cheap Archives - Spoonful of Imagination

How to use a Hanging Basket {differently}

August 12, 2014 By Erica Deuel 4 Comments

Do you ever have an urge to buy something, even if you don’t know what you will use it for? It happens to me all the time. Sometimes it works out, and I find a place for that unneeded item. Other times, it was a waste of money. Then there are the very exciting times, where I hold onto something for a long time before the reason hits me on why I needed to buy that item!

That is the case of my hanging plant basket. I loved the shape and size of this little hanging plant basket, or I guess it could have also been a fruit hanging basket.

I saw it at the Dollar Tree at the beginning of the summer, and I bought it. I knew I wouldn’t use it for either of the ideal purposes, but I wanted it. It sat in my pantry (literally) for several months. This past weekend, I was purging, and it finally hit me what I could use that cute, black, metal basket for.

It was meant to be wall art. I slipped off the metal chain, turned it on its side, stuck a push-pin into the wall, placed it on top with some cute stuffed animals and it was perfect.

I love that it is not the usual shelf. I love that it adds height and dimension to my son’s dresser while holding some cute little toys. It was simple and so cheap to do! After hanging this plant basket, I foresaw how cool it would look with several going up the wall. Of course, the Dollar Tree is no longer selling plant baskets, but I needed to share this idea. Maybe there are plant baskets still for sale at other stores, and you too can scoop one up for some fun wall art.

It’s amazing what can happen when we ~~hoard~~ use our imaginations and think outside of the box. Imagine the possibilities!

DIY Painted Wood Hangers

May 6, 2014 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

If you are new to my blog, the heartbeat here is to encourage people to add a Spoonful of Imagination to their lives. I believe we all have some kind of creativity inside of us and the more we stretch ourselves to express that, the more beautiful life can be.

I think you can take almost anything, add in a little imagination, and come up with something that is full of meaning and charm. Today, I hope to prove that with my DIY Painted Wood Hangers.

I pulled together a little acrylic paint, wood hangers, glitter, glue, and sharpies and got started!

The first thing I did was paint my hangers a pretty coral pink on one side.

Next, I used a little painter’s tape to add some stripes. I wanted to leave a little of the natural wood look, so I placed painter’s tape where I wanted the wood grain to show and painted the rest of the hanger.

After the paint dried, I pulled up the tape and the wood stripes looked perfect!

I think the hangers looked cute enough to be left alone, but I wanted to embellish them a little bit more. I used a little glue, paint, glitter, and sharpie to add some fun touches to my hangers. Once they dried, my painted wood hangers were complete!

These little hangers were so fun and easy. My kids love them too and have given me requests to make some for them.

I love when you add a little print to these hangers and hang them on a hook, it is such a beautiful and simple wall decor! So, what about you? Do you think you will be painting some hangers? Pssst if you love this print as much as I do, please check out my sweet friend’s store!

DIY Cheap Dog Bed

August 23, 2013 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

You don’t hear about our dogs much on here, but we have two lab mixes. Their names are Dixie (for Dixie Stampede for all you Pigeon Forge fans out there) and Napoleon (for Napolean Dynamite). They were our first babies. As frustrated as I get with having to clean up their hair at times, we love them. They are good dogs.

They have dog beds in our room. Whenever I let my OCD take over and go on a cleaning rampage (which is not often) I try to squish those things in our washer. They barely fit and are all bawled up in there, so I wonder how clean they really get.

My favorite dog bed is the slip cover style one I made for them myself. The problem is we have two dogs, so when ever they are downstairs and want on the bed. One usually claims the bed and the other an old blanket. The blanket has been like an ugly, slippery, hazard.

We needed another slip cover dog bed, so I just made myself finally do it. If you have an old blanket, some new fabric, and a sewing machine, you can make a cheap dog bed in minutes that costs barely nothing.

I simply folded my new fabric to make an envelope style pillow cover and slipped the blanket inside. If you need help learning how to make an envelope pillow case, I wrote about it here.

The thought behind this dog bed is we all probably have an old blanket we can use (or find one for a couple bucks at a thrift store) and can turn it into a cheap dog bed. I love that this style dog bed is so much easier to wash. I simply take off my cover, and throw it and the blanket into the washer, rather than trying to bend up the rather large pillow style dog beds that are sold in stores.

The beauty behind this dog bed is you can continually switch out the cover fabric. Once my dogs get it too nasty or I want a new look, I can easily make a new cover. It just takes sewing two lines!

We now have two dog beds in our living room. I no longer slip on that huge blue blanket, and I think the dogs like it. It’s a win-win.

If you didn’t catch yesterday’s post, I have a Wake Up & Do Good sign up for sale. I am also having a instagram sale on Monday with some of my latest creations. I will be posting pictures and you can claim the item right there in that feed. I would love for you to follow me there, if you don’t already!

I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

DIY Burlap Lamp Shade

June 11, 2013 By Erica Deuel 9 Comments

Do you love burlap? I know I do, but lately I have been wondering why. Is it because it is “in” or is there more to it. I have decided for me, there is more to it.

Burlap has a great texture and a natural quality that I love. It’s durable and one of the most inexpensive fabrics you can buy. Burlap can fit in with a lot of different kinds of home decorating looks. Someone who decorates beachy, cottage chic, modern or even bohemian can all use burlap and still capture the look they love. I think this is a versatile fabric that is timeless. I’ve used burlap to cover our old dinning room table, curtains for in Reagan’s room, and I’ve even made burlap flowers. Today, I want to show you how to make a burlap lamp shade. I’ve priced these out and seen them cost around $50 for a medium size shade. My shade cost about $2, since I had some materials on hand and was just recovering an old shade. Here is how I did it…

Materials:

hot glue gun with glue sticks
Scissors
burlap (length depends on the size of your lamp shade)
Creme/neutral fabric as liner
Scrap Fringe
Old lamp shade
Spray paint

The first step is to take your old lamp shade and spray paint it white. This will help diminish the pattern or design that is currently on it. Since my pattern was so bold and bright on my old shade, I actually gave my shade two coats of spray paint.

Next, lay your burlap out and on top of it lay a creme or neutral color fabric. Since burlap is an open-weave fabric, this creme fabric helps to act as a liner and adds a better cover to the shade.

I took both layers of fabric (burlap plus liner) and just wrapped it around my lampshade, so I had an idea of the length of fabric I would need. I cut off the excess, so I wasn’t trying to manage fabric I would not need at the end of this project.

You might have seen that in covering a lamp shade with regular fabric you can use a spray glue to attach your fabric. That material is not strong enough to hold burlap for lasting effects. I put a strip of hot glue down the length of my neutral liner and rolled the shade on to it. I pressed the shade down for several second to seal the glue.

Roll the shade and put a strip of glue on the other side of the neutral fabric, so the burlap can also be glued to the shade.

Continue rolling your shade every 2 inches or so and doing this gluing step. It is annoying to have to glue for both the neutral and burlap layers, but it is necessary. One strip of glue will not go through and attach both layers of fabrics. Be sure to tug on the two layers of fabric after every roll to stretch them out and not allow air pockets or fabric to bunch up. You want the shade to be nice and tight.

Once the shade is completely covered, fold the end over to create a fringeless edge and hot glue that down onto the shade. You want to try to get it as straight as you can.

You are almost done! That was the tedious part. Next cut off the extra length of fabric from the top and bottom of the lamp shade except for about 1/2 to 1″ in length. That amount of fabric is needed to allow for a strip of hot glue to be placed inside the lampshade and the fabrics to be pressed into. You most likely will have to do two strips of hot glue here as well to catch both the liner and burlap.

You can stop there or you can add fringe! I was making my lampshade almost right along with when I was making my fabric bunting, so I had a big pile of fringe and pretties out in my work area.

I decided I would hot glue two layers of different fringes to the bottom of my shade to add some embellishment.

Then my shade was done! That is how you make a DIY burlap lampshade! If you can cut and hot glue, you can do this project and save loads of money!

I love how the lamp fits in Reagan’s room and adds of touch of neutral and more rustic to her girly decor.

That is the last tutorial I have for Reagan’s room (for now;))! Check back later this week for a summary and post with the complete round-up of tutorial posts from this bedroom makeover!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: