DIY Felt Fall Garland

The decorations in my house are constantly changing.

I usually decorate the mantle and a few other parts of the house specifically around the different holidays throughout the year.

I don’t go all out. I usually do something easy and make it a project I can keep from year to year. (I have big tupperware bins labeled by holiday in my basement – therefore each year I have a few more pieces to pull out and it gets easier and easier!)

In fact, this year I only let myself buy one autumn decoration.

I bought this pumpkin from Home Goods! For items that are on the larger side, I always go for seasonal – not holiday specific. This pumpkin is about 18 inches tall.

Remember this autumn wreath I made last year?

I had some leftover pieces of felt in my craft bin and this idea was brought to life.

Felt Fall Garland:

Within an hour I had:

1. Found some leaf and acorn shaped cookie cutters (from the Target dollar bin)

2. Traced on several colored pieces of felt with a fine Sharpie

3. Cut them out and laid them out in the order I wanted them to hang

4. I hand stitched them together with little knots

Then I hung it up on my mantle with my trusty blue painters tape. Voila.

I think this will transition us from fall to winter – because, yikes, I can’t believe winter is almost here!

For tutorials on the previously mentioned bunting and wreath:

Nearly No-Sew Autumn Bunting

DIY Felt Autumn Wreath

Linking up to:

Easy Easter Egg Garland

Happy Almost Easter!

Since my husband’s birthday is during the Easter season, I try to keep our decorations from being too pink and frilly. (As you can see I clearly put up my “manly” decorations – HAH!)

In my Easter “supplies” I found two new sleeves of plastic eggs I purchased last year at Stop and Shop.

(Always buy your holiday decorations after the holiday is over! While it’s kind of a buzzkill to have to use it, you’ll save anywhere from 50-80% off the cost.)

In this package was a rainbow of opalescent plastic eggs. I noticed they had two tiny holes in the top of the egg. They were probably drilled to prevent suction, but I decided to use them for another purpose… a garland!

I used two sleeves of plastic eggs and fishing line, giving this project a grand total of $2.

I took a long line of fishing string and looped it through each egg twice.

I double-looped the line so the eggs wouldn’t move around as easily. Although if you just want to string it through once, that should work just fine.

Then I strung up the garland on our mantle.

To put up my garlands I use a big piece of painter’s tape on the top of the mantle and then cover it with another decorative item. Sneaky, eh?

My husband thinks it’s kind of gaudy since they are plastic eggs, but I think it’s cute! I can enjoy it for at least a week or two.

Don’t you think they look a little bit like miniature water balloons?

For the rest of the mantle decorations, I used my infamous Wedding Accordion Wheels that have stood the test of time! I added our wooden duck (aka Scooter) back on the mantle and popped a page from an old Martha Stewart Easter edition magazine into the frame.

Lastly, I took 3 small white planting pots and filled them with shredded paper for filling Easter baskets. I topped them off with a few extra eggs and called it a day.

Voila Easter.

Don’t forget to check out last year’s “Easter Decorating in a Pinch” post.

P.S. Our bathroom is thisclose to being finished! Thanks for all the well wishes!

Love Wands and a Valentine Mantle

While procrastinating to do something (laundry? dinner? dishes? who knows?) I was perusing Pinterest and found a Valentine’s Day decoration idea that caught my eye. (Two Pinterest inspired posts in a row? Too much?)

via

I loved the idea of a heart bouquet! This blogger made them out of wooden hearts, but since I didn’t have any and didn’t feel like going to the store I decided to use what I had around the house. (Are you sensing a theme here with the way I work? Store-shmore.)

I hunted around and settled on a piece of cardboard. Yep, cardboard. Specifically a recent box I received from Shutterfly.com. I tore it until it was one flat piece and drew some hearts of varying sizes and proportions with a Sharpie marker.

I then proceeded to cut them out.

Once I had my cardboard heart pieces, I painted them with some craft paint I had lying around. I opted to add in yellows, oranges and purples to the red/pink traditional Valentine colors.

Then I added some wonderful sparkles (yes! a project with sparkle not spackle!) with glitter and beads.

Lastly, I attached a kabob stick (a favorite crafty item of mine) with my hot glue gun.

Then I took two glass vases and filled them with raffia (I think this was leftover from Christmas gifts) and then stuck the heart lollipops in at random.

On the mantle I added a few doo-dads. I bought two colorful and graphic greeting cards at the Target Dollar spot.

I put out my heart cookie cutters. And then I made a paper heart garland out of some scrapbooking paper.

Ah yes, and the age-old trick of ripping out a color-appropriate magazine page and sticking it in an extra frame. (The frame on the right holds a Martha Stewart Valentine’s Day Project photo from her magazine last year.)

This is my Valentine’s Day mantle for $3! (For the greeting cards… which I’ll probably give away anyways.)

Can you believe it’s February already? Where did January go!

Do you believe Valentine’s Day is an evil corporate plan by Hallmark? I definitely do not. All you need is love people!

Besides, if anyone is making money it’s those flower people. My husband can consider this his yearly reminder to not buy me roses for Valentine’s Day. 🙂