Poor Badgers first product review and first lesson on being a DIYer!

Yea! Excited to do this and I want to just jump right in. One of the main principles of Poor Badger was to be crafty on a dime. God Bless Martha Stewart, but we all can not afford her craft supplies. So I am excited to do this product review to let others know some of the crafting tricks of the trade.

I'm going to take a moment and say very loudly; 'God bless spray paint!' If you haven't visited the spray paint isle, you have no idea how things have changed. Spray paint is not just for men, it comes in WAY MORE colors than it did 10 years ago, and the quality has changed by leaps and bounds. 

Spray paint has become the new DIYers trick of choice. Wood, plastic, wicker, glass, and almost any other surface type can be spray painted. There are also spray paints that replicate mercury glass, various metals, and gravely textures. 

We found this wonky wicker stand at a yard sale for $1!!! I used the Krylon from our local Wal-Mart (around $4). Make sure you clean any surface before you spray paint it, and also do the spraying outside. We don't need you sniffing the funny fumes.

After just two cans, our one dollar find became the cutest stand for Gumball the underwater hamsters cage. Visit your local Goodwill or yard sale and buy those pieces of furniture that looks neat and hit it with some color. Best DIY tip you'll find!

The next review is for the Martha Stewart acrylic paint line. You can find them at Micheal's craft store. They cost around $3 per bottle and you can ALWAYS find coupons for the store or Martha products online or in her magazine. 

I found these at the same store for a buck and wanted to use them as my tester. I thought copper would look nice.

In addition to the crosses, we found this picture of Jesus at a yard sale for $1. The frame was in poor shape and had stickers all over it. I knew with some DIY TLC, it would turn out nice!

So over all I give the Martha paint a good paws up. It did require a few coats, but the bottle was still pretty full after I painted all three crosses and the frame. Her color selection is to die for and the price isn't that bad. (But in all honesty I had coupons, I would probably not purchase any without a coupon)

The Krylon also gets a good paw up because of the low price point, HUGE selection, and the ease of use. 

Not too shabby! Besides the product review I really wanted this to be a helpful craft lesson. Goodwill, flea markets, and yard sales are the BEST places to find things for your home. Now you know how to spiff it up, infuse it with YOUR style, and help the piece fit into your home with either spray paint or acrylic paint. 

Thanks for reading!

Crepe Paper Ruffles

Got a super easy project for you. It cost only two bucks and is something you can do in less than an hour. This is a craft that has been HUGE this year in the craft world, and I thought I'd take a swing at it and use it for toddler and puppy friendly Christmas tree garland. 

You'll need two or three rolls of crepe paper in two different colors. I'm using this nice cherry red and apple green I found for a buck a piece at the yellow dollar store (when you live in a sleepy town like ours you'll have a red dollar store and a yellow dollar store). 

For thread choice you'll need any all purpose thread in either a contrasting color or the same color as crepe paper. You'll also need to set your tension setting on your machine to the highest setting possible.

You'll also need to turn your stitch length setting to the highest setting. On some machines and brands of crape paper this will be enough to create the ruffle, but on this one I had to also hold the thread at the top of the machine tight to create the ruffle. The material is cheap enough you can play around. 

Now you just lay the paper on top of each other and sew as normal. Like I said above, you MIGHT have to hold the tread at the top with one hand making it pull tight to ruffle. 

Keep sewing! My crepe paper was 81 feet long, so it took a while. But oh what fun it is to sew!

When you are done you'll have the cutest crepe paper ruffle perfect for birthdays, baby showers, prom, or any other celebration. 

Our house has two toddlers, a baby, and a new puppy. So I thought this would be a fun and safe garland for those who can not keep curious hands off new things.

We are not quite done decorating the tree yet, but I think it is coming along. Apple green, cherry red, and turquoise are my favorite Christmas color schemes. 

This would be the perfect time to introduce the craft world to the newest Scaff, Daisy. She is a Weimaraner and is already a full member of the Scaff clan. 

All three Scaff kids thinks she is the greatest thing since sliced bread. She was an anniversary gift for my husband a few weeks ago (our seventh year of marriage!), but the kids have claimed her as their own. God has blessed me with the perfect family; a great husband I've known since middle school, two beautiful and crafty daughters, one precious son who thinks his mom hung the moon, and now the perfect family dog.

God is good and I hope many blessings upon you this Holiday season as you celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Thanks for reading!

Wreathing Nuts!

Okey dokey smokey, I know that it can be quite offensive to Tom turkey when we still his gravy and thunder, but women who take Christmas decorating seriously need all the time they can get. So giving my condolences to the bird, but Poor Badger is kicking off the most coveted time of the year for craters with a wreath.

First lets start this off with a MAJOR tip. Instead of spending $10 or more on foam wreaths at your local craft haunts, go to Lowe's and in the plumbing section find foam pipe insulators. I got a 9 foot tube for only 97 CENTS! I cut it in half and now I have two wreaths for pennies compared to the foam wreaths. When you cut them in half just tape the ends together, duct tape would work better, but a Poor Badger uses what she has. Also the 1/2 inch wide tubes seem to bend better then the 1 inch wide tubes.

While grocery shopping I found these cute mini cupcake wrappers for $1.98 for 100. To make this wreath you can use the mini, the full size, and any color or style you want. This wreath is so easy to suite the different Christmas themes out there. 

Take your cupcake liner and using a glue gun put a dot on the bottom and start smushing these suckers on your wreath. My cupcake liners were white on the inside so I flipped them all inside out, but you decide what looks good for your wreath. Another tip; I used my thimble when smushing the liner onto the wreath after putting the hot glue on. Hot glue burns, you gals need watch those fingers. 

Keep adding until you get the wreath you want, then when you are done you can add a fun bow or maybe an ornament to complete the look. Easy, right?!?!

1 - 1/2 inch copper tube insulator - 97 cents

1 - Pack of 100 mini cupcake liners - $1.98

Now that is how a Poor Badger does Christmas. 

Thanks for reading! 

Our love letter to Fall

No crafts this time, I promise I have one more Halloween blog up my sleeve. This is just our love letter to Fall.

Fall is that tricky time of year when the heat of Summer is a distant memory and the air is crisp with warning of cool days to come.

As the beautiful leaves turns shades of yellow, red, and brown we are reminded God still has a few beautiful surprises op his sleeves.

Fall lets families enjoy the warmth of a warm hoody and the snuggle of a dear loved one.

Fall can be a time of magic, all kids know that pumpkins are the gourd of choice for all wicked witches.

Our family started in the fall. 8 years ago in November as the leaves died our family began it's beautiful life. Then 4 years ago in the fall God sent us our first angel.

Last fall God sent us our last angel. The fall was when our forever family began.

Even though this man was sent to us from heaven during the winter, God kissed his head with hair as red as beautiful fall leaves.

As the year winds down and we get lost in a maze of triumph and tragedy that occurred throughout the year,

the fall will fill us with that ever lasting hope that the new year will have more triumph and less tragedy. Like a loved one at the end of a maze calling you home.

The fall is Gods promise of feasts with family, the praising of our saviors birth, and other magic is just around the corner.

The fall is when we put on our political hats and elect leaders. Some will fight, others will come together evoking compassion and compromise. Like a brother and sister who can fuss and argue, but will always remain the best play mates you could find.

In a society that spins faster and faster...

always rushing without looking at the blessings we have in our homes and outside our doors...

the fall gives us that chance to slow down, hold on, and live and love.

Really, slow down. See what blessings you might miss.

We love the fall, we love that magic and excitement in the air.

We love our gypsy family. We are Scaffs. We are a family who are thick as thieves and unapologetic about our weirdness or awkwardness.

So this is our love letter to our favorite time of year. We love the celebrations, the weather, and the beauty of Gods creations.

As we left our fun day at the greenhouse with two kids pleading, crying, and pitching level 12 hissy fits, this goat left me a lovely thought.  Even the best fall day can still have an yucky butt at the end.  ;)

Welcome to the bat cave!

Hey there! My goal on helping you get festive this Halloween without sending you to the poor house continues.

This week I took a single BUCK and created something fun for your bat cave.

Our local Dollar Store had these fun bats, 15 for $1!

I think the Dollar Tree also had these.

So the easy tip is to simply fold these suckers (blood suckers!) wings and tape them in a interesting design. This would give you a chance to use those bone folders Martha pushes on us almost every episode. (I just used my Poor Badger paws)

Easy peazy, lemon squeezy. Right?!?!

So since this was a short, sweet, simple, and CHEAP blog I thought I'd show off the most beautiful things I've created. (Well, not just me. Mr. Badger helped)

Miss Olivia, the oldest and most creative of the baby badgers. Freshly turned 4 and a very important young lady.

My red headed stranger, Cody. He may be only 2 but this boy is the toughest and wildest of the baby badgers. He loves his mama and loves to rough house.

Oh Abigail. Oh our Abigail. She is only 10 months old but she is a firecracker! She has a face that just MELTS this mom and a wild and wooly spirit that I pray the world never tames. 

Happy Halloween from the creative team of Poor Badger:

Olivia, Cody, Abigail, Jayson, and Barb.

DIY: Yard Reaper

Time for another Poor Badger Halloween tutorial.

I have always gave credit to Ms. Martha Stewart for being the bottom line Queen of Halloween, but this year I am aiming hard for at least the Duchess of Doom title. 

Like all of my projects this one was very easy and VERY CHEAP.

Our Out-Let store had this costume for $4.95, so it was a SCORE!

I found a wonky ball from my tots room that made a perfect head, a few swipes of some cheap Folk-Art acrylic paint in red and this monster had some snazzy peepers. 

Since the costume was a kids costume, our yard reaper was only 4 or 5 feet tall. If you wanted taller, you could get an adults costume or sew yourself a black robe. 

We used an tomato stick and stuck it into the ground a few inches for stability. Then a few feet of chicken wire (which can be bought at a feed store or Lowes) framed the little fellers body so he could be dressed. 

Some wire ties helped hold the whole shabang together. God bless wire ties!

We dressed our newest yard member and had him point the way to our spooky plots. 

More spooky crafts to come!

I'm haunting these parties: