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??

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Christmas Ornament Inspiration. . . .

I have been very inspired this season by the Christmas

creativity that has been floating around blogland....

Here are some of my favorite ornament ideas......

{Scrabble Tile Ornaments}

{Vintage Mod Podge} 

{Burlap Word Ornaments}

{Pom-pom Snowman Ornament}

{Glass-filled Ornaments}

{Musical Ornament}

{Paper Lolli Ornaments}

{Upholstery Tack Ornaments}


I am pinning my own page for next year because I will need
to start crafting on Labor Day to complete all the fun
projects that I want to tackle next year!

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Advent Wreath

I was raised Presbyterian, so Advent was a big deal growing up.....while we no longer celebrate Advent at church, the tradition of Advent is still a unique way to focus our family on the coming of the Christ child at Christmas.


In the past my hubby would say....why don't we buy a real Advent wreath and celebrate Advent?? Well....because an Advent wreath costs too much to buy???


So last year, I got creative and decided to make my own.....using materials from The Dollar Tree and The Goodwill Store!

I started with ribbon and glass containers from The Dollar Tree.....

I just hot-glued some of their ribbon to the glass container.

Then I went to Goodwill and turned an old picture frame into a tray...

I spraypainted the frame black, distressed it with sandpaper and added some

fabric instead of the odd-looking photo that was originally there.

Then I added some inexpensive handles that I purchased at my local True Value hardware store....

From there, I just put my ribbon-covered containers on the tray....

....and added greens and holly......(my hubby recently told me that the holly is actually supposed to be there....it apparently represents the crown of thorns that Jesus wore at his crucifixion
.....and I was just going for a "pop of red!")

Here's a little background on Advent  (excerpted from here.)

The first is called the "Candle of Hope." It symbolizes faith in God keeping his promises to humanity. The second is called the "Candle of Preparation," reminding Christians to "get ready" to receive God. The third candle is the "Candle of Joy." It recalls the angels joyfully singing about the birth of Christ. The fourth candle, the "Candle of Love," reminds Christians that God loves them enough to send his only Son to Earth. The "Christ Candle," the white candle in the center, stands for Jesus Christ himself.

What are you doing to help focus your family on Christ this season?

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DIY Painted Ornament. . .

Grrrr.....I just realized that I deleted a bunch of the how-to photo's for these ornaments....truly, even though I don't have pictures, they are SUPER easy to make!


First....you take a fillable glass ornament and some acrylic paints......I used three colors for each ornament.  Then, I squirted the paint right at the opening and let it drip down the sides.


The ornament will still look a little "messy" during this phase....I panicked slightly thinking....how did I mess this up???

You want to turn the ornament upside-down on a paper cup.....this is when it turns into something pretty!

As the paint drains out, the colors blend into a gorgeous ornament!

I painted the top of the ornament with glue and shook some Martha Stewart glitter on it...

Then I just hung it with a simple ribbon...

I plan to use mine as gift toppers for Christmas presents and hostess gifts!

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Cheap and easy glass "vases". . . .

Do you see the glass "vase" filled with the red Dollar Tree Christmas balls??  It cost all of $2.00 to make!

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Dollar Tree Mantle. . . .

My Christmas mantle is almost entirely from The Dollar Tree.....

My "greens" were originally wreaths that I cut apart and wired together.....you can get el-cheapo wreaths that are really too small to hang anywhere, but when strung together make a nice garland!




The Dollar Tree sells tubes of Christmas balls.....I just dumped a tube into a glass vase that I also purchased at The Dollar Tree....I'll show you how to make the higher vase tomorrow....

I grabbed sprigs of red berries at The Dollar Tree that I cut apart and the poinsettia's were purchased after Christmas at Kmart.....I think that I spent 10 cents a bunch because they were 90 percent off!!

I'm pretty sure that I grabbed the white lights at The Dollar Tree, too, but I purchased them last year.....

You can read about my recycled fall wreath here.....

The entire mantle was easily under $20 for the entire thing.....and this is the second year I've used it.....

Oh my!....I've learned A LOT about my DSLR camera, staging and photo editing since then!  

Linking with:

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Sheet music dove ornaments. . . .

I spotted these "ornaments" at Fancy Frugal Life earlier this fall.  Lina had made them for her brother's wedding, but as soon as I saw them, I knew that I was going to use them as Christmas ornaments.....

I grabbed some old sheet music, a few pieces of card stock and some jute string.....

....and they look great with my DIY vintage ornaments!

I love simple and free....how about you?

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Recycle your fall wreath. . . .

Did you make a cornhusk wreath this fall???

Guess what.....you can recycle it into your Christmas wreath with a little bit of spraypaint!!







I took a can of silver spraypaint...glass beads that I found at the bottom of the Christmas bin....and some sprigs of red beads from The Dollar Tree....

....and I realized that I missed a few spots!  You can't see those spots when it's dark....

Can't wait to show you the rest of my Dollar Tree mantle. . . .




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Snowflake Art. . .

I am feeling COMPLETELY unmotivated to decorate for Christmas......I think that it has something to do with the fact that it has been 60 degrees here for most of the week!  Something seems wrong about having Christmas music playing while the WINDOW is open???

One thing that I want to use in my decorating this year is burlap....it's inexpensive and easy to use!

Oasis Accents linked this idea to Thrifty Thursday this week.....

I love this idea.....it's simple.....it contains burlap....and I already have the sparkly snowflakes... 

(except that mine are silver!)  

Now I just need to get myself organized.....so I'm off to check my Christmas Pinterest Boards 

and make my list (and check it twice!) to see what I need to do!

But....I know exactly where my snowflake frame is going to go!

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