Category Archives: upcycle

A Chicken and Rooster Upcycle

Posted on by
Reply

I found a chicken planter and a rooster that would hold a vase at two different thrift stores in the last few weeks. I decided they both needed updating using a concrete look technique.

The first thing I did with the chicken was spray him with Mod Podge pearlized glaze. Any sealer would work or even spray paint. I sprayed it to help the paint adhere well since the pottery was a bit shiny.

Next, I mixed chalk-style paint with baking soda and began daubing it on all over. This gives it a nice texture and no brush strokes. I gave it two coats, letting it dry in between.

After two coats of the baking soda and chalk paint mixture. I don’t have a photo, but I sprayed it with a coat of Mod Podge. This will help keep the antique look I’m giving it from soaking in which would make it hard to remove if needed.

Next, I did a little dry brushing with the gray paint. I would daub it on and use a baby wipe to blend where needed.

That’s it. I now have a chicken planter with a concrete look.

Now, for the rooster – I finished him much in the same way using the baking soda and white chalk- style paint mixture with a little different type of antiquing.

I learned the rooster was made of resin. I knew it wasn’t metal or wood. I had someone tell me to scratch off a bit of the bottom and if it was white underneath, it was resin…it was white!

I daubed the white chalk paint all over him. I only used one coat and wasn’t worried about full coverage because I liked the colors underneath and didn’t mind them coming through a bit.

Once dry, I used sprayed the rooster with this clear chalky spray. This will help me when I apply the glaze and will let me remove excess.

I applied the metallic green glaze to make it look like the rooster had been outside in the weather for years and had moss growing on it at one point.

I also applied a bit of turquoise paint for some patina.

The rooster was now ready to be added to a garden display.

A Dollar Tree Candle Makeover

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been seeing crafters use the tall Dollar Tree candles and melt them to create new candles in pretty containers. I had everything I needed to try this out. I am thrilled with the results. In fact, I shared the one I made for myself on my Facebook page and already have a request to make another.

The candle in the glass holder is from Dollar Tree. I ordered wicks from Temu and I had this wooden bowl. I love thrifting wooden bowls so I had several to choose from. The fragrance oil is “Egyptian Musk”. I love the fresh clean smell. I found it on Amazon.

I had seen many crafters stand the candle in a pan of water and put it on the stove on low until it melted. Today, though, I saw a technique of placing the candle on a cookie tray in the oven at 300°. It took about 18 minutes to melt mine.

I hot glued the wick to the bottom of the bowl while the candle was melting and got it ready for the wax.

It is ready to pour.

After I poured the wax into the bowl, I added two capfuls of my fragrance oil and stirred it around a bit with another skewer.

I should have curled the extra wick around a skewer and laid it on top of the bowl to keep the wick upright, but didn’t remember to do that until after I poured the wax. Next time I will do that before pouring.

I then let it cool and trimmed the wick.

I love how my candle turned out! I can’t wait to make more!

A Rustic Riser

Image

Reply

I’ve been seeing risers made from blocks of scrap wood so thought I’d make one, too. My 3.5” x 1.5” square block of scrap wood had one end that was painted green. I didn’t want to cut it off so I just made it the front of my project.

I did sand the block well, including the green part and that lightened it up a bit.

I like to work on this lazy susan. I bought 100 disposable shower caps on Amazon and stretched one over the lazy susan to protect it. These work great and I just throw them away when finished.

I gathered up my supplies and got started.

Step 1: I used black ink and stamped flowers and bees on the green side of my block. I put it aside to dry.

Step 2: I purchased wood peg dolls from Amazon to use as feet. I watered down a bit of our Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-style paint (Coal Shovel) and covered the feet I would be attaching to the block. This will give them a rustic look similar to the block. I wiped the excess away and put them aside to dry.

Step 3: I wrapped the block with a paper towel only leaving the green inked part exposed. I sprayed that part with the Krylon spray matte sealer. I believe I got it at Lowes. This sealed the ink to make sure it wouldn’t smear when I applied wax to it later.

Step 4: It was time to glue on the legs. I used a combination of E6000 for permanent hold and hot glue for immediate hold.

Step 5: Once the hot glue set up, I applied Wise Owl Salve (ordered from a retailer) to the whole piece.

My rustic riser was now complete. I added a small painted terra cotta pot I had applied Dollar Tree rub on transfers to, added faux flowers, and displayed it on my rustic wood block riser.

I love how it now looks like the whole riser has been outside in the weather for years!

Fabric Sunflowers

Posted on by
2

This sunflower is beautiful, don’t you think?

I follow an awesome lady on YouTube….Teresa Greene from Our Greene Acres. She has excellent tutorials. Most of her ideas are shabby chic/farmhouse. They are not always my style, but the things I make from her tutorials usually sell well around my area of Missouri. This one sold within minutes after posting it in my personal Facebook page.

Basically, all you need to make the sunflowers are some type of fabric (the one above is drop cloth for the petals and burlap for the center). You will also need scissors, a little poly fill for the center, some hot glue, and ….. a canning jar lid and ring. This one was a regular mason jar size.

I’m not going to recreate the wheel here for making the sunflower. I will just share Teresa’s tutorial. This project starts at the 16:48 mark. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8wzvB-seb3I&t=616s I will share how I made the stem of mine below.

I wanted to make a sunflower with a long stem but wouldn’t flop over. I wasn’t sure how I would do this so started looking around. Invention truly is the mother of necessity.

I had some faux tulips from Michaels that had long green flexible hollow stems.

I took one of the tulips off and removed the little plastic thing that went into the stem. After finishing my flower, I hot glued it to the back and then hot glued a strip of fabric over it so it would stay in place. I just needed a stick to go inside so I remembered the whittling my dad used to do (I specifically remember him making whistles). So I just whittled the stick to size. Lol

I pushed the stick through the tulip stem (I used two of the hollow stems and pushed them together. I left a little room at the top so I could fold it over and glue it down to the flower.

That still wasn’t strong enough. Then I remembered these green metal hollow sticks I used around my rose bush. One was broken so I broke it off all the way and I had a sturdy stem. I think I originally got them at Lowe’s. They are stakes made to look like stems of plants so they blend in.

I then dropped the stick covered with the tulip stem down the green tube and hot glued it in place. I then folded over the stem at the top and glued it down. That worked just fine. The drop cloth was strong enough that the sunflower didn’t flop too much.

I had this very strange pitcher/mug thing I thrifted several years ago because it was cool and I loved the color. It was perfect for my one long stemmed sunflower. I filled it with left over burlap and added some greenery and wedged my sunflower in place. I love how it all came together!!

The first sunflower I made from Teresa’s tutorial was a hanging one. I used flour sack cloth (from Walmart Craft department) I dyed with left over coffee for the petals and fabric from an old valance for the center to match a pumpkin I had made earlier (another Teresa tutorial). I love how it turned out and how it looks in a fall centerpiece I put together.

Boho Wall Hanging

Posted on by
Reply

Last night I made a simple macrame boho wall hanging….while I watched TV. It was fairly time consuming so I recommend TV watching while you do this. 🙂

I had a dowel 16” long by 3/4” diameter. A slightly smaller one would work as well. A cut down plunger handle from Dollar Tree would be perfect.

I unraveled the whole nautical rope from Dollar Tree. It made 3 strands. Then I cut those strands in half and I had 6. Then I cut those in half and I had 12.

I attached the 12 strands to the rod with a larks head knot (a basic macrame knot). That was the quick part. Here’s a tutorial on how to attach the strands to the dowel rod: https://www.macrameuk.com/amp/2018/03/02/beginners-macrame-knots-1-larks-head-knot

I know had 24 strands to unravel. The time consuming part was unraveling all the strands until I got the look you see in the photos. Take your time and do just a few strands at a time or you will get it all knotted at the end. Trust me… I know. I did use a dog brush I bought at Dollar Tree for macrame projects and brushed the strands out as much as possible after I separated them. Then I trimmed the bottom a little trying to go at angles toward the center.

I attached a flower and foliage with hot glue. I bought four flower pots with a variety of high end flowers and foliage through an online auction for just $8.50 for all four after fees. They were originally priced at $10 each! What a bargain! If you haven’t tried online auctions, you should!

I then used some of the burlap trim from Dollar Tree to make the hanger. I wrapped some around a small metal book ring from Dollar Tree, hot gluing it as I went around. I took the length of one of the pieces in the package and cut it in half. I wrapped one end of the piece completely around the dowel rod, securing it with hot glue. I did the same for the other side. Then I brought the ends together, put them through the covered ring and hot glued them to the ring on the back side. I did that twice to make them very secure.

I took photos hanging from my fireplace and French Door. I especially love how it looks hanging from a fireplace for summer!!

Nature in a Bottle

Posted on by
Reply

This was a quick little project this morning for my kitchen window sill.

I was gifted this awesome bottle with such a cool shape! I think it held some type of oil and vinegar. It had white script writing on the front, but that easily washed off.

I simply placed (well, shoved and rearranged with a chopstick) a sprig of faux greenery and a blue flower bud in the empty bottle.

I whittled down a wine cork to fit the top and that was it!

It will sparkle in the sunlight!

My Reward for Cleaning My Kitchen – a small DIY woven rope vase

Posted on by
Reply

It all started this morning when I decided to give myself the incentive I needed to start some deep cleaning I’ve been putting off….so I started with my sink area.

I saw an idea for adding a pedestal to your sink area for your dish soap, etc. I just happened to have one I made.

I glued a round piece of glass I had to the bottom of a small bowl. I’ve been using it in other places. I had this thick round piece of glass I got at a flea market one time, but a wood round would work, maybe even the plate from an old microwave.

Then I cut a placemat to fit it. I had a plastic hand soap dispenser I already made and cleaned off the label on another one.

Of course, I just had to add some small transfers I found at Dollar Tree just because.

Then I was ready to start deep cleaning……

My kitchen is now clean! Yay! So my reward to myself was creating this little boho woven rope vase!

I’ve been seeing similar rope vases all over. In fact, I could buy one for $50 from this vendor. Or…. I could create one myself, which is so much for fun and cost saving, too! 🙂

I saw this woven rope idea and tutorial on Pinterest.

https://pin.it/bxRLiUf

I had already spray painted a little red glass vase I had with metallic gold paint.

The rope was from a Dollar Tree mop head I cut apart. I used 15 strands of it and hot glued each strand side by side from bottom to top, laying the vase on its side to work. Then I separated the strands into groups of 3 and wove them over and under (spot gluing ever so often to hold them in place) until I got back to the beginning. I cut each group of 3 even with the beginning edge and hot glued in place.

Whew! Oh! And my clean kitchen. Here you go!

Now, for a late lunch and a much needed rest before I tackle another room. 😂

A Bookend Gets a Third Life

Posted on by
Reply

I have this bookend I thrifted some time ago. Originally the flower part was painted with various colors and outdated. I gave it a second life and painted the whole thing white.

Then today, I thought I would change it up a little more and give it a third life. I found this rub on transfer at Dollar Tree and applied it to the back. I also sprayed a little bit of metallic gold spray paint on a paper plate, then used a brush to apply it to the arrow.

What a difference!

If you haven’t fallen in love with rub on transfers yet, then try the ones at Dollar Tree to practice with before committing to the expensive ones if you are wanting to see how they work. I guarantee you will become addicted.