Craftin' with Target Finds: Spring Wreath

I absolutely LOVE the $1 spot at Target!  I know there are millions of other women out there that love it too.  I can always find something, and I don't feel guilty buying it because it's only $1 or $3.  Yesterday I went to Target and they had just put out some new merchandise in this spot and I had a hey-day!  I must have made 3 or 4 circles around it to make sure I saw everything.  They had gotten in some really cute Easter items that I scooped up, and some awesome items to make a spring wreath with.  We've had some ugly winter weather and I'm dreaming of spring time, so what better way to lighten up the day then with a spring wreath?  What makes it even better is that it only cost me $8! 

Here is what I bought to make my wreath!

The grapevine wreath was $3, and everything else (burlap letter D, burlap ribbon, crocheted lace, burlap flowers- 2 pack with cute pearls in the middle- and 2 pack of pink burlap flowers) were only $1 each.

I played around with the layout a little bit before deciding on what I liked.

 I attempted to cover up the silver circle on the D from where the string had been hanging.  I decided just to leave the string because this looks silly.  :)

 

I used the burlap and crocheted lace to make a 'background' (for the lack of a better word).  Just a dab of hot glue secured the lace to the burlap. 

 

 It looks crooked but it's just because it isn't glued down yet.

  Then another dab of glue to secure it to the wreath. 

 It is well on it's way.

I readjusted the string on the letter D (our last name initial) so it would hang better. 

 I was going to add a bow, but I thought it looked too cluttered, so to hang it on our door I used the string from the letter D. 

 Just a dab of glue to secure the flowers and it is done!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the gorgeous teal/mint color of the wreath!  I think the burlap and touch of pink give it the 'just right' spring time feel.  It looks shabby chic too which I love!

The best part is that it only cost $8! 

I cannot wait for spring time to get here and it better bring some warmer weather quick!  Even if there is snow on the ground and it's below freezing outside, it can still look like spring inside! :)

Prayer Boxes

As you all know I lead a book club group at my church.  (Read more about it here)  We recently read a novel titled The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate.  It was an excellent novel about a woman who is hired to clean out a house and finds over 80 prayer boxes left from the home's owner who passed away at the age of 91.  She begins reading the letters in the boxes and soon realizes they are letters written to God.  It is such an awesome novel, I highly recommend it!
After I finished the novel, I had the idea of making prayer boxes for the ladies in my book club group.  I made 11 boxes, and surprised the ladies with them at our meeting.  They were so excited and loved them!  It is such an interesting concept and I'll tell you how I made them and what you can do with them.

I flipped- flopped back and forth with what kind of box I wanted to use for the prayer boxes.  I looked at wooden boxes to paint, paper mache boxes, even tin containers, but I finally settled on photo boxes from Hobby Lobby.  These boxes are usually used to hold photos, and they even came with dividers, but they made perfect boxes for this project.  Of course I bought them when they were 50% off, which helped with the cost.  I also loved that they came with designs, so all I did was add embellishments. 

I made each one different with labels, I typed and printed on my computer, and then added flowers, butterflies, stickers, ribbon, and all kinds of goodies to specialize them for the ladies. You can do whatever you want with yours to personalize it to your style.  

I typed a letter to go on the inside of the box, just explaining how the boxes worked, and praying that they ladies would continue to use them and know God was always listening.  The concept behind the box is that you can write out your prayers, long or short, then place it in the box, and give it to God.  You can write down anything and everything.  If something is troubling you, when times are hard, when life is rough, you can write it all down, and give it to God and let Him take care of the rest.  Or when you want to thank God for the blessings in your life, when you have moments of joy, you can write those down too, and give it to God.  You can then let the closing of the box symbolize you giving the request to God, and then you don't have to worry about it anymore.  When your box is full, you can do anything you want to with the letters.  You can save them, and have them serve as a reminder of God's love and answered prayers; or you can throw them away to serve as a reminder that they have been given to God.  Just let the box serve as a visual reminder to you that God is always there and He is ready and willing to listen to you at any time, day or night, in good times and bad. 

This would be a fun project to complete in a bible study group, or with a Sunday school class.  The supplies are cheap (the boxes were only about $2), and to decorate you can use anything!  The items I used were things I had, from the Dollar Tree, or from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby.  So, these definitely can be completed without spending lots of money.  Cheap and easy, just my style.  :)