$10 Christmas Manger

It was between Elf on the Shelf and The Giving Manger.  I decided I liked the idea behind the Giving Manger better, more service and Christ centered.

I liked how The Giving Manger had the cute book and it came with everything, but I couldn't justify spending $40 on that small of a manger.  I wanted it to be a focal point in my home, almost a centerpiece, since really, that is what Christmas really is about...Christ.

So , I thought about how I could ... make my own ... for cheaper.  I have a ton of those crates and thought I could make one out of those...Walmart didn't have any so I headed over to Michael's and used a coupon.  I got the crate for $8 something.

I was ready to get started:

Step 1-remove slats from sides and bottom

Step 2-remove nails

Step 3-pound in excess nails

Step 4-sand, measure

Step 5-nail together

I used these small nails I had on hand

I left one slat width at the top (about 2"), then started nailing together one side, then the next

One side I put the vertical slates on the edges, the other side I placed them on the inside (so if folded, they would fold together) 

This is of both sides, with the extra space at the top.  The top side has the vertical boards on the edge, while the bottom side has the vertical boards on the inside...kinda hard to see, but hopefully that makes sense)

Step 6-trace sides & cut (using a midor saw)

I looked at who wide I wanted my opening and traced on the end/side board  

Using a midor saw, cut along the lines 

Use wood glue to attach the ends to the sides

Let it dry...

Now I had to figure out what to use for "hay" and since I have a three-year-old boy, I didn't want to use actual hay.  I decided raffia was a good alternative.  Once again, I headed to Michael's and bought a bag of raffia with another coupon, $2.50.  I pulled it all out and cut it into about 2 foot pieces.

Now it's in a bag and every time my son does a good deed for someone else (or makes his bed, or puts away his toys or does something helpful), I let him put a piece of "straw" (aka hay) in the manger.

I know it's not perfect, but I like the rustic feel to it and it's the perfect size for my living room table.  I really like how it turned out, and it helps my family remember Christmas is about giving and not getting.

Merry Christmas!

New kitchen table

We've had this table since we got married.  It's been an amazing table, but alas, it was time to move one and get something a little bigger...

We found a table on KSL for just over $100.  It was a solid wood table with 4 chairs and a bench.  The stain was rubbing off and in some places, it was completely gone.  Some of the chairs were wobbly, but we didn't mind any of that.  Our goal was to sand it and put a new stain on it. 

I'm such a ditz and completely forgot to take a picture of the table, but here are the chairs that came with it.

We sold the chairs, but kept the bench.  We found 4 new chairs at the Overstock warehouse in West Valley and thought they would look a lot better:

They were a lot more simple and had the clean, straight lines I was going for.  I really liked them, but we knew we were going to sand them down too.  Dark brown was not the color we were going for.

Well, my husband got to work on the awesome table top & bench.  He started sanding and sanding and sanding!

Here you can see the original base of the table...too ornate and just not my style

Originally we bought a stain at Sherwin Williams that looked like it would be great.  We were going for the beach wood/drift wood look.  Needless to say, I almost cried when we stained the bench and it looked peach!  Gratefully we had only done the bench and could sand it off, so we did!

My husband, being the smart man he is jumped in the car and drove to the nearest hardware store.  He talked to the guys there and came home with a tiny thing of dark grey paint.  I was confused at first, but when he started working, I was so happy with what it looked like.  Essentially, we "white washed" the table, but instead of using white paint, we did grey.  All we had to do was add a little grey paint to some water and brush it on.  We'd let it sit for about 10 minutes, then wipe off the excess.  It was a long process, but I absolutely love how it turned out!!!

Then, he is even more amazing and made new bases for the table and the bench!  We liked the "x" farm table look.  He found a couple sites and figured it out on his own.  It was NOT easy, but we eventually got it to look the way we want and I couldn't be happier!  It's not the same table at all!!!!

aren't they awesome??

the finished product!  Love how it turned out!

Well, we still had those dark brown chairs.  My husband rented a paint sprayer for some other projects he was working on and sprayed the chairs at the same time.  Then, my awesome mother-in-law has a lot of talented friends and so we had cushions made!

Again, absolutely LOVE how everything turned out.  It adds so much light into our kitchen, the table, chairs & bench are just what we wanted!  I'm loving the colors and the table.  It's definitely bigger than the last table, but that's good considering our family is growing!

Happy crafting!

Rope Tie Backs

I wanted something just a little different.  I've loved my curtains, but I wanted something a little lighter, something a little more "beachy" so I went shopping.  Ikea.  I bought 4 panels for $50 total (when you can spend that much on one panel alone)!

The curtains came with tiebacks, but I wanted something a little better.   I liked the idea of rope tie backs; they have that beach feel to them and are just cute.  I searched the Internet and came across one that I liked the most:

This one gave me some good tips as well so I pinned it too.

I found the jute rope at Michaels & using a coupon I got it for like $3 or something cheap like that.

  

In the tutorial above, they bought one of the jute ropes for each panel, but I'm cheap and didn't want to spend more money than necessary.

Then I went to Wal-Mart and found the twine:

and hemp:

I also bought some clear Command hooks to use.  

These would be strong enough, but small enough and clear so they wouldn't be too noticeable.

Now the "how to":

1:  I measured my jute rope into 4 equal sized pieces (about 22").  I put electrical tape over the soon-to-be ends so they wouldn't fray.

 2:  I cut the jute rope

 3:  Next, using the hemp (you could use thick twine as well), I cut 8 pieces about 5 inches long or so.  I wanted to do mine a little different than the one I saw.  She made one large loop.  I decided if I ever wanted to switch out the hemp (or twine) for metal loops, this would make it possible.

4: Again, using more electrical tape, I taped them down, leaving just a small loop on the end

5:  Using the thick twine or rope & using a hot glue gun I started gluing about 2 inches from the ends.  I overlapped the end of the twine I was wrapping so you couldn't see it.  Then, I just kept wrapping until I got to the end of the jute rope.  It took a decent amount of patience and glue, but I think they turned out alright.

6: Now I took longer pieces of the hemp (i think these are about 6" or so) and looped it through that original small loop, then hot glued the ends together.

And there you have it!  I love how they turned out. They give the curtains just that much more character/charm.

So, there's to one more "beachy" thing in my mountain home.  Living in the Rockies, I'm doing my best to bring the beach to me.

Happy crafting!

Total Time: 1 hour

Total Cost (not including curtains): $25ish