She's Crafty: Last Minute Easy DIY Valentine's decoration

Did you decide last minute that you might want to want to decorate for Valentine's Day or you're like some of us that totally forgot it was Valentine's day in less than a week? Here's a super easy but cute DIY Valentine's decoration. 

I found this heart at party city for maybe 20 cents? You can make your own giant out of construction paper. They have simple heart templates on the Internet if you're like some of us who are straight lined challenged. 

I bought a pack of heart doilies a few weeks ago. I thought it would look cute in the middle of the heart. You could also cut out a smaller heart in a different colored paper if you don't like want/have doilies.  

Paste doily where you think it looks best and voila! Easiest Valentine's decoration ever! 

If you don't want to tape it to the wall/have a place you'd like to hang it, I suggest turning the heart over and taping string so you can do so (as seen above). 

she's crafty: halloween decorations

Both pumpkins are fake and were bought for under $5 at Target.
That owl was found at the smelly .99 store.

The last time I decorated for Halloween was 10+ years ago and it wasn't even my house. It was a family friend's who happened to be an old babysitter but she was obsessed with all things Halloween and scary. So when I moved on my own, I never really decorated. I worked all the time or I had roommates and I never felt like anything was really "mine". I knew once I had a child I'd feel differently about holidays. Last year I was 9 months pregnant and experiencing braxton hicks like crazy so decorating was the last thing on my mind. I knocked out two mini crafts last year due to boredom surrounding early maternity leave. I wanted to make things, especially holidays a BIG deal for them. My little one may be too young to remember this now but he'll sit and stare and sometimes he'll try crawling off with a pumpkin. It's these little moments that I know it's totally worth it :) 

Since I'm on a budget my key factor was cost. The other factor in the situation was "kid friendly" since I have a very grabby almost one year old on my hand. You may remember I started talking about the decorations on this post. This is the finished product. I'd like to warn people how deadly the fake web is. Our fan was five feet away from the web and somehow the web wound up getting caught in the fan and breaking it. Funny yet kinda tragic (considering it's still mucho hot in LA). 

The fake web and spiders were bought at the smelly .99 store along with the beaker.
I bought the mummy rat at World Market. 

Michaels had the crows for 50% off. Since they were 50% I decided it was okay to buy them. 

I also bought the spiders because they were also 50% off. I put my gallery wall back up just so I could use these wall decals. I'm fully aware I'll have to take the entire wall down soon and pack it all up. Pardon the
photos that are a bit "off". I may or may not have big foot relatives who live above me.   

I made those trio of Halloween photos last year using graphics found here. I put one of
the crows right above the light switch. 

I won't miss these windows. The "creepy" fabric I found at Michaels for 50% and decided to add some spiders and crows to it. 

These eyeballs in a jar were the easiest DIY decoration ever and may have been the cheapest?
I'll be posting about that later :) 

She's Crafty: Birthday Cards & Fabric Envelopes

Expecting a baby + early maternity leave = a very tight budget. 

Two of my friend's birthdays were in the same week and I wanted to do something special for them. Thankfully I have lots of card stock, scrapbooking paper and fabric (leftover from a quilting project in 2004 that never got started). The key to the fabric envelopes is measuring the fabric to the size of an envelope and lightly tracing the letters of their names out before stitching. After all the sewing & stitching was done, I used my cherry blossom stamp and stamped the fabric.

I like the idea of the fabric and personalized envelope because it can be reused for so many things (make-up, art supplies, etc.). I'm sure if I put some sequins on it and made it with some satin fabric it could be used as an evening bag - Just kidding :) 

She's Crafty: DIY pinboard & wipe off board

I've been wanting a pinboard and wipe off board for my kitchen since I moved in. However, I couldn't find anything I liked. What does one do in this situation? You make your own! Since the area where I wanted to hang these items up at is small, I had to think small(er). 

Wipe Off Board:
I measured the scrapbook paper to the size of the glass.
Cut the scrapbook paper to fit. 

Framed the scrapbook paper
Voila! A wipe off board for a very cheap price
(Note to self: purchase black dry erase markers not colorful ones) 

Pinboard:
I measured the scrapbook paper to the glass (as seen above)
I then measured to see what size I should cut the ribbon.
I placed the scrapbook paper in front of the glass OR you could buy cork board
and cut it to the size you need (I was on a budget)

I placed four rows of ribbon going horizontal and placed three rows of ribbon
going vertical.
BAM - Your own little pinboard!

Items I used: 

2 8x10 picture frames - $2.98

(I found a two pack at Target on clearance. I will eventually repaint the frames) 

2 pieces of scrapbook paper - $2.00

1 spool of ribbon (on clearance) - $1.50

Project cost: $6.48