Inexpensive Placemats, Napkins and Napkin Rings You Can Make

Since my summer decor theme is Americana, I needed place mats, napkins and napkin holders for our table.  By now, you know that I don't like, nor do I have, a lot of money to spend on things like this.    But, I still like things to look a certain way, so that means a little ingenuity.  I have had red place mats that I have used for several years, but of course this year I wanted to use blue and I wanted to put some kind of decoration on them.  On a recent trip to Dollar Tree, I found these round straw place mats just like my red ones that I paid a LOT more money for and they were only $1 each.  Now that is my kind of price.  They also had these tea towels in navy, red and white that I knew could be turned into napkins.  (I like to use fabric napkins when we have guests).  There were also bolts of #40 ribbon (#40 is 2.5 inches wide) in patriotic patterns that were 3 yards for a dollar which is a great price, so I picked up three bolts because there is always something that can be done with ribbon.

I purchased 6 placemats for our table, 4 tea towels that would make 8 napkins and my ribbon.  My investment was $13.00 total.  Not bad for table decorations.  I paid more than that for 4 red place mats, so count me happy.

When I got home, I had to decide how to decorate my place mats.  I wanted something simple, not too fussy.  We have white Pfaltzgraff Heritage dishes that we have had for 42 years that would be perfect with these colors and complement the Americana theme.  I had a stencil with stars on it that I used to make my flag banner, so I decided I would cluster some of the stars on one side of the placemat and that would be all that was needed.  All it took was some ivory acrylic craft paint that I already had, a stencil brush and a little time and the place mats were done.

The place mats went from this to this.  Done.  Now, to make the napkins.

All I did was take the tea towels and cut them in half.

I opened each towel up and simply turned the cut edge under 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch so that each napkin had a finished edge.  Since three sides were already hemmed, I only had to hem one side on each napkin -  fabulously easy and two napkins for $1.00.  Now, I needed napkin holders.  Hmmm. What was I going to use?

I had just finished a roll of paper towels to clean up some paint brushes and I stood there looking at that cardboard roll, when I thought why not?  I simply cut the cardboard along the glue marks where the first towel is attached to the cardboard.  The are evenly spaced and I got 7 pieces of cardboard.  I used a piece the same size from an empty toilet paper roll and I had 8 potential napkin rings.  Cost?  Zip, zero, nada.  Yes!

I simply cut a 12 inch piece of ribbon and used a hot glue gun to run a bead of glue on the inside of the tube near the top edge.

Now, place one end of the ribbon, right side out, on the glue and press it down flat.  I used a pencil so I didn't burn my finger.

Next, wrap the ribbon around the tube making sure it overlaps and completely covers the cardboard tube.  When  you get to the end, run another bead of glue on the ribbon and press the ribbon end onto the glue and trim.

Eight napkin rings for $1.00 is not a bad price if you have priced napkin rings.  They can be quite expensive and these will get us through the summer season.

Fold your napkins however you want and slide your napkin ring down over the napkin.  How easy is that?  You now have place mats, napkins and rings for six place settings.  Napkins will normally cost $2.99 each even in discount stores, so 50 cents per napkin is a great bargain.  If you don't sew, you can use stitch witchery or fabric glue to finish your napkins.  A little paint, ribbon and hot glue will finish the napkin rings and place mats.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy and the cost can't be beat!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:


“Life is the greatest bargain - we get it for nothing."    Yiddish Proverb

Creative Storage 101

After 41 years of marriage, 24 of them spent in our last home, we moved to a different town and downsized.....considerably.  We have a lot less cabinet and storage space in this house so I had to think creatively about ways to store items we use on a daily basis.  Things like bath towels, tea towels and dish cloths -  necessary items unless you don't bathe or wash dishes.  

Years ago I saw someone on a talk show demonstrate how to pack a suitcase in the most efficient way.  He rolled the t-shirts, underwear and socks that he placed in the suitcase and it saved considerable space enabling him to pack many more items.  We have been doing that for years with clothing items we put in drawers.  Why wouldn't that work for our bath towels and tea towels?  So, I gave it a try and it is one of the smartest things I have ever done.  

Our kitchen has much less cabinet space than our former kitchen and I lost our big double pantry.  I have had to do Creative Storage 101.  There are not many drawers for me to store my tea towels, dish cloths and potholders in.  What to do, what to do?  My first thought was to get a small kitchen island for extra storage.  Our kitchen is a galley type design and there was not a lot of room for anything big.  The search was on.   

I was talking with my best buddy Don from back home explaining my dilemma.  Well, he is a super shopper extraordinaire and he was on the hunt.  Low and behold, he called me in just a few hours and said he had seen something at Target that might work and it was brand new.    I thanked him profusely and I was on my way.   There are serendipitous moments in life and this was one of them.  The cart he had told me about was perfect and it was only $29.00!  We made our purchase and hurried home.  Actually, the cart is for a microwave, but I planned to use it as a small cooking prep station and for storage.  I already had a few baskets and I used one to store my tea towels and dish cloths in and all my cloth napkins and napkin rings are in another.  There are potholders hanging on the end of the rack on the hooks provided.  Trivets and a basket of paper napkins are on another shelf.  There is cutting board on the top that is movable.  Absolutely perfect for my needs.  

I roll my towels in the following fashion to maximize the space in the basket.  We do the same with our bath towels and store them in a big basket in the bathroom as you can see in the picture above on the right.  Here is how you roll the towels:

Lay your towel out flat like this.   Then fold the towel in half, short ends together.  

Next, fold the towel in half again.

Start to roll the towel from the short side, rolling tightly.

The towel will look like this when finished.

You will not believe how much room this saves.  So much better than storing them flat.  This is what the basket looks like up close.

I don't roll my cloth napkins because I press them (yes, I really do iron) and fold them in different ways when I place them on the table.   This is how the basket looks up close.  There are 24 napkins in this basket.

Now, everything is within easy reach when I am in the kitchen.  It is all tidy and organized.  Same for the bath towels.  We lost a cabinet and a huge linen closet in the move, but  now everything works.  

If storage is an issue for you, I hope you will give these methods a try.  It is easy, inexpensive and saves a lot of space.  Also, try rolling t-shirts, underwear and socks in your storage drawers.  Oh, and don't forget to try it when you pack your suitcase.  You will be amazed!  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself~Alan Alda