Thrifty Thursday Nests

Oh, Pinterest, how I love you! I pinned some felted wool nests from this blog. Then I followed her tutorial (mostly) and came out with these sweet things!

I used an old moth eaten brown wool sweater ! = Free! I have made 10 nests, but so far I have only decorated 4.

I used wire, wool yarn, hymnal pages, feathers,scrabble letters and mini pine cones from my stash. = Free

The sticks came from my yard due to this recent stormy/tornado like weather! =Free

I did buy a bag of tiny eggs at the thrift store for $1.97 and some moss ribbon at Hobby Lobby for about $3 (using the coupon) So I will spend about $.50 per nest. Thrifty!

I'm going to link up to Leigh's party at Bloggeritaville!

Thrifty Thursday - Three Thrifty Pumpkins

I really do not need anymore Halloween or Fall decorations at the Swamp. I have boxes that I don't have room for (but can't quite get rid of!). I do need "Craft Therapy" so I made 3 different pumpkins for very little $$$$.

The first one is my Dictionary Pumpkin. It is a Dollar Tree carvable pumpkin -$1. I sprayed it white but was not happy with the line around the middle that stuck out. So I covered it in paper towel paper mache. I also cut out the stem and stuck in a branch.
Then I covered it with torn pieces of dictionary pages and Mod Podge. I used 3 entries from an old picture dictionary- owl, jack-o-lantern, and witch.

I used a pipe cleaner and some floral ivy leaves to make the vine. In the end - it just didn't look grungy enough so I dabbed on some antiquing glaze over everything -even the pipe cleaner.

Next is the old book pumpkin. I saw these first last year at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta. There have been a few in Blogland lately that reminded me I wanted to make one. I did not have to spend any money at all for this project- everything was around the house.

I took an old Reader's Digest Condensed Book off the shelf. Removed the cover and any pages with color. Folded each page (573 of them!) in half. Used a glue gun to join the spine in a circle. Added felt eyes and mouth, ribbon stem and bow. DONE!

The last pumpkin is made just like #1 except I covered it with toile tissue paper from Hobby Lobby!

I didn't put the glaze on this one.

So my total for all three projects was $4. I love thrifty decorating! Join with me at Leigh's place for more great ideas tonight!

Thrifty Thursday -Altered Art Project

I wish I took a picture of this when I first got it - but honestly I felt like a was in a race to save it. I found this canvas at an early morning yard sale a couple of weeks ago. It was on the ground and damp. The photo was falling apart - pieces were missing already. At first I just walked by it. I even got in the truck with my other loot. I just could not get her face out of my mind! Much to my Hubby's dismay I jumped back out to the car and ran back to buy her...for a quarter. As I carried her back to the truck I had to stop and gather pieces that were falling off! I had a vision of her in a spooky Halloween vignette.....

I put her in the sun to dry, then began to piece her back together. I had to restaple the canvas to the frame and glue the pieces back down. I used Mod Podge. I gave it 2 top coats and even coated the back of the canvas. I put some ruffled black ribbon around the edge of the canvas to hide my staples. I shopped my craft room for scraps to dress her for Halloween. A piece of an old doily on the corner and the ribbon with "BOO" cover most of the missing pieces of the picture. The crow covers a puncture. His feathers came from an old hat. The creepy black fabric came from Dollar Tree.

The crow and "BOO" came from Graphics Fairy. I printed them on brown mailing paper.

The accessories are not glued on because I am already thinking of dressing her for Christmas. I just used handy tack to stick them on! Total cost of project = $1.34 (most of the supplies I already had)

We named her Charity Violet. I have not been very crafty lately so this little project was great therapy.

After a long absence I will be linking up to the Thrifty Thursday Party at Bloggeritaville!

Thrifty Thursday -Merry Christmas!

My yard sales, estate sales and thrift stores this week have all had a theme... Vintage Christmas! This must be the time of year to start collecting these cuties! I wish I could find the room to keep them all but, my house already could qualify for the "Hoarders" TV shows!

Found these three cuties out in the country at a little church yard sale...

From the thrift store came Frosty...

And this Santa mug with tiny vintage balls....

Some of these also came from my favorite thrift store.... I love the details of these teeny vintage wooden ornaments- that piano is so cute!

And look at that clock!

I think this one came from an estate sale.....

Most of these angels came from an estate sale....

Of course I want to keep them all but Hubby says they are destined for ebay and etsy...What will I sneak away? Well, this little angel is broken so I will give her a home...she is missing a bird but that does not bother me!

But my favorite thing this week is this baby angel found at that same little church sale!

After I got her home I found that she had been passed down a family.....

1947 to 1968 to 2001.... She will be at home here for as long as I'm around!!!

So now I'm off to what other thrifty treasures are turning up at Leigh's Thrifty Thursday!

Thrifty Thursday -Back to School

I have not changed the tabletops in our hall since Spring! So I decided this week to make it my goal. To be thrifty I only spent $.80 and shopped my house and storage for vintage school items. In the hall I have an antique library table- a good place to begin.

I found teacher's plan book from 1907 - and NO- I was not teaching then.....

An old advertisement for school shoes, some old books, and an apple paperweight (which was a gift from a student of mine.)

Blue Horse Composition book- I do remember these from the 60's

My Hubby made these bookends for me -they always sat on my desk.

Old school photo from an estate sale...

The other side of the hall-

The Cranky Queen showed some eye glasses cases she made from old neckties this week-this is a pillow I made from ties...

I used a bunch of old encyclopedias to elevate things and make it more interesting-

Chalkboard tray-

My $2 typewriter, some globes found last year at Goodwill and another estate sale school picture.. The only $$$ I spent this week is for the new crayons I put in the glass jar! How I always loved the smell of new crayons at the start of the new school year!!

I'll be linking up to the party at Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday!

Thrifty Thursday

I am not sure how thrifty this pumpkin pillow really is! In theory it is thrifty- in reality ...I have a lot invested in it! It started a year ago at the Country Living Fair where I saw them and knew I wanted to make one. So the idea was costly...3 days at the Fair.....$$$$$

I have a room full of fabric scraps so finding some in fall colors should not have been difficult...the stress of tackling the mountain of fabric....not to mention the time involved....$$$$$

I finally found two patterns I liked, cut 3 panels out of each. It took longer to sew them up than I thought it would and took a lot more stuffing than I thought it would!!! $$$$$$$

The stem and leaf are made from felted wool sweaters. I have plenty of brown but am almost out of green. Spent a couple more hours at the thrift stores looking for another green wool sweater....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Am thinking about adding some of these to my Etsy store......I figure this first one only cost me about $350.00 to make! And people wonder why handmade things are not always thrifty!!!

I'll be linking up with Leigh's Thrifty Thursday .

Road Kill Chair

She wasn't always this pretty.....

Several months ago I spied this poor chair on the curb when some neighbors moved out. I slammed on the brakes and threw it in the back of the truck. It moved into the basement where it got covered in other junk. While looking for garden tools I rediscovered it and decided it was time for a make-over. At the time I thought that one of the kids could use it in a future apartment or I could sell it at our upcoming neighborhood yard sale.

There were 3 layers of fabric under the leopard and 1 million staples!!! I sanded it down and put on some primer.

The cute curvy details now show up. I had to decide on a paint color...ivory, white, or black? Since I did not have a place for it in mind I decided to look in my fabric stash first. I found a remnant purchased at a thrift store big enough, so the chair would be black.

And guess what...it ended up in my parlor where it was meant to go all along!!! There were a few hiccups in the redo- When I took off all the old fabric and put on one layer of new - the back did not fit so well. I has to take it apart and add some cording. Of course that made it too tight so I had to use brute force to get it back together! Then it needed cording around the seat as well and I was almost out of fabric.. I pieced enough to make it around!

So for $4.50 in black spray paint and a $1.97 fabric remnant - I have a new chair! Now that is a thrifty treasure! I will be linking up to Thrifty Thursday at Leigh's place Bloggeritaville and Rhonda's Treasure Hunt!