Now I honestly have no idea how to walk you through this so I’m hoping that my photos give you enough information to make it work.  You simply need the following:

• Photo frame with flat sides (Walmart)
• Scrapbook paper in your choice of design (Hobby Lobby)
• Glue (I used a glue stick ’cause it’s all I had but decoupage would be great)
• Scissors

With a little measuring, I simply cut the sides first and glued them on, then cut the top and bottom, and glued them on.  I made sure that it wrapped around to the back of the frame.  You’ll simply snip at the spots that need to be folded; the inside middle of frame and outside corners.

Have y’all done this before?  Pretty easy and a very budget friendly way to get the frame you want! This is of my son Tyler and his friend Kara — Mr. and Miss Highland  YEEHAW!

You can do this with just about any surface but I thought a cutting board would be fun to make for the Mom who loves to be in the kitchen.  The video is under 40 seconds and will tell you everything you need to know. All supplies were purchased at Walmart for under $10 bucks! Enjoy!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

First off, you can use any wire you have laying around  but it will need to be strong enough to make sure it holds the fruit in and doesn’t spring ‘down and out’.  I used floral wire but even on strand isn’t strong enough so I used two and twisted them together.  You can also use apples or oranges as your fruit.  I chose oranges to add a little color to my dull tree.  You can definitely change up the shape a bit too!  Just make sure your fruit will hold  in well with whatever shape you decide to create.  With the floral wire coming in at around $3 and oranges even less (bought my stuff at Walmart), this would be a fun gift idea for the gardener or bird watcher in your life.

I’d love to hear about your DIY bird feeder projects; what you’ve made, what birds you like to attract, etc.

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

If you’re lucky like me, you’ll be able to walk in the hardware store, hand your list over to an employee, and shop while you wait for them to gather your materials!  Thank you Ray!!  Our Higganbotham (Ace Hardware) here in Sweetwater, has one of the best fellas working for them.  He knows his stuff and will make it happen!   If you aren’t this lucky, then you’ll have to measure and cut your own pvc pipe.

You simply place the lights on the side, up close to the fabric so that it shines through the “box”. I forgot to take a photo but they look like this…

And here’s the photo I took immediately after I made it!  Not bad, especially considering that my room was completely dark and my camera was on P, using no flash!  There’s still some tweaks to make with my camera settings, and position of lights but this allows me to use various backdrops and not have to rely on the front door being open! OH, and iron your fabric if you plan to use it as the backdrop. lol  I sure hope this helps someone out and wasn’t too confusing!

I had bought these cheap wooden bottles that were so light and I knew wouldn’t work.  We decided to take duct tape and just wrap and wrap and wrap it around to make the bottles thicker and heavier, however, upon entering the store and seeing our Walmart’s store manager, I was given a new, better idea!  (Thanks Randie!!)

BOTTLE PLAN – We decide to buy the wide mouth, aluminum beer bottles, pour the beer out, fill with dirt, and spray paint.  Not a bad idea huh! Of course a man thought of that!! LOL  (just kidding Randie…teehee)  So lets get started!

SUPPLIES

• Wide Mouth, Aluminum Beer Bottles (the Miller Lite came in a 9-pack which was perfect)
• Dirt
• Spray paint or even duct tape for an alternate method

DIRECTIONS

Simply drink or pour out your beer.  I’d hate to waste it so we had a few drinks with some steak.  Since we had just gotten 4 inches of rain, we had lots of mud.  I filled the bottles with mud which made them pretty heavy but you can use dirt.   If you do use mud, make sure it’s packed down tight. I just found a stick on the ground to do this.  Finally, you simply spray paint them your desired color and you’re done!    It took several coats to get them completely covered.

Since we were using these at the school, we decided to wrap them in blue duct tape to insure that the beer brand didn’t show through after being hit multiple times by the balls.  So actually, I probably recommend you use the tape and even skip the spray paint!  That would save you time and money.  We also ended up using tennis balls which was perfect!!

Cost?  Only $12 bucks for the beer.  The dirt was free and I had the bottle of spray paint laying around my house but if you were paying for all three, you could do 6-9 bottles for $20.  That’s a huge steal compared to the $50+ it would have cost to buy them online.

These are super easy to make! Supplies you’ll need include:

• 3/4 cup flour (I used Great Value)
• 3 Tablespoons Light Corn syrup (Great Value again)
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 cups Pennington Wild Bird Food
• Halloween Cookie Cutters
• Yarn
• 1 Straw cut up into 5 or 6 pieces

DIRECTIONS

Lay out a sheet of wax paper down to work on.  You can either roll out the birdseed “dough” or fill your cookie cutters.  We spooned ours in.  It’s also highly recommended that you spray your cutters with nonstick spray so they slide right out after they have had time to dry.

Mix the first 4 ingredients together and fill your cookie cutters.

After you’ve filled your cookie cutter, stick a piece of the straw where you’d like your hole for it to hang. Let them dry for 4-6 hours (we did overnight), and push them out of cutters.

Thread your birdseed ornament with the yarn and hang from a tree!  That’s it y’all!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

First, you simple need a pair of those gloves from Walmart.  They are usually 2 pair for under $2 bucks and come in all different colors.  You’ll need yarn, a needle, and thread.

• Winter Gloves  ($2)
• Yarn ($2)
• Needle
• Thread

I made the thread color the same as the glove.

I cut pieces of yarn all about the same size, enough that when you ‘fold’ them, they make a nice pom pom.  I should have added more but since this was a spur of the moment idea for me, I’ll make sure to do it on my next pair.   I take another piece of the yarn to tie the bunch together.

Then I took the threaded needle and sewed them on the tip of the gloves!!

Wow, it doesn’t get any easier than that!!!!  Now looking back, I obviously would have made the pom poms more full.  They look a little puny but I was learning as I went.  I’d probably actually use two different colored yarns to give them more depth and I think they’d look cuter too!

This literally took me only 15 minutes and that was doing it for the first time and stopping to figure a thing or two out.  I bet I could whip a whole pair out in 15 minutes now!  And for $6 bucks…..shoooooot, that sure beats the $25 and $30 price tags on the one in the stores!  I think you could get a helper too to cut up the yarn, one to tie them into a bunch, and you can sew them on.

So what do you think?  It’s frugal eh!!  I’m kinda proud of myself. I haven’t had the chance to do any kind of crafts lately so I’m tickled to have had the time to do this. And this is just the beginning!  I can’t wait to do more!  What are some crafts you plan on doing this holiday season?

P.S. I’m thinking this would make for a fun church craft that can be used towards a fundraiser! Get those ladies together and whip some out!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

What I originally wanted to do was use 4th of July wrapping paper but I couldn’t seem to find any so I decided to go with tissue paper; red, white and blue.  I used a paper towel tube and a toilet paper tube, which was perfect. I never really plan anything but looking at them now, I would have probably changed the braiding to be just red and blue and no white.  I also would have added names to the firecrackers and set at placemats at the table.

This turned out to be a very budget friendly project that would make a lot.  I bought all my supplies at Walmart and it didn’t take me long at all either.   Once I figured out how I was gonna make one, it was a breeze from then on.

4th of July Party Favors – Candy Filled Firecrackers

SUPPLIES (total cost about $14.50 to make a bunch)

• Tissue paper in red, white, and blue colors $1.97 each = about $6
• bag of candy $ 6.50 (you could buy a smaller bag of candy but we like to keep extra on hand)
• glittery pipe cleaners (I recommend red and gold) $1.97
• empty tubes (like paper towel or toilet paper tubes) $0
• tape
• scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut strips of the three tissue papers.  I made mine about 4 inches or so.  You need to allow enough for the top and bottom to tuck into the tube for a closing.
2. Start with one color tissue strip and roll around the tube, then tape.  Go to the next color and so on.
3. Close the bottom color by stuffing the extra tissue into the tube.
4. Fill with candy.
5. Twist a red & gold glittery pipe cleaner together and cut in half, sticking one half into the tube, inbetween the candy.  Then stuff the top tissue paper around the “fuse” to close the candy inside.
6. This is optional but I took three thin strips of tissue, braided them, and then wrapped around the top, using tape to hold together.

I asked around for ideas to create a DIY 4th of July craft and had lots of replies but decided to go with 2 very easy & budget friendly ideas; Candy Filled Firecrackers and a Table Centerpiece, which was Cat’s idea. Today we’re focusing on the centerpiece, with the firecrackers coming the next day!

Ready?!

TABLE CENTERPIECE - By far the easiest thing I’ve ever done and the cost? $8

Supplies

• Red, White, & Blue Ribbon $1.97
• Red, White, & Blue Flowers ( I went with fake so I can reuse) $2.00 each = $6
• Any clear jar or vase (anything around your house or even a drinking glass)

Instructions

1. Simply cut the stems off to fit nicely in your size jar that you’ve chosen.  You’ll probably need a wire cutter if using fake flowers.
2. Place ribbon in the jar any way you want.
3. Arrange flowers in jar and in the middle of ribbon so that stems aren’t seen.

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

I’ve been giving my house a good spring cleaning and along the way, I keep finding items that I’ve never used, opened, or have duplicates of.  I thought this would make the perfect opportunity to create a gift bundle.  I started with a fun, Summer insulated tote.  I’ve had this bag a while and it’s still in perfect shape so I figured I’d reuse it instead of tossing it.   I planned on doing a themed bag but once I started finding things, I just went with a surprise bag.

In my bag are things like:

• a Glamour magazine that I already read but is still fresh for the month for someone else.
• extra beauty items like nail decals, carmex, and Bath & Body soap that I got during a special purchase.
• a piece of jewelry that I wore once and thought it would be great to give to someone else to wear, and perhaps pass on later as well.
• notebook and pen
• Spring candle
• fun cookbook

These are things that I had around my house and completely appropriate to regift.

I personalized with it a handmade card using my new Silhouette cutter.  I picked the Fourth of July graphic, cut it, and glued it onto the card.  More on how that works later and just a hint, I’ll also be giving one away, a $300 value.

Have you done this before?  If so, what kind of gift bags/baskets have you created?