How to Make Flamingo Wall Hooks

I needed several decorative wall hooks to organize my craft room. I want something fun, yet versatile, since I have a pile of conference lanyards, craft aprons, and race medals in need of some serious organizing.

I headed to my workshop and made the perfect wall organizer using my all time favorite pieces of kitsch – plastic pink lawn flamingos!

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DIY Pink Lawn Flamingo Wall Organizer

 

Recycled Pallet and Pot Planters

A big wood barrel planter is so welcoming at the end of a driveway,  on a front porch, deck, or patio. Unfortunately those expensive buggers start to crack and rot a few years after you buy them.

If only there was a way, to get a lasting  wood barrel planter look for less. Then we can get down to the business of buying and growing pretty plants and not replacing their planters every other year.

There is something to say for a lasting rustic garden like this one.

Photo courtesy of  Make the Best of Things

Felt Peep Easter Bunting

You know it is Easter season when Peeps start peeping their wee little face at you from rows upon rows of packages in the candy aisle. Love them or hate them - their seems to be no in between - it is full on Peep Season.

I like marshmallows but for some reason, eating marshmallow Peeps is not my thing. But decorating with Peeps? That's something I am into.

Photo courtesy of Make

DIY Cigar Box and Wine Cork Storage Box

More often than I want to admit, phone and table cords, earphones, and eyeglasses are strewn about the side tables in my living room.  I put the stuff away. The next evening we need the stuff to read books or watch movies on our tablets and plop it on a table before heading off to bed. I put the stuff away…

It’s a never ending cycle.

A friend found a bunch of empty wood cigar boxes in the basement of her wine shop. I was drooling when I found out. Old cigar boxes are the gold standard of recycled project material just begging for an upcycle!

Needless to say, I made my way over to her shop and came home with a cigar box to make into a decorative storage box with wine cork feet to contain the flotsam and jetsam littering the living room.

 You have no idea how much work it took to to win the eBay auction for these vintage metal frames. I had my optimist fill them with my prescription. I love them!

How to Make a Decorative Cigar Box Storage Box 

DIY Recycled Bottle Cap Zipper Pull. So Easy!

I keep my dance, color guard, and yoga gear organized and ready to go in separate string backpacks. I am extremely fortunate to get the little backpacks from marching band events. That  makes it a zero cost organization system. The downside is all of the bags are from the same sponsor. Is too easy to grab the wrong bag for the wrong class. Whoops!

I can fix this by making a unique handmade zipper pull for each backpack so I can tell them apart.

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This is a quick and easy recycled craft that is fun to do with kids. Sourcing the materials might be the best part of the project because we are reusing bottle caps. Enjoying a soda treat in the name of recycled organizers? Don’t mind if I do!

How to Make Quick and Easy Peppermint Gift Tags

I have one more gift tag tutorial in this year’s series and it couldn’t be easier! We’re using cute printed packing tape to make Christmas gift tags!

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You will need:

Make Minion Gift Wrap!

I will let you in on a little gift wrapping secret. The reason why people rave over my pretty and clever gift wrap is not because I have a grand creative design going into the project, oh no.

It is usually the result of wrapping a present at the 11th hour when the stores are closed and running out of traditional gift wrap supplies.

Blind panic is the Mother of Creativity.

Now you know.

That’s how I came up with this Despicable Me Minion gift wrap idea. I used the last of my wrapping paper to wrap this gift. It looked plain. I didn’t have any stick on bows and since I was going to mail the gift, I didn’t want to make a magazine bow (read the tutorial here) because it might be crushed.

A yellow Twinkie shaped present with twisted puffs reminded me of a Minion. Hey, let’s make Minion gift wrap!

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How to Wrap a Present to Look Like a Minion

Vintage Button Gift Tag Tutorial

I have another craft supply stash bust gift tag tutorial for you. Today we’re making gift tags with fabric ribbon and vintage buttons! Oh heck, let’s throw caution to the wind and use some scrapbook paper too.

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Many of the buttons I have in my grandmother’s button box are plain old shirt buttons. Great for replacing a lost one and better for crafting because there are so many of them. I also have odd lengths of ribbon from sewing projects that are too long to throw away and too small for my recent sewing projects. Inspired by finding  a box of business cards from my old company (may it rest in peace) I figured I could get these kids together and let them make quick, easy, and beautiful recycled gift tags together.

I’m sure you can figure out how I made the gift tags by looking at the picture so I almost don’t have to write a tutorial but since this is the holiday season is all about giving I will.

How to Make Evergreen Window Swags for Free!

We’re bumping up our outdoor Christmas decorations this year. We have a house full of energy efficient disco projector Christmas lights to replace our dead strings of LED Christmas lights.

I saved some Amazon Subscribe and Save boxes and wrapped them as Christmas presents and put them in the barren flower beds. We’ll recycle them after the holiday because storage space for holiday decorations is at a premium.


The front yard still needed a little something and when I saw a pair of dachshund Christmas decorations (learn more about them here.) in a neighbor's yard I had to have them too as a tribute to Lacey. What can I say? We are dog suckers through and through.
 

 The dachshund lights come apart for storage after the holiday. They make make me insanely happy.

How to Decorate a House with Christmas Lights in 15 Minutes or Less!

I like decorating with Christmas lights. I admit my Christmas light obsession may not be very green, but I never promised you a perfect green life, just an honest one.

I honestly like the look of a house full of Christmas lights.

 I also honestly hate standing in the snow and cold putting away a house full of Christmas lights after the holiday. The weather is always colder when the outdoor Christmas decoration have to come down than when they go up. That’s our motivation behind decorating our house with lights only on the porch rails.


 This year, I found a way to decorate a house full of energy saving Christmas lights and it only took 15 minutes! It will take even less time to take them down after the holiday. Woohoo!

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Make Peek a Boo Window Gift Tags

After a two day craft room excavation I had a couple of boxes of old business cards and nice little pile of random paper, ribbon, buttons, and punches on my worktable. The following day and fueled by probably more hot chocolate than one person should drink in an afternoon I started to play.

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Once I got on a creative roll, I upcycled a bunch of old business cards into gift tags I’m not ashamed to tie onto our Christmas gifts this year. I have so many handmade stash buster gift tags, that I’m going to turn this craft project into a blog series. Come craft with me!

 

How to Make Embossed Gift Tags for Hanukkah or Christmas

Star Wars Crafts: Princess Leia Ear Muffs

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is about to open (can’t wait!) winter is coming, and so the Christmas gift season. I can’t think of a better excuse make something that has been on my idea list since the  first time I saw Spaceballs, (affiliate link)  the Star Wars parody movie – Princess Leia Hair Bun Ear Muffs!

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How to Make Princess Leia Ear Muffs

Bottle Cap Wreath

Husband and I have have a huge bottle cap collection just waiting for me to reuse them to make awesome bottle cap crafts and DIY projects. Last year Create. Craft. Love. gave me a blank wreath form and challenged me to make a wreath for her blog. The first thing that popped into my mind was - make a bottlecap wreath!

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If you do not have five years worth of bottle caps in coordinating colors you can still do this project if you spray paint your mismatched bottle caps in coordinating colors before you start making this wreath.

Washi Tape Headphones

I decorated the headphones I keep on my desk with washi tape. By using paper washi tape I have a plastic free craft and the option to easily change the design in the future.

After awhile I wanted to step up my washi tape craft game from covering an object with the same washi tape design to projects that mix and match different tape patterns and colors. But here’s a little secret you don’t know about me: I choke when it comes to mixing and matching patterns in my décor projects. Also I only have two rolls of washi tape and they don’t coordinate.

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Luckily, I received a review copy of  Washi Tape Crafts: 110 Ways to Decorate Just About Anything by Amy Anderson, the author of the book Mod Podge Rocks! I knew Amy was writing a washi tape craft book but what I didn’t know is her book comes with 10 rolls of custom design washi tape.

Quick and Easy Boat Cleat Towel Rack

I need to to organize the towels in the guest bathroom and found my design inspiration at the vet’s office. Wha? Let me explain.

Lacey’s vet has boat cleats on the main desk which allows you to anchor your pet’s leash (pun intended) over the cleat so your hands are free to make payments and sign paperwork.  It is quite genius and something I’d totally expect seeing growing up on Lake Erie.

The guest bathroom is taking on a nautical vibe. I like repurposed and reclaimed design elements. So why not organize my bathroom by repurposing dock cleats? Sounds like a plan.

How to Make a Boat Dock Cleat Towel or Coat Rack

 

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Carve a Life Size Snake Pumpkin for Halloween!

You may not know this but I have something in common with the archaeological adventurer Indiana Jones.

I hate snakes.

I think snakes are creepy, ugly, slimy, and icky! Icky! Icky!

Spiders I can handle, but snakes? Not unless they are incredibly and undoubtably fake.

 

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 Or they light up. Like this guy!

Decorating with Real Pumpkin Topiaries and Mosaics

I appreciate carving and decorating with real pumpkins for fall and Halloween.

Doing it is another story.

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Carving pumpkins is messy, goopy, and if you do it too early, moldy by the time Halloween rolls around. Besides, if don't carve the pumpkins, we can make fresh pumpkin puree (learn how on my food blog Lazy Budget Chef) and use it to make fantastic food after Halloween. Lacey likes this idea very much.

Cedar Point Halloweekends Halloween Easter Eggs

Last weekend I went to the BloggyConference blog conference to learn how to be a better blogger for all of you, the greatest community on plant Earth.

BloggyCon is a little different than the blogging conferences I attended in the past because it was held at Cedar Point. During the day, I took a ton of notes during the sessions and networked with bloggers and brands to bring you the best content possible. At night, I rode all of the roller coasters and saw the sights at Cedar Point. It is right next to the conference hotel, how could I not?

Keep reading and pin this post! I made a video about Halloweekend and embedded it in this post!

Just so you don’t think I’m biased because I got free stuff, I here to tell you I didn't get free stuff. I paid for my tickets to Cedar Point. My enthusiasm in the video is fueled with 6 hours sleep for the weekend total and a ton of coffee.

16 Easy Halloween Tutorials

100 Homemade Halloween Costumes!

 
My absolute favorite, favorite thing about Halloween is costumes! It is the only day of the year you can dress up as weird as you like and no one will think you are a weirdo.

Unless your costume is a Weirdo.

Husband and I as Raving Rabbid Weirdos. Bwaaaaaaaaaaa!