Giving Hydrangeas New Life with Spray Paint

As you may remember, I made gorgeous fresh hydrangea wreaths for my front doors a year and a half ago. I absolutely loved them. I loved how they looked, I loved the bright and vibrant colors and I loved that they cost me almost nothing at the time to make.

They stayed that way for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, they now they look blanched because the color has fully leached out of them.

They are still pretty but not something I want to hang on my front door. I honestly thought my only option would be to throw them out, but I had one of those aha moments when I was redoing (aka spray painting) some accessories for my family room (I will share those soon). I was spray painting all sorts of things and thought, why can't I spray paint the hydrangeas? What would be the worst thing that could happen? I might ruin them? Well they were already destined for the garbage so it was worth a try.


Here is what wreaths looked like before they ventured into my garage for some spray painting:

 Here is what they look like now after a few different colors of spray paint:

 

 

Not bad huh! Sorry the photos are a little dark...it is pretty dreary here today.

Here is how I did it. I pulled out four colors of spray paint that matched the original pre-dried color of the hydrangeas. I only have 3 in this picture but I also used a bright lime green.

 I started by painting the entire wreath a light green.

I then progressively got darker. So went next to the lime color, then the celery and finally the brick color. I made sure to do sections with just one color to mimic how the hydrangeas look when fresh.

See how parts are green and others deep red? If you look really closely you can tell it was spray painted...but if someone wants to look that closely they can just go home! :)

I will probably make these again with fresh hydrangeas again next fall, but for now, the wreaths have new life and look great all over again.

Can you image the possibilities? Hydrangeas come in so many different colors so you can match any room in your house. If you have some dried on your bushes outside, go cut them and grab your favorite colors of spray paint. See what you can make.

What do you think?
Stephanie

DIY Large Burlap Star on my $0 Budget

This project was inspired by two posts I pinned a while ago. The first was Choose to Thrives DIY tin stars. I have wanted to make one for a long time but just never knew how I wanted to finish it. Then I stumbled upon my second inspiration The Douglas Family where she took a metal star and covered it with burlap. I knew I had a DIY project merging the two ideas together.

I made this star using a tin oven liner I purchased at the Dollar store months ago and then covered it with burlap I had left over from my custom burlap covered cardboard storage boxes.

Using a 12 inch star I cut out on my Cricut as the shape, I added 1.5 inches around the outer edges to enlarge it. I traced the star onto the tin, plus the width of my ruler, with a scoring tool that came with my Dollar store craft knife kit.

 

Here is what the scored tin looks like.

I then cut along the lines with my craft scissors; I thought I might have needed tin snips but the scissors did a great job.

I had to unravel a couple of the edges of the liner to get the points.

Here is what it looked like after it was cut out.

Using a good ruler, I scored from the center of each star point to the middle. By scoring it you can see how the star is taking shape.

I then flipped the star over and scored the lines from the center to where the two points meet. I made the shape of the star by using these score marks as the creases.

I decided to give the outer part of the start a quick coat of white spray paint so that I wouldn't see the shiny tin through the burlap.

 I covered the entire outer star with ModgePodge and flipped it over to stick on the burlap.

I cut around the star leaving about 1/2 an inch of excess burlap to fold over the back. Here is where I had to play around for a bit. I had a few failed attempts securing the excess burlap but eventually got it to work.

First I tried ModgePodge to secure the excess burlap on the back. That didn't work at all. Then I thought I would use a little clear tape to hold it until the ModgePodge dried...well the tape could not stick on the ModgePodge. So I puled out my favorite backup tool...duct tape :)  Yes, it worked but it looked horrible. I know that no one will see the back but I just couldn't live with it.

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but hot glue worked the best. I ran a bead of hot glue and folded the burlap over. Stuck instantly and gave nice clean edged.

I had a ribbon and bow saved from a Christmas gift I got; I love to save these because the bows are perfect (something I can never seem to master). I glued the bow to the middle of the star and then the ribbon to the corners.

I had made the star to hang over one of the most difficult spots I have had decorating in my house, my three sided fireplace. This fireplace is huge and such a focal point in our family room and kitchen.

Here is what I have so far. I moved my toilet paper art from the dining room to here. I am still not 100% happy but feel I am getting closer.  Please HELP if you have suggestions.

 

Please don't mind the plastic on the candles, I am not sure if I love them so I refuse to take off the plastic :)

What do you think? Any suggestions?
Stephanie

Delicious Rotisserie Chicken on my $0 Budget

Sorry for the limited posts lately. I am having a tough time balancing work, home, being a mom, exercise and my blog.  So the blog has fallen behind. I have a huge backlog of posts on my $0 budget so they will continue to come well into February. Please stop by and see what I did with my $0 budget over the next couple of weeks.

For those of you who know me this is not something new, but for everyone else...I hate touching meat. I do not like thinking about where it comes from; I would love to believe (and I do try to convince myself this) that meat grows in those white Styrofoam containers with plastic wrap around it :). I am not a vegetarian but I can understand why people are. Unfortunately, I also hate most types of beans so that definitely eliminates vegetarianism for me.

Why am I telling you this? Well with my $0 budget month, I cleared out the majority of my freezer and ended up finding two whole chickens. Do not ask me why I bought the stupid things to start out with, when I had no clue how to cook them and absolutely no desire to touch them. I do actually know why I bought them and this will just reinforce to you how cheap I am...the grocery store was having a sale for $4 for the ugly things. I saw it as though, I could buy one boneless chicken breast for the same price and this would feed the 4 of us. So I snatched up two..because dealing with the thing wasn't enough once, I had to do it twice :)

I am honestly proud of myself and thrilled with how they turned out. So thrilled in fact, I took pictures when I made the second bird. I am by no means going to start sharing my daily recipes and photos of my cooking with you. So don't worry :) I officially am not a food photographer! My photos look horrible but this was the best chicken I have made so I had to share. I will never buy a store bought, precooked chicken again!

Source Food Network- you can see my finished photo later. It isn't this pretty.

I got a new toaster oven about 6 months ago and it came with a rotisserie feature in it. At the time I thought it would never be used...but I love it now. I have made these chickens and the best pork roasts with it. Yum.

I go this chicken recipe from the food network here.


Recipe:
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 whole chicken


Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Rub dry mix over the entire chicken.

 Secure chicken on rotisserie spit. Cook on the rotisserie (I broiled at 450 degrees) until fully cooked (180 degrees internal temperature) for approximately 1.5 hours. 

I cannot describe how good this was!

See this is why I will not post recipes...that chicken looks pathetic :) Doesn't the Food Network photo look so much more appealing.

I am just happy to be able to use those chickens up from the freezer. Had I not have done my $0 budget month, they would have sat there and never been used. Now I know I can do it and I might try some other recipes.

Do any of you have great rotisserie recipes? I would love to hear them!

Have a great day and happy cooking,
Stephanie

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Smart n Snazzy

Hi there!  Thanks so much, Stephanie for having me guest post during her fabulous $0 Budget Month series!  I'm Lia from Smart n Snazzy, where I focus mostly on DIY, fashion, beauty, and decor, but I also post about whatever strikes my fancy.  I'm a wife and mother of two beautiful kids, and I work full time as a Data Analyst in Denver, Colorado.

I like to say that I have expensive taste but a limited budget.  Having a family to help support doesn't really allow for us to buy what we desire, so we have to make do.  I like to invest in classic pieces, and skimp on the trends.  A lot of the time, I'll make pieces inspired by high-end designer items for only a fraction of the cost.  And sometimes, I make things using what I've got on hand!  Here are a few examples.


When I laid eyes on the beautiful Kate Spade City Lights Bracelet, I knew I had to have it.  But its price tag is not anything I'd be willing to spend.  So I made it instead.  Here's my version, and here's the original post:

Inspired by this gorgeous Dannijo Studded Stingray Cuff Bracelet, I created one in a similar fashion to that of the City Lights bracelet.  Click here for the original post:

Finally, and yes I know I was on a TOTAL bracelet kick, I saw the whimsical Anthropologie Earbuds Bracelet and was completely enamored with it!  So I rounded up the supplies and made my own.  Here's the original post:

I hope you love and have been inspired to recreate some of your favorite pieces using some unconventional materials!  I always try to think outside the box and am so proud when I do!

A huge thank you once again to Stephanie for having me on Full of Great Ideas!  Please stop by Smart n Snazzy and say hi!

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: I Think I Can Squared

Just call me cheap. Or the lady that ends with WAY too much stuff from buying sprees at Hobby Lobby.

 Ok, cheap is easier.

I love crafts that don't cost a fortune. Blame it on my days as a daycare teacher where I had to pay out of pocket to keep the kiddies entertained :) I also go for cheap fixes for decorating because I'll admit, I hate doing it.

Here's some of my faves(ok, my faves that I actually blogged about)
 Reused candle holder  

Door wreath

Redoing a picture frame

April is a stay at home mom of 3 kids, ages 14, 12, and 5 and a zookeeper to an assortment of pets. She enjoy saving money, reading, sleeping, and doing way too many crafts. In her spare time, she blogs at I Think I Can, I Think I Can.

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: NMCreatrix

I am an artist and recycler, and I have taken a pledge (from Full of Great Ideas) to not make any non-essential purchases during the month of January. I will be retiring in February and think that going a month without any non-essential purchases will be a way to get ready for it. I have been gearing down for this for all of 2011, but the holiday season got me a little off track.

Part of the process is deciding which things are essential and which are non-essential. I am sure that it will be an on-going issue. Since creating art is an essential for me, I plan to use what art materials I have on hand and not purchase anything. That also helps reduce my stash!

Some of my ideas include making postcards, ATC {artist trading card) Buisness Cards and product hang tags for my wares. I use recycled cardboard boxes, paint and embellish them, and then cut to the size I need. I apply tags that I downloaded  that I have customized with my company information. This gives the recipient both a small work of art and my business information. See my prior posts  here and here for July.

These are postcards for a mail art swap that I was involved in for October. These use recycled materials and supplies that I already had on hand. Only cost was the postage.

Shari Adkisson
http://nmcreatrix.blogspot.com/

www.etsy.com/shop/nmcreatrix

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Never Home SAHM

I would like to welcome Mikita from Never Home SAHM to Full of Great Ideas.  Here is Makita's great frugal idea for organizing those dreaded headbands..perfect for all you who have daughters!

Here is what Mikita had to say:
"I was recently having a chat with another Mom of girls and she said, there is really no good way to organize headbands.  I agreed, as I remembered how my daughter's headbands have taken over the dresser and floor and bathroom!

I also took this conversation as a personal challenge to find a way to organize them.  Luckily, I have fallen in love with a little site called Pintrest.  If you don't know about it, send me your email and I will invite you to join. *Warning* the site is addicting, seriously, you will be hooked!  You've been warned!

Anyway, so I can't take credit for the idea itself, but I can take credit for my version of how I did it.  You need rings that are hooked together, any rings.  I used a silver looped belt that was in my daughter's closet.  You could use shower curtain rings, linky baby toys that most people use to hang toys on a car seat.  Just hook them together and hang them on a wall, I used push pins and put one of the loops on the pin.

My loop organizer holds headbands and scarfs by threading them through the loops! So easy.  I also tied a ribbon on one of the loops and clipped on bows and barrets!

Publish Post

So easy and free way to organize them!"