Category: Tutorials & Tips

Turkey Day

Published on by Our Humble Abode18 Comments

Now that Halloween is over, I am officially in Thanksgiving decorating mode.  To kick things off, I created cute turkey place cards. 

If you would like to make some for yourself, you’ll need:

One bag of mixed nuts, in the shells.  Pull out the walnuts and hazelnuts.

Hot glue gun

Dried, pressed leaves.  If you don’t have pretty leaves to dry, fake leaves or paper would work, too. 

A black pen

Oogly eyes or cardstock circles with black dots drawn in

Colored cardstock for beak and feet.  I used an old cereal box for the feet. 

To start, glue the hazelnut, pretty, slightly pointed side forward, to the top front of the walnut.  Again, the walnut should have the slightly pointed area to the front.  Then, write each guest’s name on one leaf.  Find similar sized leaves (4 more) for each turkey.  Glue the name leaf to the back at the center of the walnut.  Glue the remaining leaves and cover the glue from the previous leaves.

Cut ‘feet’ out of cardstock or thin cardboard.  First, make a slightly rounded ‘V’ shape about 1 inch long.

Cut toes by making another rounded ‘V’ in the center.  Then cut two more ‘V’s, totaling four toes.  Add a dollop of glue to the back of the V and place the walnut on top, making the turkey stand.

To make the face, use an all purpose glue to attach the eyes.  For the beak, cut a small piece of cardstock, fold in half, and cut again into a triangle.  Add glue to the V of the triangle and glue to the hazelnut.  Then, you’re done!

Top each place setting with a turkey and get ready to feast. 

Isn’t he cute?  And, when you’re done, you can eat him.  Sort of like eating the chocolate Easter bunnies.

Oh, here’s another cute idea.  Well, I think it’s cute.  Remember these felt leaf bowls I made?  Well, why not create a few more and use them as individual bread baskets?  We always have so much food on the table and so little room for each person.  This can limit the large platters on the table, and it’s something cute for guests to take home. 

If you don’t want to take the time to use tweed, you could just cut out several felt leaves, stitch the darts together and use a felt only bowl.  The leaf bowl above used a 6 inch, from top to bottom, excluding the stem, template. 

 

How To: Felt Leaf Bowls

Published on by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Last week, I shared a  few simple tablescapes, one of which included a set of felt leaf bowls.  I promised to share more about the bowls, so here I am.  Martha told me about this great DIY project.  When I say told, I mean her website suggested I look at these felt and tweed oak leaf bowls.  I printed the template on cardstock and bought a variety of felt and tweed. 

I thought I had purchased the right fusible interface, but I didn’t.  I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and asked for a little help to make sure I had the right interface.  What the woman suggested was “Wonder Under.”  Basically, it’s a sheet of iron on hem tape. One side is rough and the other side is covered in smooth paper.  Perfect for the job. 

I followed Ms. Martha’s instructions, but here are a few photos to help you along.  First, place the interface rough side down on the wrong side (the back) of the tweed square.  Press for 5 to 10 seconds, move the iron to overlap slightly and press again.  Do this until your entire square is fused.  Then, trace the oak leaf pattern on the paper side of the interface.  You don’t have to be precise with the tracing.  You could even make your own leaf pattern, just add the darts. 

Once you’ve traced the oak leaf, cut the design out.  Remove paper backing and place on the felt square.  Cover with a damp cloth and press for 10 to 15 seconds, or until fused with the felt. 

Cut around the tweed leaf design, getting as close as possible. 

One more step, sewing the darted areas.  I overlapped the backs of my pattern to make a deeper bowl, but Martha suggest sewing with a zig zag stitch without overlapping the fabric. 

I may make another set of shallower bowls, but I like how these look, so I may not.

What do you think?  Anyone going to give these a try?

We’re Stumped!

Published on by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

We’re back with yet another Halloween decorating idea.  We’ve already shared a DIY feather wreath and a spooky tree, but why not add a stump side table to an outdoor setting?  We did.  We have a huge woodpile in our backyard.  Usually it helps keep us warm throughout the winter months, but I decided to make it work a little harder.  I picked out a relatively level stump and rolled it to our front walkway and parked it next to our chairs.  I didn’t do anything else to it. 

Then, to Halloween it up a little, I topped it with a vase of pretty flowers, a paper mache skull from Michael’s that I spray painted white, a faux pumpkin from Hobby Lobby (also painted white) and a real baby pumpkin.

 Stump decoration breakdown:

Stump:  FREE

Paper mache skull:  $1.49

Faux pumpkin:  $1.49

White spray paint:  Left over from our DIY dining table

Baby Pumpkin: FREE from a friend

Total for stump and decorations:  $2.98

See the striped pillow?  I made that.  I had a few yards of white corduroy fabric left over from an earlier project, so I decided to use that rather than buy more fabric.  First, I sewed the cover, (here’s a tutorial) turning the fabric inside out.  I wanted the smooth part facing out so it would be easier to paint.  Once I had my cover, I taped off 2 1/2 inch wide stripes.

After that, it was easy.  Use black fabric paint and fill in between the lines.  Remove the tape soon after and stuff with a pillow form when completely dry. 

Pillow budget breakdown:

Fabric:  Left over from another project

Fabric paint:  Also left over from a previous project

Two pillow forms: $8.99 at JoAnn Fabric

Total cost for Halloween Pillows:  $8.99

To add more spookyness on the cheap, I picked up a plastic skeleton from Dollar Tree.

 I didn’t like the color, so covered that baby in white spray paint, too. 

Then, my skeleton fell into the freshly cut grass.  I let him dry and pulled off as much as I could and hit him with another coat of white.  He survived – he’s already dead.  Hang with fishing line and you’re done. 

One thing I loved about the Pottery Barn inspiration image were the candles.  Well, I wasn’t about to spend $30.00 or more on candles, so I looked around the house for suitable substitutes.  I had a few vintage oil lamps, so I added those to the mix.  Toss in a grapevine pumpkin and we’re done!

Miscellaneous decoration cost:

Skeleton: $1.00

White spray paint:  Left over

Oil lamps:  FREE (The black one was hanging on our fence when we bought the house and the red was a thrift store find a few years ago.  I think it was $1.50 or so.)

Grapevine pumpkin:  $2.50 at Target (but can multi-purpose for Thanksgiving, too!)

Miscellaneous Total:  $3.50

Which brings our Halloween decoration grand total to…$20.45!  And here’s how it all looks together.

Of course, we still need real pumpkins, but we’re not quite ready yet.

Eerie Tree

Published on by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

Last week, I shared a simple DIY Halloween wreath tutorial and now I’m back with another cheap spooky Halloween project, again, inspired by this Pottery Barn image.

I  love the look of the glitter potted trees.  I am aware that this version is some sort of foam, but I didn’t want to spend a ton of money for something like this.  Instead, I used a dead branch from our birch tree. 

Using a can of black gloss spray paint, I covered all areas of the branch and let everything dry.  Then, I applied a second coat to make sure the color was truly black.  Super simple. 

After the second coat dried, I placed my eerie tree in a planter I had left over. 

To cover the dirt, I spread the remaining nuts from our fall decoration around the base of the tree and threw in a few pine cones.  A little crow from Dollar Tree adds another touch of spook. 

Eerie tree budget breakdown:

Branch: FREE

Black spray paint: $1.00 at Wal-Mart

Planter: Already owned

Nuts and pinecones: FREE from mother nature

Crow: $1.00

Total Cost:  $2.00

So far, our Halloween decorations have cost $4.98, wa hoo!  We’ll cover a few more frugal decorating ideas tomorrow, so come back for more.

Here’s a tip:  If you plan to use real nuts, plan for the squirrels to eat them.  We went out-of-town for the weekend and returned to find all the nuts missing.  I’m sure the squirrels loved it. I pictured a little assembly line of squirrels passing nuts down the line until they were gone and now they’re having a feast.  Yeah, you may want to use bark, mulch or fake Spanish moss.

Let the {Halloween} Festivities Begin

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

I know, I’m a little late, but better late than never, right?  Usually, I don’t do a lot (if any) Halloween decorating, but Vincent is three this year and he’s pretty excited about pumpkins and Halloween in general.  I was inspired by this Pottery Barn image. 

Almost anything Pottery Barn is beautiful, but I really liked the color palette, tons of pumpkins and the wreath.  I saw a similar black feather wreath at Michael’s for $14.99, but I didn’t want to spend that much on a once a year item.  Instead, I went to Dollar Tree and picked up a simple wreath form.  Then, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and picked up two different types of black feathers; one package of large (about 6 inches or so) feathers and another of smaller, filler feathers. 

Once I returned home, I spray painted all sides black using paint I had on hand.  After the paint dried, I tied a loop of fishing line around the wreath form.  Our front door has trim that prohibits the use of a traditional wreath hook, so I have to hang wreaths using ribbon or string.  After attaching the fishing line, I used my handy-dandy hot glue gun to attach the feathers. 

I started by placing  a few of the filler feathers in to cover the wreath form.  Then, I cut the larger feathers into the shape I wanted.

Do you see the difference?  I shaped the feather on the left by cutting the top into a nice, rounded shape.  Then, I glued my cut feathers over the filler feathers, being sure to cover any of the wreath form.  I didn’t bother to cover the very back, because that will be against the door, but I did cover the remaining sides.  I did this all the way around, placing the feathers in the same direction until I got to the beginning.  Then, I made sure to tuck the feather ends under the first row. 

I tapped a small pin into the top center of our door and looped the fishing line around and we were in business.

Here’s what my Halloween wreath cost:

Wreath Form: $1.00

Black spray paint:  Leftover from another project, but you can get black paint for $1.00 from Wal Mart

Black feathers: $1.98 (with plenty to spare)

Fishing line: Already had on hand

Glue gun and sticks: Already had

Grand Total:  $2.98

Granted, my version isn’t as large as the Pottery Barn version, but I think it adds the same touch.  Although, I won’t be painting our door orange any time soon.  Keep an eye out for more Halloween decorating ideas soon!