Some things in life really are free

So listen, I know I'm about 10 years behind on the whole burlap thing, but if you've been following my blog recently, you know that I'm redoing my craft room (and very slowly might I add) by incorporating a theme around burlap and bees and calling it "Bee Inspired." I wanted to do this particular theme mostly because I love bees, but also because the burlap was free. FREE. And I'm a sucker for free stuff.


While I was visiting my family in Virginia this past summer, my dad happened to mention that he was helping my brother decorate his new apartment because, as we all know, guys need some major help in the decorating department. When I first met my husband, he was living in a house with 3 other guys. In his room he had the following items: an 80's-style particleboard armoire lined with gold paint, an old thrifted TV stand, a tempered glass computer desk (which was the only thing he was allowed to keep by the way), an X-Men poster, and a bookcase that he had fashioned out of cinder blocks and wood planks that he was VERY proud of by the way. If my dad hadn't helped my brother, he too could have had an apartment lined with cinder blocks and X-Men posters. My husband still talks about that X-Men poster.

So anyway, Dad said he had gone to one of the local coffee shops and asked one of the guys for some of their old coffee bags. He had seen some of them hanging on the wall of the coffee shop and thought my brother could use them to decorate the walls of his apartment. And the coffee shop owner gladly forked over 6 of them. For free.

Why have I never thought to ask the local coffee shops for their coffee bags? It's not like they use them, they just toss them in the trash. We went back to that coffee shop and they gladly forked over several more coffee bags. Now, this was a locally-owned coffee shop so I don't know if the big dogs like Starbucks would be willing to part with their coffee bags, but it's worth a try right?

Because if you could get your hands on some free burlap coffee bags, you could make this:

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Or some of these:

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or decorate your kitchen with these:

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and I definitely want a few of these:

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and this would look amazing on my dining room table:

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Or you could decorate your craft room like me. So if you want some free burlap too, head to your local coffee shop and just ask.

Click on the pictures below to see all my Bee Inspired Craft Room projects so far!