Making Vines for Your Stranger Things Yard

After creating a Mind Flayer for my roof (tutorials Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), I knew the creature needed something more: Vines. The Upside Down World was filled with vines that hung everywhere, and vines that attacked. They were a part of the hive mind, associated with the monsters of Stranger Things.

After scouring the web for prices on vines, it was clear: My budget couldn’t afford the 100 or more feet needed. Continue reading

Ten Unconventional Ways to Make a Wreath

Looking for ways to make a wreath without breaking the bank? Here are ten types of wreaths, made from items almost every household has. The results are impressive.

Shelf Liner Wreaths

The dollar store has a plethora of shelf liner colors for every season. Six rolls are used for 14″ wreaths. Images courtesy of Tracy Tobias.  A video on how to use shelf liners in a wreath can be found at Debi’s Wreath and Things on YouTube.

Pool Noodle Wreaths

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Fall Centerpieces to Fall in Love With

Simplicity at its best: Nature, harvest, and candles come together with a log with holes drilled for candles and accented with leaves, gourds, and mini pumpkins. Image courtesy of The Berry and SAS Interiors.

Simplicity at its best: Nature, harvest, and candles come together with a log leftover from pruning. Image courtesy of http://www.theberry.com and SAS Interiors.

Now with Halloween behind us, it’s time to begin planning our Fall or Thanksgiving centerpieces. These ideas below can work with a dining room table, mantle, or accent pieces. Best of all, not only are they charming, they are quick to craft and easy on the pocketbook. Click on each image for more info.

 

When making a dining table decoration, keep in mind the size of your table and the amount of space that will be needed for a Thanksgiving meal. But most importantly, keep it simple to save you time for other – more important things: enjoying time with friends and family. Now THAT is something we can be truly grateful for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Witch Shoes and Broom Outdoor Decoration

This failed cabbage pot was the perfect place to set my DIY witch shoes and props. Image courtesy of Debbie Morrow, All Rights Reserved.

This failed cabbage pot was the perfect place to set my DIY witch shoes and props. Image courtesy of Debbie Morrow, All Rights Reserved.

Looking for a quick and easy Halloween decoration? These ordinary granny boots can be transformed into a great prop in less than an hour(depending upon drying time if paint is needed).

You’ll Need:

One Pair of Lace-Up, Spiked Boots (an easy secondhand store find)
Black Spray or Waterproof Acrylic Paint (If boots are not black, purple, or burgundy)
Seasonal Ribbon and/or Halloween Shoe Strings
2 Pieces of Styrofoam (to fit from inside heel to top edge of boot ankle)
Moss
6 Small Halloween Floral Bunches (Dollar Tree item)
A Low Heat Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
A Broom (pictured is one from Dollar Tree, but Kidspot has a video on how make your own)
*Optional: Witch Sign, Skull, Extra Brooms of varying sizes/styles, and lights.

Directions: Continue reading

A New Samara’s Well from the Movie “The Ring”

From left to right: Original stone-casted well weighing over 40 pounds The same well after about 10 years of elements and lawn mower hits. The newest well on right taking 3 days to make and only 5 pounds. Images courtesy of Debbie Morrow, All Rights Reserved.

From left to right: Original casted well weighing over 40 pounds. The same well after about 10 years of elements and lawn mower hits. The newest well on right taking 3 days to make and only 5 pounds. Images courtesy of Debbie Morrow, All Rights Reserved.

Desperate Times Calls for Desperate Measures

Many times I can work better under pressure. This is one of them. When my Ring Girl Well was destroyed between lawn mower hits and age, I was at a loss for a few days. Since I’m still recovering from back surgery I couldn’t think of any possible way to achieve the rock casting and the bending needed to either repair or make another well as in my older Ring girl well tutorial.

Light Bulb Moment

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Inexpensive Balloon or Decoration Party Weights

Make your own table decoration weights. Image courtesy of http://www.awesomeevent.com/blog/category/cheap-balloon-weight-centerpieces/

Make your own table decoration weights. Image courtesy of http://www.awesomeevent.com/blog/category/cheap-balloon-weight-centerpieces/

With every party, aesthetics is important.Yet, paramount to most party planning – is cost. Each table should be decorated with a theme of colors and/or genre.Whether it is a Hawaiian Luau or a graduation party – an overall theme should exist.

Part of each table decoration often includes balloons or other lightweight decorations that need some kind of weight to keep them in place. Sure, you can purchase those balloon weights at your dollar store. But as the table count goes up, so does the cost.

Being the frugal gal, I thought of several ways to hold down the graduation caps for an upcoming graduation party. With 10+ tables to dress, I needed to consider what would travel easy and look good – even if the caps were lifted by curious guests.

Light Bulb Moment

For previous parties I’ve made my own weights using Plaster of Paris in a variety of containers: decorative Chinese food boxes, decorator cups, mini flower pots, etc. For this event, having to deal with the mess of preparing the mix along with the added drying time, just didn’t appeal to me.

This is when it struck – why not fill balloons with play sand or better yet – the more inexpensive counterpart – salt? It worked like a charm. It cost only $1.50 per 11 weights and it took less than an hour of working the salt into the balloons.

Since these were not going to be seen in generally, it was the easiest and most inexpensive solution.

Three items are needed to make balloon or table decoration weights. The cost for 11 weights: $1.50. Image courtesy of Debbie Morrow, all rights reserved.

Three items are needed to make balloon or table decoration weights. The cost for 11 weights: $1.50. Image courtesy of Debbie Morrow, all rights reserved.

Here’s what you’ll need: Continue reading