The Frugal Crafter - Easy and Inexpensive Home Decor Crafts

I don't know about you, but I love crafting, and I love to share my crafting tips and projects with anybody who wants to learn a new crafting idea!

Today I am bringing you three crafts I've recently learned and have enjoyed making. Each of these crafts would be wonderful to add spots of color to your home, or to give as gifts. I hope you have as much fun with these as I had!

Decoupaged Flower Pots

Decoupage is fun and easy, and a wonderful way to brighten up otherwise dull and colorless items.

For this project, you will need:

A terra cotta flower pot

Paper napkins with pretty motifs, pictures cut from magazines, wallpaper and giftwrap scraps, fabric motifs

Decoupage medium such as Mod Podge, Glossy or Matte, depending on how much shine you want. You can also make a good Matte medium by thinning Elmer's glue with an equal amount of water

Acrylic craft paint in the color of your choice

Foam paint brush

Regular paint brush, wide and flat

Directions:

Wash the flower pot and let it completely dry. I recommend washing the night before you plan to do this project, as terra cotta takes a while to thoroughly dry.

When the pot is dry, paint it in a color (or colors!) that coordinate with whatever motif you have decided to add to the pot.

Trim your motif(s). You can get a nice effect by tearing carefully instead of using scissors.

Using the sponge brush, spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on to the pot. Press a motif on to the Mod Podge and smooth it carefully with your fingers. To avoid wrinkles you can slice the motif from its bottom to its center and slightly overlap the cut edges.

Continue to add motifs until the pot looks the way you would like it to. You can use one or many motifs, it's completely up to you! A single motif such as a sunflower is a beautiful focal point, while a sunflower atop a bunch of leaf motifs that are overlapped will give another sort of impression.

Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over each motif as you add them to the flower pot.

Trim the motifs at the top and bottom of the pot so that they don't curl over the edges.

Once you've got all the motifs on there that you'd like, set it aside to dry. When it has completely dried, coat the entire pot and all motifs with another layer of Mod Podge. Let dry again!

Fill your pot with soil and plant a seed, or fill it with small gravel and insert some silk flowers. This will look fantastic on an end table or windowsill, or on a desk. It makes a lovely housewarming gift as well!

CD Case Picture Frame

When I buy a new CD, the first thing I do is take it out of its case and put it into a CD album - you can fit so many more into a smaller amount of space this way! But that leaves me with a hinged chunk of plastic that I just hate to throw away. What's a girl to do?

This girl makes them into picture frames.

You will need:

Empty CD cases (remove the paper inserts!
Acid free scrapbooking paper in solid colors and patterns
One or two photographs that will fit the CD cover
Acid free glue stick

What to do:

Cut a piece of solid color scrapbooking paper to fit inside the front of the CD case. Cut another for the back. If you like, cut a few motifs from a patterned piece of scrapbook paper and set them aside.

Trim your photograph so that it fits on to the paper backing you have just trimmed out. I personally like to trim all around the main elements of my photos, making cutouts of my friends and family. Decide where on the backing you want to place the picture and glue it on with your acid free glue stick. At this point, if you have cut out any motifs, lay them out on the backing and find an arrangement that you like. I often slightly overlap a flower (or other) motif over bits of my photograph. Once you are satisfied with the layout, glue the motifs into place.

Slide the completed piece into the front of the CD case. You can repeat this process for the back, or just slide in a plain piece of paper there (when I do this, I write a title for the picture and the names of the people in it on to the paper so that people will be able to find out what's going on without difficulty!). You can also leave the back of the case totally empty, if, for example, you plan to hang it on the wall.

To display, just open the case a few inches and stand it on a table or shelf. Alternately, you can hot glue several closed cases together, either side by side or overlapping them for a three dimensional effect, and hang them on the wall.

Sparkly Potpourri Jars

These look and smell just beautiful. I have given so many of these away as housewarming presents, and they're always a big hit. Best of all, they take almost no time to make!

You will need:

An empty (and washed!) one quart jar made from glass
A strand of 35 white Christmas lights
Potpourri
A rubber band
Some pretty ribbon
A lace doily that is big enough to go over the top of the jar and down the lip a bit, or a gauze circle

Begin putting the lights into the jar, try to spiral them around the inside so that they can be seen from the outside. After five or six lights are in the jar, sprinkle in some potpourri. Continue filling the jar until it is filled. Leave the plug end of the lights hanging out of the jar top. Place your doily or gauze over the jar mouth and the wire. Fasten with an elastic band so that it won't slip, then cover the elastic with the ribbon and tie it in a pretty bow!

Keep watching for more from The Frugal Crafter!