A Wreath from Milk Cartons and Nail Polish...

Living on a budget has never been an easy affair for me,

but we've revamped ours lately,

trying to do the formidable task of saving money.

It's been making me stop and think

when I want to fix things up.

Today I decided I needed to decorate the grapevine wreath 

for the door.

I looked into the recycling bin

for something weather proof.

 I grabbed some colorful nail polishes

(that really ought to be used to give you better-looking fingers to look at,

but the initiation of gardening has been abusive to them),

some wire,

scissors,

and wire cutters,
and some scrap material I had.

After I'd rinsed the 2 milk cartons I'd retrieved,

 I cut as many circles as I could from each carton,

not being fussy about perfection,

as that's not a specialty of mine anyhow.

I cut a spiral out of the circle,

and then added a wavy cut to the outer edge.

I made the first one very large with lots of rounds,

but the rest I made a bit smaller with less turns

 (as I found it used less milk carton.

 I wanted more flowers rather than fuller flowers. )

I cut a small wavy edge on some of the inner circles,

and left some of them round,

just to ad some variety.

I added a piece of floral wire to the smallest part of the inner circle,

twisted it,

and then left it hanging from the bottom.

This would be used to hang the flower to the wreath.

To give the flowers some added depth,
I cut and painted up some double leaves.

(Everybody needs green fingernails once in a while, right?)

Meanwhile, the glue gun was heating.

I started at the center of the flower,

gluing as I twisted it up into shape.

Some of the flowers I touched up with a little white spray paint

and then added the pink glittered nail polish to the centers,

just for some variety.

Using the scrap material,

I cut and slipped it through the wreath,
and made a few material "pom-poms":

 by tearing a strip of fabric,

 wrapping it around my hand,

 tying it tight in the middle,

and then cutting the loops on the ends.

I trimmed the ends a little
and fluffed them up before tying them to the wreath
as a sort of filler.

I also found some of last season's dried hydrangeas
on one of the bushes

and tucked them in.

It made me glad to see my free wreath I'd gotten from pruning 

looking happy with a bit of spring...

...and my money will stay in my envelopes for better things...

... like apples, bananas, peanuts, napkins, vitamins, toilet paper, tooth paste...

Linking up to these places:

Keeping it Simple:Motivate me Monday
Funkyjunkinteriors.net
Funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com
Centsationalgirl.com
Littlenaturalcottage.com
Gnowfglins.com: Simple-lives-Thursday
Savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com: Wow-us-Wednesdays 
We Are That Family

Raisinghomemakers.com
Hip Homeschool Moms.com: Homeschool Hip Hop
The Prairie Homestead: Homestead Barn Hop
Betweennapsontheporch.blogspot: Metamorphosis Monday

Craft-O Maniac

The House In The Roses

DIY Show Off Project Parade

Making The World Cuter

Not Just a Housewife - Show Me What Ya Got
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Home Stories a to z 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
 Far Above Rubies: Domestically Divine 
Hip Homeschool Moms: Hip Homeschool Hop 
The*The CSI Project

Tip Me Tuesday - Tip Junkie

How To's Day - The Lettered Cottage (last Tuesday of each month) 

Tabletop Tuesday - A Stroll Thru Life