Sorry, I got nothing!  When life calms down and normalizes, I'll come back!

I've had a crazy week (this is a bit of an understatement) so I'm sorry to this is a short post, but hope you enjoy it anyway.

First before I share a great craft idea, I just have to tell you what my daughter (who is 2-1/2) said to me this morning on the way to church.  "I'm Elmo, Daddy is Big Bird and Momma is Oscar the Grouch!".  My reaction got a rise out of her and then of course she repeated over and over again.  To tell you the truth sometimes I feel like it, specially after a week like I had.

Ok, so tomorrow I have to make sure that one of my meals includes a can good so I can give this
 $1.50 & Under Craft a try. Go on over to
Sewing In No Mans Land and check out the great tutorial for these cute (and most likely free) lanterns!

I hope you enjoy!

$1.50 and Under Monday: Mod Podge Pumpkins

I had my MOPS craft for October all picked out and all the supplies purchased, when I was over visiting The Other White House blog.  I came upon this super cute Fall Craft.  Fall is my favorite season, I mean really could it be any prettier?  So I decided, I'm sure I could do this for $1.50 or under, and my mind was set.  I was going to do this craft with 75 people.  The Scrabble Tile Pendants were just going to have to wait.

The challenge was to get the pumpkins CHEAP!  This ended up not being so difficult.  I went to the Cider Mill with my little girl, watched cider being pressed and donuts being made and then went outside to their little market where I checked out the prices on pumpkins.  I found them for .75 cents each.  I had the great idea of buying the white ones so I wouldn't have to paint them but there wasn't very many and a lot of them had warts.  Ella and I picked out 75 of the nicer ones and put them in the cart and went up to the counter.  There the cashier told me she would sell 2 for a $1.25, making them $0.625! So, of course I was excited this saved me like $11.

So I ended up creating a mini version of  The Other White House's Mod Podge Pumpkins.

Supplies:
Pumpkin
White spray paint
Mod Podge (the red bottle)
sponge brush
Napkins (I bought mine at Target, I like The Other White House's better but we don't have a Hobby Lobby)

1. Make sure that you wash your pumpkin and make sure that it is completely dry, then spray paint it.  I suggest spraying the bottom first letting it dry, and then the top.

2.  While your pumpkin is drying you can get out your napkins (actually for a mini pumpkin you probably will only need one), separate the layers in the napkin so only the printed layer remains, then cut it into stripes about 1 inch wide.  Then cut them how ever long your pumpkin is from the bottom of the stem down along the pumpkin until where it would be just about touching the table (this is so you can dry it without it getting stuck on something).  I actually did the whole height of the pumpkin and it made it hard to work with and difficult to dry.  I would also suggest you remove any type of border your napkin may have.
 

4. Now apply a good layer of Mod Podge with your brush on your pumpkin, just a little bigger then your stripe of napkin, vertically, starting from the base of your pumpkin's stem.  Then lay a stripe of napkin over top of it.

I hope it doesn't confuse anyone that I've used three different napkins, experiment (take note the light color of the napkin doesn't show very well).

5. Now apply a layer of Mod Podge over top of the stripe making sure to press down into the crevices of the pumpkin.  It's ok if there is some folding and bunching of the napkin in order for it to take the shape of the pumpkin.  Then continue to apply more Mod Podge on the pumpkin beside the first stripe and lay your second stripe down, making sure to overlay the first a little, and applying the top coat of glue.  Repeat until you have made it all the way around the pumpkin.

6. Once the Mod Podge is dry you can flip the pumpkin upside down and apply the stripes on the bottom of the pumpkin (make sure to over lap with the top stripes of napkin).  Once this glue dries, you have your finished project.

I'm really excited to see 75 of these babies on the the tables at MOPS!