Are you up to your ears in leaves? If your yard is home to numerous trees, you might find yourself overwhelmed with leaves this fall season. So what exactly can you do with all of those leaves, other than rake them? Well the good news is they do have a few fun uses! Take a peek at these 5 creative ways to use fallen leaves, in ways that are both fun and frugal!
1. Craft a scarecrow.
Fallen leaves are perfect for stuffing and filling scarecrows. Save leaves so when you are ready to craft your scarecrow, you have plenty to create the body, legs, arms, and of course, head. Leaves make perfect stuffing material and fill up the scarecrow nicely.
2. Make giant yard pumpkins.
Buy orange yard waste bags found at your local home improvement store or Amazon. Some are plain orange while others might have the pumpkin faces already on them. No worries if you can’t find any with faces, you can always add your own with a black marker. Simply fill the bags up with leaves, then tie the top for yard pumpkins that make the perfect outdoor fall décor.
3. Craft spooky ghosts.
Take white trash bags and fill the bottom with a handful of leaves. Twist the bag and tie it to create a round head shape. You can use a black marker to draw the face of a ghost directly onto the bag, and then add string for hanging. Place the ghost in a tree or porch for a spooky effect.
4. Make spooky yard spiders.
Take a black trash bag and fill it with fallen leaves. You can then use white paper to craft eyes and attach them with craft glue. Painted PVC piping can make legs as well as long cardboard tubes or even pool noodles. How spooky would these be to see in your yard around Halloween!
5. Create a leaf fort.
Find a large cardboard box that can be used as the fort’s main foundation. Cut a square to enter. Spray the box with spray adhesive and apply the leaves to the outside of the box. One or two layers is sufficient. When you are done you should not be able to see the box and it will look like the entire piece is made from leaves.
Did you ever think that leaves could provide so much fun? Start raking up those fall leaves and then give these fun ideas a try and see all the ways you can put those fallen leaves to use. You are sure to enjoy lots of family fun with very little cost to you.
Fruit flies can be so annoying, can't they? It seems they are impossible to avoid and eliminate. If you find your home filled with pesky fruit flies, I have a tried and true technique to get rid of them. It's so simple and requires only two easy to find ingredients. Here's how to catch fruit flies at home:
Next, fill a bowl with apple cider vinegar and add a few drops of dish soap.
Bam! That's all you need to catch fruit flies! Soon you'll be seeing those pesky things floating in your concoction.
The fruit flies are attracted to the sweetness of the apple cider vinegar. The soap reduces the surface tension of the liquid, causing the fruit flies to sink and drown when they land on it.
By placing a jar or two in areas where you notice a lot of flies, you'll soon be seeing a lot less fruit flies in your home. Whew!
Check the traps regularly and empty them when they start to accumulate fruit flies. Rinse out the traps and replace the apple cider vinegar and dish soap as needed.
Here's how you can prevent fruit flies:
Wash all produce when you get home from the store.
Refrigerate promptly the produce that belongs in the fridge.
Freeze or toss overripe produce.
Clean up any spills promptly.
Keep your kitchen sink and drain clean.
Regularly empty and clean your garbage cans.
With these simple tips, not only will you know how to catch fruit flies, you'll know how to prevent them from showing up in the first place.
How have you dealt with fruit flies? Tell us in the comments below!
Get your outdoor fun underway with these easy homemade fire starters using items you have on hand! Perfect for the backyard bonfire or the weekend campfire!
Don't throw out that dryer lint quite yet! These homemade fire starters will put that lint to use and two more items you most likely have on hand already! Really, all you need is some lint, toilet paper rolls and wax paper. They're ridiculously easy AND are a great way to “recycle” materials you already have.
Here's how to make Homemade Fire Starters:
MATERIALS
Dryer lint
Toilet paper/paper towel rolls
Wax paper
Scissors
DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the lint from your dryer lint trap 2. Cut your paper towel rolls into thirds or leave toilet paper rolls whole 3. Stuff your paper rolls with the dryer lint, but don't pack it in too tight 4. Cut a 6" piece of wax paper 5. Place your paper roll in the center, wrap the long sides over each other and twist the ends 6. Trim the ends of your wax paper if you'd like
TO USE: place one of your fire starters under a few pieces of kindling and light the end of your wax paper
One aspect of the frugal lifestyle is using things you already have on hand, even if they don’t work perfectly for the task. Rather than running to the store to buy something (and most likely spending a bundle), you could try improvising by using something you already own. It’s amazing how much stuff we already have to work with, once we’re able to train ourselves to stop running to the store for every thing we think we “need”.
In today’s post I hope to help spark creativity and give you new ideas for looking at the things you already own in a new way. With the ultimate goal, of course, making you rethink your normal spending habits.
Is there something you need right now, that you were planning to buy, that you could possibly create a solution for using something you already have?
I rounded up 25 amazing and creative new uses for old things. I am very inspired by these upcycling ideas, and I hope that you will be too!
I have got a super simple St. Patrick's Day treat for you today! It's cute and tasty! Make someone's day with this St. Patrick's Day Skittle rainbow treat bag. The recipient is sure to enjoy the marshmallows, the skittles and the chocolates!
If St. Patrick's day coincides with a birthday, I think these would make great party favors for older kids. Heck, I think I'll keep one for myself 😉
Valentine's Day is fast approaching! That means it's time to show some love and appreciation to our valentines. Sweet treats are a great way to show some appreciation, but I happen to think homemade treats are extra special!
Today I want to show you how fun and easy these Valentine gum drops are to make. Get the kids involved with cutting out the shapes too. This set of heart shaped cookie cutters has a variety of sizes to choose from, but any small shaped cookie cutter will work!
