DIY TUFTED HEADBOARD

Hi everyone!  Today I am going to be sharing my - DIY Tufted head board.  I must say, I'm happy to be back after over a month of no blog posts.  It's been a little busy around our home.  My husband and I both got sick at Christmas.  I missed all the Christmas parties; and it took me a good three weeks to get back to normal health.  Two weeks ago, I started a new job; and I've been in the process of working more hours with orientation.

For those of you who have reading my blog for some time, you may recall our son and daughter-in-law got married a year and half ago. I shared the DIY wedding rehearsal dinner that we did for their wedding.   As a wedding gift for our children, my husband has made a piece of furniture.  The couple gets to select what they would like.  They usually find a photo of the piece of furniture they like; and my husband builds it for them.  While preparing for the rehearsal dinner, my sister and brother-in-law were talking to my husband asking if he would be interested in a walnut tree that went down in their grove.  Of course, we jumped on that offer.  There was, however, quite a delay when the tree went to the mill. While at the mill, the owner had a fire and had to rebuild his kiln....thus we had to wait for the wood to get milled for almost a year.

Once we had the wood, my husband went to work preparing the wood. He then built the wood part of the bed.  Once he had that completed, we invited our son and daughter-in-law to help us assemble the tufted part of the bed.

We made the tufted headboard using the same technique we used when we made our tufted headboard back in 2010.

DECORATING FOR THE 4TH OF JULY

 I enjoy doing a little decorating for the holidays.  Today I thought I'd show you a few things that I've put out for the 4th.

I did a few very simple things this year.  On the coffee table I placed a wire basket with a few decorative balls.  I had the decorative balls for Christmas, but they work great for holidays like Memorial Day and the 4th of July.  Adding the two small flags, add the patriotic theme to the arrangement.  These items were bought a few years ago at garage sales and a thrift store.

Here's what I placed on the self of the Hoosier cabinet in our dining room.

The bathroom shelf also got a few patriotic things added as well.

We'll be enjoying a picnic dinner today and I'll be using the picnic basket I put together a few years ago.  If you missed the post on how I created this basket, along with a  silverware holder. Just click on the tutorials, you'll find it listed under DIY Picnic Basket.

Happy 4th of July

HOW TO MAKE LINED CURTAINS {DIY}

I'm finally back after a little bit of recovery time following my oral surgery. In a previous post I share our guest room makeover. I promised to share the  tutorial on how I made the curtains for this room.

Let's start out by talking about the fabric I used for these curtains.  

2013 REVIEW AT THRIFTY PARSONAGE LIVING

It's hard to believe that 2013 is already coming to a close. With the new year right around the corner, it has us looking back at what the years has held.  Below you will find a collection of events and projects that have happened at Thrifty Parsonage Living.

OH HOLY NIGHT CHRISTMAS CANVAS ~ twinkling stars

In my recent Christmas Home Tour, you may have noticed several projects that I created ~ DIY.  One of these projects can be seen as soon as you come in our front door ~ The Oh Holy Night Canvas.

DIY FAUX FUR CHRISTMAS PROJECTS ~ {Fur tree, Fur topped stocking, Fur wreath, & Fur pillow}

In my last post, I said that I would show you how I created my faux fur Christmas projects.

It all started when I made my Faux Fur Tree Skirt, and had left over fabric.  I love the fabric, and really didn't want to waste any of it.  It comes with a price tag of $20 a yard, but I got my yard and a quarter @ 65% off on a Veteran's day sale.  I was able to make quite a few projects with the remnants,

DIY NO SEW FAUX FUR TREE SKIRT

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning.  There's nothing like beautiful snow covered ground to get you in the mood for winter and Christmas decorating.  Since we're in a new parsonage this year and not enough room for our large Christmas tree that we've used other years.  We decided to buy a new smaller tree.  It was while shopping at Wal-Mart that we found the perfect little tree.  It's an artificial  six foot flocked tree with a smaller circumference.   I've been wanting to do a winter theme Christmas in our living room this year, and this tree was just perfect.  The past few years we didn't have a tree skirt and I improvised by using a table runner wrapped around the tree.  I thought a beautiful white fur skirt would look lovely under our new flocked tree.

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.

PAINTING HORIZONTAL STRIPES ON WALLS (DIY)

I love the look of stripes on walls.  Stripes can be horizontal or vertical, wide or narrow, soft and subtle or bright and bold.  Stripes can add something unexpected to an area making a small area appear larger, for example.  Vertical stripes can make a room look taller and horizontal stripes make a room look wider.  Stripes on walls has been around in the decorating world for some time, but it's a first for me.   Today I thought I'd share how I painted horizontal stripes in my back entry hallway.

POCKET PILLOWS FOR FALL

My house has been in disarray because of the office makeover. Because of this, I've only put out a few of my fall decorations in the dinning room.  I'm anxious to put more of them out in the living room and family room.  

While shopping at Jo Ann's recently, I came across some lovely fabric.   The only problem was that it came with the price tag of $39.99 a yard.  Sometimes I splurge a little, but it still has to fit in our budget.  This fabric would make very pretty drapes but that isn't in our budget.  Instead of a large expensive project, I decided to indulge and bought a small amount of this fabric using a 50 % off coupon. The coupon made the price of the fabric more affordable for this thrifty girl, making the total cost seven dollars.

I love the blue in the fabric and the browns and tans making it perfect for a fall.   I took a little break from my office project, and whipped up a set of pocket pillows.  If you'd like to make a  pocket pillow yourself, you can see the tutorial in my post Simple Pillows Anyone Can Make.  ( If you don't sew you could make these pillows using iron on fabric tape.)

Pocket pillows fit into a limited budget because you can just slip them over a pillow you already have in your home.   That's exactly what I did slipping the covers over some pillows I had from spring and summer.  Now my living room will have fall accents for a fraction of the cost of buying store bought pillows.  If you've priced pillows at department stores, you'd know these pillows would cost you anywhere from $14 to $30 each whereas my pillows only cost seven dollars for both pillows.

I love the fact that they're not your traditional brown, orange and red colors for fall, but the colors I have and love in my home.  That is also a big plus if you make your own.  You can pick what ever fabric you'd like.

DIY BURLAP TABLE RUNNER

I enjoy shopping and seeing all the lovely fall displays this time of year.  While on one of these shopping trips this past week, I saw some lovely table displays.  They were so festive with all the fall decor .  In one particular shop they had a burlap table runner down the center of the table, along with fall colored napkins and center pieces.  When I went to check the price on the runner, I was in shock!  It had a price tag of $59!  That got me to thinking of a remnant piece of burlap in my fabric box at home.  It was at that moment I decided I'd make my own.

Here's what I did -

1.  Found my burlap fabric remnant, that I'd picked up on clearance for .59 cents.
2.  Cut the fabric to the size I wanted.  To ensure it would be straight on the grain, I pulled a string out and then used that as my cutting guide.
3.  I then sewed 3/4 inch from the edge of the entire piece of the fabric.  This is to keep the fabric from fraying too far.

4.  After sewing completely around the edge of the fabric, begin by pulling the outer thread off and keep working inward until you get to the sewed line.  You may need to use a needle to pull the thread away from the burlap.

5. After pulling all the threads loose around the entire burlap, it was ready to iron flat.  That was it, my burlap table runner was  finished!  This is an easy project even if you're a beginner to sewing.

This burlap runner took less than 20 minutes to make.

 I love how the burlap adds texture to the table arrangement.

It was definitely worth my time and a great money saving project!

After I finished sewing my runner, I saw a comparable table runner at Pottery Barn . I think mine is a little shorter and not quite as wide, but quite comparable.  What do you think?

I'm linking this post to -
DIY Club October Monthly Project

DIY CAMERA BAG PURSE

While shopping for my new camera, I started to see some fantastic girly camera bags.  I really liked a pewter bag at Jototes, but it comes with a price tag of $89 plus shipping. Sadly it's a little out of my price range and budget.

This got me to thinking - "could I make one myself ?"  I looked around pinterest and found that Vanilla and Lace had the same idea as me, and posted a DIY on making one.  Also, a new follower to this blog  made a camera bag/purse.  Her name is Brie from Breezy Pink Daisies.  I found out we like a lot of the same things.  I already had my diy bag in the makings and guess what I saw on her blog?  A purse made over in almost the exact same fabric. I guess great minds think alike....Ha..Ha!  Moving on to the bag -

Here's what I came up with for my DIY Camera Bag / Purse.

I began by looking for some girly fabric and bought 1/2 yard of it. I ended up using less than half of it.

Now I needed a cute purse, so off to Ross I went and found this cute bag for  $23.

I was sad to find out that this purse was too floppy and would "cave in" too much so I returned the purse.  On to plan B, I had a $1 garage sale purse sitting on my closet self...not as cute as the first purse but the bottom is more stable.  It also has a zippered top which will help protect my camera from the elements.

I then began to shop my house for the other supplies I needed.
The first thing was some left over foam from a previous project.  I began measuring the inside of the purse ~ bottom, height and width.  After getting the measurement, I moved on to cutting strips of foam to match the measurements.

The next step was to cut pieces of fabric 1/2 inch wider (for seam allowance) than the strips of foam. Sewing them together to look like a small pillowcase.

To add a little more stability and firmness to bottom of the purse, I cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the foam.  I sprayed the cardboard with spray glue and added the foam on top of it.  I then slipped into the "pillow case" of fabric.  To finish the open side seam I simply hand stitched it shut.  On the two long side pieces I sewed a strip of Velcro.

   I also applied Velcro to the sides of the smaller partitions.

These will make the adjustable sides and partitions between camera parts.

The purse already had two built in pockets that work perfect for sd card storage.  It also has a zippered pocket where I can store lens cloth and miscellaneous small items  including the small tripod I got on a garage sale for .25 cents.

Here's how it looks with all the camera supplies.

The entire project only cost me $3 including the price of the purse.

 I'd say that makes for a pretty budget friendly and thrifty bag!

NEST FRAMED ARTWORK - DIY

Over the past week, I've been slowly putting out my spring and Easter decorations.  I decided it would be nice to have a new piece, so last evening I browsed the house for what I had to make something new. 

In the spring time of the year, you think of things coming to life, flowers blooming, trees budding and eggs sitting in a nest ready to hatch.  With that in mind....

 Here's what I came up with.

Here's items I found around the house to make this project.

11 X 14 canvas 

11 X 14 frame (previous used elsewhere in the house)

burlap cloth remnant

drop cloth remnant 

transfer paper

eggs

bird nest

moss

Here's what I did with these items.

Printed off the word Nest and its meaning onto the 

transfer paper.

I then ironed it onto a piece of drop cloth fabric, a remnant left from when I made my drop cloth curtains.

The next step was to staple the fabric to the top 1/4 of the canvas, and the burlap on the lower 3/4 of the canvas.

I left the frayed edge of the burlap exposed because

 I liked the texture it added.

Next it was time to add the embellishments.

I glued eggs into the nest and attached them to the burlap using hot glue.  I then took a little piece of moss and a few small twigs and added them with glue as well.

Here's how it turned out.

Total cost zero dollars because I used what I had!

 For now it's sitting on the cabinet in our dinning room next to the two little chicks that I found at the hardware store this spring.  I'm not sure if I should keep it here or find a wall to hang it on.

Have you made any new projects for spring?  I'd love to see what you've been up to.

I'm linking up this post and joining these parties:

Twice Owned Tuesday @ House of Grace 
Blue Cricket Design Linky Party 
DIY by Design: Bunny Blog Hop 
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Dear Lillie: Easter Linky Party 

MINT/NUTCUP - DIPAERS {TUTORIAL}

In an earlier post I shared about the baby shower for my daughter and granddaughter. I promised to give you instructions on making cupcakes using coffee filters.  I already gave you the tutorial for the coffee filter cupcakes. 

Now today I'll complete my promise and give you the easy tutorial for making the diaper mint/nut cups.

 

What you will need -

1. Card stock or white paper of your choice.

2. Safety pins.

3. Glue

4. Mints and nuts

Begin by cutting your card stock into 3 or 4 inch squares.  (I used 3 inch squares). Cut each square in half to form

a triangle.

Take the corners of your triangle and glue the three

corners together.

Then glue a pin

on the top of where the corners meet together.

Wallah you have a diaper nut cup!

Finish the nut cup off by adding mints and nuts to each diaper.

This is such an easy DIY project for mere pennies. 

It's also is a cute 

decoration for a baby shower. 

BABY SHOWER COFFEE FILTER CUPCAKES {TUTORIAL}

In my last post, I promised to give you the tutorial for the cupcakes made with coffee filters.  Here is the tutorial on making these cupcakes.  These cupcakes work wonderfully as a baby gift along with baby shower decorations.  I gave mine as part of my gift.

In the cupcake above, a baby hat was used in place of the baby washcloth.  I like how the ruffled edge gave it a little different look than the washcloth.

Here are the things you will need, along with the instructions on how to make your own cupcakes.

I made my own burp clothes by sewing two pieces of flannel right sides together.  I then turned them right side out, and finished them off by top stitching 1/2" from the edge.  I also made one using the same technique substituting a cloth diaper for one of the flannel cloths.

My next post will include instructions for making the nut/mint cups.