Quick, Easy & Frugal Homemade Hurricane Lamps

My home has a lovely carved wooden double mantle with a beveled mirror.  I love it, but honestly I find it a little difficult to decorate.  It is so gorgeous & massive that things seem to just sort of fade into obscurity on it.  I want to be able to change my decorations with the seasons, and of course I don’t want to spend a fortune doing it!

So what’s a frugal gal to do?  I wanted something with a little more presence than my current candlesticks with little gold berry rings (Candlesticks, candles & decorative rings were all purchased at The Dollar Tree).

When I saw this tutorial over at Made By Stephie for DIY Hurricanes I was blown away.  It had never occurred to me that I could make my own footed glass hurricane lamp. (Note: similar glass footed hurricane lamps run for over $50 online!)

First I scoured my local Goodwill for appropriate vases & candlesticks.  Since I planned on placing the hurricanes on either side of the mirror I needed to find two glass vases that matched and were wide enough to place a short candle inside.  Of course the candlesticks also needed to match, but those usually come in pairs.

It wasn’t too hard to find some matching vases-but many of them had necks that were just too narrow.  I finally got lucky and found these vases for $1.99 each.  The candlesticks were easy-there were 8 matching one for $1 each. I only bought two of course.

One of the vases looked a bit yellow-but I figured that was due to grime and a good scrubbing would take care of it.  If not, they’d be separated by the width of the mantle, so hopefully I’d be the only one ever to notice.

Making the hurricanes was dead simple. You just glue the vase to the candlestick.  It is so easy that I can barely call it a craft!  By the way, I use E 6000 glue for things like this.

Tada! Two one of a kind hurricanes for only $6.

If you want to try using it a bit differently, you could flip it over and add a thick pillar candle.

Yeah, ok, so that look isn’t for everyone.  Some other possible uses would be as a footed vase, or even as a pedestal/cakestand for a buffet (just place a pretty plate on top).

Check out  Erik Homemade for an alternate version that throws a candy dish into the mix!

Quick & Easy Halloween Treat~Halloween Hands!

Need something for a classroom full of kids, but don’t want to spend a fortune?  Why not try making Halloween Hands?  All you need is some popcorn, candy corn, plastic disposable gloves & bag ties:

Need some more last minute ideas? How about these!

Witches Hat Cookies (super easy & cute-no baking!)

Eyeball Cupcakes

Spider Cupcakes

Spider Ring Cupcakes (I used this idea last year w/skull rings!)

Easy Children’s Christmas Craft: Paperclip Angels

Need a quick and easy craft for your kids to make for teachers, bus drivers and friends? How about angel necklaces?

This idea comes courtesy of my good friend Cherie, and has to be one of the easiest and cutest gift projects for little kids to make. It only takes a few minutes, the kids can help, and buying enough supplies to make a whole bunch only costs a few dollars.

Materials:

Special Paperclips (don’t know the name but they come in a box of like 30 or something)
Sliver Pony Beads
Silver Disk Beads (preferably with fluted or beaded edges)
Ribbon

Take the ribbon and tie in a loop. Thread a disk and then a pony bead onto the ribbon and push up to the knot. Loop the ribbon through the clip and then through itself (see picture) slip both beads back down to sit flush with the clip.

Tada, you are done.

What other quick and easy holiday crafts for kids do you do?

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