This is why I seem to never get anything other than crafting done. Lol
I made this Olaf out of wood slices last year and still had him. One of my favorite enablers, sent me this inspiration Olaf this morning.
I knew I could adapt him to hold up his head with his little arms after he lost it, so I did. Lol
My Olaf now belongs to her. 🤪
I found another way to use some of the roll of jute rope I thrifted. I created a spiral tree with it. 🙂
I used a long stem piece of green floral wire and using craft glue to secure, twisted the jute around the wire.
I then shaped it into a spiral form. The center of the spiral I thumbtacked into this chunk of birch tree I had. I used craft glue to glue the rest of the bottom edge to the base. I added sprigs of faux cedar and daubed on white paint to represent snow. I also daubed a bit of paint on the jute.
I added little balls of a muted green, red and cream color from a garland I had. They had wire attached so I just wired them on.
I cut a star from a piece of aluminum foil I spray painted copper and daubed white paint on it. I used a small piece of Velcro to attach the star to the top.
I sat the tree on a little round base then sprinkled some of the fallen copper dried hydreanga blooms I had left from another project around the base for the photo.
I’m having so much fun finding ways to use my big roll of jute rope I thrifted. 🙂
I love turning birds and other animals into stone statues. I sometimes feel like the Queen of Narnia when I do, 😂but they are just too cool!
Like this pair of ceramic owls… I forgot a before photo, but they were your average brown owls. They now have been immortalized in faux concrete. 🙂
I mixed a little baking soda with a dark gray chalk paint and gave them two coats. I dried them in between with a hair dryer. I’m impatient. Then, I gave them a coat of white wax (I love Briwax liming wax), rubbing it on with a paper towel and then rubbing it off. The detail on these owls really shows through.
I just had to take them outside for a photo op in front of the changing leaves and under my lampshade/cloche I recently thrifted but with a brisk 41° fall morning, it didn’t take me long. It was cold out there!
Another morning project. I paid more than I usually do for a thrifted item, but this piece was in perfect condition.
This book stand is perfect for propping your phone, your iPad, the book you are reading, or an old fashioned cookbook.
I added the Dollar Tree stencil, using a light gray chalk paint. One trick for getting crisp lines with no bleeding is to use a clear sealer first. Let that dry and then paint over the stencil with your color of choice. The front is sealed with Wise Owl Salve.
Early this morning, since I hadn’t put away the beads from the beaded pumpkin I made the other day, 🙄 I decided to make another smaller one.
This one is only about 4” tall so I didn’t double the paper wrapped wire. I also only used 7 strands instead of 8.
Taking photos of it, I decided I loved it so much in the letter tray hanger with the acorn I made the other day, I was going to have to keep them. It is hard to tell in the picture, but it looks so neat on my rust color accent wall at the bottom of the stairs. The early morning light is coming in through the window panel on my front door.
SOLD! 😂😂
Played with the super pretty Dollar Tree napkins today. I made a riser from a pumpkin cut out. For this I painted the board white with slight distressing on the edges. It creates a completely different look than when applying it to raw wood. The other items were on the raw wood, with some distressing done using antique wax.
Love the colors. And they have a dish towel to match! Not to mention glasses, paper plates, and a dish drying pad.
What Grandparents are for….
Today we will drive to St. Genevieve, MO (about 2 hours one way) to give Grandson Ben’s mom some sample bottles of paint. She’s at the bank there today so we don’t have to drive all the way to their house. Because, of course, he needs it by tomorrow. Lol
5th grade Middle School and Ben has an Entrepreneur class. 😳
He was to create a business and will sell items in the school store. Of course he chose to sell paint. 😂 He said his teacher approved of it. We will see. 😬 At least we seal the bottles so hopefully they won’t open them at school. 🙏
He plans to donate 1/2 of his profit to charity and keep the rest. This boy is smart. He knew we would give him the paint so he will have more profit. 😂 The other part of his business is that he will have a donation box where people will drop off broken items and he will try to fix them and sell them. He has learned a lot from his PopPop. Lol
But no problem. We will thrift shop on the way there and back.
Of course, I made him a display for his paint. I had a half of an old globe. It fit perfectly into a Dollar Tree hanging basket. I added a bunch of shredded paper my sister-in-law gave me. Instant display.
Ben also knows once he is in middle school we will pay $5 for any As each grandchild gets per semester. He needed a clarification on that the other day as he got all As this first quarter. He was hoping it was every quarter. Lol He’s a planner. He says he needs a new laptop so…..
I had a bit of a brainstorm this morning. I was inspired by a YouTube video where someone decoupaged napkins on animal cut outs.
I had these cool pig and rooster wood cut outs. They stand alone. The rooster is 4 3/4“ tall x 4 1/2” w. The pig is 4” tall x 5 3/4” w.
I also had a sheet of Dollar Tree rub on transfers with farmhouse images.
So….. I gave them a coat of white paint so the transfers would stand out and then applied the transfers as they were on the sheet and filled in where needed. They are protected with Mod Podge matte spray. Sorry, forgot to get a pic of spraying them.
I love how they turned out!
I have been a bit busy the last few days creating fall decor. Some days are just like that. You can’t stop. We’ve had some beautiful fall days in Missouri this week so I took advantage of the weather. It felt good to be outside working on my projects.
First up…. I was going through my fall decor boxes and ran across a box with a bunch of wood cut outs I hadn’t seen since I stored them. It was a jackpot of pumpkins, ghost, cats, and a few other goodies. One pumpkin had a very unique wood grain on the front and back. I just saw someone posted one very similar. It looked like an ostrich! I could see an ostrich in this one, too! Not only that, I saw an owl on the back!
I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but finally settled on using Howard’s Restore-a-Finish to bring out the grain and then I sealed it with Wise Owl salve. I named the Ostrich in a Pumpkin Woodette and the owl Woodsy. Soooo cute!
Then my friend, Midge, had an idea: flowers, a tiara, or crown for Woodette. I happened to have some small sunflowers and with just a dab of glue, they will come right off. I can change them out for each season! I think I might need to make Woodette a princess for Halloween and find a little crown for her.
In the same box as my Ostrich in a Pumpkin, I ran across this little shelf sitter or hanger. I passed over it at first, thinking….Wow! The 80s!
But then, I got this fall dish drying mat out of the Dollar Tree bag I just purchased. I realized some of the colors went so well with it and the other fall things I have in the corner of my kitchen. So..now, it is out of the box and in the corner of my kitchen counter. 🙂
Oh no! Another gnome …. after I said no gnomes this year! But the Gnome and Backyard lady had this idea I couldn’t resist. She made a quick and easy gnome out of the small plastic ghosts from Dollar Tree. I spray painted one for the hat with a copper color because that’s what I had on hand and added tiny Dollar Tree sunflowers for embellishment. The other I left white and glued it upside down to the hat. I gassed a wooden bead for his nose. I bought two big ghosts, too, to make a larger gnome.
I spray painted a Dollar Tree wire pumpkin form white with a green stem and attached my cute little gnome to it with jute twine and now have a cute fall door hanger for my front door. He hangs from a magnetic hook on my stork door by the stem
Here’s Gnome and Backyard’s tutorial!
This awesome creator also had a tutorial for making a pumpkin out of a Dollar Tree soap saver. What? Check it out! https://fb.watch/fOIcejAF2x/
Of course I had to make one, too. This one I left gray and put it inside a Dollar Tree shadow box. It looks so cute with my gray pumpkins I made (the striped fabric came from DT), but I bought a few more to paint! 🙂
I still hadn’t gotten to my other pumpkin cut outs, so onto more decor!
I made this arrangement in three different sizes and used a Dollar Tree napkin decoupage technique. I was going to add embellishments but I love the rustic vintage look of them just as they are. They stand up on their own and are perfect for shelf sitters or tiered trays.
I also decoupaged a little 3 1/4” square natural wood trinket box. I made the little leaf ladder tall last year. It goes perfectly with this arrangement.
This next project is one of the larger pumpkin cut outs and will stand alone. I glued one of the Dollar Tree faux tin panels to it.
For this finish I did a kind of an aged terra-cotta color I’ve been seeing others do. I painted it with a color I mixed and added just a bit of baking soda to it. Then I sprinkled more baking soda on it while still tacky. After the paint dried I blended the baking soda on with a bit more paint then sealed with a matte sealer. I used a bit of the napkin I was using earlier on the stem.
So pretty! I really enjoy creating a more neutral look for fall decor.
And finally, I ended my marathon crafting this morning. Maybe. Lol I started this project last night and finished today. I still had more pumpkin cut outs in 3 different sizes so painted the face of each with the terra-cotta color I mixed. I used a bit of left over napkin for the stems.
I distressed them a bit with sandpaper and then used the new Dollar Tree brown parchment paper rub on transfers on them. I apologize in advance for finding more of these transfers in different designs. They are so hard to find, but I found these in the same store I found the others in Ballwin, MO on Manchester Road. But, oh how I love working with them and hope they make more. I’ve not seen them online yet, either.
That’s not all! I’m now working on a natural wood napkin decoupage riser and it should be finished soon! 🤷🏼♀️
Update: The last of this grouping is complete. 🙂
I had this 12” round wooden plate. I had the fall napkins. I had the decoupage medium. I had some little rub on transfers and the wood beads from the foot exerciser I bought a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale to use for feet. I have items to display.
So I made a riser.
I sure wish these Dollar Tree parchment paper rub on transfers were more widely available. They have several designs. I liked the two shown below. I am having so much fun trying them on a variety of surfaces. I have found out once thoroughly dry, you can seal them with Mod Podge. I did try wax and it removed the ink. It could have been that the ink was still wet, but I didn’t want to try it again. For little things I like the Mod Podge matte spray.
They basically work like the other rub on transfers. Sometimes you need to rub hard and lift up and rub again to get every little last bit off. Sometimes, I taped them down, other times I just held them down.
As I do more, I will continue adding them.
SharSum Paint 