Decorating/DIY Archives - Page 260 of 269

Spring is on its way (or already here for some of us!), and I feel like my home needs a little overhaul. Sure, I need to put away our winter coats and start my Spring cleaning, but what I’m really excited about is adding a little Spring into my decor.

If you’re anything like me, you find a thrill in a challenge. Or maybe I’m just over competitive. Regardless, I love trying to decorate my home as beautifully and as cheaply as possible. In these tough economic times, it seems that thriftiness is more important than ever.

There’s nothing quite like the flutter in my heart when I find or create something wonderful for very little or no money. It can definitely be a challenge, but thrifty home decor can be done and can be done beautifully.

What do you think? Do you like that thrill? Are you ready to meet the challenge? Do you want to win a great prize? Yeah, I know you do.

I’d like to introduce you to The Five Dollar Challenge.

I challenge you to create something beautiful and Spring-y for your home by only spending five dollars. Do you think you can do it?

The Rules:
1. You may only spend $5 out-of-pocket (not including sales tax) on this challenge.

2. Your $5 may only be spent at a “dollar store,” such as The Dollar Tree, Everything’s $1.00, Family Dollar, Dollar General, or similar stores you may have in your town. Yeah, I’m trying to make you think outside of the box. Get creative!

3. You may also use items you already have around the house, such as tools and supplies.

4. On Monday, March 30th, post “before” and “after” pics on your blog and tell us all about your new treasures. If you don’t have a blog and would like to participate, I’d love for you to email photos to me and a little blurb about your project, and I’ll come up with someway for everyone to see them. My email is LivingWithLindsay [at] gmail.com.

5. Check back here and post a link to your entry. I’ll provide further instructions later if you haven’t ever used Mr. Linky. It’s really easy.

6. Be sure to visit the other participants’ links and remember to leave comments! The more links you visit, the more great ideas you’ll discover.

7. One participant will be chosen at random to win the Grand Prize.

Did you see that last part? A GRAND PRIZE? Woo hoo! I’m going to reveal the prize piece by piece as we get closer to the big challenge date…’cause I like to draw things out like that. I promise you’re gonna love it, though.

So, are you up for the challenge? Leave a comment below to let the world know! Also, I’d love for you to grab the button and add it to your blog so your readers can know how to participate, too.

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If you have trouble posting the button on your blog, please let me know! Sometimes Blogger is a little wonky with the code. Or maybe I’m the wonky one. 🙂

Need a little inspiration? Check out Dollar Store Crafts for lots of fun projects! There’s even a Home Dec section listed there.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

P.S. I’m so excited that Heater at Dollar Store Crafts has added a link this challenge to her site. Welcome to everyone visiting for the first time!

P.P.S. I’m totally hooked on this challenge! I’ve had so many ideas running through my head, and I just don’t know where to start. Check out Hooked On Houses to see what others are hooked on this week. 🙂

The weather in my neck of the woods has already gotten quite warm. The temperature actually reached 87 degrees last week! March has only just arrived, but in Austin, Spring has already sprung.

I wanted to bring some of that beautiful Spring green into my home after a dreary winter. I ran across some sheets of preserved sheet moss at Hobby Lobby and thought they would be a good choice for me, as I was not born with a green thumb. I can pretty much kill any live plant that comes into my house.

I’d never heard of preserved moss, but I thought it would make beautiful moss spheres like the ones that I’ve been seeing everywhere. The preserved moss is fresh looking real moss on a sheet of earth, as opposed to the fake or dried moss you can buy in bags. I think it cost me $3.99 a sheet, which is about the same price as the not-as-pretty dried stuff.

The moss does make a a pretty big mess, so you’ll probably want to work on a plate or a tray for easy clean up. It would probably also help you if you didn’t have a 3-year old to assist you, because they can make any mess even bigger.The original idea was that I was going to use spray adhesive on the ball and attach the sheet moss that way. Well, one sticky hand and a lot of frustration later, I opted for straight dress makers pins. I simply tore off a large piece of moss wrapped it around a Styrofoam ball, and secured it all around with the straight pins.

You can see a straight pin here if you look closely.

I just kept wrapping and piecing the moss together around the ball, securing with straight pins. There ended up being a lot of straight pins, but you can’t see them on the finished product.

In the end, each ball looked like this. I love how you can see dirt, twigs, and moss on this ball…just like it came straight out of nature!

I purchased this really great chippy urn at Goodwill a few weeks ago and hadn’t found a use for it. I decided that the moss balls would look awesome in here. They do, don’t ya think?

Just an FYI – when determining the number of moss balls you want in your vessel, remember that the Styrofoam balls will be larger in diameter once the moss is attached. I originally thought I wanted to use 2 large balls and 2 medium balls, but after the moss was attached, I only had room for 1 large ball and 3 medium balls.

I am really pleased with the way this turned out. It adds a nice Spring-y touch to my dresser display.

Check out The Inspired Room for more ideas on decorating for Spring!

Are You Ready for a Challenge?

DIY Moss Balls