Toddler Room on a Budget

With a little work and hunting it's easy to do a room on a budget and still have it turn out really cute. Let me take you on a tour of my little boys room. As we go I will say what I did and for how much :) 

To start with I painted the room blue. New paint is always a big bang for your buck. Depending on the brand you buy this can cost anywhere from $25-$40, mine was in between. Plus about $15 in spray paint that I used to tie colors in.  

Other than paint the bed was the biggest expense. We paid around $35. You can easily pick one up from a yard sale or even a friend. I opted to buy new to save myself painting it. 

The bed spread was made by my mom and me for around $20. It was my inspiration for the rest of the room. 

For this big wall above I bought the circles from the party store for $5.99. Great price for wall decor! I printed two pictures on card stock to better match the theme of the room, cut them out and put them over the ones it came with. I also spray painted two of the smaller circles to better coordinate. 

The toy box was an old chest I had been saving that I picked up for $5 at a yard sale. I used spray paint and letters from Michael's to turn it into they toy box. Total of about $8. 

The curtains are actually shower curtains I found on clearance at Target. $6 each. I hung them using shower curtain hooks (makes them very easy for my son to open and close) that were also on clearance and matched fabulously! $8

 The dresser I bought from a friend ($20) and painted to go with the room. I even used the original handles, painted of course!

These canvases I had painted myself and used in his nursery. To make them better match the big boy room I painted the circles around the monkey and lion darker. They were light blue before and blended with the walls. Cost: FREE

The giraffe and letters were also brought from the nursery and simply painted.  FREE!

The bookshelf was moved from another room. The frame above it I bought at Wal-Mart for $5 and printed the verse from Staples for $8!  Total $13 - great for such a huge piece!

The wall decals are easily removable and I found them at Wal-Mart on clearance for $5. They are spread out all over the room. My son just loves them! 

Here is the over all look. The total is below :)

Sorry it's so dark! Hard to get a good pic with so much direct light. 

Everything else in the room, including the closet system not shown, we already had. There isn't a whole bunch in there because his room is just for sleeping and quiet before bed times so I don't really need to deal with clutter or toy systems. So overall, every little thing included, the total for the room was right about $170.  Now that is quite a bit for me but I collected and did it over about the course of 6-8 months so it really spaced out the cost. Areas to save would have been mostly the paint and bed. I could have easily gone much higher with the wall decor and curtains!  

Scavenger Hunts

Sometimes it's fun to turn the ordinary into something a little more fun. One of the ways I have started doing this is to make our regular walks into scavenger hunts!  I came across the idea on another blog and as usual can't remember where (I need to start noting these things!).

To make one in Publisher just go to "Table," then "Insert," put as many columns and rows as you want. Insert clip art of whichever pictures you want. Lastly create word boxes, choose your font and put the corresponding words by the pictures.

I choose things I know we will come across and making them seasonal is extra fun. It's a good idea to print them on card stock to make it a bit sturdier since a toddler will be manhandling it but you could also put it in a page protector. We simply look for the objects and get very excited and cheer when we find them.  Next I will be making one that will be for listening. It will have a dog, airplane, car, bird, and I'm not sure what else.  

Happy hunting!

DIY: Adorable $2 Garland

I made these adorable garland for just $2 using a hole punch and twine that I already had and 2 packages of die cuts from the Target Dollar Bins! 

How to do it:
1.  Decide where it will go and how many swags you want (this area was about 6 ft wide, so if you have a smaller space you could use one package or less of each instead of all).
2.  Divide the packages into the number of swags you are making.  There were 9 die cuts in each package and I was making 3 swags so I needed 6 die cuts per swag.  This helps you space them out evenly.
3.  Use a hole punch and put 2 holes in each die cut where ever you want it to hang from. I did random angles and  some leaves upside down to mix it up.
4.  Thread them onto the twine.
5.  Hang the garland! I used tacks.

You could just wing it and punch all the holes and randomly thread them on, then hang. That would've driven me batty but I know others who could do it :)

Here is a closer look at each of the three sections. I LOVE the glitter on the leaves (though it doesn't really show in these pics)!

You could also use ribbon or yarn to thread it.

I really hope Target makes cute Christmas die cuts!!!

Fall Is Here!

It's time!  Time for pumpkins and cooler air, fake fall leaves and cider candles, cinnamon and nutmeg! Fall is here!  I considered making a Fall Fun List of activities I would like to do with my family like I did for Summer but then decided I would rather shake it up and make a different kind of list  So here is the list of treats I hope to get made before the Christmas baking arrives! 

Only problem is my hubby doesn't eat sweets so I always have to find ways to unload it all.  Also there are only 9 weeks until Thanksgiving and there are 13 items on the list. Yikes!  Now I'm off to check expiration dates on the spices - only the best will do!

P.S. the asterix are for the recipes I have not tried yet. 

More Cheap Art

A few posts back I told you how I made this lovely piece of art for $1. 

 I have now turned that into this . . . 

Again I was a bad DIY blogger and forgot to take pics of the process. It was too simple to even bother taking pictures!  Here is what I did.

1. The alphabet "art", inspired by Pinterest, was made in Microsoft Publisher but you could easily use Word as well. Just type out the alphabet, center it, find a font you like (I used Elephant) and make it whatever color matches your theme with the "I", "heart", and "u" in an alternating color. Figure out the right size for your font so that it takes up most of the page.  Helpful hint: make sure the "I" is three letters from the end of the row, the heart two letters from the end of the next row, and the "U" on the end of the next row.  This makes the nice stair step effect.  When you have it set to your satisfaction print it. I recommend card stock but if you don't have any regular paper works fine.

2. For the matte all I did was take a spare piece of poster board, trace the glass from the frame on it for the right size, cut it down and spray paint it.  It took two light coats.

3. I let the poster board dry over night then used scrapbook sticky squares to attach the paper to the matte. Glue or tape could also work.

What did it cost?  $00.00  That's right, nothing!  I had everything on hand and that made me so very happy!  The possibilities are endless. As much as I love it I am already dreaming of fall and Christmas ideas for that wonderful little frame  :)

Bath Time Fun

Tonight I created a fun new "toy" for the kiddos bath time. I'm sure it's probably out there somewhere in blogland but I haven't seen it yet. So here is a fun new idea!

Squirt gun + bath paint + a little water = FUN!

Pour the bath paint in the squirt gun, add a little water, shake well and have a blast!

I could see this being really fun in the yard as well.  Nice thing about the paint is that it makes a nice foamy paint that’s easy to squirt, cleans up super easy and doesn’t stain (at least the kind we have doesn’t)!

June Menu

I've been planning weekly menus for several years now and finally decided it was time to step it up. So here is my first shot at a monthly menu! Much of it stays the same week to week to make things easier and keep costs down. Next I need to add fish back into our diet and throw in a few salads for dinner!