Children's easel

We've had these two old "bachelor days" end tables laying around in our basement just waiting to either be given away or re purposed into something spectacular.

At a recent craft fair I saw these cute little flannel boards with felt dolls for kiddos.

I loved the idea but the price tag was a little out of my budget.  I knew I could easily (and on the cheap) recreate them.

So I simply took the top off one of those not so beautiful end tables and covered it with flannel.  It took me about 5 minutes and the flannel only cost about $2.

Then I went searching online for felt dolls when I came across some adorable ones on Amazon that were already cut out and were half the price of the others.  I don't want to be spending hours and hours cutting out little intricate doll pieces.

These are just a few of the pieces it came with...there's all kinds of outfits to piece together.

For the other side of the easel all I did was spray paint it with chalkboard paint.  Easy enough.

After attaching some hinges and chains, it sets up nice as a little floor easel for my little one to play with.

A perfect gift for very little cost!

If you don't have two end table, you could buy a cheap piece of wood too and it would still be a very inexpensive project.

Dollar Store Christmas Wreath

I'm a fan of the dollar store as much as the next person but many times dollar store items can look....well....cheap.

After looking at different Christmas wreaths, I decided I could make a unique one for much less.

While picking up some wrapping paper at the dollar store, I came across wreaths that looked decent but skimping a bit on the fullness.

Take two and add a little of your own homemade decor and you can have your very own unique handmade wreath for under $5.

What you will need:

Two dollar store wreaths

Red and white felt

A long strip of scrap fabric

Small bells or buttons

First take your two wreaths and attach them back to back...

to make a fuller wreath by wrapping the "evergreen" around the middle to connect them.

Then follow this tutorial to make your own poinsettias.  Make whatever size and however many you feel looks good.

Use your extra fabric strip by tying a bow to hang your wreath and you are done!

So many other decorations could be used to make your very own unique wreath as well.

Christmas Stockings

I finally finished my stockings!  Yay!  I'm so happy they are done!

After seeing many ideas floating around the web, I decided to recreate a bunch of different ideas and add my own little inspiration.

The first two, for my husband and I were made from burlap and white satin.  I had both the burlap and satin that I was waiting to use so this was perfect!

For my daughter I wanted something a little different but that still matched the whole scheme.  This way should our family happen to grow, I can add on and it won't be too difficult to find fabric that matches.

With no pattern, stockings were a little more difficult to make than I had planned.  There are some great tutorials out there for free on the web to help you along though.  With some time and patience, you can have simple handmade stocking too!

A little hint: For a quicker version, skip the lining and they would be so easy and simple to make!