Muslin-Wrapped Garland

I recently saw this muslin garland idea at Down to Earth Style and was

impressed by the ease and price to make it.

I tore my muslin into strips that were about  12 inches long, folded them,

and tied them into knots.

Total cost: $8.00

2 yards of muslin from Walmart..................$4.00

Twinkle lights from The Dollar General.........$4.00

For the complete look, I used Dollar Tree wreaths that I took apart and wired

together as a garland.  I also had a different type of pine garland that I bought at our local Goodwill.

I stuffed in some pine cones that I bought at Michael's and red berries from

The Dollar Tree....the whole mantle was put together for about $15.

Here's last year's mantle....

Yikes!......I'm not quite feeling the love.  That's even the same starter pine garland!  

What a difference layering makes!

This year I feel way more natural....using greens, pinecones, muslin, and burlap through my house.

Which one do you like??

Amazing Art Blog

{Winter Tree Art}

I recently stumbled across an amazing art blog that is just too good not to share with you all....

Since I am more of a science/math person, art tends to be my homeschooling weakness.

I didn't take many (any) art classes beyond elementary school and my drawing

skills are quite pathetic.

So.....art tends to get a slim showing in our homeschool portfolios.....but not this year.

This year, I am being assisted by the blog Deep Space Sparkle.  Patty is an art teacher who shares these gorgeous art lessons....for FREE!!

She also includes step-by-step instructions with photos.

Here are some of her projects...

{Snowmen based on the book Snowmen at Night}

{Watercolor Birch Trees}

{Planet and Galaxy Art}

We recently did the watercolor birch trees and they turned out gorgeous!!  Even my non-artsy son has a project for his portfolio that looks artistic.

My daughter and I are off to make the winter trees today.

If you are looking for more homeschooling ideas, check out my Pinterest Board!

Dropcloth Ruffle Pillow

Using THIS as my inspiration, I used dropcloth to make more neutral {inexpensive!} pillows for my living room chairs.

Remember the before.....

Here's the after.....

Instead of buying new furniture, I spent about $35 on a 12 x 9 dropcloth

from Home Depot.  

It took 3 packages of drop cloth to recover 2 living room chairs and 6 dining room chairs.

The cute basket on the left was from Goodwill....$4!!!  Don't you just love a great deal!

HERE's the tutorial for the Faux Grain Sack pillows.

Now to tackle the couch......

Faux Grainsack Pillows

I love dropcloth! It is just so inexpensive to decorate with!

Recently, I have been continuing to work on my family room furniture.  It's about

10 years old and the fabric is falling apart!

Armed with drop cloth, heavy-duty needles and a tutorial from Miss Mustard Seed,

I began recovering my chairs.

Marian's tutorials are amazing and I successfully neutralized my room, but I was still left with the "coordinating" floral pillows.

So using the same technique that I used here with my dining room chairs....

......I made myself some pillows.

I'm thinking about making some red-striped pillows to get ready for Christmas!