No Sew Table Runner

We've had some family medical issues lately. Ryan left last Tuesday, for his mother's liver transplant and was originally supposed to be home Sunday or Monday {July 3 or 4}. He's decided to stay longer, because she's still in ICU. I'll keep you posted on progress.

The good news is that we FINALLY have garage doors! My dad decided to surprise Ryan, and help us out, by building and installing a custom garage door to fit our opening! It's on a track system and each of the two doors slides open on the track. I'm just waiting for the treated wood to dry out, and then we'll paint them. You can see pictures then! This means the "terrific" graffiti left from previous owners is no longer visible from the street {and either are our prized possessions}! Wahoo! Now, no one will think we have a dear place in our hearts for spray painted hands flipping the bird! THIS excites me!

Now, onto the task at hand! Saturday, we took a little drive to Jo-Ann Fabrics. While there, I found some awesome fabric made for making  "green shopping bags"! It feels just like the bags you see for sale at almost every major store, and the price is CHEAP! It's only $2.99/yard!

Super CUTE! Huh?! {They have a few different prints to choose from.}Anyway, I bought one yard with no real plan in mind. Once home, I started playing with it and noticed that the material didn't fray! This got the juices flowing, and I decided to make a runner for our buffet table in the dining room!

First, I measured the table and decided how long and wide I wanted it. Then, I cut it to size.

Then, I measured about an inch from each end and pinned coordinating jute ribbon in place!

I left a little slack on each end {to be trimmed off later}.

Then, I plugged in my hot glue gun and carefully glued the ribbon to the runner. After, I trimmed the slack off, and this is what I was left with! SUPER easy and took less than an hour!

Not bad, for a few bucks! I also used some of the remaining ribbon to attach a grapevine wreath to the mirror. The wreath was $3.99 from Jo-Ann Fabrics, and the ribbon was also purchased there {for about $3.50/spool}. I also had a 10% off coupon on your total purchase, so this little update ended up costing around $9.50 {before tax}!

I'm still playing around with the buffet tabletop display, but I do love my bowl of fake lemons. The bowl is one we scored at an antique mall for our wedding {less than $5}, and the lemons are a new find from T.J. Maxx {around $5 for 20}! {Side Note: For our wedding, we collected various pedistol bowls for the head table and different vintage vases for each guest table for our floral arrangements. It was such an elegant and personal touch to the decor.}

I decided to amp up the lemons even more and make an old fashioned paper fan from a $1 Store chapter book I've already read. I think it really adds to the visual interest of the bowl and is an element of surprise...What do you think? If I get bored with it, no loss in cost! Hey! I think that may be my new mantra. Yep...maybe it will stick! No loss in cost! Pass it on, folks!