Another 31 Days | Thrift Store Loving | Day 1

So.

I didn't really get done last year.

Because, really, I just got too busy.

Made it halfway through and you can click here

or on the logo above to get to the really awesome projects.

The most popular post of that series

was the Restoration Hardware

Tabletop Fire Bowl Hack.

That project was featured all over and blew up Pinterest.

To this day, I still get most of my blog traffic from Pinterest

via that project.

Well, and my Puppy Love Pinterest board.

But I digress.

So this year, I floated between two topics.

One topic, I think will actually be easy for me to write about,

but I'm just not ready to put it out there just yet.

Guess I should put it on deck for next year.

Or for December...seeing as I definitely need to blog 

more often.

All said, 

this year,

I'm going to blog about

31 Days of Thrift Store Loving.

This will be a scheduled series

(meaning, it will actually get completed this year)

and it will include everything from tips and tricks 

to transformations

to trips to the actual thrift store

and then some other thrifty loving.

Ready to get your thrift loving on?

Or to live vicariously through the Queen of Thrift?

Let's go hunting for thrifty bargains.

Pinterest Challenge- Summer Edition with Young House Love

Guess who FINALLY put all of that pinning to good use?

Well, that would be me!

See, I have this HUGE plant I call Beefy, 
and a skinny almost dead plant I call Spindly

Both of these plants need serious water.

And I'm about to go on vacation.

So a tiny little, gorgeous water bulb like this one

(image via here)

Was not going to cut it.

I was looking around my pinterest boards

when I saw these awesome vases by Valri Peyser

I thought to myself,

Self, you are no artiste. 

However.

You do LOVE a Paint By Number

(or, in this case, a Pet by Number via here)

AND

You DO have a billion empty tasty adult beverage bottles 

up in this here joint.

So the label removing began.

Interesting note:

Really cheap wine has REALLY stuck on labels.

Just. Saying. 

Barefoot Moscato

And also, that really good stuff,

from Napa,

those labels come off in sheets.

Probably so that you can frame it on your trophy wall

to prove that you have so much disposable income

that you COULD have thrown away that bottle 

(with the label that you've framed as a show off)

but you didn't.

Oh and for those keeping score.

Really REALLY good wine

(don't hate, I'm married to a wine snob)

has an etched glass label.

Seriously.

Then I broke out the primer to,

you know, lay a foundation on my bottles.

I was slapping it on good,

conveyor belt like

Which meant it was only a matter of moments

before Ms. Klutzo struck.

I think I still have some shards in my elbow.

Never fear.

Remember that love of paint by number?

I sketched some simple doodles

because I just can't freehand paint like that.

I used some basic acrylics, some tempura 

(note to the wise, tempura is pretty, but not sturdy)

even some glass/ceramic/enamelish paint I got off of freecycle.

Tada!!!

I know. I still need a TINY

QUALITY brush so that I can do fine lines

with some more black

(always bet on black).

But for now...pretty snazzy.

I filled them up with water,

tipped them into the soil pots and

on the next day 

(seriously, these took me overnight w/drying time)

they all drank in the good life.

Ms. Spindly was super happy.

But not nearly as happy as Beefy, Big Girl and aPEARantly.

Why yes.

I name my plants.

This is what happens when you can't have children.

I'm linking all this pinteresting stuff up to the 

Summer Pinterest Challenge.

Over at Young House Love, they did a paint project too

And Michelle at Ten June did an awesome little nursery project

(not hating/bitter, it is THAT awesome of a project)

Katie at Bower Power made an awesome hideout teepee 

(with my love of Native Americana...I might need one for me)

And Kate at Centsational Girl built furniture

(yep, with power tools).

because she's an overachiever like that.

You should check out my award winning Pinterest boards 

not bragging, just saying, I'm winning on my boards.

especially in the kitchen

which

happens to be the room I spend the LEAST time in

and muck up the most with my DIY projects.

Anyhow.

Pinterest.

See the rest of the awesomeness I'm pinning and cooking up.

And you should check out the parties at each of those gal's blogs

to get your own tush in order and stop pinning and start doing!

What have you pinned and done lately?

Let's not talk about that horrible Texas Skinny Fries recipe

that's so popular right now...

Project 14: Mini Terra Grande (DIY for Busy Gals)

Been a while eh?

Summer time means more time to craft.

So let's get back on the horse with 

B3HD's 31 Days of DIY for Busy Gals.

(Hint, if you click on that link, you can get ALL of the projects)

31 minute project

You will need:
Clear glass vessel
a bunch of rocks
(Perhaps dug up from your yard)
a plant or two
soil

newspaper
a little doodad
(seaglass, seashell, miniature deer...you'll see)

You are going to create one
(or a bunch)
of these

In pictures:

For the readers:

1. Clean your clear (glass) vessel until it sparkles.

2. Gather your rocks.

3. Gather your plant material.

4. Pick out a doodad or two to decorate with.

5. Plop some soil into the bottom of your clear (glass) vessel.

6. Carefully place your plant in the midst of the soil pile.

7. Even more carefully, arrange rocks over the soil/roots.

8. and 9. Place your doodad (a mini deer) on your rocks.

Enjoy your mini bit of terra grande.

aka, terrarium.

Check out more 31 DIY projects for Busy Gals
by clicking the logo above.

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Linking up of course
Funky Junk Interiors

Fall Mantel - Pinehurst 2011

Before we know it,

the Christmas mantels will be up.

Lord knows I'm late to the fall party.

But it all just moves so fast and I wanted to enjoy a really simple mantel.

We did a simple Halloween decor too...just really needed to make it manageable. 

So here it goes.

The above photo is one of my faves.

It has a few of my faves including

a GORGEOUS metallic print photo that my better half took

a white pitcher (I have 5 of them)

three awesome thrift store finds

some awesomeness grown from my own yard

Let's dig deeper:

(l) Another white pitcher filled with dahlias and sunflowers that had seen better days.

the Turkey plaque was $5 from Goodwill. On sale 50% off for $2.50

the super sized marble was $2.99 at Value Village.

The rocks are Project #3 from DIY for Busy Gals (Rocky Collection)

(r) The two yarn wrapped wreaths are Project #13 from DIY for Busy Gals (Cozy Wreaths).

For some reason, I can't find 2/3rds of my 31 days posts.  

I'll spend some airport time figuring that out and linking them all back up again.

Also in this shot is an awesome rattan ball that has made it through 8 or so moves.

(l) These actually were one of my best finds.  I got four of them for $1 each from Goodwill.

They reminded me a little (shape and opaqueness) of Glassybabies

What they ACTUALLY are are light shade covers. There's a hole in the bottom.

The hole is small enough that I could sit a votive inside snuggly.

(r) Those are actually wax candles.  I don't light them.  I should.

The little round carved box was a $2 find at Goodwill.

The pitcher in the background is the same one from the first photo.  Different angle.

(l) Probably my absolute fave find of all.

I saw a bigger sister (rougher shape) at the Burien Salvation Army.

This one was $3 at Goodwill.

(r) Just one more view of the pitcher, candles, circle carved box and turkey. 

She's really not that big.

Another tiny glimpse of the awesome photo.

(l) Also found these sisters at separate thrift stores.
Paid a little more than I wanted for the second (smaller) one,
but still only $5 for the pair.  Just pains me to pay more for the smaller than the larger one.

(r) Later, after some earlier shots,

I acquired the African art piece for a song.

She added just the right amount of height to the left side of the set up.
Didn't snap a full out photo of her in place though.

Here's a day photo of all the details I described above.

Here's a later photo.

Note the ducks on the bottom right.

Here are a couple more, not so great outtakes.

Linking to:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

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Project 11: A Spool of Vintage Love (DIY for Busy Gals)

31 minute project

You'll need:

Vintage spools of thread
(check your thrift store in the back corner with the musty textiles and sewing patterns)
(or, if you are lucky like me, flea markets are a good spot to find these)

Frame
Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue Sticks

You are going to create this:

In pictures:

For the readers:
1. Study this imperfect finished project.
Promise yourself you will NOT stress about having to freeform a heart shape.


2. Grab your vintage spools of thread.
3.Grab your glue gun.
4. Freeform a heart shape, filling in with various sized spools of thread.

5. Get your glue gun warmed up.


6. Use a small drop of hot glue at the base of each spool.
I glued mine write to the front of a frame (the glass)
that I had filled with a piece of kraft cardstock.

7. Fill in curves and small holes with smaller spools.

8. Hang your work on the wall.

Ahhh.  How lovely.
I had four frames (fourth is not in the photo).
I glued cheap dollar pencil starfish to the outside of the other three frames.
This took me 10 minutes
but I'm a hot gun pro
(and can't feel the burn on my fingertips anymore)


Linking this up at Tuesdays Treasures over at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Tutorials & Tips Link Party at Home Stories from A to Z
Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Homemade Projects Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
What's It Tuesday at Ivy and Elephants
Think Pink Sundays at  Flamingo Toes
Sundae Scoop Link Party at I Heart Naptime
Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things
Do it Ya Self Monday at Three Mango Seeds
Linking up to Funky Junk's Themed Vintage Link Party
And also linking up to the Talent Scouting Party at Whisper Wood Cottage

Check out what's to come with 31 DIY projects for Busy Gals by clicking the log above.

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Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

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Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

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Project 10: Wine Label Snobbishness (DIY for Busy Gals)

3 hour project
(for mass production and labeling)

You'll need:

Something to label (ie, Wine bottles)
Fimo Clay brick
Metal twist lid (ie, from a bottle of sparkling fizzy water)
Metal awl (or something pointy and sharp)
Rolling Pin
Baking Dish (non-stick or glass)
Pigment based ink (ie, Color Box pigment ink)
Twine
Clear Mount Number Stamps
Clear Stamping Block

You are going to create these:

In pictures:

For the readers:
1. Gather your supplies (see above).
2. Get to rolling. I made half a million tags so I needed half a million balls.
Or 46.

3.Flatten those balls.
A rolling pin is helpful for mass production.
Mine are actually pretty thin - very thin.

4. Use your metal twist top to cut out the circles for your tags.
I started with a plastic cap.
My cuts were not crisp enough even when I twisted it.
The metal top had thin enough edges to make a crisp cut.
See #5

5.Metal lid = clean cut.

6. Using your clear stamps mounted on your clear block and black ink,
stamp to it.

You can skip the ink (harder to read, but gives a nice imprinted effect.
You can use rubber stamps (harder to line up for perfectionists. just. saying)

7. Use your metal awl (or other sharp tool)
to drill a small hole in the tags just before you stick them in the oven.

8. After baked, let them cool.

9. Thread twine (waxed floss works even better) through the holes.

Take the next 2.5 hours to label your wine.
Tie a tag on,

take some notes
type up a list of what you've got.

Or write it on a chalkboard wall (hint hint, project alert).
On my wine list, I note the following for each wine:

Name of wine
Year
Vineyard
Type of Wine
When we added it to our collection
Where we got it from
How much we paid for it

The last is particularly helpful so that I don't come home
and crack open a special bottle just wanting a quick sip.

Check out THIS POST if you want to see how I labeled wine
that is not suitable for human consumption.
Unless you're really desperate.

Here are more photos of this project:

Linking up to Addicted to Decorating's Addicts (not so) Anonymous Link Party

 

Check out what's to come with 31 DIY projects for Busy Gals by clicking the log above.

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Project 9: Eyeball Wall Hanging (DIY for Busy Gals)

This is a vintage post from B3Home Designs Part 1.
It was posted on Augst 30, 2010

31 minute project
 

You'll need:
Kraft Paper
Small head nails

A window with blinds

Eyeballs (preferably, your own)

 

You are going to eyeball how to hang your art

like I did with these bird plates:

Okay.
So I'm not really going to hang eyeballs

on the wall.

Not anytime soon at least.

BUT.

I do have top down honeycombs

on most of my windows.

{edited to delete “what my dining room looks like now” commentary}

By now, we all know

that I'm a pretty lazy DIYer

Okay.

Not "lazy"
Just crunched for time

and always looking for a shortcut

So here's my latest shortcut

for hanging similar items evenly

on either side of a window.

Start with your blinds pulled all the way up

(note: they don't have to be top downs,

i used the bottom edge to do my eyeballing)

I pulled my blinds down about 6 inches

and used the bottom edge of the blinds

to be the top edge of the paper cut out

of my piece that I was hanging

Tacked the paper to the wall
on each side of the window

like this:

I pulled the blinds down some more

remember, I just eyeballed this

so no idea how many inches.

I was hanging three on each side,

so I just pulled the blinds down

about halfway down the window

After the halfway pull

I pulled them down again

about 6 - 8 inches

again, eyeball it

Voila.

If instead of just using flat tacks

you actually use smallhead nails you will use

to hang your art,

you can actually pull your paper placeholders

right off the wall

and the nails will pull right through the paper

And if you just throw your art down on a bit

of butcher block paper

and trace the outter edge

you'll have paper placeholders for your art

that you can tape up

before you knock a billion holes into your wall

Just saying.

Happy crafting

and don't forget

to check out this post on

how to make what I hung up

Check out what's to come with 31 DIY projects for Busy Gals by clicking the log above.

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