Glam Up Mother Nature for a Naturally Beautiful Holiday

savedbylove1_glamupmothernatureforanaturallybeautifulholidayA foraging trip outdoors starts the holidays off right. It’s a sure-fire way to pick some holiday spirit, and an even better way to save your money for gifts for your loved ones rather than spending it on decor.

 

Combine your store-bought sparkle with nature’s bounty for beautiful decorations that don’t break the bank. Low- to no-cost natural elements are the perfect addition to your decoration collection for decorating the mantle, tabletop and tree.

 

Turn collecting natural goodies into a scavenger hunt with the kids. Gather various sizes of pinecones, acorns, bare branches, evergreens and berries. If you don’t have any evergreens outside, you can stop anywhere fresh Christmas trees are sold and get the discarded lower branches for a low cost, or possibly for free. These work just fine to cut up for decorations. Finally, add in goodies from the grocery store like apples, popcorn, cranberries or citrus fruits. Now you’ve got the recipe for a pretty holiday home. It’s time to start decorating!

diy-holiday-decor-using-nature

Nature on Display

 

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Start with what you already own. Clear vases or jars, cake stands, baskets and plates turn into decorations with a bit of creativity.

 

Create an ornament display that is sure to become a focal point. Collect bare branches and dig into your ornament collection. Tying the baubles on bare limbs makes them stand out and really come to life. Do something as simple as these red balls on one branch, or collect several branches to place in a row of jars. You could even get a large multi-limbed branch to stand in a large floor vase.

 

You can also fill glass containers with pinecones and acorns. Add a bit of glam by dusting them with glitter or fake snow. Try tucking a few tiny ornaments in the glass container, too—look for a really interesting one to highlight, such as a tiny pair of ice skates or a darling little Santa.

 

Holiday Arrangement

 

savedbylove3_glamupmothernatureforanaturallybeautifulholiday

 

Create a floral-shop worthy display with a combination of your natural found items and produce. This wonderfully scented decoration is easy to make. Gather up apples, oranges, whole cloves, pinecones and greenery. Select a container—a basket or bowl will work.

 

Begin by pushing the cloves into the oranges in any pattern you like. If your basket or bowl is very deep, stuff the bottom of it with some balls of paper. First, set in your oranges, toward the center. Arrange pinecones and apples around the oranges. Cut small pieces of greenery and tuck them in between the fruit to hide gaps or any paper that shows. Finish by accenting here and there with a bit of something bright. You can add a few tiny ornaments, colorful cranberries, sprigs of holly or a dusting of fake snow.

 

Tabletop Centerpiece

 

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A low centerpiece is just the ticket for holiday dinners because you want to be able to see over it and enjoy conversations with family and friends. You can make a beautiful, simple one with your natural collection and some shiny ornament balls.

 

Collect pinecones, fall leaves, greenery, ornaments and a bit of paint. Check your paint stash for holiday shades of gold, silver, white, copper or red. Choose one you think compliments your ornaments. Paint the fall leaves and a few pinecones and allow the paint to dry. Leave some of the pinecones natural.

 

Use a flat plate or tray to hold your centerpiece. Snip evergreens in small pieces and arrange flat to cover the plate or tray. Arrange large pinecones in the center and then add the ornaments to the plate. Tuck tiny pinecones and the painted leaves around the large cones and balls.

 

Let It Shine

 

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Holiday parties and family gatherings are a celebration and celebrations call for candles. Natural elements can come into play with candles. Here are a few ideas:

 

  • Place a few cranberries and snips of greenery in a jar. Add water and drop a floating candle in the top. Add glamour by nestling them in some shiny bead garland or silvery icicles.
  • Place fresh cranberries in a tall vase. Nestle a candle into the berries. Tie a pretty ribbon around the vase.
  • Arrange three to five tiny votive candles on a plate with a rim. Surround them with fresh cranberries, whole nuts and acorns.

 

Strings of Fun

 

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Generations of families have enjoyed stringing popcorn on thread to decorate their tree. While you can certainly do just popcorn, it’s fun to give it a glamourous touch, like adding shiny gold jingle bells or a small ornament every so often. Don’t stop with just popcorn – you can string cranberries and even gummy candies!

 

After the holidays are over, don’t toss out the strings of popcorn and berries. Hang them on bushes in the yard and enjoy watching the birds have a winter feast.

 

As an organizational expert, Lea Schneider helps homeowners get organized, but also dabbles in decorating. She provides some great tips on using nature to decorate for the holidays. Visit the Home Depot to find a great selection of Christmas decorations.

 

How to Make a Gorgeous Fall Wreath

DIY Fall Decor

It has been way too long since I made and shared a DIY wreath project with you all. That is why I am a super stoked about today’s simple, cheap tutorial – a gorgeous gilded wreath to adorn your front door. You are going to need just a few supplies and an hour to create your very own. Let’s get started!

how-to-make-a-fall-wreath-savedbyloves

SUPPLIES:

how-to-spray-paint-plastic

Plastic or foam pumpkins and gourds (I got mine for 50% off at Michaels)

Krylon Dual spray paint in metallic gold, or your favorite color

A wreath form, or cardboard with and scissors(I used a pizza box)

Hot glue gun and sticks

Ribbon to coordinate with your paint choice

Drop cloth or old sheet to protect surface from overspray

diy-fall-decor

Begin by laying out your pumpkins on the drop cloth. This project is best done outside since you will be spray painting.

how-to-spray-paint-plastic

Spray pumpkins per instructions on can. Make sure you are using paint that has primer in it. If not, you will need to prime the pieces first. I love Krylon Dual because it has paint and primer in one. It is my go to product for spray painting.

how-to-make-your-own-wreath-form

Now for the wreath form. I showed you how to make your own from cardboard in this DIY Poinsettia Wreath tutorial. For this project, I wrapped the cardboard wreath form in duct tape for durability since I planned to hang the wreath outdoors.

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Before attaching the painted, dry pumpkins, place the ribbon around the wreath. Hot glue it into place, then begin attaching pumpkins.
how-to-hang-a-wreath

It’s as easy as that!

pumpkin-diy-fall-wreath-from-savedbyloves

TIP: For more cohesiveness, once all the pumpkins are in place, use the same spray paint to spray the wreath form where it is visible in the spaces.

For more of our festive wreaths, click:

Saved by Love Creations DIY Wreath Tutorials

50 Plus Awesome Yarn Crafts to Make

50 Best Yarn Crafts to make from @savedbylovesDon’t let the title scare you. For this collection, no crochet or knit skills are needed. This week’s crafty round-up is all about things to make with yarn. You will find all kinds of kids crafts, home decor, paper crafts and more. Enjoy!

Free Vintage Laundry Room Printables


Three Free Laundry Room Printables @savedbyloves

We recently renovated our laundry room, top to bottom. I will be sharing all the juicy details with you in upcoming posts, but today is all about free laundry room printables, from me to you! I created these in photoshop, using these free graphics from my favorite vintage graphics source, The Graphics Fairy: Washer and Iron, Clothespin.

Free DIY Laundry Room Printables @savedbyloves

I pulled them into Photoshop and added an old book page background I scanned in from a stack of books I inherited recently. The font I used to ad the text is “Century”. Super easy to create, I made them in 11×14 to go with the black frames I had on hand, but feel free to resize them to meet your needs. Download the freebies by clicking the text under each thumbnail below to pull up the full res version, then print, or save to a flash drive to take to your local printer. I had mine done at Office Depot on cardstock for less than $3 total! Not bad for some adorable laundry room art.

Wash Laundry Room Printable

WASH PRINTABLE

Dry Laundry Room Printable

DRY PRINTABLE

Press Laundry Room Printable

PRESS PRINTABLE

Enjoy and stay tuned for the mudroom bench reveal and tutorial!

DIY Upcycled Cookie Sheet Memo Board

Easy Upcycle Cookie into Copper Patina Magnet Board @savedbyloves @petscribbles

Hi everyone! I’m Laura from Pet
Scribbles
, and I’m thrilled to be guest posting for Johnnie
today!

I’ve got a fun DIY project to share: a copper patina magnet
board from an upcycled cookie sheet!

After seeing so many cookie sheet makeovers on Pinterest, I began
collecting some of our older ones. I also bought this new round one at
the dollar store:

Copper Patina Magnet Board

As regular readers of my blog know, I love the look of copper and
patina. I’ve made over quite a few pieces using this technique, from
glass
vases
made to look like copper pipes to large wooden planter boxes made to look
like metal. In each DIY, the steps are the same but the patina effect is
always different – just like real patina on aging copper.

Step One: Apply one coat of Modern Masters Copper Reactive
Metallic Paint to both sides of the cookie sheet.
Let dry.

For many surfaces, I use the Metal Effects Primer (also by Modern
Masters) as the first coat. On metal, it isn’t necessary as the first
step. However, as you’ll see in the image below, the first coat of paint
did go on a bit more streaky than I would have liked. (Using a primer
always provides some tooth for any subsequent coats of paint to adhere to.)

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Two: Apply a second coat of the copper paint to the back
side of the cookie sheet only.
Let dry.

Isn’t the paint gorgeous? There’s real metallic particles in the paint,
which is what reacts with the patina solution that will be added in the
next steps.

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Three: Apply a new coat of the copper metallic paint to the
front of the cookie sheet, then immediately spray the patina solution
onto the cookie sheet right over the wet paint.
The patina
solution comes in blue and green. I used the green shade:

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Using a sea sponge, I then played around pouncing the solution on the
cookie sheet, just making random patterns. It isn’t necessary to do
this, but it sure is fun!

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Four: Add a bit more of the copper paint, if
desired.
After everything dried overnight, I used the same sea
sponge and pounced a bit more copper paint here and there onto the front
of the cookie sheet. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, just play
with the look until you love it.

Here’s a close-up of the gorgeous patina finish:

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Five: Drill two holes into the cookie sheet. These
holes will be where you thread your ribbon through, to make the hanger
for your magnet board.

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Six: Cut two pieces of thin velvet ribbon (or a ribbon of
your choice), which will become small bows on the front of the magnet
board.
Cut two longer pieces of the same ribbon, which will be
used to create the hanger. (I didn’t measure my pieces, instead I just
eyeballed it.)

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Seven: Create the velvet ribbon hanger. Make a
loop with the smaller piece of ribbon (A), then thread
it (B) through the drilled hole, with both ends coming
through to the front. (C) Turn the tray over and slide
one end of the longer ribbon through the loop of the smaller piece.
(D) Tie the longer piece onto that loop with a simple knot.

Repeat this step for the other drilled hole.

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Step Eight: Pull the ends of the smaller pieces of ribbon all
the way through the drilled holes.
(They will be stopped by the
knots underneath that you made in Step Seven.

Step Nine: Tie the ends of each ribbon together with a simple
knot, then trim the edges to a length you like.
I trimmed mine
so each looks like a very basic bow shape and covers the holes
completely. (See image below.)

Step Ten: Tie the long ends together and make a large, floppy
bow.
Hang up on the wall and enjoy!

Copper Patina Magnet Board

Since it’s Christmas time, I decorated my magnet board with some of my
favorite vintage Christmas postcards. (I also made the glitter marble
magnets, and you can find that tutorial here.)

Copper Patina Magnet Board

I added a sprig of a faux pine branch too.

upcycled-cookie-sheet-memo-board

And when the Christmas season is over, my magnet board will be ready to
take on the new year and hopefully keep us more organized! (Unless I
decide to decorate it with more vintage postcards!)

Copper Patina Magnet Board

I’ve been a long-time admirer of Johnnie. Whether she’s crafting
bracelets or building furniture, her creativity knows no bounds!

Thanks Johnnie for having me guest post today, and thank you Saved By
Love readers too!

Happy crafting!

~Laura

50 Plus Favorite Pottery Barn Knock Offs

50 Plus Best Pottery Barn Knock Off Ideas from @savedbylovesWho doesn’t love getting designer home decor and furniture for a fraction of the price? Today I am sharing our favorite Pottery Barn knock off decor DIY tutorials from around the web. If we missed your project, leave us a link!


DIY Christmas Sign and Chalky Finish Paint Giveaway

DIY Christmas Wood Sign Chalky Finish

Today I am sharing how to make this easy Christmas sign on birch wood with Chalky Finish Paint. Have you ever used this paint? It is amazing. I am hooked! It comes in so many gorgeous colors and is easy to use without having to sand and prime the surface.  That’s my kind of paint. You have a chance to win 8 colors of your choice and more, but we will get to that later!

DIY Christmas Wood Sign

I scored this birch wood plaque from Michaels.

DIY Chalkboard

The paint color I used is Relic. It is beautiful!

Chalky Finish Birch Wood Christmas Sign

I used a foam brush to apply the paint.

DIY Chalkboard wood sign

Initially I planned to paint the letters on, but I decided to use chalk instead. Now I can change it with the seasons!

DIY Christmas Decor

I used my Cricut make a stencil out of clear contact paper. I love to use contact paper for stencils because it is way cheaper than adhesive vinyl. You can download the image file here: Joy and Holly Berries. If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can print and transfer the image using transfer paper like I showed you here: DIY Reclaimed Wood Sign.

Chalky Finish Birch Wood SignTo finish, I added twine to hang the sign.  I love it!

Remember when we painted our kitchen cabinets? We used Everlasting Chalky Finish paint. It was a huge time saver to not have to sand/prime the cabinets and we are thrilled with them.

Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint is available in Michaels in the wood and finishes aisle. Visit the DecoArt Chalky Finish website for more chalk paint ideas and inspiration.

Chalky Finish Giveaway

UPDATE: CONTEST OVER; THE WINNER IS ERIN B.!!

Now for the giveaway! Enter for a chance to win 8 colors of your choice, clear and dark creme waxes, Soft Touch varnish, waxing brush and 2 stencils of your choice *.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

* The items pictured are representations only. The stencils and paint will be selected by the winner. 

Disclosure: I received product and compensation from DecoArt in exchange for my campaign.  All opinions are honest and mine, as always!

 

Psalm 93 DIY Wood Pallet Nursery Sign

DIY Nursery Decor Wood Pallet Sign Psalm 93 @savedbylovesMy friend Jordan will be a momma any day now. I wondered if I would end up delivering the little guy the day she came over to make this nursery wall art, but he is not here yet! Today I am sharing how we created this lovely Psalm 93:4 sign for next to nothing out of pallet wood. It is so perfect in her nautical themed nursery! Download the cut file below and follow the steps to make your very own!

SUPPLIES:

Five pallet wood planks (Here is my video: How to Break Down Wood Pallets)

White chalky paint

Blue acrylic or chalky paint

Black vinyl for your die cut machine and transfer tape if you are die cutting the letters (if you don’t have a die cut machine, you could download the phrase below and transfer the letters to the sign to hand paint it like I showed you here: DIY Hand Painted Rustic Wood Signs)

Die Cut machine and software to trace jpg file provided below (this is not needed if you are hand-painting the sign as shown in the previous link)

Drill and 1/2 inch hole saw bit

Rope

Kreg jig

1 1/4 inch Pocket Hole Screws

2 inch flat paint brush and round stencil brush

Psalm 93:4 text download

Free Anchor Clip Art

Mod Podge Matte Finish

TUTORIAL:

DIY Nursery Decor

Cut your boards to about 45 inches wide and attach them with pocket holes, staggered as shown – (Here is How to Use a Kreg Jig).

DIY Nursery Decor2

Paint the sign white with chalky paint (we used Folk Art Home Decor Chalk).

Let that dry, then dry brush blue randomly as shown.  We used a round stencil brush for this.

Let dry and cut or print and transfer text and anchor.  We used a 12×24 inch mat  and filled the entire area with the text.  We sized the anchor to 5 inches and cut everything in black vinyl.

DIY Nursery Decor3

Center and adhere vinyl letters and anchor using transfer tape. Seal letters and sign with Mod Podge Matte or desired finish.

DIY Nursery Decor6

Mark desired placement of holes and drill with spade bit to fit diameter of rope you are using. (We have the letters covered in this image because the Mod Podge wasn’t dry and the saw dust would stick in it.  Don’t judge, we were in a hurry)!

DIY Nursery Decor8We inserted the rope and hung it from a cool anchor hardware piece that Jordan found at Hobby Lobby for just $3!

DIY Nursery Decor Ideas

We LOVE it!! Jordan did a fantastic job with this nursery, and our sign tops it off perfectly.

We hope you are inspired to create your own!

DIY Snowflake Window Garland

DIY Christmas Decor Idea

 

Today I am sharing with you a simple way to add some wintery snowflake decor to your house for the season! This project is super quick, easy and cheap with the right supplies. I love it with the first snowfall of the season painting the landscape beyond the window.  Perfect!

DIY Snowflake Window Garland @savedbyloves

SUPPLIES

Snowflake Decor

White paper (I used filter paper I was given from the local recycling center)

Sizzix Snowflakes #3

Sizzix Snowflake With Texture Fade by Tim Holtz

Clear string

Hot Glue and glue gun

Sticky foam mounts or other removable tape

TUTORIAL

Die cut several snowflakes from white paper.

Add a line of hot glue to the back of the snowflakes and adhere the clear string.

                                                    Continue adding snowflakes this way until the strand is as long as you want.

Snowflake Decor DIY

I made 7 strands of snowflakes and stuck them to the window’s “ceiling” using removable foam mounting tape.

If you don’t have a die cut machine, you can make your paper snowflakes with this detailed tutorial from Instructables:

How to make Paper Snowflakes

For more Christmas inspiration, visit our 50+ Christmas Kid’s Crafts:

Christmas-Kids-Crafts-to-Make-Pinterest-Saved-By-Love-Creations1

Make gifts for your loved ones on the cheap with our 50+ Gifts to Make for Under $10:

50 Christmas gifts to make for less than $10

Reclaimed Wood Wine Bottle Vase Trio

Salvage Wood Wine Bottle Wall Vase Trio

Wine Bottle Wall Vase2 copy

 Reclaimed wood and recycled bottles combine with inexpensive copper hardware for this rustic, ecofriendly wall vase set.  Make it in under an hour with just a few dollars for hardware!  This is perfect inexpensive wall decor, and makes a great, unique handmade gift for the holidays.

MATERIALS

Wine Bottle Wall Vase 4

-Scrap wood cut to desired width (The board I had was 25 inches, so I went with that.  Use any number of wine bottles, and cut your wood the appropriate length for that number.)

-Drill

-1 inch copper bell hanger kit (available in plumbing section of most hardware stores for less than $2 each)

-Picture hanging hardware

-Wine bottles (clean and remove labels if desired as described in Techniques)

 DIRECTIONS

 1.  Paint, stain or decoupage your wood any way you like.  I left mine as I found it since it had the weathered look I love.  Same goes for the bottles.  Paint or decorate them to fit your decor or occasion.

Measure for holes

2.  Measure and mark placement of your bottles, leaving even spacing between each and centering them on the board.  Yay math!

Drill hole for clamps

3.  Drill a pilot hole with a drill bit just smaller in diameter than your screw.  If you aren’t using a drill, use a hammer and nail to make a pilot hole.

Wine bottle wall hanging

4. Attach bell hanger using the screw that came in your kit and a drill or screwdriver.

How to make a reclaimed wood wall hanging

5.  Attach a loop for hanging on each side.

Wine Bottle Wall Vase3

6.  Place on wall and add wine bottles.  Time to head to the farmer’s market for some fresh flowers!

Recycle Wine Bottles into Inexpensive Wall Decor with Reclaimed Wood @savedbyloves

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