Decorating for a Party on a Dime (First Communion celebration for my family) - Part 1

I am sorry for being absent from my blog for quite a while; a lot has been going on around my house lately. It started with my daughter's First Communion, then in a moment of insanity I decided to partake in my first 5km race, mix in two kids with strep throat, add a dash of a crazy work schedule and squash all that with major outdoor renovation project and you have one woman who feels like she is going to explode!

Well I am happy to say that life seems to be slowing down, so I hope to share some of the projects we have been working on.

For starters, I am going to show you how I managed to prepare for my daughter's first communion celebration on a serious decorating budget. I know, I do everything on a budget, but since we have hired a landscaping company to redo our entire front(I mean rip almost everything from our front yard out and start from scratch), we are now on a really tight budget. I hate paying people to do any work but this was a huge project. I will show you pictures of the front once it is finally done. Our landscaper's 2 1/2 week project plan has been going non-stop since April 23rd. So two months and counting.

Back to my party decorating on a dime! So when we started to prepare for our daughter's First Communion, she picked the colors she wanted to use - light and dark pink and purple. It really reminded me of Easter but it was her choice. I refused to buy any pre-made, over-priced, First Communion decorations, so I ventured over to my favorite inspiration sites...Etsy, Pinterest to see what people were selling. Of course, much of what you can buy for a ridiculous price you can make for next to nothing! So that is what we did.

So I set out to make the following decorations, with a very limited budget:

• Paper garlands (my cost $0)
• Tissue pom poms (my cost $5)
• Fancier plastic table cloths (my cost $1)
• Cross name art (my cost $1) (Separate post - Decorating for a Party on a Dime - Part 2)
• Gifts for our guests (my cost $2.50 each) (Separate post - Decorating for a Party on a Dime - Part 3)

Tissue pom poms (in various sizes and colors) - $5 for over 30 pom poms

These tissue pom poms sell on Etsy for various prices, but average at about $4 per large pom pom. I am honestly shocked anyone would buy these on Etsy, not only because of the price but they come closed! Opening these things up is the majority of the work involved in making them!

But I am happy to say, if you know how to make them, you can create large colored pom poms for around $0.25 each and you can make white ones for around $0.20 each! (My Dollar store sells larger packaged of white tissue for $1.)  When you but them in half to make smaller ones, you get double the pom poms - so 2 colored for $0.25.

Materials needed:

• Tissue paper (various colors)
• Floral wire or pipe cleaner

These are not new in the crafting world and I have been making them for every party since my daughter was a baby. But for those of you who have not made them before, you will be shocked at how easy they are.

 

I don't know who the original creator of these is, but you can find full instructions on Martha Stewart's site here.  I make them a little differently then how Martha does it. I use 5 or 6 sheets for the big (full length tissue paper) size and use 4 or 5 sheets for the small (half width/full length tissue paper) size. Tip: be sure to have extra wire/pipe cleaner when you secure the middle so you can hang the pom poms with it. 

My daughter and I made over 30 tissue pom poms in various sizes and colors and hung them all over the main floor of the house. We did some with rounded tips, pointed tips, full length/width of tissue and some half width/full length. You can hang them in clusters or by themselves.

Grand total for all of them was $5 (since I had floral wire on hand).

 I have made them with multiple colors of tissue paper within the same pom pom I.e. I use 1 sheet of green tissue on the outside, then 3 sheets of orange(or pink, purple etc) and two yellows on the inside. Once opened up it looks like a flower. Or you can alternate colors and they look adorable. They are cheap, so play around with them.

Circle and cross garlands - $0 (I had the everything on hand)

These circle garlands sell for $1 per foot on Etsy! I used some cheap paper I had from Michael's, in colors me daughter liked, to make these for nothing. I added some crosses so it was First Communion related, but you can make them with flowers, circles, ovals, or any shape you want.

Materials needed:

• Paper - cut into desired shape
• Sewing machine with matching thread

I cut out circles and crosses in various sizes on various colors/patterns using my Cricut. If you don't have a Cricut or Silhouette, you can use some punches or a pair of scissors and make your own shapes.

Once you have a big pile of cut shapes, pull out your sewing machine. Load a thread and bobbin in matching colors, set your stitch to a straight stitch and start sewing. You literally just run your needle right through the middle of the paper and then keep going to make about an inch of thread in between each piece of paper.

You can't mess this craft up! Even if you can't sew a straight line, you don't have to worry about this. To be honest with you, I did not sew a single strand of these...my daughter did them all herself. It took us one evening of cutting and sewing, in front of the TV, and we had more than enough to decorate the house.

We probably made 40 or 50 feet of this garland, so I guess I saved $50 plus shipping.

Lacy edge plastic table cover-$1 each

I got this idea from Cupcakes and Cutlery here. She took a plastic table cover, cut it into strips and stretch the edges to make it look lacy. The result was an amazing ruffle garland. She then did the same thing to the edge of a plastic table cover. So cute and so cheap!


Materials needed:
Plastic table cover from the Dollar Store
Two hands :)

Method
I won't recreate what Cupcakes and Cutlery had to say so here it is:

" Basically you will want to put the plastic in one hand between your thumb and pointer finger and hold the plastic the same way in the other hand right next to the first hand.  And pull your thumbs away from each other.  Give it a test so you can figure out how much and how far you should stretch it.  The good thing about these is that they are never going to come out exactly the same as the last stretch so variety is fine.  Also, you will tear the plastic once in a while.  As long as you haven't torn it clear through to the other side, it is also fine. The tear sort of ruffles as well and blends in."

 It really is adorable and for $1 I could not be happier.

I will have a couple more Decorating for a Party on a Dime posts to share; here is a sneak peak at the next two decorations I made.

Cross Name Art - $1

 Celtic knot etched jars filled with gourmet jelly beans (gifts as the guest)  - $2.50 per guest

Do you have any frugal party decorations you like to use? Do you tend to decorate more or less as your kids get older?

Have a great day!
Stephanie

Pillow Case Yoga Bag -Sew it yourself for $0

As one of my New Year's Resolution, I vowed to start exercising. I know it is not a very original resolution, but after having an extremely serious bout of pneumonia a few months ago, I was informed I had scarring on my lungs. I had to start exercising just so I could teach my lungs to take deep breaths again and to stretch out some of the scar tissue. 

Well my wonderful sister-in-law convinced me to join bootcamp with her. I think the name bootcamp is a little misleading...it should be called "kick your butt and every other part of your body"camp! You realize you have muscles that you would never knew you had let alone imagine they could hurt that much. But I LOVE IT! I have actually already signed up for the next session. 

You are probably wondering why I am sharing this. Well, for each session we have to bring our own yoga mats. I have a mat but I don't have a bag to carry that mat. I struggle with it hanging out the end of my gym bag twice a week, then on my off days it sits in the corner of my bedroom slowly unraveling into a mess. 

I went out to buy one, but I am far to cheap to spend money on something like that. So I thought I would make one. After very little Google searching, I found quite a few ways to sew your own. None of which were great for basic sewers or lazy sewers like me. 

So this is how I got here. I wanted a quick and easy way to sew a yoga mat bag.

Materials

• Pillow case
• Thread
• Ribbon
  

 Method

I headed to my linen closet and found the ugliest pillow case we had. Don't judge my 90s burgundy, hunter green and navy blue paisley pillow case. I am sure if each and every one of you were to dive elbows deep into your linen closets you would find something just as beautiful! :)  Just note that since this worked so well, I will be making another one out of a nicer, maybe even funky pillow case that I find on clearance someplace.

Make sure the pillow case is longer than the yoga bag.

Cut off the 'cuff' (you know the fancy end of the pillow case where the fabric is folded over) of the pillow case with scissors; try to get as close to the body of the pillow case as possible. Then remove the seam on the 'cuff' so you have one long piece of fabric. This is going to make the strap of your yoga bag.

 Iron your cuff fabric in half.

Then sew it along the two sides and then down the middle. This gives a nice firm fabric that will not twist or bunch.

I then determined how wide I needed the yoga bag to be. Make sure you leave enough space that the mat can slide in easily. I recommend pinning it and testing before you cut.

I cut the pillow case with my rotary cutter to get a straight line but you can use scissors easily too.

Now this part will seem a little tricky, but it really isn't. With the right side of the pillow case facing in, you need to put the strap of the bag inside. This will allow you to sew the strap right into the side seam of the bag. I sewed the strap on an angle into the side seam so they lay nicely when I wear the bag.

I did not need the full length of the 'cuff' strap. So I recommend, pinning this, flipping it right side out and carefully (so you don't prick yourself) determine how long you want your strap to be. Everyone will like it a different length.

This is the strap tucked within the pillow case bag.

I then did a really loose stitch up the side seam (Remember the bottom seam is already sewn from the pillow case). I did this so that if there was a problem I could pull it out easily. I verified everything worked, i.e. the strap length, the opening for the mat, etc. Once I determined it was all good I did a nice straight stitch and then went over the seam with a zigzag stitch.

Now this is where you make the bottom stand nicely. The other patterns online want you to cut a circle and carefully line it up with the bottom..come on. I can make it a million time easier. Since the bottom of the pillow case was already sewn all you need to do is a square corner. To do this, grab one corner (where the side seam is) and pull the fabric out so the bottom seam is down the middle. Really the middle seam and the side seam are laying on top of each other. Pin it. Then do the same with the opposite side.

 So it will look like this.

 Determine how wide your yoga mat roll is and sew a straight line, creating a triangle on each corner. Taa Daa! You have a flat bottom. (In any other situation, I would not be hoping for a flat bottom :)).

Now to the top of the bag. I simple folded the top over by a 1/2 inch, ironed it down and sewed the pocket, threaded some ribbon through and used an old bauble thingy from one of my kids old boots :).

Here it is done! I did take some pictures of it on my back but I looked like I had two chins and I am not sharing those.

Not bad huh, 90s paisley and all. Just image how cute it could be with a pretty pillow case (if you have one on hand or find one on clearance).

If you have any question on my confusing tutorial, let me know.

Thanks and Enjoy!
Stephanie
Linking to some great parties including: Story of A2Z, Thrifty Home

Ruched leggings - Take them from too short to too cute in 10 minutes

  

How come when spring comes, not only do all the weeds shoot up but so do my kids. I find every spring my two kids outgrow all of their pants and I end up buying new ones only for them not to fit by the time fall rolls around. This year I am determined to save a few dollars and outsmart this growth spurt. 

My daughters leggings are too short to look normal but are too long to look like they are capris. I hate hemming so there is no way I am going to take a few inches off to make them capris. So I searched online and found this technique  (ruching the bottom)  to solve my short pant problems (with my daughter at least).

Before:

 After:

I purchased a spool of elastic thread at my local fabric store for $1.50 and ruched both sides of the leggings. I have never used this product before so I did some searching on youtube on how to use it. After an hour of playing around I finally got it to work the way I wanted it to.

This is the method I used:
Hand wind the bobbin with the elastic thread. Do not pull the elastic; let it go on the bobbin at the same tension it comes off the spool. If you pull it tight, the area you sew will not pucker.

Load the bobbin into the bobbin case the exact same way you would with normal thread.

Set the tension on your machine to 9 or the highest.

I did a long straight stitch; set my stitch length to 3.5.

 I loaded the top thread with a matching color to the legging.

I then measured and marked 5 inches up both sides of each leg of the legging and sewed three parallel lines (approximately 1/4 of an inch apart) up the sides.  IMPORTANT - Be sure to reverse your stitch at the start and the end of each row. This allows the elastic to stay put and not pull through. As you can see I didn't really manage to get the lines straight but once it is ruched, you can't tell. (this is the underside)

I heated my iron and sprayed the ruched area with water and ironed it. I found this shrunk the elastic and made the ruching stand out more.

 

I managed to get a couple of 'after' shots even though my daughter went immediately back to skipping.


I am really happy with the end result and will continue to do this with all the other slightly too short leggings she has. At least this will get me through the spring and summer months :)

Sewing with the elastic thread was far easier than I expected. I might try my hand at ruching some t-shirts that are just a bit too big. I will let you know how that goes.

I hope this helps some of you moms out there who are afflicted with suddenly long legged kids :)

I hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day!

Linking to some great parties including The stories of A2Z