Can Money Buy Happiness?

Uhh, yeah! It totally can. For me at least. Okay, totally kidding. But in this really small realm it totally did. My happiness came at the bargain price of $1.97. If you shop there regularly, you know this is a Wal-Mart price!

For Mother's Day I received a gift card to Tai Pain  Pan. (hee hee hee... I have a love/hate relationship with that store!)  I bought a few things with it, including a wreath. This wreath is awesome. It is this beached out wood woven together in a pattern, and it is solid, so it will hold up fora long while. I have my coatcloset by my front door that has been in need of something desperately for a while now -and when I saw said wreath, I knew this piece was it!

Enter new dilemma....

I have a kagillion rolls of ribbon and ribbon scraps, but nothing really said "wow" to me. And if you are owner of lots of ribbon, you know you are pretty well stocked for any craft at a moments notice. And if you don't have what you need, it is frustrating.

And then there was my latest trip to Wal-Mart...

Walmart has, at most, a basic selection of ribbon and crafting supplies.So I rarely depend on finding what I am looking for there. But every once and while for kicks and giggles, I will see what they have. Apparently my Walmart is undergoing a major over haul in this department because I must say I was impressed. Their ribbon selection has gone from one quarter of a section of shelving to about one third of a section, AND their flowers are now in those little glass vases instead of all shoved into a wall :) I know, right?

I found a red a cream two and a half inch ribbon in a Damask pattern. It also comes in black and white. I was sooo excited because it had the wow factor.
See???....

Okay, so maybe you aren't that impressed, but since red is my accent color, it is really nice to find something that matched and wasn't a solid red either.

And, for $1.97 I was able to buy enough ribbon to double up so the back of the ribbon was the same as the front when it hangs on the hook, like so:

AND... I had leftovers to wrap my candles. (You know, the ones your kids pick up, and they also have a few teeth marks too?) And since red is also an accent color for my front room, it matches perfectly as well. 

Have you ever used ribbon to decorate with before and it ends up getting all frayed and gross? Well, here is a little trick.

I use a lighter (fire) on the edge of the ribbon to micro melt the edge. Then it doesn't fray. Be careful though, it can shape the edge irregularly.

Then I wrapped it around the candle and put a pin there. I push the pin into the wax so that nobody gets pricked. Besides, on my candles it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

TA DAHHH!!! I love it. I think it adds a lot!

So, what can a $1.97 do for you?