Decorating with easy crafting

My daughter's school has one fundraiser per year. This fundraiser is huge! It's a night time dinner and auction. They auction large items, gift sets, small items, desserts, etc. We are given tickets to sell for this dinner and of course, we buy some of the tickets for ourselves along with selling some. At this fundraiser, we are required to decorate our own tables. It keeps the cost down for them and we have fun doing it. They judge for the best table as well. Last year, we really couldn't come up with many ideas on what to do and we just worked with what we had for the most part. This year, I wanted something simple but easy and also something that didn't cost a lot and that we could reuse if we like. Since burlap is the new thing and I just love the look of it, I had the idea of burlap and a pretty light blue color. I later changed my mind to a turquoise color and I think it turned out great!

Here's what we made:

• Burlap place mats (bought a roll and cut them out). We also used lace, turquoise burlap, buttons and pearls to embellish the place mats. 
• Mason jars with burlap trim...large ones trimmed with regular burlap and lace and filled with flowers and small mason jars wrapped with turquoise burlap. Those will have tea lights floating in water so that the lights will glow through the burlap.
• Also having seat covers made from table cloths found at a resale shop. We were lucky enough to find 3 that were exactly the same!!! These will also have the burlap tied into it. 

For the place mats, mason jars and trim for seat covers, we only spent around $20. I used coupons at Hobby Lobby for the items that weren't already on sale for 50% off and I already had the lace in my fabric stash and buttons in my button jar! Yes, I have a jar just for buttons. 

Savings advice......for any project you have whether it be for a function or just decorating your home, check resale/thrift stores first!! You can find some great little treasures! If you know early enough, you can also look at yard sales. 

FYI Hobby Lobby has an online coupon most of the time for 40% off of any item. You can show them this in the store without having to print it. If you prefer, it's also offered in the Sunday paper (Houston Chronicle) on the back side of the 'funnies' at the bottom of the page.