say hello to my new spring tote! a super cheap, quick & easy transformation.

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I made party garlands using these colorful blind samples from the Aggie ReStore. Random, right?? The ReStore is selling these blind samples for a penny each.  

I volunteer for the Aggie ReStore on campus and we’re selling these metal things (I honestly don’t know what they are for) for a penny each. Conveniently, we also have jumper rings for sale in store (also for a penny each!). I made a necklace charm out of them. If you go to UC Davis, check out the ReStore and try this project. It’s a bargain and you get to reuse supplies! :)

I threw a housewarming slash tea party sort of gathering a few weeks ago so I thought it would be a neat idea to use the clear glass bottles I had laying around for décor. I got this idea from Pinterest (Elle Decor UK, December 2009— I think!). Such a great idea! I used my pink sake bottle, a smaller rice vinegar bottle, and the rest are wine bottles. The candles I bought from the thrift store for 20 cents each (they were really long, but I had to cut them in half for this purpose).

I love eating at The Grove in the city because of its beautiful interior, mismatched decor and cozy atmosphere. I actually found this cool print hanging on the wall and I wanted to have something like it in my apartment.

I decided to stencil a list of city names onto dark fabric. Click here for my tutorial if you want to learn how to stencil.

I wanted my print to have this homemade, stencil-y look so I purposely didn’t give it an even coat of screenprint ink. I bought the frame from the thrift store and stained it a darker color. I decided to pin the fabric onto the cardboard backing of the frame.

My friend went to NYC and came back with a world map for me. Needless to stay, I was super stoked to have this lovely map— I’ve always wanted one! Framing it would have cost me more than I wanted to spend. I still wanted to frame it but I also wanted to give it a vintage and homemade look.

Like I always do, I turned to the thrift store to look for a large frame. I found this awesome light wooden frame for about $2 without a backing. I couldn’t wait to hang this print so instead of going to the store, I walked around my new apartment complex during move-in weekend and found a ton of flattened boxes. After finding a clean box, I decided to make my own frame backing board.

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Chalkboards are awesome, I actually prefer them over whiteboards. Some of the lecture halls on campus use chalkboards and I really wish I could bring one of those giant boards home to use! I had trouble finding decent sized chalkboards in stores (I found some online but they cost about $50+) and I went to the Bargain Barn on campus and failed to find one (the Bargain Barn is where departments dump their office furniture and the school sells them to the public). I decided to make my own chalkboard instead.

I headed to the local SPCA thrift store where I found a picture frame with a glass and a print for $5.00. I told the cashier I didn’t want the glass or the print, so he gave me the frame for $2.00. Luckily, they were giving out a discount that day, which made the frame $1.90. BEST DEAL EVER. 

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I’m obsessed with accessories (especially necklaces!!!) but I needed a place to store them. I wanted some sort of accessory tree instead of putting them in a drawer where my necklaces could easily get tangled together. With materials I already had, I created this framed jewelry holder. I got the frame from the thrift store for a dollar or two and obtained the cork board from campus for free. 

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I’ve always loved drinking tea but I fell in love with “afternoon tea” after my trip to England. I really wanted to throw a tea party for my Californian friends, but I didn’t have a dessert stand. I didn’t know where to get one around here either and if I did find one, I’m sure I would have spent more money than I wanted to. Fortunately, I came across this tutorial by Centsational Girl, where I got the idea to use plates and glasses to create a dessert stand. I decided to do things a little differently.

The 3 plates and 2 drinking glasses were all thrifted, ranging from 50¢-$1.00 each. I’m pretty sure they cost me $4-5 total. The sealant was $6 (I have plenty left after this project).

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I don’t love the idea of hoarding things, but I have to admit I’m a jar and glass hoarder. I definitely took after my mother who uses jars to store our sugar and other kitchen ingredients. She would keep empty jars under our sink to reuse, a habit I acquired from her. I love saving jars from the recycling bin because I know one day I will need it for something, not just for kitchen but for every room in the house. 

One day, I was listing the uses of jars in my head and voilà- thought of this project. I don’t really find most soap bottle packaging that attractive in the first place… Oh, I chose a hexagon jar because it’s one of my favorites (besides masons). 

I really like this project because it cost me nearly nothing. All I had to pay for was a new bottle of liquid soap (like what, 99¢?) and the Rust-Oleum spray that I could reuse for other things(~$4). I already had everything lying around my house. I definitely encourage you to look around your house for some of the materials instead of having to buy a new jar or a soap pump. Half of the fun is saving money and reusing what you already own to create something new.

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I started stenciling when I was a freshman in high school. I wanted to make band tees because I didn’t like the ones they sold in stores. I lurked this one crafting blog on Livejournal for answers and I found it: STENCILING. 

If you want to put designs on a shirt, a tote bag, a piece of fabric, ANYTHING, then try this method out. It’s great if you don’t have access to a screen printing machine (stenciling is cheaper too, especially if you already have some of these supplies). Luckily, for this specific project I already had everything so the only thing I bought was this $1.00 frame from the thrift store. SWEET. Say hello to my new living room wall.

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I was at the right place at the right time. During the summer, the university was demolishing these temporary buildings by where I worked. One day I had to go in there and salvage reusable school supplies back to the office. I also had to carry random things to the dumpster, including a bunch of these “pinboard” squares. I think a wall was made out of these pinboard squares, I’m assuming it was for a design class where students had to pin up their work for critique. Anyway, I asked my supervisor if I could take a few of these boards and she totally didn’t care so viola! Time to craft!

Since the boards were free, the only thing I spent money on were on the fabrics (ranging from $5-8 total). A great place to get cork boards very cheap is at the thrift store. I’ve seen plenty there. 

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Here’s a little something for your hair this spring & summer!

When I was still in high school and worked in retail, I saw this feather + suede hair piece that I found really interesting. It was too pricey for what I thought it was really worth, so I made a makeshift one using supplies I already had. I didn’t have to buy a single thing. I lost the original a few weeks ago and decided to make one that would stay in my hair better (I used bobbi pins last time… go figure). A number of people have been asking me about it or where I bought it, so here’s a post on how to make one.

This project cost me $5 because I already had everything from past projects except for the bag of feathers ($3) and wood beads ($2).

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My obsession for my bunny gives me an excuse to make something crafty. Thanks Brody, for being a real bunny monster (hence why I called this project felt monsters forever). I made myself too because I had extra felt. A voo-doo doll, perhaps?