Crafty Monday

So, unless you've been under a rock or are stuck in last Friday, it's kind of obvious that fall is here. And fall is my favorite season. The colorful leaves, pumpkins, pumpkin flavored everything, sweaters, boots, crunchy leaves, cool weather, and comfort food that was too heavy to eat when it was hot out:P I love it all. And I love decorating. And, of course, living on one income means coming up with holiday decorations on a budget. So here are a few tricks.

Door Wreath:

I bought one grapevine wreath several years ago and, when garlands go on sale at the craft stores, I pick them up, usually for about 60% less than they were "on sale" for a couple of weeks before their respective holidays. And I wrap my $3 garlands around my $2 wreath. I got the silk flowers from my Mom. She replaced hers, so I cut all the stems apart and use them in my wreath. I've also gotten some from yard sales. And when the season is over, I take the garland and silk flowers off, store them away for the year, and then re-decorate the same wreath with a new garland and/or flowers and ribbon. And I don't have to store a bunch of wreaths. All the garlands and flowers take up maybe 1 box in our closet.

Foam Pumpkins:

All I needed for this was some puffy paint and a steady hand, and now we have something we can put on our front porch, year after year. And foam pumpkins tend to be less expensive than real pumpkins, which can go for $10-15. This one was $6. And we lucked out on real pumpkins this year...these were grown by Tim's parents, and they gave us 3 for free.

Paper Pumpkins:

We did three of these in about an hour. I got a pack of fall-themed scrapbook paper, cut it into one-inch strips, punched a hole in both ends of the strip with a pen, and then threaded a pipe-cleaner through both sets of holes and spread out the paper strips to make cute paper pumpkins that can sit around the inside of our house. And when fall turns to winter, you can flat-pack them or use them as kindling:P They cost as much as a sheet of paper and a pipe cleaner (maybe 50 cents if you buy the sheets of paper individually at the craft store) and take up less space in storage than something you might buy at Hobby Lobby or Target. You could even put a LED tea light inside if you wanted to.

That's it for the first Crafty Monday. Check back next week to see what I've been crocheting:)