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Fun Fall Decor on the Cheap

September 21, 2009 By Michelle Barneck Leave a Comment

We have not quite entered in to “fall” yet here in Utah. The temperatures are predicted in the high 70’s this week, but you can have fall inside! Fall is my very favorite season and unfortunately sometimes here in the beehive state fall seems to be oh so short. Sometimes like 2 weeks. It is hot, then the leaves change and there is snow before they fall off the trees.

I am praying for a good Autumn this year. When it’s crisp at night and you get to pull out your sweaters for the first time. The visit to the pumpkin patch and drives up the canyon to see all the beautiful leaves. The smell of the leaves and pumpkin spice. Oh, how I love fall!

With the economy as it is and trying to be a wise consumer I have really been concentrating on using what I have and bargain shopping to feed my seasonal decor addiction. Here are my most recent displays I call an ode to fall.

I picked up this grapevine pumpkin up at Ross for $5. I loved it, but had to dress it up a bit. I remembered a scrap of ribbon I had saved from the lunch box at the Moms Who Make It conference a couple months ago. I curled it to look like pumpkin vines. The flowers were left over from the YW flip flop activity. I added a little raffia under it to give it that haystack feel.
Total cost:$5

I added more of the left over flowers to this shelf in the living room to bring in fall. Everything else was already there. That is my family motto and crest if you were wondering.
Total cost: $0

This bookshelf in the family room got the brunt of my random fall scraps. Click on the pic to get a close up.

Supplies:

  • Three bouquets of flowers from the dollar store. I was going to make flower pins and hair accessories. (I also used them for the the YW motherhood relay, which is another post entirely.)
  • Two mini pumpkins (from a set of three from Ross for $4)
  • Two sunflowers pulled out of a plant arrangement someone gave me when my little guy was a baby, that I killed and tossed a few months ago.
  • Three random candles I had sitting around
  • A fabric pumpkin from Ross ($3) that says “Give Thanks.” Put it up backwards until Halloween is over, then turn it around for Thanksgiving.
  • A pathetic plant with one long vine string, revived from my hubs old apartment. It usually sits on the kitchen table all wound around itself to make it resemble some sort of plant.
  • Raffia
  • Eternal Family sign I made at a Relief Society Enrichment activity when I first moved in 4 years ago. (We have not had a super Saturday in FOREVER. Seriously, like 2 years. Who do I talk to about that anyway? 😉 )
  • Digital pic frame that is always there

Phew! Total cost: $10

There you are, $15 spent for my little touch of fall. What do you have sitting around that you can use?

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Feature Friday-Creations By Kara

September 18, 2009 By Michelle Barneck 3 Comments

Howdy! (Ok, so I went to the Utah State Fair last night and that is a little residual hick coming out.) Today we have a special Utah home grown blog for you! Today’s Feature Friday is Creations By Kara. Kara has so many great DIY home decor ideas and is a queen of thrift store shopping. I aspire to be like her someday! Come along with me and I will show you just a few of her fab ideas! But first, let’s start off with the one-minute interview:



1. What is your favorite crafting tool or secret weapon? My favorite crafting tool is my CraftRobo cutter. I am loving it for cutting out vinyl lettering. My secret weapon is definitely spray paint. OK, maybe that’s not a secret. But I soooo love it!

2. What is your favorite season to decorate for? I love decorating for Christmas, but fall is becoming a close second. I love the holidays!!

3. How do you keep a space for your girlyness (yep, made that word up) being surrounded by 5 boys? When we built our house my totally supportive hubby made sure I had a craft room. I don’t think I could function without it! Although, right now it looks more like a tornado in a trailer park than a craft room. I need to do some serious organizing in here. It is just so hard when there are so many fun projects calling my name!

4. What is the most embarrassing that has ever happened to you at a store? One time when my second son was about nine months old, I took him shopping with me. (Because, you know, leaving them home alone is kind of against the law and all.) Anyway, when I went to check out, he was tired of sitting in the cart, so I took him out and sat him on the counter. Don’t worry, I had my arm around him the whole time. When I went to pick him back up, his wet diaper had leaked on the counter. Luckily I had sanitizer and wipes in my diaper bag, but I was sooo mortified!!!

I feel you there Kara! Just this morning we had a “potty” incident where “matter” ended up on the training seat, the toilet seat, the floor, little one’s foot, and the rug. Let me tell you how ecstatic I was. No reward sticker for that one! Thank goodness for lysol wipes!

Now, switching gears before we make y’all (State Fair coming through again) sick…

This first project feeds my love for laundry. It is a sickness, I know. What is not to love about a chore that does itself? I mean you put in the clothes, do one switcheroo and they are clean! That is my type of housework! Look at this amazing laundry soap dispenser she made from a $3 thrift store drink dispenser! Be still my laundry loving heart!



Before

After

Shall we switch over to bathroom? She has TONS of bathroom ideas because she is in the middle of a complete bathroom overhaul. Here is one of my favs. This DIY towel rack born out of a $1 thrift store frame is so simple and clean. Love!



Now for a little table makeover. Take a $20 Craigslist find, add some creativity, a little elbow grease (where did that expression come from anyway, kinda gross sounding), and $45 in supplies and Voila!

Before

After

Wow! I mean wow!

One more weakness of mine, skeleton keys. They have a certain character to them. Well, Kara took them to the next level and get this, they are to hang in the laundry room!



Plate rack: 50 cents

Frames: 50 cents each

Cardstock:on hand

Canvas: on hand

Keys: $1 each at Tai Pan Trading

Spray paint: on hand

Can you believe this cost her a grand total of $3.50? Amazing!! I have a thrift store plate rack in my basement. I think I know what I am doing with it now!!

And right in time for fall decorating a no sew fabric pumpkin. Get this, made with a toilet paper roll! What a great project for that craft group I have wanted to start!!

Or how about some Halloween costume and game ideas? My hubs will die when he sees the Rubix cube! Kara shares a full tutorial on how to make the route 66 costume.Well that’s about all we have time for! Y’all come back now ya hear. (Ok, I’m done now I swear. The fair is officially out of my system.)

Great ideas Kara! You are now entered in to the Hall of Fame as Tipster of the Week!

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YW lesson 36: Importance of Truth Object Lesson & Handout

September 16, 2009 By Michelle Barneck 7 Comments

YW lesson 36 talks a lot about how truth does not change and teaches us how to know what is truth and what are Satan’s lies. To demonstrate this I brought a rock to represent truth and a balloon to represent Satan. I talked about how the rock is solid and does not change if I drop it or the wind and rain fall upon on it. Then, I got out the balloon to demonstrate how Satan will start small and catch us with something that does not seem so bad. Then, I blew in to the balloon once. My example was lying to your parents about knowing what time it was when you came in past curfew. I then continued to list things it could lead to (bigger lies) until I had a big full balloon. Then I talked about how eventually Satan’s bubble will pop and I poked the balloon with a pin.

I made the following Importance of Truth handout to go along with it. I used the little chart from the lesson and put a little rock next to God’s plan and a stapled balloon next to Satan’s to help them to remember the analogy.

YW lesson 36: Importance of truth handouts
Click thumbnail to print four to a page

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Build Your Own Cardboard Castle

September 14, 2009 By Michelle Barneck 9 Comments

The other day we went to visit daddy at work we came home with this computer box, courtesy of his co-worker Rex. My little guy had so much fun playing with it at the office that I knew it could be great fun.

I took one look at those gray pieces of packaging foam and immediately thought castle. They were perfect for little doors. I pulled out my dollar store duct tape and went to work!


At this point we had a pretty cool little fort, but every castle needs a tower so I grabbed one of our diaper boxes from Costco. I sliced off the top four inches or so and put it on top. Then, I grabbed a box cutter and sliced a hole to match. I secured it on with duct tape on the inside and outside.

The tower needed a little flair so I went around and made rectangle cut outs every few inches. I decided to tape the back flap to the side two, but leave the front one free so he could spy through the hole or push it down completely. I had some concerns about potential cardboard cuts (those suckers are nasty!) so I duct taped around all of the exposed edges.

Then, I decided the duct tape looked cool, so I taped the whole tower. This took longer than you would think. You could also spray paint it. I liked the look at this point, but was worried about the structural integrity of the foam doors, especially in the middle where my son grabbed them to shut them.

I cut a little piece of cardboard (about 1.5″ x 15 “) and taped it inside of the doors by where they close to reinforce where they would constantly be handled. By this time, I had emptied about a roll and a half of tape and just had to find a use for the emptied rolls. Enter door handles. These have since been ripped off, but they looked cool for couple days they lasted.

What a great little place for my little prince! We love our cardboard castle! Tonight we were using the handle holes as mail slots and he would stick cards (we got in a kids meal) through them then go inside to get his “mail.”

Total cost: $2 for duct tape
Boxes on hand
Box cutter on hand

Linking up with Trash to Treasure Tues on Reinvented and

on Naps on the Porch.

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We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂
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Hi there! I'm Michelle. Mother of three little boys and one little princess. Welcome to A Little Tipsy, a place for exploring creativity and sharing inspiration.

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