Dollar Store Finds into Fall Decorations (she:Jami)

Hi “Or so she says…” readers!  I’m really excited to be here blogging with you! My Name is Jami. I blog over at www.jamirodolph.blogspot.com I am a stay at home mom (mostly) with two beautiful daughters and an awesome husband. We live on 10 acres in rural MT and have our own little “farm”. I LOVE to do anything crafty or home-maker-ish ( I know that’s not actually a word, i just like it!). Sewing, scrapbooking, decorating, re-purposing, cooking, gardening and canning… are just a few of my “loves”! We live on a small budget and I enjoy making our dollar stretch by going to yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets and finding ways to “make your own_________……” and save $!  I hope I can inspire you to take care of your family and be creative on a tiny budget!

The first thing I wanted to share with you is my latest finds on my trip to the dollar store and how I transformed them into my fabulous fall decor! Here’s a picture of the items I picked up at the dollar store last week. Carvable pumpkins and gourds, bags of silk leaves, bags of fall colored jewels and acorns, and crepe paper. The ribbon in photo I picked up at Safeway on the clearance shelf for $1.50. What a bargain!
Here we go…..This project is a fall banner to hang in your house! Here’s a PEEK at the beautiful end result!
The first thing I wanted to show you is what I did with the crepe paper…
I love using crepe paper in my projects. One of my favorite things to do with it is…. sew and ruffle it! In this little group of pictures (click on the image to make it bigger at any time) I will show you how I gather the crepe paper to make it ruffled. 
First, I measure where I’m going to use the crepe paper and double that length. The length I needed was 10 feet, so that’s what I will be using as an example! OK…..! So….I need my end result crepe paper to 10 feet that means for the project I’m going to double it and make it 20 feet, and you need 2 pieces of it. So now you should have in your hot little hands 2 -20 foot lengths of crepe paper. 
Match up the ends and sew them together right down the middle with a straight stitch and no tension (take your tension knob and turn it down to zero). DO NOT back stitch at time during this sewing project or you won’t be able to pull the thread threw! Also leave a tail of thread at either end of your project. 
Once you have sewn your two 20 foot lengths together, take the bottom thread from your project (either end is fine) and hold it tight in your hand. With your other hand begin pulling lightly downward on the crepe paper to start the ruffling process. This is a great project to do while watching TV! It does take a little time, but it’s worth it! The more you pull down and gather the crepe paper the thicker the ruffle and vice versa, the less you pull down on the paper the flatter your ruffle will be! Keep pulling down adjusting the ruffle thickness all the way to other end. You now have a ruffled crepe paper garland! 
The second thing I like to do with crepe paper is …….Fringe it! For this crepe paper project you can measure your actual length. I need 10 feet again, and on this project we need the paper to be 3 thick. So measure out 3- 10 foot lengths. 
Stack all three on top of each other and sew down the middle again. This time with normal tension, but still a straight stitch. Sew down the entire length of the paper. 
When your done, it’s time to cut it. I think the easiest way to cut it, is to fold it several times (see picture). Start by folding the crepe paper in half length wise. The fold it in half again and again and again until you have about a 1 foot chunk in front of you. Use a close-pin on to hold you folds in place and begin cutting into paper on either side. Make little short slits. (be careful not to cut into the thread of your banner. your banner will be cut apart. listen to the voice of experience. *wink*) 
After you cut all the way down the length, use your fingers to start separating the cuts and ruffle up your paper. Then take your close pin off and stretch out you fringed paper streamer!
Next, is the leaf garland. At the dollar store I picked up these packages of silk leaves. Each package has 150 leaves in it. The leaves are paper thin, so they are easy to work with. If you can’t find this type of leaf you could also buy the bunches of leaves on steams and take them off the steam….just a thought! For this garland I dumped my leaves into a big pile next to my sewing machine and just began feeding them through the machine on a straight stitch, one at a time, randomly. No particular order. I used two packages of leaves for this garland! It’s really long!
Last, but not least…..the “happy fall” chipboard banner. This banner is made of stuff I had on hand. I bet you have most of this stuff at your house too!

First I started with chipboard triangles. You can cut these with with shaped scissors or a straight edge. (I used shaped) If you don’t have chip board you can easily use empty cereal boxes! I’ve done this many times! My Chipboard triangles measure 6″ at the top and are 8″ long.

Next I cut out 3″ scalloped circles from old sheet music, and 4″ circles from an orange patterned piece of scrapbook paper. How many circles and chipboard triangles you need depends on what your spelling out. I used 10. I spelled out happy fall plus had a space between the letters, which equals 10. At this point I inked all the edges of my 3′ and 4″ circles and triangles with black ink. I think it gives the project more depth , but it’s totally optional.

 I used pop glue dots to add the circles to the chipboard. It gives it more dimension. Again optional. (If you don’t have pop glue dots you could always use something like a milk cap to raise up your circles. You would just need probably a hot glue gun to assemble the milk cap to the chipboard.) After I had the circles on, I gathered up random fonts of chipboard letter to spell out happy fall. (you could also use stickers or print letters from the computer) All the letters weren’t the same color, but I wanted them to be. So, I sanded down the one’s with color till I got down to the original chipboard color. I put all the letters on newspaper and spray painted them with an aqua color. You could also use acrylic paints for this. 

When the letters were dry I hot glued them to the triangles. Then I layed out my triangles in order and placed them so they were in a 10 foot length. I measured my ribbon out to be 20 feet so I could ruffle it. I started at one end and hot glued the ribbon to the tops of the chipboard triangles, ruffling and gluing, ruffling and gluing , ruffling and gluing all the way down to the other end. And…….for the finishing touch I punched a hole in the bottom of each triangle and attached a fall colored jewel (the ones from the dollar store) with wire through the punched hole. And, it is finished!!!!!


I hung up my crepe paper and leaf garlands on the wall first then added my fall banner!
In a later post I will show some other ways I am using the leaf garlands, Crepe paper garlands, the carvable pumpkins and gourds and jewels! I hope you make this for yourself or as a gift!!!!!

  HAPPY FALL!
 ~ Jami

Mariel

Mariel

Owner & Author at Or so she says...
Mariel (mahr-eeee-elle) is a mother to six, wife to one. Loves homeschooling, golfing, cupcakes, traveling, cuddling, non-fiction books, gardening, James Taylor, family time, and a sexy wedge. This is her blog. Enjoy!
Mariel

@orsoshesays

Blogger, Promoting Motherhood, Creativity, Great Ideas, Good Food, and Family Values. http://www.oneshetwoshe.com
My hot lunch date. @ Olive Garden http://t.co/bxMw2Rt3Dw - 2 days ago
Mariel
Mariel

Comments

  1. Pesky Cat Designs says:
    October 10, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    Wonderful post! It’s amazing what can be created with inexpensive finds. Love the leaf garland. Jami’s creativity is quite inspiring!

    Reply
  2. Mariel says:
    October 10, 2010 at 9:06 pm

    I love that you sew the crepe paper, who woulda thought?!?

    Great post!

    Reply
  3. Dina @ 4 Lettre Words says:
    October 10, 2010 at 9:07 pm

    So, so creative! And, I dearly LOVE your collection of milk glass on top of the armoire. I have a soft spot for that and vintage Pyrex. :o )

    Reply
  4. Donna says:
    October 11, 2010 at 12:10 am

    In Australia we just eat our pumpkin’s, never use then as a decoration. We also NEVER add marshmallow to it.(is that even true) I love all this pumpkin fever that goes on over in your part of the world. The only season we celebrate is summer. We are just so Australian. Ps I love your word home-maker-ish too!

    Reply
  5. Jessica says:
    October 11, 2010 at 4:25 am

    I love to celebrate Fall! Thanks Jami!

    Reply

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