Thanksgiving, Dollar Tree and Cost Effective Decorations

I have pinned so many things for decorating for Thanksgiving. I am a bit obsessed with Pinterest, and I am sure some of you know what I mean.  I shop thrift stores year round for different items. All the candle globes came from the Goodwill, Salvation Army and Dollar Tree. I paid less than $1.00 each for them.

Happy Thanksgiving Banner

Material List

Twine
Scissors
Hot Glue
Burlap or Linen
Letters
Leaves
Safety Pins



I picked up the leaves and paper letters from the Dollar Store, I've had the twine on hand for a couple of years.



Paper Letters. There are 3 of each letter so I had enough to do one Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.







I'm a lucky girl, the town I live in has a fabric ware house called Phoenix Fabrics, they are open once a month to the public. It is an amazing warehouse full of every possible fabric. I picked up a scrap of linen several months ago for less than $3.00. I was thinking of making a runner for the dining room table, but that project never happened. LOL!

Disclaimer: I didn't take photos of each step, but it really is pretty simple.

First, I made the streamer to hold the linen flags. I made it long enough with little swag. I made 2 of these on for Happy and the other Thanksgiving.

I didn't measure out how far apart the leaves were, I just randomly hot glued them to the twine.

Flags

I made a template from a brown paper bag, laid it on the linen and then cut out my flags. They are roughly 4" wide at the top. They are not perfectly straight (this was a little difficult for my OCD to swallow) But my creative side, "ohhh that looks so good!" LOL 

I hot glued my letters simply because I was out of Tacky Glue. It worked very well.

There are times my OCD has full control and making sure the banner was centered to the fireplace opening was non-negotiable. FYI, the fireplace is non-working (no chimney).

First, I hung the twine for Happy. The first P was the middle letter so I centered it with the opening. I used the safety pins and attached each side to the twine. I did the same thing for Thanksgiving.

This took about and hour to finish give or take 15 minutes.

The Windows

I didn't take photos of the process, but it is sooooo simple and really added to the feel of the room.

I went across the street and pick up pine cones and hot clued them to twine. I then tied them to the tension rod.  The larger windows I added leaves too and again tied it to the rod.

The Candles

I 5 of these candle at the Dollar Tree, wrapped them in twine and tied a bow in front.

Before

After

I bought pinto and Lima beans and orange split peas and filled the globes and mason jars. I tied twine around the candles in the jars and on the outside of the mason jars.

I set some of these in the fireplace, some on the mantle, and others on the dinner table.

At the back of the fireplace I placed a mirror to reflect the light. I wish the mirror was large, but this was all I had on hand and it was a last minute idea.

Basket of flowers

On top of the mantle I placed of basket of flowers I've collected over the past year or so. I use them for wreaths. It worked out really well they happened to be fall colors, deep oranges, reds, purples.

 

Simple, cheap and fun to make, it doesn't get any better than that!

Would love to see your Turkey Day decor :)

Mel :D

Faux Roman Shades

In case you don't know I can't sew.... I'm terrible at it, so this project required NO needle and thread!!! 

Before

After

The in between!

Let me reiterate I do not sew and it's not because I don't want too. I would love to quilt, sew curtains and drapes, but that gene skipped a generation. I even have a sewing machine collecting dust!!

So, I figured my away around it for this project and it involved glue!

Supply List:

• Tape measure
• Hot glue gun
• Tacky glue
• Iron
• Pencil
• Fabric
• 3 tension rods

Let me say, this is the first time I attempted this and it will NOT be the last! I'm just ubber excited it turned out as well as it did!

Let's get started!

Measure your window you don't want to go smaller than that. My window happens to be 31x36, cut your fabric bigger than the window. I cut mine 33x48 no particular reason it just worked out that way.

Plug in the iron and fold the sides over.

Helpful tip: If your fabric has a pattern or top and bottom, make sure you cut it the correct way.  I actually wrote the word bottom on the fabric in pencil :)

On the left and right side I folded over 1" and then ironed it down

On the top I folded over 2" and the bottom 2" so my curtain ended up being 31x44. It looked like this.



Take your Tacky Glue and glue the sides and bottom. You don't need a ton of glue and depending on the fabric it might bleed thru, so be careful.

For the top where the rod is going to be I used hot glue. I figure this is going to be a little stronger than Tacky Glue.

After this I ran the tension rod thru the top and took it to the window. Place your next tension rod over the fabric and then bring it up and over. Repeat with the 3rd tension rod.

I would love to know what you think or if you tried and what tips you could offer me!  I have 2 windows in my basement to do next!