ya’ll this is SO easy & inexpensive. I was inspired by some shadow boxes I’d seen on Pintrest but I don’t have a Cricut Machine so I needed something that didn’t require it!

So I grabbed some items from the Dollar Tree and made my own version.

Things you’ll need:

Shadow Box
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells Sheet Music
Adhesive (I prefer Modge Podge)

It’s pretty simple-

Attach the sheet music to the back of the shadow box, fill the box with jingle bells & reassemble!

I like it clean & simple but a pretty bow or larger, red bells on ribbon to the top would be beautiful too!

I had some scrap wood and felt crafty so I pulled these farmhouse inspired coasters off. The great thing about these- besides being easy- is that you can customize them to match your decor!

I used a scrap piece of 4×4 post (untreated) that I had and cut them into even squares using a table saw. You could skip this step and buy pre-made squares.

I used a hand sander and smoothed all the sides and rounded the edges slightly.

To stain the wood- I used a Minwax Ebony that I already had.

I used my Cricut to cut numbers 1-4 so I could stencil with the chalk paint I had.  You could use a stencil if you don’t have access to a Cricut.

Then I just painted over the cut stencil and allowed it to dry completely and applied a sealer to the top. Personally I prefer matte so it’s not super shiny.

These are SUPER easy to make and I think I will be making some more sets to give as gifts!

If numbers aren’t your thing…you could do words, phrases and even images!

[Read more…]

I had this vision for a piece of art on my kitchen wall…and couldn’t find it under $50! So when I spotted this vintage looking towel at Target for $2.84 I grabbed it.

I used some gel stain that I had on hand from another project and about $3 worth of wood from Lowes Home Improvement.

I used a miter saw to cut the angles for the frame (45 degree each corner)- if you don’t have a miter saw you could do square corners and it would  be just as cute!

I cut the frame to fit RIGHT over the stitching on the edge because I knew I could never tighten it perfectly straight.  The waves would be less noticeable on a white edge than with a brown one.

I stained the wood before putting it together.

I used a nail gun and wood glue to attach the frame edges together.

Then I flipped the frame over and attached the towel using a  staple gun. I started on the bottom and then stretched it at the top and stapled it there (having a second set of hands makes this so much easier.). Be sure to pull it taut evenly.

I cut off any excess and then glued the edges down with a little Elmers glue ( to keep any fraying to a minimum)

I attached a saw tooth picture hanger to the back.

It is PERFECT for my vintage farmhouse kitchen and so easy and inexpensive!

Slowly I am taking my farm-ish house and turning it into MY house and one of the things I LOVE is the old wood siding on my sunroom walls. I wanted the wood shiplap look without the crazy cost. Here’s how I spent around $60 to turn a boring wall into a stand-out feature in my office! (I used primer and paint I already had)

So I DIY’d it and got the amazing look for a fraction of the cost of buying the pre-made “shiplap”

I got 2 sheets of the nicest sanded plywood that my store had. These were just under $30 each. You don’t need a super thick piece- so a thin piece works wonderfully.

I had Lowes cut each piece into 18 inch tall sections.  I also had them cut them to length to fit my wall.  It was so fast with their big saws- and so straight!  They didn’t charge me for the cuts but they do have a small charge for multiple cuts (usually around 50¢ per cut…still a better deal than messing up the straight lines at home in my opinion!) [Read more…]