Thrifty Thursday: Christmas Decor & More!

I know it's Friday! I meant to write this yesterday, but my trip into town lasted much longer than I had planned, so I ran out of time. It's been a while since I have done a "Thrifty Thursday" post, not for lack of things to share though! I just don't know how these ladies that blog daily have the time on top of everything else!

Anywho, I thought I would share a few tips for Christmas decor and my latest sewing project that will help with both our budget and our goal to be better stewards of this planet.

TAA DAAAA! Cloth "paper" towels! I've seen this idea before online, but the last time I saw it was a post that was linked up to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. So Saturday I used the last of the paper towels, and thought that I hated to have to buy more. We're rather crunched for money this month and I'm cutting as many things from our budget as I can. So I looked at my dear hubby and said "What would you think of using cloth paper towels? I'm pretty sure I have all the material I need to make them." He thought for a moment and, to my surprise and joy, answered, "Sure. Can we keep a roll of regular paper towels for in case the cats get sick, though?" I agreed that that was a good idea, but they have to stay under the kitchen sink. And then I got busy hunting down some terry cloth I was pretty sure I had squirreled away.

Now, the terry cloth is not my choice of colors, but it was what I have, and I have YARDS of it! I decided to make some Christmas ones because I also have about 3 yards of that as well from years ago. I used the tutorial from My Healthy Green Family. I didn't do snaps, nor do I plan to. I just re purposed a small basket to hold them and set it right where the paper towel holder sat on the counter.

 If you are wiping up something that might stain and you want to keep them looking as nice as possible, rinse them in cool water immediately! Our first major spill was pizza sauce, and I figured that I'd have a stained one, but after wiping up the initial mess, I rinsed it out will cool water to finish cleaning up and there was hardly any discoloration. I was also surprised at the whole incident because it was Wheels that spilled the sauce and as he reached for a paper towel and realized it was a cloth one, I thought he'd sputter about it, but he just went with it without a complaint. I think it helps that they are on the same spot as the paper ones! Now I just need to make a wet bag for the dirties!

Here is another thrifty tip; tie your cupboards shut so your hubby and kiddos can't get to the food!!! Just kidding! This is a bow on the cabinet door that I made from some homespun fabric. This was a curtain that I had made years ago and haven't used in a long time, so I just cut a little notch and tore the hems off, then continued to tear strips off of. I've always wanted to do the bows on the cabinet doors, but have always been too cheap thrifty to buy the amount of ribbon I would need. Even if I hadn't re purposed this material and had bought it new, 1 yard would have cost less than a spool of ribbon and have been more than enough to do the job!

All of the cupboards along one wall. I think it looks so pretty and festive!

A bow in the middle of my DIY lighted garland in the living room. Our living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to one another, so using the same material through each "room" helps tie things together.



I used another strip of cloth around my canning jar caddy, which is also my utensil caddy. You can use what you have to add some festive flare to your home, too! The cream colored bowl is the usual bowl I use to hold our fresh fruit in, but I put it on top of the red cake stand to add some zip. And the egg basket is in it's usual place on the counter. I had the food processor on the counter, but decided to move it to clear some of the counter.

This isn't the best picture thanks to the glare, but this is a Christmas hymn/carol subway art. I've seen some on Pinterest, and there are some free printable ones, but I wanted to make my own. I used the Word Art in Microsoft Works on my laptop and added a bit of clip art as well. I printed it on some off white card stock. I made 2 subway art prints for our bedroom with the names of Jesus. They came out beautiful, if I may say so myself. And I made yet one more, in the living room.

The dinner menu board even got a Christmas makeover! This is just some computer paper I have. I was going to do a subway art print with all of the Christmas goodies we like and I make, but I didn't want to spend the time. And believe me, you can waste spend lots of time on this project. Of course, it wasn't until after I made the prints that I thought to look up free fonts in Pinterest. And I found many, but then I hit the mother load! Dafont.com has TONS of free fonts!! I even found fonts that look like the writing in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series!! My geeky heart swelled with joy at the thought of making my own nerd subway art. (I totally admit to being a huge fan of the Tolkien books and movies. I even named one of our chickens Arwen and I dressed up as Frodo this past Halloween for the kids Book Character Parade at school. Never would have figured me for suck a wacko, huh?)

I hope this gives you some ideas!

Many Blessings,
Kelly