How to make beeswax wraps, reusable cotton saran wrap

Make your own reusable cotton food wraps

I gotta say I am impressed with these simple yet useful beeswax reusable cotton wraps. If you’ve never heard of these before you’re not alone, my husband had no idea what they were and I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted to make. You use these cloth wraps in your kitchen to replace saran wrap…genius I know! I had never used beeswax or pine resin before this DIY, I actually had no idea pine resin was a thing to buy until recently. But after seeing how easy this project was I am eager to try others that use these ingredients.

I read several different articles telling how to make them. They all basically used the same three ingredients: BEESWAX, PINE RESIN, JOJOBA OIL. Some however didn’t use the pine resin, or any resin at all, and what I read, and now agree with since I have made them myself, is that you won’t get that sticky saran wrap feel unless you use the pine resin. Technically you can just use beeswax but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you enjoy this money saving tip be sure to check out these reusable oil bottles for the kitchen.

DIY EASY BEESWAX & RESIN SARAN WRAP

Here’s what you'll need

• beeswax pellets

• pine resin

• jojoba oil

• 100% cotton fabric

• pinking shears

• chip brush

• sauce pan

• wide mouth half pint mason jar

• measuring spoons

• measuring cup

• aluminum foil

• cookie sheet

• cooling rack

• flexible squeegee

• preheated oven at 215 degrees

This is the recipe I used

• 1/2 c BEESWAX PELLETS

• 2 t PINE RESIN

• 1/2 t JOJOBA OIL

The first couple of wraps I made I only used 1 teaspoon of the pine resin and I did not like the way those wraps turned out. So I doubled the resin for the next batch and they turned out SO much better!

1.MELT THE INGREDIENTS

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees. Then mix 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets, 2 teaspoons of pine resin, and 1/2 teaspoon of jojoba oil. The BEST way to do this is to melt it all in a double boiler. I used an old sauce pan and a short mason jar for this. I put a small amount of water in the sauce pan because I didn’t want the jar to float and I knew since I was making a small batch it wouldn’t take much to heat of the jar to melt the beeswax. I used a thin chip brush to do all of the stirring.

2. CUT YOUR FABRIC

while my ingredients were melting I cut my fabric into pieces I thought would be good sizes for what I wanted to use them for. I cut a few small ones that would fit around the top of a jar. Several medium sized ones that would be good to wrap around food. And a couple of large ones that would fit around my larger sized mixing bowls. I used my grandma’s old pair of pinking shears on the edges of the fabric so that the edges wouldn’t fray once I start using the food wraps. Also, you want to be sure you are using 100% cotton.

3. BRUSH ON & BAKE

Line your cookie sheet with foil, shiny side down. Place a piece of your fabric on the cookie sheet. Use the chip brush to brush on the melted mixture. Then pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Do not skip placing it in the over. If you just brush the wax mixture on your food wraps they will be stiff, the mixture won’t be on the fabric evenly and it will result in them not working quite right. Placing them in the oven allows the wax to melt completely into the fabric and giving you a nice even coat over the entire piece of fabric.

4. REMOVE EXCESS WAX

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven. Use a squeegee, here's the kind I used, and squeegee the excess beeswax mixture off of the fabric. I didn’t do this for the first couple of wraps I made and I didn’t like how they turned out, for two reasons - there wasn’t enough resin AND they were WAY TOO stiff and waxy. None of the tutorials I read said to do this step though. So maybe they know something I don’t. But I do know when I went to use the first two to try them out before I made more they were kind of blah and I wasn’t impressed at all with them. After I squeegeed the excess off it made all the difference in the world! I didn’t let the excess go to waste either. I scooped it up and placed it back into the mason jar so it could melt back down.

5. REMOVE & LET DRY

Immediately take them off of the baking sheet and place them somewhere to dry. I lined a cookie drying rack with a piece of foil and then placed the finished wax wraps on there to dry. It didn’t take very long at all for them to completely dry on the drying rack.

6. USE

Once your food wraps are dry you can start using them immediately. I was so surprised at how well these turned out! I’m even thinking about making some to give as gifts to family and friends.

Like with all of my DIY posts if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you make these at home I’d love to hear how yours turn out!

Happy crafting!

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.

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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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DIY clearance shoes, how to paint them for fall

I LOVE the frugal life. So when my friends tagged me in a post about our local Walmart putting select kids clothes and shoes on the $1 clearance rack I couldn’t get there fast enough! Thank you sweet friends btw! Boy did we find some good deals! Including these adorable little black shoes for my 3 year old daughter.

I had never painted on shoes before but I was up for the challenge. Such a perfect blank canvas and even if I mess them up they were only a DOLLAR so it’s totally ok and I wouldn’t feel one bit bad lol.

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’m sure I didn’t use the right kind of paint {I used straight acrylic paint, not watered down} but that’s ok. My daughter won’t be wearing them very long, she’s three after all lol so she’ll outgrow them in no time.

Here’s what I used

• acrylic paint

• clearance canvas shoes from Walmart

• paint brush

• round sponge brush

• assorted orange and black ribbon

• E6000 glue

• paint pens

Pin me for later

How to paint on canvas shoes for fall

1. REMOVE THE LACES before you start painting so you don’t get paint all over them.

2. THEME unless you are just going to let the creative juices flow as you go along it is best if you have a plan prior to painting on your canvas shoes. I had an idea right before I started painting and I ended up changing it up as I went because I wasn’t totally loving the way it looked. I painted more on the back and sides and moved the bows and added the front dots after I filmed this tutorial. I LOVE the way they turned out and more importantly my toddler does too!

3. PAINTING TIPS

• if you are painting on black shoes it is best to paint a base layer of white then once that’s dry paint the actual color you want. So on mine I wanted the backs orange, I painted them white first then after they dried I painted them orange. This will help your colors to not be dark and diluted.

• use a variety of brush sizes to fit your painting needs

• don’t use too much paint. Paint in thin layers and if doing more than one layer only paint over dry paint.

• paint pens are your friends <3 ! I used paint pens to add the lines on the candy corn and pumpkin after painting them their main colors.

• use both end of your paint brush. I used the non brush end of my brush to make the small dots on the front of the shoes. This was the perfect size for these cute little dots.

4. ADDING ACCENTS if you add any accents E6000 works great to have a long lasting hold. I’ll warn ya though, it doesn’t dry fast at all.

5. LACES I opted for a more untraditional lace for these shoes but you can keep the original laces in. I thought they would be too white for this pair so I traded them out for 2 thin pieces of ribbon in orange and black on each shoe. They actually hold up pretty well too! And this type of ribbon is really inexpensive so it wouldn’t cost much to replace if I need to.

Didn’t these clearance shoes turn out sooooo adorable?!!! I wasn’t sure how I’d like that they don’t match on the fronts but I actually do love it. It screams “I don’t have perfection issues” lol!!!

I hope you find this tutorial helpful for your shoe painting adventure! I’d love to see how yours turn out! Share a pic in the comments.

Check out the video tutorial below

DIY 4th of July rag wreath

I love the shabby chic look for many reasons but mainly because that look is totally imperfect just like me. I’m a busy momma to four little girls so there’s no room in our beautiful chaos for absolute perfection.

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 needed a new wreath for our front door for the 4th of July. I have been truly slacking in the red, white, and blue décor the last few years and really needed a spruce up. But I didn’t have the time to make anything big and wonderful and it’s not in our budget to make a ton of new decorations. So I decided on a RAG WREATH for our front door and I’m so glad I did! If you like this tutorial check out the DIY spring rag wreath I made.

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Here’s what you’ll need

• 5 fat quarters of fabric, I found these at my local Walmart and even better I got a few of them in the clearance aisle!

• wire wreath form, I found mine at Dollar Tree

• scissors

If you love the big burlap bow go here ———-> to my HOW TO MAKE A BURLAP BOW tutorial.

Working with one fat quarter at a time, unfold and don’t worry about the creases. You won’t be able to see these. Going along the bottom make a small cut every .75”-1”. If you want your tie pieces to be larger make your cuts farther apart.

Now rip each of those cuts all the way to the other end using your hands, not your scissors. This will give your fabric a frayed looked.

After you have all your small cuts ripped cut each strip into 3rds like the picture below. Because I am a far cry from a perfectionist none of mine were the same size. If you like things a little more perfect than this you can measure these out.

Repeat these steps for ALL the fabric quarters.

After you have all your pieces ripped and cut into thirds start tying them to your wire wreath form. To make sure I had enough fabric to cover the entire wire form I moved to the next section before it was full and did that for all the sections. Then I went around and filled in the blank spaces.

Be sure you are staggering out your fabric prints. You don’t want too many of the same print in one spot.

You can leave it plain and simple or tie a bow to it like the burlap bow I tied to this one.

What do you think? Super adorable and SUPER easy to DIY at home!

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Check out these other 4th of July DIY crafts.

Super simple DIY, how to make a tied rag wreath for SPRING

EASY SPRING RAG WREATH

All the perfect imperfections just get me every time. I’ve never been one to be too keen on things being perfect though, I am a mom of four after all. We have coloring on the wall, chipped dishes from the girls dropping them a little too hard into the sink, and don’t get me started on what the inside of our minivan looks like…so yeah, I LOVE imperfections.

This craft fits right into my love for imperfections. the unevenness, the frayed edges, the random fabric pattern, it’s a beautiful mess! And it is SO easy to make. You literally don’t have to have any “crafty” abilities to create this gorgeous wreath.

And did I mention it’s SUPER INEXPENSIVE to make? Yup! For less than $10 you can pick up everything you need to have a perfectly imperfect wreath for spring!

So let’s get started.

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Here’s what you'll need

• a wire wreath form

• 4 fat fabric quarters

• scissors

• something to hang it with. I used thick braided rope

And that’s it! I’m telling you this tutorial is sooooo simple!

Ok, let’s get started. First, using your scissors you need to cut slits every 3/4” on the widest side of your fabric. Then rip them off individually. I’ll post a video at the very end of this so you can watch how to do this.

After all your fabric is ripped into strips you need to cut each strip into thirds. You can do several strips at a time.

Then start tying them using only one knot if you tie a double know the strips will be very short. You will use all the pieces of fabric from your 4 fat fabric quarters. I just grabbed whatever pieces and tied them on so.

This is so simple the kiddos can even help you make it. I know my girls LOVE helping me rip the strips.

Just keep tying and tying till you fill the whole ring up.

When you have all your pieces tied on you can add something to hang it with. I added a cute piece of thick braided rope I had on hand.

I just LOVE the way this turned out! So gorgeous!

Check out the video tutorial I made during a FACEBOOK LIVE