Plastic Easter Egg Wreath

Spring is here (well kinda, it’s March 31st and it was snowing this morning) but technically it is in fact Spring here in Connecticut.  Since the weather is still a bit too bitter to enjoy some outside activities,  I spent the weekend mostly indoors shopping, running errands and may have gotten a massage (oh the perks of being a media planner!)

My shopping ventures this weekend took me to Jo-Ann Fabrics (no surprise there) where I stumbled upon an egg wreath that I feel IN LOVE with (pictured below).  The only problem – it was 40 dollars!!  Yes, Jo-Ann’s offers great coupons (I highly recommend you download their store app here) but the price still seemed a bit steep for a mid-twenties girl living on her own.

Here are the directions to making the Egg Wreath on your own:

 Supplies you will need:

•          Plastic Easter Eggs (I got mine for super cheap at the Christmas Tree Shop.  The wreath took about 48-60 Eggs but this will really depend on how full you want it to look)
•          10in Straw Wreath (or any floral wreath)
•          Spanish Moss
•          Acrylic pastel paint
•          Hot Glue Gun

How-To

• Paint the plastic eggs the color of your choice.  I chose natural pastels and then speckled them with a brownish/red paint to really give them the realistic loo
• Take the hot glue and glue the eggs around the wreath.
• Fill in all the bare spots by hot gluing the Spanish moss onto the wreath. I used a skewer to really poke the moss into the open holes to make sure it all stayed to get a fuller look.
• That’s it!  Pretty simple as long as you know how to hot glue!

 

Shabby Chic Inspiration Board

A while back when I was moving into my apartment, my clumsy self stepped right on top of my Ikea mirror(pictured below).  Shattered glass EVERYWHERE and of course the devastating realization of 7 years bad luck. (yes, I am superstitious)

I really enjoyed the frame and thought it fit in with the shabby chic theme of my bedroom (which I will post about soon) so I painted the black metal with a rough coat of white paint.

The frame sat in my room for a while on the floor looking kind of sad when an idea struck me while I was at a tag sale.  I found a cork board for a buck and some pink fabric to cover it for 2 dollars.  I cut the cork to fit into the frame with some heavy duty clippers and then covered the cork board with the cloth by stapling and hot gluing it on.

Once the cork was in place I started pinning everything on like a real life Shabby Chic Pinterest Board!  Can you follow my Shabby Chic Pinterest Board here.

I LOVE Romantic Country Magazine as an inspiration for all my decor, so I clipped some images from there.  I also included a lot of my old vintage jewelry that I picked up at flea markets and tag sales.  My favorite is the perfume bottle necklace – FOUR DOLLARS for this gem – completely obsessed with it.

Stay Fancy

-Jess

Holiday Home Tour

I’m a little late with the Holiday post here.  Does anyone else feel that the Holidays snuck up on us with Thanksgiving being so late this year?!

For decorating this year I wanted to keep things simple and inexpensive.  I did this by taking the extra tree trimmings from Home Depot for FREE when I got my tree.  I used pinecones that I have collected through the fall and dollar store snow flake ornaments.   Burlap and old book pages were also key in my vintage holiday decorating!

Hope you are enjoying the Holidays as well with your family and friends xo

Hocus Pocus – How to Decorate For Halloween For Under 20 Dollars

Halloween.  My absolute FAVORITE time of year and favorite Holiday (Thanksgiving is a close second).  I think the reason why I love Halloween so much is my sad, sick obsession with my favorite movie ever – HOCUS POCUS.  Every time the movie is on TV, I get about 4 different text messages from people letting me know it is on.  Some people that I haven’t talked to in years, ex-boyfriends, best friends, co-workers, I without a doubt every time get a text.  It’s sad, of this I am aware.  Why do I love this movie so much? I couldn’t tell you, but I do…so that’s that.

This year I wanted to focus my decorating around my love for witches and Hocus Pocus while still keeping the vintage feel to my living room.  Below are a few pictures of my Vintage Witch Halloween décor.  Since I am a strict budget this year (living on your own ain’t cheap)  I had to make a lot of my decorations.  A lot of the stuff I used was old glass bottles, old books and book pages, candles and dollar store finds.  The only thing I did purchase was some ribbon and a lot of the stuff I had from previous years of Halloween’s past.

I will post some tutorials on how I made some of the decorations this week.

The last picture is my favorite 🙂

Stay Fancy

-Jess

DIY Mardi Gras Statement Necklace

Instagram.  My boredom past time is slowly becoming my go-to in social media. Recently I came across a picture posted by the style blogger of Atlantic Pacific.  I honestly love everything outfit or accessory that this girl puts together (huge fan) but one of her latest pictures was a necklace from Fenton Fallon picture below:

 

How AWESOME is that!? A great, colorful summer piece.  After looking through the Fenton Fallon website I fell in LOVE with everything.  It wasn’t until a few weeks later when I was visiting my parent’s house that this gem caught my eye:

Yes, it’s true, my parents went to Mardi Gras – they are pretty cool, and NO I didn’t ask them how they got the beads and frankly, I have no intention on asking either.

Anyways, when seeing this I immediately thought of the wonderful beautiful Fenton Fallon necklace and thought – “HEY, I can make that!”  So that is precisely what I did. Here’s how.

First, I took an array of all different color necklaces.

I then cut the necklaces to form long strands tying the top together with a piece of small ribbon.

I then taped the top of he strands to the table and spilt the beads up into three equal sections. The next step is to begin braiding the three strands together.

Once the braid came close to the end of the strands I then tied it together using the small ribbon again.

Lastly, I tied a thicker ribbon to each end of the braid so I could tie the necklace together around my neck.

And there you have it! – Simple quick and FREE!!!

Preview Of My Shabby Chic Beginning

Well, I have officially moved in to my new place.  It’s crazy how you don’t realize how much stuff you have until you move. Mine mostly consisting of clothes, clothes, more clothes, shoes and a TON of tag sale/flea market junk.  A HUGE thank you to my family and friends for putting up carrying my junk and for the help with painting.  I owe you all xo

I still have a LONG way to go in terms of decorating, but here are a few sneak preview shots of my romantic not-so French country cottage.  It’s more like a condo close to i95 and the Post Road, but hey, a girl can dream.

I can’t wait to share the finished rooms with you!

Stay Fancy!

Jess

The Stockings Were Hung

If you haven’t noticed already, my blog has got a slight face lift for 2013. After many comments and emails about how all my projects are inexpensive and where I bargain shop, I decided to dedicate my blog to focus more on how to make exactly what you want, for a fraction of the price. Pocket Of Pennies will reflect DIY projects, tips and where to bargain shop, flea market finds and cheap fashion finds. I will still keep in my diabetic twist on recipes as well 🙂

To start my first blog post under the new face lift – I decided you show you my stockings that I made for Christmas. Since it is the first time my boyfriend and I have been moved out and away from home on Christmas, we both needed some new stockings. I must say, to try to keep down the cost, I tried to sew my own burlap stocking = FAIL. This later lead to a Christmas gift of a sewing machine from Evan (Thank you!) However, since the sewing machine came after the stockings I decided to do the semi-homemade version. Here’s what you’ll need:

Stocking: $8.99
Since Pottery Barn is a HUGE inspiration for me, I decided to take a look in the store while Christmas shopping. To my surprise all the Christmas items were half off!! I got 2 of these White Channel Quilted Velvet Stockings for $8.99 each. They are so well made and will definitely last!

Burlap: You will only need two 14x3in strips however, you can buy 2 yards for $1.50 at Joann Fabrics (using the 40% off coupon) Tip: Download the Joann Fabric app on your phone for coupons you can use right in the store. You can also sign up for their email coupons here. I highly recommend the app, you can download it in your iTunes store right on your iPhone.

Wooden letters: 4 inches. You can pick these up at any craft store in the wood section. They range from 1-2 dollars and you can always use a coupon.

Twine: I got mine for free from my Dad but a whole role will last you a LONG time and only costs about 2 dollars.

Sparkle Snowflake Ornament: After Christmas is the time to buy these! However, I got mine for a buck at WalMart in the Holiday section.

Ribbon: 14 Inches – I got mine off of a gift package for free 🙂

Here’s how you make them:
I first wrapped the wooden letters with the twine to completely cover the wood.

I then took my stocking and the burlap and hot glued it on to the top of the stocking. You can also use iron on stitching for a now sew approach.

Next, I hot glued the ribbon all around the middle of the burlap.

Now it is time to embellish. I first hot glued the twine wrapped letter onto the snowflake. I then hot glued the snowflake onto the left side of the stocking. I also added a wooden button I had laying around on the right hand side because it looked a little bare. And there you have it – Personalized Stockings. Do you have any traditional items that you always get in your stockings?

Merry and Bright

Christmas season is here again and this is the first official year that I am able to decorate my own place. However, after purchasing a new car a few months ago, buying all new decorations for our new place just wasn’t in the budget this year.

I get a lot of my inspiration for home decor from Pottery Barn. Their Pottery Barn Holiday Pinterest Page is out of control AWESOME. Just by looking through I was able to imagine what I wanted my home to look like on my type of budget.

The majority of items I used was pine cones and tree trims – BOTH FREE. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can get all the tree trim for free when you cut down your tree or at any place that sells fresh trees. Just bring a bag and go crazy.

The pine cones I have collected throughout the year. I actually got mine while I was babysitting for a family I used to babysit for in college one weekend. I made the boys play a game “Who ever picks up the most pine cones in 30 seconds and puts them in this bad wins!” – Thanks guys, I’m good 🙂 I sprayed them with snow spray to give them the wintery look.

Vintage music sheets are also very in, but why waste money on buying actual vintage music sheets? I printed mine out using this template. TIP: To make this look extra vintage, take a spray bottle, damp the paper with water, gently crumple it up in a ball, open the crumpled paper and lay flat on the floor, cover with a hand towel and iron the paper to flatten – Let dry and you have vintage paper. I sprayed mine with glitter spray to give it an extra pop for the holidays.

For the most part I just reused jars, wrapped them with old book pages, the music sheets, tree trim and OF COURSE burlap. I hope you find these ideas inspiring, they are so easy and CHEAP to make.

We still need our tree and I need to making the stockings but…….. without further adieu, from our home to yours, love Jess and Evan (even though it’s mostly just me) haha

p.s – Can you find the “Hidden Mickey” I designed into our Holiday Card?

Birchbox Remix

Every month I look forward to getting my Birchbox in the mail.  What is a Birchbox? “Birchbox delivers the best products and the best insider secrets, without any fuss. Every month Birchbox members will receive a curated box of luxe beauty samples. Each box will span beauty categories and deliver exciting products that fit into both your day-to-day routine, and into those days when you want to turn up the drama a notch.” -Birchbox

When I first signed up I had to join a waiting list, but boy was it worth it!  I look forward to getting my box each month that I will literally run to the mailbox when the mailman comes to deliver it.  You never know what you are going to get in the box, but items range from make-up, nail polish, perfume, snacks, hair supplies etc.  Totally worth the almost 10 bucks a month, I promise.

Anyways, for those of you who don’t know me, I have a slight hoarder problem when it comes to nice shopping bags and boxes.  I have been saving the Birchbox box each shipment and have collected quite a few, just in case I ever needed it.  This past weekend I went to my good friend’s bridal shower where I got her a gift card.  I felt bad just getting her a gift card in a card and wanted to make it look extra special when she opened the gift.  That’s when my creative wheels were turning and I decided to turn a Birchbox into a gift card holder.

Here is what the box looked like before:

I first took a 12×12 inch piece of scrabook paper and used a paper cutter to make a strip 12×3 inches.  This was just enough to cover the logo on the box top.  I prefer to use Elmers Craft Bond glue stick for all paper crafting.  It is the ONLY one I use because it is THE BEST.

After covering the logo and gluing the strip on (I just decorated the lid of the box, not the bottom) I then decided it needed some contrast.  I have been quite obsessed with burlap lately, so I added a strip on to the craft paper.  I held on the burlap by hot gluing under the sided of the lid (picture below)

Next came my stickers.  I used “The Bride Stickers” from Jolee’s and the Bride Crystal Rhinestone sticker.

I also added on some ribbon.  I glued on the strips of ribbon with the hot glue gun the same way I added the burlap.  I also tied and added the bow hot gluing it on and placing the ring sticker from the bridal sticker packet in the middle of the bow. 

Lastly, I added some brulap inside of the box to bed the gift card.  I bought a clear plastic shrink wrap bag, put some monogram towels in and tied it with burlap and the same ribbon I used on the box. I chose to put a gift card in the box, what are some other fun items that would fit in that you can gift?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Not-So Vintage Picture Frame

Well, another evening my boyfriend is working until 4am so it’s time to put on my crafting and blogging cap.  As I have mentioned in my previous blog post I am STILL unpacking and decorating our new condo for about 4 months now.  In my old room everything was black and white and being that I am a slight hoarder I just could not get rid of a square picture frame that I bought, so I utilized it in our new home.

Every day when I would sit in the living room this picture frame would STARE at me like an annoying pimple you cannot get rid of.  It just did NOT fit in with my decorating style at all and something had to be done. Just look at it – gross.

I really LOVE the look of old vintage chipped paint – here is how I made my new black picture frame into a not-so vintage one:

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First, I took the frame and rubbed a candle along all of the edges and corners.

I then put a rough white coat of paint trying really hard not to make it look perfect. (I am a perfectionist)

Once it dried, I took a paint scraper and went along the edges where I put the candle wax.  This gave it that “chippy” old look as if the picture frame was banged up a few times.

I then lightly brushed a slight layer of brown around the edges.

Finally, I took a fan brush, and went over the brown paint with white again.  I also went along one more time and chipped some paint along the edges with a paint scraper.

And there you have it – AHHH much better, don’t ya think?

Cheers! – J