BALLARD DESIGNS TINSEL BRANCH KNOCKOFF

Christmas is fast approaching and with that comes decorating your home for the holiday.  I will be sharing my Christmas home tour with you very soon, but today I wanted to share with you a little project I just finished for the kitchen.  It's a Ballard Designs tinsel branch knockoff.

 Making my home sparkle at Christmas is always fun using glittery ornaments and tinsel. I also love adding natural items here and there.  When I saw the beautiful glittery tinsel branches that Susanne Kasler created at Ballard Designs, I knew I wanted to make one of these pretty branches for my home.  You can purchase the champagne colored branches at Ballard Designs for $19,  but I knew I could make my own for less.

While shopping at Mernard's with my husband recently, I found the tinsel that would work for this project for a mere $1.29.

WREATH PILLOW

Guess what I found today while browsing the internet.  Another pillow that looks like mine.  You can find it at Joss and Main.  It's normally priced at $57.50 on sale for $28.95,  but you can still make your own for less by following my instructions.

To get full instructions on making your own

POTTERY BARN WREATH PILLOW KNOCKOFF

It's been almost two years ago since I first saw a beautiful wreath pillow at Pottery Barn.   The beautiful tone on tone pillow is still on my mind almost two years later.

You can imagine my disappoint to find out that it's no longer available, but then I thought to myself: "I can make that"!   We woke up to snow last week and four degree temperatures this week; and because of the cold outside, I started to think about Christmas and winter projects.  It was the perfect time for me to try making a pillow.  While browsing  on Pinterest, I saw a few knockoffs for this pillow, one of them from The Decorated House.

Here's what I did to create my own version of the pillow.

I gathered supplies that I had around the house.

DIY METALLIC BAY LEAF TREE

I hope you had a great thanksgiving weekend.   I've been greatly blessed once again over this past year. I'm also thankful for the wonderful day we could spend with our children and grandchildren.

It's hard to believe that thanksgiving is past and Christmas is right around the corner.  While browsing through the Pottery Barn catalog recently, I came across their beautiful Metallic Bay Leaf Christmas Trees.  They have these trees available in gold and silver.  I was really drawn to the silver tree since I plan to decorate with a winter wonderland theme this year.  The trees are $89 to $99 dollars each.  All the silver trees were sold out, but since I'm a real DIY gal, I decided to try and make one my self.

Here's what I did to make my own.

DIY POTTERY BARN INSPIRED PLACE CARD HOLDER

I love the change of the seasons and along with it the arrival of new fall catalogs.  I just received the new Pottery Barn fall magazine in my mail box; and it has my creative juices flowing.

I spotted these cute little rustic bronze finished pumpkin place card holders. Here's the link to see these cuties over at Pottery Barn (I'm not being reimbursed in any way by PB for this but wanted to share what I saw).  They are made of cast aluminum, and come with a price tag of $26 for a set of 4.  We'll be having 9 - 10 guests for thanksgiving dinner, so I'd need to buy 3 sets = $78!

That price being a little rich for this thrifty gal, I came up with my own version using dollar store items and paint that I already had around the house.  Here's what I did....

1. Bought 2 bags of  small pumpkins/gourds

2. Spray paint - Rust-Oleum Metallic

3. Applied spray paint to pumpkins and gourds.

4. The pumpkins didn't look quite bronze enough after the metallic paint was applied, so I added gold glitter paint that I had bought at a garage sale this summer for 10 cents!

5. Unlike the Pottery Barn pumpkins that are made from cast aluminum, the dollar store pumpkins are made from Styrofoam.  This made it very easy to make a cut with an exact o knife, and insert the place card into the slot.

Here's what they look like in a place setting.

What do you think?  Is it a good PB knock off?

My total cost = $2 for a set of 10!

Linking this post to...
Centsational Girl Fall Linky Party

DIY NURSERY ARTWORK

I have great news to share with you .... my husband and I are going to be grandparents for the very first time!!!  Our daughters and their husbands are expecting babies. These blessings are expected to arrive sometime mid October and around Christmas!

With babies on our mind I've started looking at baby things.  I found some very cute wall art at Pottery Barn entitled " Transportation Art" for $69. You can view it at Pottery Barn.  
Instead of paying the price tag of $69, it inspired me to make some myself. 

DIY Nursery Artwork

Here's what I did.....


Purchased two 11 X 14 canvas for $3 each.
I started by painting the canvas with white paint. 

I then found some cute Peter Rabbit photos by Beatrix Potter for free. 

  I then took out my Cricut machine and cut out the letters 

r - rabbit and b - boat

For the second piece of art, I created a sail boat using card stock cutting each piece out of different paper to make the sailboat parts.

The next step was to adhere the clip art and boat parts to the canvas using mod Podge. After letting it dry, I  then added two more layers of Mod Podge  allowing it to dry between each coat.

Once it was completely dry, I added the finishing touches by giving it a distressed look using a brown glaze.

 (I'm a little disappointed with the glaze on the rabbit art. I think it looks to dark so I may redo that piece.)

Here's the boat art without the modge podge on it. I'll finish it once we know if little boys are on the way.

The total cost of the nursery art work was only $6, making this a pretty thrifty project with a savings of $132!!!


If the baby's are boys I may make a truck and airplane as well.

Pottery Barn Architectural Prints Inspiration

Recently, while browsing through my Pottery Barn magazine, I saw these great architectural prints. Go here to see the Pottery Barn photo.  My husband, daughters and I love to take photos of old architecture.  While visiting Seattle, WA,  I noticed these lovely old pillars with great architectural detail.  So of course I took a photo of them.  Upon seeing the Pottery Barn prints, I decided I could use my photos to make my own version rather than pay $47 each.


Using a photo editing program I changed the photo to sepia and then sketch mode.  Here's my end result.

I hung the print using close-pins like the one in this photo. See it hanging in the upper right hand side of the PB photo?


Here is my knockoff version in a frame.

 

Here it is with an additional frame.

My DIY Thrifty Version Costs: 

25 cents for card stock

50 cent garage sale frame

Total cost - 75 cents !

Not a bad price for a piece of artwork.

I'm linking this post to...
Beneath My Heart DIY Best of June Party

BE INSPIRED BY DIY'S

Yes it's true, I've been featured!!! yea!

Thanks Beckie! at My Knock Off Decor for featuring my Pottery Barn Inspired Topiary.

I'd encourage you to drop by her blog Knock Off Decor  to see my feature and read some of her posts. She features great knock off projects from various places like Pottery Barn, Anthropologie and Ballard Designs just to name a few. Her sight is a great place to get inspired! I know I've been inspired after visiting.

To view the original post, go here.  

As promised here, today I'll share with you how I made this - seed pot.

It's another one of those very easy projects that even a child can make.


Here's what I started with....

...One .49 cent clay pot.

(purchased from a thrift store)

White craft paint - diluted down with water

to make a white wash.

Seed packets

( .5 cents each from a thrift store)

And a brown paint pen.

Using the white wash, I gave the clay pot one coat of paint allowing it to completely dry.  I then sketched the words "seeds" free hand with a pencil, and then traced over the word "seed" with the paint pen.

It isn't perfect by any means, but that adds to the "antique" look .

Lastly I placed the seed packets in a random arrangement in the newly created seed pot. When I think of spring, I think of planting and new things coming to life in our garden, so I thought this was a fitting addition to the spring vignette.

If you missed the DIY of my spring vignette, you can view it in its entirety here and here.

Have a great weekend!

BURLAP COVERED TOPIARY

Spring is in the air, and I've been adding a few more things around the house to reflect the change of season.

While browsing recently at Pottery Barn, I spotted some very cute plants including this

Live Ivy Topiary.

You can view a photo of it here at
Pottery Barn.

I thought the plant was so cute with its pot covered in burlap and tied with a ribbon!

The price tag for this plant is $69 dollars.

 $69 dollars is not in my budget, so I decided to make my own version.

I already had everything I needed in the house.

Ribbon

(Bought last summer on clearance .25 cents.)

Topiary

(Bought at a garage sale a few years ago for $1.00)

Burlap coffee bag

(Bought at the farmers market last summer for .99 cents.)

Here's my version!

So what do you think of my knock off decor?

It's not a live plant like Pottery Barn (which I love), but house plants don't do well under my care, so this is a better solution for me. 

The theme this week over at the CSI project is Burlap, I'll be lining this post and joining the party. Come on over and join the fun!

I'm linking to...


Get Your Craft On - Today's Creative Blog 
Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell  
Elements Interiors - Whassup Wednesday 
Funky Junk's Saturday Night Special