Do you have a wall for a cross collection display in your home? I know many Christian women who do. I do too. However, I grew tired of looking at it because it was just that: a collection of crosses stuck to the wall. They almost seemed to float, so I decided that it was time to give it all a new look. A while back, my husband found a collection of old hymnals up for auction on eBay. He bought the lot of them for $9.00.

The room that my cross wall is in is also the room where we do our family devotions in the evening, so I had a thought: “Why not use some of those hymnals in a different way? Why not use the pages individually, since the hymnals are very old and falling apart at the binding anyway?” The pages and the hymnals themselves are fragile, and I thought this would be a great way to “preserve” them while making these rich treasures from the saints who have gone before us more accessible to the family.

My idea was simple: decoupage the hymnal pages onto a board, especially hymns with a title that had anything to do with the Cross. Then place a white frame around it and fasten one of my crosses to the decoupaged board, and hang this artwork within the collection of my crosses to give it the added “oomph” it needed.

Now whenever we look at our cross collection, we are not only reminded of the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, but we are also reminded to praise our Lord for it too. It has also brought to mind many hymns that we haven’t yet taught our children . . . and they enjoy that greatly!

Total cost for my little project:

Hymnals: $9.00

Decoupage paste $4.00

Ribbon (on hand) Free

4 frames $4.00

Scrap wood (on hand) Free

Total: $19.00

You can find the complete tutorial for this project in the August 2009 Money-Saving Digest. In each Digest, I feature a “Feather Your Nest” tutorial.

This post is linked to Metamorphosis Monday, It’s So Very Creative,  Craftastic Monday, Make Your Home Sing Monday, DIY Project Parade, Made By You Monday, Brag Monday, Motivate me Monday, Homemaker Monday

Here are a few fun links I found this week:

First, I found and fell in LOVE with The Mother Huddle blog. So many cute things here.

For instance, check out this apron (made with one yard of fabric!) with built in hotpads in the hem! Love that!

An then there’s this super-simple solution for turning baby rompers into shirts once they are outgrown. I honestly can’t believe I’d never thought of that before.

And if this frugal and easy solution for storing ribbons isn’t a keeper, I don’t know what is. I might actually head upstairs and do this today instead of continuing to wait to install the wall mounted version I have in my head (that I never actually get to). I could put this together in a matter of minutes!

FeelsLikeHomeBlog.com shares  10 Things to Cook in a Bundt Cake pan. Great ideas here, and truly creative! I’m definitely going to use some of these if I can remember.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

I have a friend who loves natural beauty treatments. The other day I was reading some blog posts on crocheting and I ran across one that had taken excess crocheting yarn and turned it into homemade facial cleaning pads. They were very easy to make, so I made two of them.

After making the homemade facial scrubbers, I decided to see if I could find a natural facial cleaner to give as a gift along with these two scrubbies!

If you take 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of Castor oil and mix them together, they make THE best facial cleanser. All you do is apply it to your face, then take a washcloth and run it under extremely hot water. Wring it out and then place it on your face–kind of like a steaming facial. Repeat this step several times and then the last time wipe the oil off. Your face will be smooth and refreshed!

If you would like to make a couple of these facial scrubbies for you or as a gift, you can find the tutorial HERE.

I love the Dollar Store Craft Site. I was looking at the recent posts they have and came across this one!

I think I actually might try to make one of these to hang in my kitchen!

To find out how you can make one, simply click over to Dollar Store Crafts to check out the tutorial.

Fave Crafts is one of my favorite websites for all things crafty! They have a free E-Book that they are giving away to everyone FULL of Mother’s Day craft ideas!

To get your copy, just click HERE.

This past weekend, I went on a field trip with my kids. Imagine my surprise when one of the other homeschool families showed up with a HUGE tub of FREE crochet items! My daughter and I were ecstatic because we have been learning how to crochet for a few months now.

Just look at all the goodies I got! And did I mention they were FREE!

TONS of crochet yarn. . . the cotton kind!

Various sizes of crochet needles. . .from the smallest to the biggest!

Books, Needlepoint, ribbon, and canvas!

I still cannot believe that I got all of this for free! My daughter has been crafting non-stop since we came home on Friday with our stash!

What about you? What have you found recently for a great bargain? Share with us in the comments!

Just thought I’d share a fun way to make inexpensive but cute house numbers using a platter. I got this platter at the Dollar Store for……$1.  It’s blue/white and matches our house colors. We went forever without house numbers because I knew I wanted to do this but wanted it to be “just right”. I wanted to paint light blue numbers to match the platter and be, oh so pretty. Granted, that WILL look much better but I finally realized I’d better do something to help out the UPS man until I finally get around to my “big plans”. So I bought some of those cheap, rectangular stick-on house numbers at Walmart and then just cut around the numbers and stuck them on.

Doesn’t look as nice as painted blue ones, but the reality is, who knows when and if I’ll ever get to that. As it is, it’s still more creative than regular old numbers. Quick & easy, too!

And, as I’ve learned in my old age:

Not everything worth doing is worth doing well!!

Sometimes it’s best just to DO something. Come back later and fix it if you have time but don’t let perfection stand in the way of progress. Learn what needs to be perfect and what doesn’t!

Less than perfect works for me! To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit Kristen at We Are That Family. Also linking to Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest (check out her great skeleton key art!) and Someday Crafts.

For all those asking for the felted bag pattern, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I found the pattern. The bad news is that it says “out of stock”. Now, how a pattern can be out of stock I’m really not sure.

I actually borrowed the pattern from my neighbor, but the bag here is the exact picture on the front of my pattern. No, I didn’t follow their instructions as far as the stripes.

I bought two skeins of two different colors of blue at JoAnn’s (using a 40% off coupon, of course!). Then I knitted until I felt like changing, knit ten rows of the lighter color, went back to the first color for ten rows, then changed to the second color. I’m not a “stripe” person and was originally just going to switch from one color to the other about two thirds of the way up, but my friend convinced me the stripe would make a nicer transiition and it did. I also think just a very thin line (four rows?) of  a contrasting color would look good between the two. I’d hate to buy a whole skein of yarn just for that, though. My friend has made solid color bags that are very pretty as well.

OK, back to the pattern issue. I’m getting closer. I did find the original website the pattern is from. You can see it here. Boy! They have some really pretty ones! Sadly, it looks like the company has changed hands and I don’t see a way to actually order. There is an email if you click on “ordering info”. I would give that a try. Let me know what you find out. I’d like to make their “Bucket Bag”.

Added later: I FOUND IT! Here is a site where you can actually purchase the pattern. Whew!  Oh, I love that felted sling bag!

And if you’re just wanting to give felting a shot, here are a ton of free felted item patterns to choose from.

My neighbor has been teaching me to knit this year. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on it so have mostly made dishcloths. My basic pattern is the Idiot’s Dishcloth. No comments on whether it’s aptly named or not, please!

However, I just finished a more involved project. Take a look at my first felted bag. This was a fun project. In fact, I think I’m ready to start another. The fun part was seeing how it changed from before felting to after.

See how much it shrunk in the felting? It’s SUPER sturdy and thick, though.

For any of you interested in taking up knitting, or if you already enjoy the craft, FaveCrafts is offering a free afghan pattern book. Enjoy!

Free eBook: Wrap up with 25 Afghan Patterns from Red Heart Yarn

Homemade afghans are the perfect project for those who love yarn. With free patterns, crafters can create afghans which are both functional and decorative for the home. Red Heart Yarn presents this FREE collection of 25 afghan patterns, with projects for every style and skill level. With 4 afghan knitting patterns and 21 afghan crochet patterns, crafters are sure to find just the right afghan for their next project. In this eBook you’ll find:

• 53 Pages of Free Crochet Patterns and Free Knitting Patterns
• 10 Colorful Stripe Afghan Patterns
• 4 Floral Theme Afghan Patterns
• 2 Eco-Friendly Afghan Patterns
• *Hot* Afghan with Sleeves Pattern
• And many more!

You can get this eBook free at:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Crochet-Afghans/Afghan-Patterns-eBook-from-Red-Heart-Yarn

Hope you have a great weekend!

I have been collecting Christmas links for the last month and I have just a few left that I have not shared with you yet. I hope you enjoy these ladies who have worked hard putting these crafty posts together!

• Dollar Store Crafts is one of my very favorite websites. Everything they post about is very easy to make and inexpensive. Since this is the last week before Christmas, make a Christmas Candy Countdown. They also have a tutorial on making a cereal box advent calendar. This of course would have to be used next year–or you can use it to countdown something else, like a birthday or party day. Make a snowy Christmas Tree Skirt with the help of this tutorial from Dollar Store Crafts.
• The Hillbilly Housewife has a wonderful ABC’s of Giftgiving .pdf that you can download for free.
• If you need some last minute gift bows, you can use this tutorial to make them from old magazines!
• Have any old burlap laying around? Make these adorable word ornaments.
• Create these “Southern Snowballs” with just a little bit of nothing.
• Here is a post from The Shabby Nest on how to decorate a Christmas tree for less than $5.
• The Nesting Place has some great ideas on how to garnish your gifts.
• If you are running short on wrapping paper, make it festive, fun, and homemade.
• Here is a recipe for Christmas Citrus Punch. This looks delicious!
• Are you giving gift cards this year, but don’t want to spend the extra money for a gift card holder? Why not use a toilet paper roll and make these adorable homemade holders?

Merry CHRISTmas!