DIY. . . Changing Seasons Placemats & Tutorial

A huge reason why I don't change my decor with each season is because it seems like a waste of money to change things every couple of months.  Don't get me wrong ,I used to have decorations for each season - Summer, Fall, Halloween, Christmas, Winter, Easter, Spring, 4th of July. . .  That was six kids and what seems like a lifetime ago.  Now, I pretty much stick with Christmas.  Its just more budget-friendly that way.

Looking all over blogland, I see tons of way cute ideas to dress up your home for Autumn.  And I'm jealous.  Being there is so much work to be done on this little big house, I can't really justify going out and purchasing items to decorate my home for two and a half months.  And since its been YEARS since I've really bought anything Fall-ish, my seasonal decor is sorely depleted.

So last night, while I was trying to figure out a DIY craft I could blog about today, I hit on this idea.  What if I made something that not only would work for Fall, but also for every other season too?  That way, I wouldn't feel so guilty about spending money that could be better spent on home improvement projects!
WIN, WIN!

This is what I came up with. . .

Changing Season Placemats.

And better yet, it cost me $2.00.  Woo-hoo!  I found the placemats at a local thrift store for $0.50 each.

Materials:

4 Placemats

Chalkboard Paint

Painter's Tape

Burlap Fabric

Cotton Fabric

Glue Gun

Seasonal Decorations 

First, I taped off all the edges of the placemats.

Then I coated it well with black Chalkboard paint.

To speed up the drying process, I hung them on the line to dry.

While waiting for them to dry, I made fabric rosettes out of some burlap that I bought for another project, as well as an old white bedskirt.

When the paint had dried, I attached the rosettes to the placemat on the upper left-hand corner.

And in the spirit of the season, I tucked some faux Autumn leaves in amongst the rosettes.  Instant Fall placemat!

The thing I love about this craft is that you can change out the wording and the seasonal decoration that you tuck into with the rosettes.  Just don't glue them down and change the word that you write in chalk.

So now you have placemats for Fall. . .

For Christmas . . .

For Spring . . .

and for Summer .

Now, I can have my dining room decked out for Fall and not feel a bit of guilt over any money that I've spent.  :)

Each placemat says a different word - Fall, Autumn, Leaves, and Harvest.

In the interest of full disclosure, the only thing I would probably do differently is use either a tighter weave or attach a thin, flat board to the top of the placemat and paint that instead of painting directly on the mat.  One, the weave absorbs a lot of the chalkboard paint and that stuff ain't cheap.  Plus, this particular weave makes it difficult to write on with the chalk.  But oh well, I used what I had and I think it turned out pretty swell!

Speaking of harvest, its getting to be that time again.  Here's a couple of pictures I took from the upper deck on the back of our house.  There's nothing prettier than Fall in the heartland (except maybe summer in the heartland).  What a view, huh?

Its almost enough to make me forget that the plumbing guy delivered the news today that we have to get a new hot water heater...  Yeah, the one we just bought brand new four years ago.  So, no hot water for tonight.  Errrrr...  Five kids, no bath.  Grrrrreat.
At least Marathon carries a lifetime warranty, so its just an inconvenience until it can be replaced.  Hopefully, soon!

Until then, I'll just enjoy my DIY Fall Decor.  And that makes me happy!

 I'm linking this craft up to:
The Vintage Farmhouse: Creative Things Thursday

DIY... Barn Window Picture Display

Earlier today I talked about trying to figure out something to do with my grandmother's quilt that had basically fallen apart into rags.

I decided to go out to the barn and just see what I had out there that I could possibly do something with and came back inside with this stuff...

A old barn window and some chicken wire.

The barn window was in half-way decent shape.  The bottom of the window was beginning to dry rot, so I knew there was no way the hubs was going to use it to replace some of the windows on the backside of the barn.  Then I spotted a roll of chicken wire back from when we had chickens (Dogs and chickens don't mix!) .  

PERFECT!

The first thing I did was sweep the cobwebs and most of the dirt off with a broom.  Then I scraped paint that someone had haphazardly gotten on the window panes.

Next I used Chlorox Wipes, which is my Go-To for cleaning and some Windex to clean off about 50 years worth of dirt and grime.

Ewwwwww!

I even had to kill a spider that I must have missed with a broom.

(Yes, I did take time to take a picture before I squished it.  LOL)

Once I had the window as clean as it was going to get, I measured the window panes.  Each pane measure 9x12, so I cut four pieces of chicken wire a little bit bigger than that.  That stuff is a pain to work with!  Since the window panes were a little loose, I tucked the ends of the wire between the glass and wood and then added a small dab of glue with a hot glue gun to make sure it was secure. 

(Please excuse my lack of countertops.  Its backerboard until the hubs installs the tile.  Hopefully soon!)

 Then, just because the panes were really loose, I flipped the window over and used the glue like caulk to seal them in better...

Then I started ripping apart my grandma's quilt.  It was more difficult emotionally than I thought it would be.  I thought about how she cut each and every one of those squares of cloth.  I thought about how many hours she must have sat to sew all those stitches and how much love she put into each one.  I felt terrible ripping it all apart, even though I knew the quilt was in bad shape by the time it came into my possession.

From the strips of fabric I ripped from the quilt, I made fabric rosettes that I attached to the frame.

Then, using iMac Pages, I created and added a little sign:

After adding a few pictures I printed off, here's the final result:

And with this addition, one wall in my office is finally coming together...

And better yet, I spent absolutely NADA!  And that makes the hubs really happy!  :)


I linked up to:

Tater Tots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party Pick Your Plum Giveaway

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating


Funky Junk Interiors


Lil' Luna - All Things Good