Resourcefulness at it's finest!

It's been about a year since I did these projects, but I thought I would share them with you. I totally redid Chelsey, my daughter's room. I did it "on a dime". I had to be very resourceful and I wanted as many things as I could have for free! That's right FREE! So here goes.....

Chelsey wanted a table beside her bed so she could keep her phone while it was charging through the night. It's a small area, so the table had to be narrow and FREE. I wasn't in the mood to spend money and liked the challenge to see what I could come up with. I took a log from our fire pit area outside, that we sat on, and pressured washed it, and plugged a lot of holes up, with wall joint compound. I wanted it to be smooth. Painted it with some interior, water base paint I had. About three coats. Painted a branch and birds on it! Done! Oh and I polyed it, just one coat. Resourceful and better said, FREE!

Now this awesome light was not my idea. We saw it at a store downtown and had to have it! Free of course. Now they didn't let us have it (it was $80.00....um...no), so we studied it and came to the conclusion we could make this. Sorry I have no pics of making it, it was a while back. I literally cut a branch from a tree in my yard.  First, wire Christmas lights all the way down the branch. Then I cut scraps of fabric I had, about 2'' wide and about 2 feet long.Twisted and wrapped the fabric around the branch. I changed the fabric strips to make it more interesting. Seal the end of fabric with hot glue. After you have covered the branch with the fabric strips, wind ribbon and yarn on top for another texture and interest. We added these butterflies for a little more whimsy. Again Free! I had everything. Most things in these specialty stores are handmade, why not your hand? Be an artist.

Between my daughter and myself, we have a lot of jewelry. Again it's a small room and there is no room for  a jewelry box to go on my daughter's dresser. So a friend gave me this birdcage she wasn't using in exchange for a mini refrigerator (the ones that college students use) I wasn't using. A fair trade I thought. All I had to do was paint it cream with spray paint. I added little glass dishes inside the metal holders, where you would have put bird food and water in, for rings. I used the existing wood perches to put bracelets on. A couple of tin containers in the bottom for earrings. Now that's resourceful!

This is so cute, easy, and free! I had everything. Ribbon, to clip the birds to, clothes pins to hold the birds. The birds are made out of vintage handkerchiefs and sample boards. Sample boards are more durable than cardboard because they are made out of plastic. You can use cardboard, I happen to have the sample board. Glue handkerchiefs to board using Elmer's glue, let dry. Then draw and cut a bird shape out from the dried, glued on handkerchief board. Now if you feel you can't draw a bird, you can get one from the internet and trace it. We hung these from the window....love it! See you can be resourceful with things you already have and make something new and wonderful. Rather it's practical reasons or just to have cute, artsy things to decorate with. I hope to show you her whole room soon...we made a lot more. Sadly her room is rarely tidy or picked up, so this is all I could show for now. :) Keeping it real!