Dollar Store and Thrifty Decorating for Fall

• Who can find a virtuous woman?  her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She worketh willingly with her hands

It's finally starting to feel a little like fall around my house.  Yesterday we were able to turn off the air conditioning and open windows for the first time this season.  I'm sitting in front of an open window now, wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt, and when the breeze picks up I feel almost chilly.  If you knew me in real life, you'd know how unusual that is for me!

As I've already shared, I'm not much of a decorator, and I'm limited somewhat by budget, the style and small scale of our house, but I do like to have a few simple, seasonal decorations around.

This year when I pulled out my Thrifty Fall Wreath that I made a few years ago, I was afraid it was too beat up to use.  The tissue & wire fake fall leaves are definitely a bit worse for the wear...

...especially compared to when I first made this from Dollar Tree goodies and an old, repurposed grapevine wreath. ($2 for the garland and leaves, less than $3 originally for the wreath)

I decided it looked just fine from a distance, more like real leaves, anyway.  Which I could/would use, except we don't have fall colors here yet, and most of our leaves around here just turn brown and then fall off anyway!



You may remember this from a couple of years ago, too.  The charger was originally $1.99, and has been used over and over again, as has the glass vase and dried frou-frou, both from Dollar Tree for $1 each.

This year I used the same charger and vase, some slightly different Dollar Tree dried frou-frou, and a big splurge--a $5 candle from Walmart, which was the only place I could find one tall enough that was still in budget (meaning cheap inexpensive).  edited to add: Besides a just-for-looks candle like this one, I buy a few from the dollar store in fall scents for burning--maple, hazelnut, and pumpkin spice--especially when we're having guests.

I still have a vintage Mason jar filled with nuts, and one from Ball that I fill with a fall pick with leaves and berries and some loose silk leaves at this time of the year--all dollar store purchases from years past....


....as well as one filled with vintage and antique buttons of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

What do you do to decorate for fall?  Do you go "all out", or keep it simple?

Until next time...


This post is linked to:

Make Your Home Sing at Mom's the Word
Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
In & Out of the Kitchen at Feeding Big
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

Dollar Store Decorating--Make a Grouping of Small Items

• Who can find a virtuous woman?  her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She maketh herself (and her house?) coverings of tapestry...

As you can tell from the pictures I've posted over the years, I'm not much of a decorator.  When we first moved into this house sixteen years ago, I didn't hang much on the walls--as a matter of fact, I went several years with blank walls.  When you put a hole in paneling, it's there to stay, and I didn't want to add more holes to this 1962-era paneling than were already there, unless I knew I really wanted something hung! 

On top of that, I'm a bit of a cheapskate, sometimes by choice, sometimes by necessity, so I always try to be really really sure that I like something and am willing to live with it a while before I invest my hard-earned dollars.  

One mistake that I've made in the past, and have to remind myself not to do even today, is buying something the wrong scale. I tend to go too big with furniture and too small with decor.  I can't really do too much with too-big furniture, but I've learned a fix for too-small decor, and one that doesn't have to be expensive, either, and that's to group small like items together.    



Several years ago I found this pretty mirror at Dollar General for around $10-15.  It came in this sort of pewter and bronze color, and then the same pattern in a really hideous gaudy goldish gilt. The width of the frame gave it a good weight and scale, but once I got it home, I realized it was still too small for the space I wanted to fill. I got the bright idea to buy another and hang two of them side-by-side.  Unfortunately, search though I did, at every Dollar General within a 25-mile radius, all they had left were the ugly gold ones. I thought about buying a gold one and spraying painting them both a third color, but I really liked the pewter/bronze color.

So it sat in a bag in the bottom of a closet seemingly forever. Periodically, I'd search through the mirrors and frames at different store locations in hopes of finding a matching piece.

And then finally--voila'!  Not the same mirror, not an exact match of color or size, but one day, searching through the frames and mirrors as always, I found a little mirror with a metallic-ish frame that I thought just might work. And this time, having learned my lesson, I bought two!  I don't remember exactly what these cost, but it was less than $10 for the two of them.  

And they worked! Close enough in color, two are enough to help fill the blank spot, and the whole arrangement was inexpensive enough to change at a moment's whim.  

Not that I do "a moment's whim" for decor changes.  But I could if I wanted to. 

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Penny Pinching Party at the Thrifty Home

Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family

The HomeMaking Party at Hope in Every Season

Make Your Home Sing at Mom's the Word

Dollar Store Decorating--Thrifty Summertime Flip-Flop Wreath

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She worketh willingly with her hands
• She maketh herself (and her home) coverings of tapestry...

Summertime Flip-Flop Wreath

For the last couple of weeks, I've been a woman on a mission.  Several years ago, I made myself a cute spring/summer wreath using a re-purposed grapevine wreath, and some craft ribbon and frou-frou I picked up from Dollar Tree.

Not bad for $3.00 out-of-pocket, huh?

You can see the step-by-step for this one here, if you'd like to click through. I don't know what it was about this wreath, but I just loved it--the colors, the dragon-fly, and the thriftiness of if all combined to suit my fancy, and I hung it out usually from the first sign of anything resembling spring until the leaves were falling off the trees in the fall.





Unfortunately, three years of wear-and-tear, and it being left out in the sun on top of the birdbath (don't ask!) made it just a faded shadow of it's former self. 


I was determined to re-do it with something similar, and went confidently off to the Dollar Tree in search of inspiration.  Unfortunately, apparently craft ribbon like I used here is not the "in" thing anymore--everything seems to be going to the big puffy deco mesh stuff, and while I think some things made with deco mesh look pretty, it just wasn't what I was looking for. 


I even went to the big Dollar Tree when I went to the city for a meeting a couple of weeks ago. 


Disappointment, again.  No craft ribbon, no cute wind chimes, nothing. 


Think outside the box, I told myself.  Too late in the year for spring colors, anyway, what is bright and pretty and summery and cheap and can be hot glued to a wreath?  A hot pink flowered beach bag first caught my attention, but standing in the middle of the store I couldn't figure out what to do with it--and then I spotted the flip-flops hanging right beside the beach bags. 


I'm not much of a flip-flop person, myself, the only time I wear them is to get a pedicure, and those occasions are very few and far between these days.  But they were bright, they were pretty, they were summery, and best of all--cheap!  Oh, and hot-glueable!  So I grabbed a pair in each color.  (I figured if I didn't use them all, I could always throw them in my give-away/donate box for the clutter-busting challenge!)





Step 1--remove the old ribbon stuff. 






Step 2--remove the tags and hanging thingies from the flip-flops







Step 3--try some arrangements.  In pairs...







...or separate?





Step 4--Hot glue to the wreath and to each other. 


Note: The bad thing about hot glue is that it's called "hot" for a reason. 
The good thing about hot glue is, it dries clear, and if you need to move things, once it cools, you can usually just pop things off and peel the hot glue remnants right off.

And here is the finished product on display.  My out of pocket--$5.00 for the flip-flops

I think this would be easier with a styrofoam or straw wreath form--the hot glue did drip through the wreath a little onto my kitchen table--luckily, as I mentioned above, it peeled right off once it cooled.  You might want to do this on newspapers or something if you have a nice table that might be ruined by hot glue dripping on it. 

What thrifty pretty have you bought or made for your house lately?

Until next time...

This post is linked to:
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home
Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days
Happy Hour Friday at Happy Hour Projects
Anything Blue Friday at The Dedicated House
Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound
Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Sew Darn Crafty at Sew Many Ways
Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Homemaking Party at Hope in Every Season
Wow Us Wednesday at Family Home and Life
A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success