Cheap and Easy Fake Leaf Projects

A bag or vine full of fake leaves is not expensive but you can certainly do a lot of decorating with one. In the fall season leaf colors are beautiful shades of yellow, red and even brown. People sometimes travel miles just to see the colorful leaves, but why should they, when you can show them that in your own home! Whether youre entertaining, or you just want to bring a little of the outdoors inside, leaves make a cheap yet beautiful way to do so. You dont have to purchase a bunch of craft supplies to create something from the leaves; the leaves are the project itself.

Having a dinner party? Cut the fake leaves from the vine, or grab a handful from a bag, and place them around on the table. Throw a few on the floor for fun. Position them on serving trays, under the edges of dinner plates, and on the table beside cups and glasses. Its easy, fun, and makes for a beautiful array.

If you want, you can set one leaf in front of each plate to create a place card. The persons name can be painted on it with craft paints that dispense directly from the tubes. Its an easy and unique way to create something different and exciting for your guests. You can embellish the leaves in many different ways. Glue a few seed beads onto some of the leaves before settling them on the table. Or, lightly coat the leaves with glue and sprinkle on glitter. Even gather the leaves in the center of the table, lay a few small pine cones on them, and you have a cheap but lovely centerpiece. Dont want leaves on your dinner table? Thats okay. Theres lots of other things you can do with them. Place a button magnet on the back of one or more and stick them to the refrigerator, toaster, oven door and other metal surfaces. Or, just position a handful of the leaves across the mantle above the fireplace. Glue button magnets to the backs of assorted fake leaves and stick them to your mailbox. The mailman will love it and so will your neighbors! The magnets allow you to stick the leaves to other metal surfaces outside, like an old rusty sign or a metal post. A small piece of rolled tape can be placed on the backs of leaves, if needed, to hold them in place. You can also use double-sided tape for the leaf crafts. Use the special tape to stick a leaf on a lampshade, a picture frame, mirror, decorative towel, drawer pulls, cupboard handles, and even candles. Remove the leaf before burning the candle. Purchase a pin back to make a leaf pin. The pin backs are sold in packs of several at stores that sell jewelry-making supplies and are very inexpensive. Simply use hot glue to attach a fake leaf to the pin hardware. Glue on embellishments if you desire. Who knew a simple leaf could change everything? From indoor decor to outside enhancements the fake leaves will keep you crafting for hours while spending pennies! If you have plenty of real leaves, and dont want to purchase fake leaves, use cleaned leaves to do many of the above-mentioned projects. Make sure the leaves you select are still pliable and not dried out. Dry leaves will crumble and will leave you upset, rather than proud, of your new decor. The leaf projects are great for living and dining areas, kitchen, bedrooms and baths.

How to Build a Desk from Plastic Cubes

Not everyone has a big, roomy desk for their computer, papers, books and such. Someone in a small area, or with a room that wont accommodate a desk, can find themselves without a kitchen table because theres nowhere else to put the computer. Saving up for a desk but dont quite have enough money? Live in a small place and theres no room for a desk? Dont worry, you can have a desk in no time - all you have to do is build it! Dont panic; you can build that desk without a bunch of power tools and without a load of cash.

Nearly any type of crate can help you make the desk you need. Milk crates, plastic crates, wooden crates - as long as theyre all the same size and shape they can be used to make the desk. (Note: although youll often see milk crates stacked up outside a convenience store or other business its not okay to take them; theyre returned to the distributor and reused.) If you have no crates at all youll have no problem finding the plastic ones at a discount department store like Walmart. The crates are cheap, come in several sizes, and are available in a number of colors. Purchase as many as you need to build the particular desk you want, after reading the ideas below.

If youre using milk crates or wooden crates its easy to nail them to the wall or to hang them on nails which are hammered into the wall. Milk crates have openings that allow you to simply hang them. With plastic crates you can just stack them and use glue dots - from a home improvement store - to help hold the stacks to the wall and each other. There are any number of design you can do with the stacks. For example, you can stack six in a vertical row, five in the next vertical row, and so on. Or, you can make stacks which all look alike and are butted together. No matter what design you do, stack the vertical rows side-by-side, and position each crate so that it faces you. After youve gotten all the crates attached to each other, and the wall, you can then choose one which will hold your computer. Cut a piece of wood that is almost as wide as the crate. The wood should be able to slide easily in and out of the crate but should be a snug fit. This piece of wood should also be long enough to extend out from the crate and hold your laptop. If you have no way to cut wood you can purchase a piece at a home improvement store and, when you do, theyll cut it to your specifications at no charge. In addition to the wood piece youll also need four dowel rods. Actually, you can purchase one dowel and have it cut, along with your wooden piece, at the home improvement store. Slide the board into the cube and weight it down, for now, with some books or other heavy objects. Wedge the four, large-diameter dowels into the cube, placing one end of each dowel on the board and the opposite end against the top of the crate. These should fit very tightly. Place one at each back corner and one at each front corner of the cube. The protruding board, supported by the wedged dowels, makes an instant desk. The surrounding cubes are perfect for setting up speakers, books, cds, papers and more. Its a useful arrangement that doesnt take up much space and a nice desk that is also decorative.

Giant Hula Hoop Wall Art

If youre no artist, just like me, youve probably seen painters, sculptors and other artists, on TV or elsewhere, who have unbelievable talents. Havent you ever watched them, or seen their work, and wished you could paint or or otherwise create like they do? It seems as though people like that were born geniuses. If, like me, you dont fall into that category, you have to rely on other sources to create artwork for your home. Place a coloring book page inside a clear vase and youll easily be able to trace the image with a paint marker. Or, paint one side of an old basketball and use it to stamp images onto a shirt.

Materials needed: Hula hoop T-shirts Theres a really nice project you can do - whether youre an artist or not - that turns out lovely every time. Youll be proud to display a colorful hula hoop rug that can hang above a fireplace, over a bed or in another area of your home. And as if the beauty of the project isnt enough to convince you to make one, it might help to know that the hula hoop rug is cheap and easy to make and foolproof as well! You simply cant mess it up - even if you try! Old tee shirts are the material you use for the project. They can be all the same color, like white, if you want to make a more demure statement. Or, use various colors of tees to create a colorful design. Another option is to alternate two or more colors.

For a 36" hula hoop, boys large shirts work well, but you can use other sizes depending upon the diameter of the hula hoop you have. Lay the shirt out flat so that the bottom hem is facing you. Go around to the right or the left of the shirt and begin cutting strips from both layers of the shirt at one time. First, remove the hem and discard it, then start cutting 1" wide strips. Each strip will then be a large loop. Sit in a chair and stand the hula hoop up in front of you. Slide the first hoop of material over it and position it in the center. Turn the hoop 90 degrees and slide the next hoop on so that you form a "+" shape. Continue turning the hoop and sliding on the next and the next hoop of tee shirt fabric. You can stop at any point to make the design you want. As you slide the hoops on, they gather together tightly in the middle of the design, but spread further apart as they reach the outsides of the hoop. So, continue putting on more and more so that you can no longer see the hula hoop at all, or stop when you have a small but equal space between each one. Hang the hula hoop rug as it is or even mount an object in the center. For a Native American design, glue on a flat, ceramic or other piece in the center. Or, make something completely different by attaching a wrought iron piece from a home improvement store - they have some lovely ones. Make small versions of the wall hanging by using a metal or plastic hoop from a craft store. Childrens or babies shirts are perfect for the smaller artwork. They work well to decorate walls, mount on closet doors, make into dream catchers, or even to hang from the ceiling as a conversation piece. You can make one in a few minutes, so get started, and youll be able to show off artistic abilities to all your visitors before the day is over!

Tee Shirt Sleeve Disposable Hat for Dirty Jobs

Does your work require you to crawl under houses or do similar dirty jobs? Are you tired of ruining ball cap after ball cap because of dirt and grime? Dont spend all that money on hats! Make disposable ones that can be used several times or thrown away after one use. These dew rag-type hats are easy to make and cost next to nothing.

Old long sleeve tee shirts are just what you need to make your own disposable work caps. The shirts should be large or extra large for the sleeves to be large enough. Although some short sleeve tee shirts could be used to make the hats the long sleeve ones guarantee that the finished hat will hang long enough to cover your hair.

Cut the sleeves off and youll have two hats. As youre cutting the sleeve away from the shirt leave the seam stitches on the side of the shirt. Each sleeve should be completely free of stitching around the arm opening. Cut the length of the sleeve long enough to hang nearly to the neck - or longer if you have long hair. If you are using a short sleeve shirt just cut it away from the shirt and use it at the length it is. Lay the sleeves out flat on a table. Smooth the shirt so there are no wrinkles. Shirt sleeves generally have a peak on the opposite side of the underarm seam. This peak needs to be cut away from the sleeve. Start at the underarm area of the seam and cut straight across to the fold. If youve cut a long sleeve youll need to hem it. The hem can be very narrow if you wish. When youre finished hemming the cut sleeve the hat is nearly finished. Slide the cut area over your head to check for fit. If its a good fit youll move on to hemming it. If the cap is a little large take it in slightly by sewing down the underarm seam. Another choice is to stitch a wide piece of elastic around the head opening. The elastic should be sewn under the new hem. Fold the edge of the arm opening over the elastic and sew down each side of the elastic piece. When youre finished all you have to do is slide the disposable cap over your head. If you have long hair you can pull it through the cap so that the "sleeve" covers it. These caps are comfortable and will prevent you from ruining other hats. Never crawl out from under a house with spider webs and other junk in your hair. Wear your disposable cap until the dirty job is done. They stay on the head nicely and are washable - if you want to launder it. These caps are great for people who dont do dirty jobs but just want to cover the head. If its hot outside, make the caps from white tee shirts, and your head will stay nice and cool. Theyre great for men or women - even kids. You dont necessarily have to use old tee shirts to make the caps. Use new fabric or use other stretchy garments. Whatever type of material or old shirt sleeves you use they need to be stretchy. Loosely woven types arent ideal since they tend to let dirt and debris inside of the hat. Use the hats once, throw them away, then make new ones. Or, launder them over and over again and spare your ball caps. Purchase shirts at yard sales and flea markets to keep from cutting up your own shirts. Make many at a time or make them as you need them. Youll be glad to have em!