DIY Banner

Anyone else got a giant stack of paper grocery bags stuffed in a cabinet for no reason? I needed a banner for Christmas card pictures and, as usual, I didn't want to spend any money! I made this adorable banner using things I already had around my house. I hope it gives you a little inspiration this holiday season!

Materials

o   Brown paper grocery bags

o   Scissors

o   Ruler

o   Pencil

o   Paint pen

o   Twine

o   Glue or a hole puncher

Instructions

1. Start by drawing a triangle to use as a template. If you like the size of mine, they are 4 ½” wide and 5” tall.

2. Use your template to cut out a total of 14 triangles (14 if you want yours to say “Merry Christmas” J ).If you leave the bags folded, you can knock two triangles out at once.

3. To hand-letter your banner, pick out a font to base your letters off of. If you like the way my letters look, take a peek at this chart to help you!

4. Draw a faint line down the middle with a pencil and use this as a guide, then lightly sketched a rough draft of the letters. When it looks good enough to be permanent, trace it with a white paint pen. (My letters were 1 ¾“ tall and then however wide they needed to be to look right)

5. Don’t forget to erase your guide lines after your paint has dried!

6. There are three ways you can attach your twine: glue/hot glue, tape, or using a hole puncher and weaving the twine through.

7. Lay your letters out in the OPPOSITE order. This way when you flip them over to attach to attach the twine, they'll be in the right order when your banner is finished. Trust me. I had to find this out the hard way. 

 

I can't get this picture to rotate for the life of me... This is an example of how you need to lay out your letters. When you flip them over and attach them to the twine in this order, I promise your banner will read "Christmas" and not "samtsirhc!"  

If hand-lettering isn’t your area of expertise, snag a pack of stencils and paint your letters on. If you’re not crafty and don’t want any paint or tracing involved, fear not! Shanty-2-Chic has great banner templates already made and ready to print. You can print out your letters/triangles and still use the brown paper bag trick to give them a little something extra!

DIY Crate Nightstand

Nathan and I live on base so we have limited space. I've been using a teeny table as a nightstand for two years and it was basically me stacking my clock, iPad, books, phone, glasses, and chapstick in a Jenga tower. I've been on the lookout for something more spacious, but inexpensive and compact, and finally decided to just make my own!

The crates are from Jo-Ann's, but you can find them at any craft store! Never EVER pay full price for these things, people. Craft stores always have coupons! They retail around $13, but you can almost always find a 40% off coupon for Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and Jo-Ann's. (Hint: Download the Retail-Me-Not app or pull up the store's website on your smartphone and they can scan any coupon from your phone)

**When you buy your crates, make sure you find two that stack well together! Some of them are a little wobbly!**

The wood stain I used is from Wal-Mart. It is Miniwax in the shade "English Chestnut 223" and it retails for less than $5. I used about half of an 8 oz can! To apply the stain, I used a four pack of $0.97 foam brushes from Wal-Mart's craft section. They worked wonderfully and the different sizes came in handy.

I stained the outside of the crates one day, and the inside + crevices the next. On the third day, I stacked them together! They still have a strong paint smell, so you may want to leave them outside to air out a bit!

It was cold and rainy this week so I had to suffer through the smell of staining them inside!

Use a little wood glue or some small screws to keep them stable. Honestly, mine are surviving just stacked on top of each other, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to be making them into a shelf for elsewhere in your house! :) All in all, you could knock this project out in a day and for under $20!

I had a little supervision while placing the nightstand in our bedroom.

DIY Terrarium

What better way to spend a rainy Sunday than with an indoor project! 

You will need:

• Glass jar or bowl (I got mine from Michael's using a coupon)
• Cactus potting soil 
• Decorative rocks (and fine screen or mesh if you want your rocks to show and not get covered by dirt like mine...)
• Succulents a/o cacti
• Spoon (aka mini shovel)

Optional items:

• activated charcoal ONLY if you make a terrarium with a lid
• small rocks or sand to layer across the top

I purchased my medium glass bowl from Michael's. The original price was $11.99, but I used a coupon and got it for $8.34! The succulents and potting soil came from Lowe's. The succulents ranged from $2.98-$3.98 and I bought a total of six. We later saw the exact same ones in Walmart for 50 cents cheaper! The soil was $4.24. My decorative are from Walmart and cost $4.77. I purchased two bags but only used one! 

Total cost: $36.23 (this is with a Michael's coupon and military discount at Lowe's)

Instructions:

1. Place your rocks in the bottom of your bowl or jar. You need rocks! They will help any excess water drain from the soil. Otherwise your succulents and cacti may suffer from root rot. As I mentioned earlier, you may want a screen to keep your dirt from settling and covering your rocks. I really wish I had done that! 
2. If you chose a terrarium with a lid, layer your charcoal between your rocks and your soil. The charcoal you need is the same kind you purchase for fish tanks! The purpose of it is to help filter and circulate the air in your closed terrarium.
3. Dump in your soil! Make sure you have the kind for cacti :) 
4. Using your spoon as a shovel, plant your succulents.
5. Place sand or small rocks on top of the soil. I really wanted to do this, but couldn't bring myself to spend another penny on this thing!