the thrifty crafter

We decided to throw together a last-minute party for Halloween this year so I hit up the Dollar Store to see what I could find.  Never a big fan of anything cheesy (though my husband is all about giant blow up lawn ornaments and the like – we’ll battle that one out at Christmas, I’m sure!), I tend to look for inexpensive basics that I can dress up.  What I found on my recent trip were black serving plates, a black plastic tablecloth, some cheesecloth, the fake spiderwebs you find at most places, and some lovely rubber rats. I went to the dollar store specifically looking for black construction paper, which I unfortunately did not find, so went through my scrapbooking stash and luckily found about 4 sheets of black cardstock (which you can buy at Joann’s or Michael’s).

So, for a whopping $6, I turned my food table into a spooky serving place by layering the cheesecloth over the normally-tacky black plastic tablecloth, adding the rats for some extra creepiness.  I used the fake spiderwebs to add some festivity to the front door and the coffee table and used last year’s decor to top it off.

With the black scrapbook paper, I decided to make some bats to hang from the ceiling, after a summer road trip through Austin, TX where we watched the Congress Ave bats take flight at dusk.

To do this, I found a silhouette image of a bat on the internet, traced it onto a piece of paper (don’t yet have a printer in my new house), cut it out and copied it onto scrapbook paper. A trick for less tracing/cutting: fold your paper edge over and line the bat up so he is bisected lengthwise. This way, you don’t spend as much time cutting AND the crease makes the bat look like he’s in flight!

Use a needle and fishing line, or in my case, invisible thread which I had on hand, to hang from the ceiling with clear tape.  I love the way it turned out!

To continue with the bat theme, my husband has loved the idea of a conceptual costume ever since we donned chick magnet and deviled egg costumes a few years back. This year, we decided he would be a “dingbat”.  Easiest costume ever! Your base: black shirt, pants and shoes. Then, you need some scrap black fabric, about half a yard, for your wings, and a desk courtesy bell that you can find for cheap from your local office supply store.

All I did was cut wings from the scrap fabric by laying the shirt flat with arms stretched out at 90 degrees, lining up the corner of the fabric and scalloped the edge from wrist to hem to look like a bat wing.  When done, simply glue the wings onto the shirt seams, then hot glue the desk bell to the front of the shirt.  Hit the bell, and up go his arms! A hit with the kids, who couldn’t stop dinging him! We fashioned a quick set of bat ears with a headband and some leftover black felt, though my dear husband took the liberty of cutting them without consulting me first and he ended up looking more like a flying dingcat.  But you get the picture. And doesn’t my doggy make the cutest shark?

Its Crate & Barrel style! (sorry, I couldn’t help myself, that song is taking over the universe)

After a long hiatus from blogging due to a cross country move, the start of a new job and getting settled in our new home, I thought I’d start off with a post on home decor since we’ve been doing so much of it lately.  Hubs and I recently moved into a cute, little rental with lots of character and were in need of some curtains for our bedroom.  We have hardwood floors and some vintage, solid wood dressers that are much too gorgeous to repaint a la Pinterest so I wanted some type of graphic print in the citron-yellow range to brighten up the room.  I was having a hard time finding anything I really liked, except for these $278 babies ($139 for only one panel!!) at Crate & Barrel.

I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on curtains so continued my search in fabric stores to see what it would cost to make my own.  After all, basic curtains are simply two large rectangles, with some finished edges, right? Imagine my surprise when I found the EXACT fabric from an online discount fabrics retailer for 80% off for the yardage I needed! That’s right, I only paid $50 to make two curtains!

I did not line these as they are decorative, but you could do it easily with some inexpensive muslin to add some weight.  I am pretty happy with the results, and best of all, I didn’t have to spend a fortune for my Crate & Barrel taste!

What you need:

• 5 yards of fabric (for two, standard 84-inch curtains)
• matching thread (I used white)
• pins
• iron & ironing board

What you do:

1. Take your 5 yard piece of fabric and cut it in half into two, 2.5 yard pieces.
2. Start pinning the sides first with a 1.5 inch hem.

   

   Make sure to take a look at your fabric design and see what you want your edge to be.  I preferred my edge to be just outside the circle part of the design.   First I pinned where I wanted the edge to be, then folded the unfinished edge under.  May seem redundant, but this is how I made sure to keep things straight and even.

   

3. Sew your pinned sides then break out your iron and iron your edges flat.
4. Now, its time to pin the bottom of the curtain.  Again, I used a 1.5 inch hem to match the sides, though I believe the Crate and Barrel ones have a 3 inch hem.  To make sure things were straight, I used the underside of the pattern to line up the lines of the design.

   

5. Determine how long you want your curtain to be and pin the length.  Make your rod opening at least 3 inches, then pin under the unfinished edge.  Depending on how long you want your curtains to be, you may need to cut off excess fabric at this step.

   

   *A standard curtain you buy at a store is typically 84 inches long (the ones at Crate and Barrel are actually 96 inches, which was waaaaay longer than I wanted).  Our landlord hung the curtain rod on the actual window frame, which in interior design is not what you are supposed to do – you should hang it above and beyond the edges of the frame.  In any case, because of this and not wanting to rehang the curtain rod, my finished curtains were 81 inches so as to not crumple on the floor, so I did need to cut some fabric at this step.
   

6. Before you sew, check your length by hanging pinned fabric from curtain rod.  Adjust length as necessary, then sew! Hang and admire your handiwork.  And if the moment strikes you, break into a little horse dance…you’ve earned it crafty lady!