! All together this DIY cost less than $5 for everything. See more of my DIY Dollar Tree crafts.

FREE PRINTABLE- 36 work for hire chore ideas for you to print off. Click the photo below to get the password for instant access to my free resource library.

How to make a kid’s work for hire board

Here’s what you’ll need

• round metal pizza pan, I got mine from the Dollar Tree

• small magnets

• chalk paint

• acrylic paint

• clothes pins

• paint brush

• oracal vinyl (this is where I got mine)

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• clear finishing spray

• wide ribbon

• work for hire svg

• E6000

Helpful tools

• CRICUT (I use an explore)

• CRICUT CUTTING MAT

• CRICUT ACCESS

ONE-

Use chalk paint and paint the entire front of your pizza pan. I painted two coats on mine, letting the first one dry completely before painting the second coat on. To add a little rustic feel I added some cream colored accent markings to mine. I did this while the second coat of paint was still wet and just liberally added in strokes of the cream colored chalk paint. Let your painted pizza pan dry. I let mine day for several days because I had other things to do before I could finish it up. After mine dried I gave it a quick spray with a clear sealant to give it a protective top coat.

TWO-

Paint your clothes pins. I just used two colors, pink and gray. I painted my clothespins with two coats of acrylic paint to get a good coverage on them. Let them dry.

THREE-

Add a vinyl decal to the top that says ‘ work for hire’. You can make your own or grab one similar to the one I used, get it in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY. I used gray oracal 651 vinyl for mine. Even though I allowed my painted pizza pan to dry for several days I wasn’t sure if the transfer tape would remove the paint so I applied my decal very gently. I tried not to push the transfer tape down too much and focused on just the decal. Thankfully none of the paint came off of my pizza pan when applying the work for hire decal.

FOUR-

Write the chores on your clothes pins. Ours don’t change too much, they are pretty much the same things that need to be done every month so I used a fine point sharpie to write on mine. When I made mine I wrote on the painted clothespins after I glued the magnets to them…big mistake. It would have been far easier to write on them first, glued magnets second. But now I know for next time AND I know the right way to tell you how to do it so you don’t make the mistake I did.

FIVE-

Use E6000 and glue a magnet to the backside of each of your clothespins. If you’ve never heard of E6000 it’s basically a really strong glue. It does take about 24 hours to fully dry though. Oh, and it does have a bit of a weird smell to it but it is good for crafts lol! Set your clothespins somewhere they won’t be disturbed so they can dry properly.

SIX-

Add a ribbon hanger to the back. Make sure it lines up with the front, you don’t want a lopsided chart hanging up after all this hard work. Use tape to hold the ribbon in place on the backside. Glue to the back side of the pizza pan using E6000. I used the discarded piece of backing from my vinyl to press the ribbon into the glue. I didn’t want all of that on my fingers. That worked great for me! Just like with the clothespins, set the pizza pan in a place it can fully dry without being disturbed.

SEVEN-

After everything is dry hang up and add your clothespins with the money attached to them.

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial and that it helps and inspires you to create your own. As with all of my posts, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Happy crafting!

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DIY Dollar Tree St. Patrick's Day rag wreath

How to make a rag wreath using a Dollar Tree wire wreath form

I LOVE shopping at the Dollar Tree. When they put one in our small town my girls and I were EX-CI-TED! It’s not that we lived too far away from the next Dollar Tree but it is so nice to have one that is just a couple minutes away vs having to get on the highway and drive 25+ minutes, we are loving this convenience! I don’t buy everything from the Dollar Tree though, but there are several things I do prefer to pick up from here like wire wreath forms. Here’s my list of the top 15 craft supplies I buy from the Dollar Tree.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

There are so many different types of wreaths you can make with the wire wreath forms but my absolute favorite are the rag wreaths. They are so beautifully imperfect and they tie in nicely with my rustic/inexpensive style lol! This is my third rag wreath I’ve posted here on my blog. My first one was this super country cottage chic spring wreath. I really wanted to put it up for Valentine’s day this year but decided against it since it has bunnies for one of the prints. My second rag wreath was this rustic but patriotic red, white, and blue one.

For my St. Patrick’s Day rag wreath, or tied fabric wreath as some call it, I wanted to add a little sign that said welcome. I admit I took the easy way out and didn’t stencil the sign, I made a vinyl decal instead. It is far easier to make these they just don’t last as long as the fully painted signs I create and ship world wide in my handmade business. Check out my handmade signs here. If you’ve been dreaming of making your own hand painted wooden signs but you keep running into problems my sign painters e-course is for you!

Check out the rag wreath video tutorial or keep scrolling for written/picture instructions.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own St. Patrick’s Day rag wreath

• wire wreath form

• fabric (fat quarters are great for this)

• scissors

• 2 foam shamrocks (I got mine from the Dollar Tree but these are very similar on Amazon if you can’t find them at DT)

• soft wire

• piece of wood

• Oracal 651 in green (mine came from this 651 bundle)

• transfer tape ( I used contact paper for this tutorial)

• WELCOME decal (you can get my free Cricut cut file here)

• piece of 4” burlap

• hot glue gun

• gorilla glue sticks

• white paint

Helpful tools

• wire cutters

• Cricut cutting machine (I used a Cricut Explore)

• Cricut cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• xacto knife

DIY rag wreath for ST. Patrick’s Day

One-

Unfold your fabric. Then about ever 1” or so cut a small slit on one side of the fabric. Now rip those 1” sections so that you have a bunch of strips of fabric. Repeat this step for all of your pieces of fabric. I’ve found fat quarters that you get from Walmart work really well for these wreaths.

Two-

Cut your ripped fabric strips into 3-4 inch pieces. These don’t have to be perfect, mine are never the exact same size.

Three-

Tie your pieces in a single knot onto your wire wreath form. This took me about 45 minutes to complete.

Four-

Once you have all of your fabric pieces tied onto your wire wreath form you flip your wreath over. Then push any long fabric pieces back on to the front.

Five-

Set your wreath to the side so you can start on your welcome sign that is going to attach to the front. I used a piece of scrap wood I had in the garage from a previous project. Paint the base white, I used two coats of paint to get a good coverage. Be sure you let both coats dry completely before moving on to step 6.

Six-

Instead of stenciling this sign I applied a vinyl decal. I used my Cricut to cut out my vinyl decal. You can get my WELCOME Cricut cut file here.

Seven-

I bought a package of foam green clovers at my local Dollar Tree last year and thought these would be super cute to add to one side of my welcome sign. They were the same size so I trimmed down the shamrock I wanted to place on the top so that you could see a little bit the bottom shamrock showing through the edge. I did this same technique on this Rae Dunn inspired fall burlap leaf garland. Then I glued the two together and glued them down to the end of the sign.

Eight-

Attach your sign to your wreath. To do this I used a soft wire but I have no idea where I got it from. I would also recommend a floral wire for this step. I drilled holes in the top corners of my sign and used a small piece of wire to attach it to the wreath. Make a U shape to your wire, place one end of the wire in the hole of the sign and feed it to the back then twist the two ends together on the back side so you can’t see them once your wreath is hanging. Do this for both sides of your welcome sign to attach it to your wreath.

Nine-

I finished my wreath off with a 4” wide piece of burlap so I could hang it up. I didn’t really like the knot I made in the burlap so I wanted to hide it lol. I just took another piece of wire and secured the knot to the back of the wreath.

Now you're ready to hang your wreath for St. Patrick’s Day. I hope you enjoyed this crafty DIY. If you did and make your own St. Patty’s Day wreath I’d love to see pictures of it. As always with all of my tutorials, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask:)!

Happy crafting!

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Easy popsicle stick picture frame for Valentine's Day

We belong to a wonderful little program called Parents as Teachers. If you’ve never heard of this you can check out Parents as Teachers here. Every week our local PAT’s host a play group and during the holiday season they host themed groups with a fun party. This year they asked me again if I would help host the Valentine’s Day craft for the party. Of course I said yes!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I knew I wanted the craft to be a keepsake. Every momma LOVES keepsakes! They are my most favorite thing the girls bring home from school in the early years. So I searched Pinterest looking for an easy to make Valentine’s Day keepsake for little ones. I came across a fun popsicle stick frame and knew this would be something super easy for the kids and moms to make together.

My husband and I premade all the frames so everything was ready to go for the Valentine’s Day party, 30 frames total, and of couse since we live in the center of the USA winter did a little showing off, school got cancelled and so did the party *insert sad momma tears*. But we still had fun making these frames at home and the older three daughters actually had even more fun than I thought they would. They loved decorating their own frames with the Valentine’s Day stickers and cutouts.

How to make a mess free Valentine’s Day keepsake craft

Watch the video below or keep reading for the step by step instructions

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Here’s what you’ll need to make your Valentine’s Day popsicle stick frame

• popsicle sticks

• hot glue gun

• gorilla glue hot glue sticks

• stickers

• washable markers

• rhinestones other decorations

You can find all of these items at the Dollar Tree (except the gorilla glue and glue gun) but I’ve included the links if you prefer your supplies delivered right to your door:)!

To make 1 popsicle stick picture frame you need 8 popsicle sticks.

1. The first thing you need to do is put your frame together. This should be done by an adult. I’ve found using gorilla glue sticks vs regular hot glue sticks hold projects together so much better. You want to line your sticks out first before you glue them down. You will need 2 popsicle sticks on each side of the frame.

2. Once the glue has set and dried you can start decorating. No need to get out messy paint, although I LOVE paint sometimes it’s nice to not have that mess to clean up. Washable markers work great to give the frame a color and your work area will clean up with a washcloth after with no fuss. This is great for little ones who are working on their fine motor skills too!

3. Add some more decorations. Stickers are PERFECT for these adorable Valentine’s Day frames! Your kiddos can just peel off the backing and stick them wherever they would like. Let them have fun with this step. If you want you can bring out some rhinestones, sequence, and even glitter (but these will require glue).

4. Glue a photo or their art work to the back. I just used my hot glue gun to glue a photo of our sweet family to add to the frame I made for this tutorial. If you want you can also add a small magnet so you can hang it on the fridge.

5. Enjoy their art! place it on a shelf and keep it out year round. Now that my girls are getting older I am even more appreciative of all their handmade creations they’ve made me over the years.

If you have any questions about this DIY craft or any other leave a comment below. Happy Valentine’s Day!

EASY witch's brew coffee mug decal using your CRICUT

DIY - how to apply a Halloween vinyl decal to a white coffee mug using your CRICUT

I just love how a simple decal and totally change the look of something. Truthfully I NEVER use this coffee mug. Why? Because it’s all white and not at all fun to drink out of. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it’s honest. So when I go for my morning cup of room temp coffee {because I am not a big fan of warm/hot coffee} I always pass by this guy and reach for a cheery option.

I wanted to do a tutorial on how to apply vinyl to coffee mugs and knew this coffee mug would be the perfect sacrifice for the job! And I am totally going to start drinking out of this one now that it got a little Halloween decal makeover!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I chose a super simple font and saying, because I wanted to keep it easy for my first tutorial on applying a vinyl decal to a coffee mug. If you have Cricut Design Space you can use the font for free on there, but if not you can find a million different fonts on a number of font downloading websites. The font on Design Space is FOUR SEASONS HOME DECOR

PSSST if you need to make your own striped wood pumpkin that’s peeking on the side of this pic go here ——> DIY WOOD PUMPKIN

How to apply a Halloween vinyl decal to a coffee mug

Here’s what you’ll need

• CRICUT CUTTING MACHINE

• BLACK ORACAL 631 VINYL matte finish

• SISER TRANSFER TAPE

• VINYL SQUEEGEE

• SCISSORS

• WHITE COFFEE MUG {or stop at your local dollar store and pick one up}

• XACTO KNIFE

• CRICUT CUTTING MAT

• CRICUT DESIGN SPACE
  

First make your design. I used FOUR SEASONS HOME DECOR font in CRICUT DESIGN SPACE. I made my decal 3”x3” so it would take up a good portion of the area I was applying it to. Before you send it to the mat be sure your design is SAVED and either WELDED or ATTACHED. This way your design cuts out like you see it on the screen instead of the letters jumbled around.

TIP: I usually always save my font name into the title so I can remember what I used

I used a Oracal 631 vinyl in BLACK and in a MATTE FINISH. This grade of vinyl is for temporary or indoor use. I can not go in the dishwasher and I would not recommend using this grade of vinyl if you’re wanting it to last longer than one season. I plan to remove this after Halloween and apply a Christmas or wintery decal. If you do want a more resistant vinyl use ORACAL 651, that is outdoor grade and is what is recommended for a long lasting decal.

Weed your design. I use an Xacto knife for this but you can use whatever weeding tool you are most comfortable with, even a sewing pin will get the job done.

Before you can apply your decal you need to be sure that your mug is free and clean of any oil or residue. Use a lint free cloth and rubbing alcohol to clean the area you are applying the vinyl decal to. Do not use a cotton ball for this as it will totally leave behind fibers that will get stuck under your design and they will stick out and you will be able to see them ;)!

Apply your transfer tape to the front of your decal. Rub the front and back with your vinyl squeegee {if you don’t have one you can use a rewards card from the store} then slowly peel the paper backing away from your decal, leaving your decal attached to your transfer tape. The purpose of transfer tape is to easily transfer your design from the paper back it comes on to the base you are applying it to.

Hover your decal over your mug to decide where exactly you want it. If you need to apply tape to use as a guide that is ok. Do not press your decal down until you are positive that is where you want it. Then press down the middle and work your way out. Applying decals to curved surfaces isn’t always easy so go slow and give yourself grace if it is a crooked disaster the first time. It’s ok if you transfer tape doesn’t lay flat on your mug, you’ll see mine do this in the video, but the important thing is that the design does.

Starting in one corner slowly peel/roll the transfer tape away from the mug leaving the vinyl decal attached to the mug. If your letters want to come up with the transfer tape just push them back down with your finger and keep rolling the tape away. After you completely remove the transfer tape take your finger and rub along each letter to make sure that they are adhered and there aren’t any air bubbles.

I know I will be loving this mug now. And the saying is pretty fitting for my grouchy days lol!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it helps you create your own DIY vinyl decal. If you have any questions please ask away:)! I am honored to help you on your crafty journey.

Check out the full video tutorial below. I would LOVE if you subscribed to my YouTube channel. It’s how I am able to reach even more people who want to learn more about the crafty world.

For more fall themed projects click the button below

DIY Dollar Tree fall leaf garland

I just can’t get enough of fall décor! Especially when it literally costs me less than $3 to DIY! My four daughters and I went to the Dollar Tree last week to pick up some things for the oldest daughter’s friend for her birthday {see the fun dollar tree inspired birthday gift we made for her } and of course they had some of their Halloween and fall things out. So naturally we HAD to buy a few things to make some DIY rustic décor and a fun Halloween wreath that I can’t wait to start on. I’ve been on a DIY frenzy trying to get all my fall décor made before school starts back up. The last couple of years have had me so busy I didn’t decorate much for fall…or Christmas for that matter {aside from the traditional tree and stockings}. So this year I am making it my mission to bring the holiday explosion to our home, and I’m doing it the frugal way.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

How to make your own Dollar Tree Rae Dunn inspired fall burlap garland

Here’s what you need to make your own FALL burlap garland

• 2 packages of burlap leaves from the Dollar Tree

• twine/jute

• black acrylic paint

• white acrylic paint

• Cricut & cardstock to make stencils {or you can free hand these with an acrylic paint marker}

• scissors

• glue gun

• wire cutters {only if the wire will not easily come apart from the burlap leaves}

• 1 medium paint brush

• 1 small paint brush

• mini clothes pins

Cut out your stencils. I used a skinny type font and my Cricut Design Space. I made them 2.5” tall and cut them out of cardstock. Before cutting them out I made a line in the “A” so that the middle would stay attached while stenciling and I just free hand painted that small part in once I was done.

Remove the wire “stems” from the burlap leaves. For me, the brown ones peeled away super easy but the orange ones didn’t want to come off without taking the burlap with it. So, I used wire cutters on the orange ones.

Because these Dollar Tree burlap leaves are the exact same size you will want to trim up the brown ones so that you have and orange border going around them once you are finished. Just take a small amount off the edge, following the shape of the leaf.

Paint the brown burlap leaves white, even the back. The medium sized brush works great for this step. Let dry.

After the white paint is dry you can stencil on your FALL letters. I just held my in place and used a pouncing motion like I did on this stenciled canvas tote bag. Take care not to get outside the cardstock lines. If you need to you can use painter’s tape to tape the stencil off so you won’t have any bleed lines {just don’t press the tape down too much so it doesn’t mess up the work you’ve already done ;) }

Once your stenciled area is dry you can glue the white burlap leaves onto the orange burlap leaves. I only applied glue to the center of the white leaves. I didn’t want them to be completely glued down all the way around.

Measure out how long you need your burlap to be then add a few inches so you can loop the ends to hang. Attach your leaves with the mini clothes pins, or you can hot glue the burlap leaves directly on the twine.

Then you’re all done! SOOO super easy! And it was super inexpensive! Pair this with these rustic candy corns made from a 2x4 or this DOLLAR TREE painted pumpkin DIY makeover.

Check out the full video tutorial to these Rae Dunn inspired DIY burlap Dollar Tree FALL garland

Need more crafty fall ideas? Click here ——> for more DIY Halloween & fall decor

Ultimate Dollar Tree birthday gift idea

The best kid’s birthday gift idea when you’re on a budget

It’s no secret that my girls and I LOVE the dollar tree. Seriously, we were just there today and when we got home my oldest couldn’t believe that we spent and entire HOUR in there and it literally felt like only 20 minutes had past lol! Yep…raising those girls right!

Our sole purpose of the trip was to find a couple gifts for the oldest daughter’s friends for their birthday parties. Raising a family of 6 isn’t a cheap task. So, things like friend’s birthday parties typically have a pretty small budget of $10 per kiddo. At Walmart $10 doesn’t get you much from the toy aisle or any aisle that a kid would be interested in anyway. But, I have to say over the years we have gotten really good at whipping up some amazing birthday gifts on the $10 budget. And I can’t wait to share the latest gift that comes in WAY under budget! Under budget meaning 70% lower than what we typically budget for friend’s birthdays.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

How was I able to create two gifts for kids for under $6?

Well, first the Dollar Tree. It is FULL of really amazing things that on their own may not be all that amazing but when paired with something else, like let’s say a personalized wood letter cut out, can be one of the best gifts ever! And second, I just purchased a scroll saw last weekend with the money that comes in from my handmade business so I used that to create the customized gifts for her friends.

My only regret is not buying a scroll saw sooner. If you’re curious about the one I purchased you can see more about the Ryobi scroll saw here. And if you wanna know about the other tools I have in my shop I’ve written a break down of which tools every crafter needs.

I used my Cricut Explore to cut out the letter E and the dog from cardstock. Then I outlined them with a pencil on a scrap piece of 1x8 that had been sitting on the wood shelf in the garage. Using my new handy scroll saw I cut out the shapes. Gave them a light sanding and they were ready to add to the items we picked up at the dollar tree.

Here’s what we picked up from the dollar tree

• 1 package of purple/pink 6 pk glitter

• 1 package of blue/green 6 pk glitter

• 1 package of purple/pink sequence

• 1 package of small containers

• 2 paint pots

We bought the small containers to fill with white paint and glue {which we have a TON of at home} . Since the paint pots don’t come with white paint and sequence doesn’t stick well to paint we thought those additions to the birthday gifts would be a good idea. I wrote on the outside of the containers which one was glue and which one was paint so there wasn’t any confusion when the birthday girl goes to use her new craft kit.

The glitters and sequence were individually wrapped so we pulled them off of the original packaging {they were just taped to the thin cardboard} and gave each birthday girl 4 glitters and 2 sequence.

To keep the birthday crafts looking somewhat professional I packaged the craft supplies in a clear goody bag {the party favor kind} that we already had left over at home.

I am so excited about this new DIY birthday craft idea! It’s absolutely perfect for the crafty kiddo in your life and it costs just a few dollars to create! I can honestly say that our girls loved this idea so much they each want their own.

———> Want more crafty gift giving ideas? Check out my post on these top selling kid approved DIY CRAFT KITS FOR KIDS

——> Also, you don’t want to miss this a great list of the PRE TEEN CRAFT IDEAS, because they can be so hard to buy for sometime

Dollar Tree pumpkins, how to give them a RUSTIC makeover

Frugal fall decorating, how to give a Dollar Tree pumpkin a rustic makeover

We’ve all seen them the bright orange pumpkins on the shelves at the Dollar Tree. You think to yourself ‘I could paint that up and make it look soooo much better’. Then fall comes and the darn ugly pumpkin is still sitting there untouched by your creativity. Yep…that’s me. I am totally that kind of Dollar Tree shopper and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

After having several of these little pumpkins sit on my craft room shelf for almost a year I decided what better time to give them a makeover than now?! Fall is almost here and I have been working like a busy crafty bee trying to gear up for this season. Check out my latest DIY, 2x4 candy corn they turned out SO stinking cute! AND you don’t want to miss this frugal find, Walmart clearance shoes, that I gave a total makeover to for my 3 year old to wear this fall. She absolutely LOVES them!

How to turn your DOLLAR TREE pumpkins into rustic perfectly distressed pumpkins

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I had everything I needed on hand, including the pumpkins, but here’s what I used to turn my pumpkin from bright orange into rustic farmhouse.

• Dollar Tree ugly pumpkin

• white spray paint

• skewer

• gold chalk paint

• lagoon chalk paint

• antiquing wax

• chip brush

• paint brush

• paint tray

First you want to paint your pumpkin white. I used what I found in our garage but you can use any kind of white FLAT spray paint. Stick the skewer in the bottom of the pumpkin so you can hold the pumpkin and spray all around it. Let it dry before you put it down. I used a blow dryer to speed up this process.

Next you want to paint your pumpkin with your gold chalk paint. I broke 3 small pieces off of the skewer and stuck them in the bottom of the pumpkin so that it would stand up and not touch the table while I was painting it. Let that dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Once your gold chalk paint is dry you want to very lightly dip the tip of your brush into your teal/blue colored paint. I used a color called lagoon and on it’s own is VERY bright but when used as an accent color it is absolutely gorgeous! You don’t want to completely cover the gold paint but lightly brush over it leaving light streaks of the lagoon colored paint. This will dry pretty quick.

Next you are going to repeat the previous step but instead you are going to use antiquing wax and your chip brush. I added a little more wax than I did the lagoon colored paint to give it a more rustic look. TIP: trim your chip brush down to about an 1” and it will work MUCH better.

Once you’re satisfied with your coverage you are all done! I’m not totally loving the stem on this on so I might replace it with a stick from the yard but for now it will tie in perfectly with my fall décor! I paired it next to the glittery gold 2x4 pumpkins I made a while back.

If you loved this tutorial you will love even more of my DIY fall craft tutorials

Check out the full video tutorial below

DIY Light Up Fairy Jar

How to make your own light up glittery fairy jar lantern

Making your own light up fairy jar is easier than you think. This has been a favorite craft kit in our Etsy shop and for good reason…it’s absolutely adorable! When we had our brick and mortar craft studio this was always a top choice for the kids to make too. There’s really not anything that can top a glowing fairy lantern that’s covered in glitter!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

If you love this mason jar craft be sure to check out this adorable DIY UNICORN MASON JAR CRAFT TUTORIAL

Check out this similar MINI version of my DIY LIGHT UP FAIRY JAR…in CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT form. See the video below

What you’ll need

• fairy template (get my free template to use with your Cricut)

• CRICUT CUTTING MACHINE

• CRICUT ACCESS {Cricut Design Space}

• smooth mason jar

• 1 piece of tissue paper

• white glitter

• matte finish mod podge

• sponge brush

• black cardstock

• twine

• flower accents

• battery operated tea light

• low temp glue gun

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Make your DIY LIGHT UP FAIRY JAR even easier and grab a —-> FAIRY JAR CRAFT KIT <——

I recommend using a LOW TEMP glue gun to attach all your floral accents. This will dry much quicker and be more stable than using the mod podge to glue. Pro tip: using a low temp glue gun is always best when the kiddos are involved. The temp is a lot lower than a high temp glue gun and if they come in contact with either the hot glue or the tip of the glue gun then their skin likely won’t blister. I let all three of my older girls use this type of glue gun all by themselves and although they’ve come in contact with either the glue or the gun they’ve never had a serious issue with them.

If you didn’t grab your own DIY FAIRY JAR CRAFT KIT you’ll need to first cut out your fairy. I used my CRICUT EXPLORE & CRICUT ACCESS for this step. Grab my fairy template from my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY

Next apply your mod podge to the INSIDE of one side of your smooth mason jar. This is easier than applying the glue to the cardstock fairy then trying to place it inside of your jar.

Then place your fairy inside, be sure to position it so it's not crooked. Hold the fairy in place with the end of your brush for a few seconds until it’s set.

If you didn’t grab a craft kit, cut your tissue paper down so it is slightly bigger than your jar. You are going to mod podge this to the OUTSIDE of your jar. I find it easier to glue one side at a time.

Apply a good layer of mod podge to one side of your jar, be sure to get good coverage. Place your tissue paper down and slowly pat it down to work out all the bubbles. If it rips, don't worry this won't be super noticeable as you will be covering the jar in glitter. You will do this all around the jar till it is totally wrapped in one layer of tissue paper

After you’ve mod podged down your tissue paper trim away the excess where the lid will be screwed on. This makes it easier to get the lid off an on.

Apply a good layer of mod podge around the entire jar. Be sure it's a good layer so it doesn't dry by the time you get all the way around the jar.

Sprinkle your white glitter all the way around your jar. I typically focus around the corners but there's no wrong way to do this step.

Once your done glittering the outside of your fairy jar turn it upside down on the table and let dry. You will want it completely dry before you start gluing all your accents on.

Accent time! A grown up will want to help with this part if a glue gun is involved. 

I recommend not hot gluing your twine OR your accents to the lid itself. Gluing it to the lid will make it difficult to get the lid on and off AND your accents are likely to fall off easily if glued directly to the lid. Instead, glue your twine just below the bottom lip at the top of your mason jar.

Using your hot glue gun glue one end of your twine down just below that bottom lip of the jar. Wrap the twine around a few times. Then glue the second end in place.

Now, glue your accents right onto the twine. It helps if you trim down the flower bases so that they can sit flat on the twine.

Insert your tea light, turn off the lights and you're done! You've just created the cutest little fairy jar light!

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