Pallet shelf

Well, of course I’m using pallets, again. I collected a bunch a couple of years ago and need to use them up before I can pick up more! (Good thing I don’t have a hubby to gripe about my pallet hoarding problem.) HA!

 

You see ALL the time on Pinterest about how people take this old dirty ugly pallet and turn it into a shelf or art or something.  Well, I thought I would give it a try. Mostly because I needed to make room in my cabinets for other stuff and my mugs really didn’t need to take up the WHOLE cabinet, but partly because I wanted to see if it really was just that easy.

 

It IS just that easy, actually.   It’s all about knowing where to cut the pallet.  

 

Once you get it cut down, then it’s just a matter of sanding everything THOROUGHLY, then applying your paint of choice. 

Here’s what it looked like after I lightly spray painted it with some white.  It was a light coat because the paint can keptclogging and eventually just stopped entirely. After messing with it for a while, I just gave up and decided I liked it well enough.

 

Then, my tall tumblers didn’t really fit down into the space between the slats, so I just took some other leftover wood from the pallet wall I did, (I should write that up, also, eh?) and added the red accent shelves with my Ryobi Brad Nailer.  

Lastly, I screwed mug hooks into the wood, and called it done.

 

Of course, the hanging it part was pretty tricky.  I wound upusing my stud finder (wonder what would happen if I walked around Home Depot checking all guys with it) to locate the studs in the wall above my coffee bar, and then screwed it into the wall.  Remarkably, it is still hanging 24-hours later.

 

Total Cost: Mug hooks - $4.00

Total Time: About an hour, mostly for paint drying

Outcome: SUCCESS!!

No go Make-Do something of your own.

Quick Pencil Holders

I'm BIG into reusing stuff, and my sister was throwing out a bunch of these disks when she moved last summer.

I took a small tub of them thinking that there HAD to be something that I could do with them. I got them home, and promptly forgot about them. 

Then, I happened to purchase an EXTREME number of zip ties for something else, and was in my shed trying to come up with something quick and easy I could create during one cold rainy day, and it all clicked!

I drilled holes in the corners that didn't already have them, and used small width zip ties to assemble these cute pencil holders. 

My teens quickly grabbed them for their rooms, much to my surprise! 

Cost: $0

Time: about 30 min to figure it out, mostly.

Verdict: SUCCESS! 

Another Pinterest success

You see things all the time on Pinterest, and you think to yourself, "I could make that". So you pin it. And three months later you go back and look at all your pins, and wonder if you're ever going to actually do any of them, or just keep pinning. Ha!

When I was putting up the Christmas lights, I came across a tree branch that was broken, and needed to be trimmed. Pulled out my saw, and trimmed it, thinking "here is some wood for that stuff I see on Pinterest". 

It sat in my shed for about a month, and then I decided to give it a whirl. Turns out, the hard part was getting a straight cut using my worn-out saw blade.

First I cut it into 4-5 inch sections. I realized pretty quickly that the bark on the cypress wood was just going to continue to flake off, so I sanded the outsides pretty thoroughly. Then used a drill bit to create a hole in the top for the tea lights. 

The 1 1/2 inch bit was the right size. Sawdust just went everywhere! You have to drill down pretty far, and I wish I had some clamps to hold the wood while I drilled. As it was, I wore gloves, because it kept trying to flip out of my hands.

I did try painting the bottom half of some of them, like Pinterest shows, but I did not like the effect.

The part of the branch that had split, and caused me to trim it, to begin with, was pretty interesting looking so I drilled some holes in it also.

After I had them all cut and drilled, I sprayed them thoroughly with some spray sealer. The sealer really helped to pull out the natural beauty of the wood.

Then I put them in bundles of three, and gave them as Christmas gifts... Except for the arch. The arch I kept for my mantle.

Total cost: $7.00 for the 1.5" drill bit.

Total time: 3-4 hours, mostly to allow for sealer drying. 

Verdict: SUCCESS!! 

Work desk Christmas Tree

So, I know Christmas was a month ago, but I really need an updated post, so I'm showing one thing I did back in December. Ha!

I have a new job and the decoration requirements are different than my last one. Add to that the fact that I'm in a cube, now, instead of the office to which I've been accustomed. So I had to really pare down what I usually do for decorations. It was kind of sad for me, actually. I have a thing for trees and suddenly couldn't put one up. :(( 

Then I remembered seeing various wooden trees on Pinterest made from pallets and old wood and such. :D WELL!! You all know how much I love building things and using up old wood and leftover items. 😁😁😁

So I went out to my shed to take a look at my stash, and joy of joys, I had exactly what I thought I would need. After a little measuring and cutting of some old fence picket leftovers, and the leg off of a TV tray I disassembled last year for shelves in my cabinets, I started painting. 

Then I drilled holes where I thought I could place some battery-operated lights I found at Dollar Tree, and then screwed everything together. 

When I got it assembled, I realized an error with my hole drilling. :( I can't very well put lights through the tree trunk. So then I had to drill more holes, which weren't as neat, and improvise on what to do with the holes drilled in error. 

Fortunately, I had an old Christmas lights necklace that had stopped working, that I was able to cut apart and use to decorate the tree. 

As with so many of my projects, it's not perfect, but it certainly works, and that's why I call myself the Make-Do Queen. 😉

Cost: $1.00 for the lights. 

Time: 2 hours (mostly due to paint drying)

Result: Success

Rug dyeing at home?

So I have this rug that goes around my toilet, you know the kind. Keeps your feet warm in the middle of the night.

Mine was a nice mocha color. Matched my towels.

In a fit of cleaning, I threw it in the wash with some towels... But not my towels. The towels from the girls bathroom.

The girls have a much more...excited...bathroom than I do. All orange, and turquoise, and purple, and green. It is perfect for two teenagers. Shows almost no dirt. 

See what I mean?

Anywho... Their towels aren't monochromatic like mine. And after the wash, my rug was a very questionable shade of green. :(

I got the bright idea to try and dye it back using coffee and tea… You know, like they're always telling you on Pinterest.

So I cleaned out the trashcan, brewed some tea and some coffee, and stuck it all in my bathtub with some more hot water.

I let it sit all day, checking on it every now and then to swirl & swish.

Then I set it in my washing machine to drip dry.

Now I have a mottled green rug. Some parts took, and some saw no change. 

So much for that. 

Project cost: $12 for a new rug 

Project time: 1 day

Result: Dud!

So much for Make-Do.

My repurposed coffee bar

And finally the project I teased almost a month ago!

I have this space in my kitchen.

As you can see, it's almost wasted space, and the dog is able to knock over the trash can whenever she gets mad about something and spread it all over the house. (Another reason I pulled up the carpet back in November and put in the paper floors.  Check out that blog here.)

I've toyed with putting in a pantry for almost the entire time I've owned the house, but could never decide HOW to do that, on my ultra-cheap budget, and still have it look good.  Then I considered knocking down the top of the wall and opening it up into my living room, so that the two rooms had more connection.  One of my friends did that in her house, and it was SUCH a headache for her, that I decided to not try to take that on, myself.

At some point this spring, I decided to just put a shelf in, at bar height, to allow for more counter space and to better conceal the trash, recycling and dog food canisters.  When I started talking about it to my kids, D2 insisted that I put some real effort into making it look good, not just be functional.  She didn't mind the shabby chic of my back yard, but insisted that the inside of the house look good for her friends.  TEENS!

So, that slowed me down.  I had to figure out how I could build something, on almost no budget, and have it look like it was semi-professional.  I built the box out of that reclaimed plywood, and some old fence materials, but then it just sat in my shed for a month or so while I tried to figure out how to dress it....and how to mount it.

I had bought some shelf brackets at Dollar Tree, but when the kiddo insisted it look GOOD, I had to re-think the support.  I did some research on YouTube and saw that several people advised the kind of wall anchors that would go through the wood, into the sheetrock, and then pivot to provide stability.  So I went to Home Depot and bought a package of the sturdiest looking 3" wall anchors I could see.

When I was out in the shed, last week, looking for something else, I spotted some baseboards that had been left with the house/shed, and started looking at them.  They are actually the right height, and would affix to the box I built easily, and give it a more "finished" look.

Then I realized that I would have to miter cut the ends to fit together.  I have never miter cut anything in my life and was seriously afraid to try. I remembered a friend telling me that my circular saw had little levers and knobs that would allow it to do angle cuts and so I pulled it out and started trying to figure out how to do that.  Knowing that I would do it wrong the first time, I left the baseboard sections about 6" longer than I actually needed them, and then cut.  Yep!  Did it wrong the first time.  Corrected the cut by flipping the board onto it's back, then re-drawing a straight line, then cutting again.

SUCCESS!  Repeat on the next section.

Using wood glue and nails, I attached both pieces to the box....and noticed that my cutting skills hadn't been that precise when cutting the top out of the plywood.  There were little gaps between the baseboard and the plywood and I just stared at it and wondered what in the world I was going to do NOW?

As is my habit, I left it alone and gave it a day or two to let my brain try to resolve the issue while I focused on other tasks.

I was applying for a job at a local home improvement store and they asked about my knowledge of caulk...and I thought, "I can use caulk to fill in those gaps, then paint over it all, and no one will know!"  EUREKA!!

When I got to the caulk isle, I saw that right behind me was wood filler.  Well, if caulk will work, I bet wood filler will work BETTER, so I bought some of that, and saw the poly right next to it, and remembered that my poly at home was rubbish, so purchased a small can of that, too.

RABBIT TRAIL:
Feeling like I might actually be able to pull this off, I started thinking about what I could move to sit on that shelf, freeing up cabinet space or counter space.  As I was sitting in my kitchen, pondering, drinking my coffee, I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have my coffee stuff moved over there where I could spread it out and not have it be such a clutter that everyone sees the second they step into the kitchen?"

See, I'm a little bit of a coffee addict.  I have the Keurig, a regular drip coffee maker, and a french press, in case the electricity goes out.  Yes, I would boil water in the fire place in a kettle and use it to make coffee.  Yes, I'm THAT bad of an addict.

So, I'm dreaming about making it my own personal coffee bar, and realize there are no plugs on that wall.  HOWEVER, my dad and uncle are 3 streets over and both are relatively competent DIY electricians. :D  Oh, yes, I immediately began talking them into coming over and dropping me a plug right where I want it. HA!

In the process, they also figured out why a particular switch wasn't working and fixed it.  Yeah!!

So, back to the wood filler.  I read the instructions carefully, and squeezed a bunch into the gaps, trying to use the putty knife to get it even.  It was so hot that the stuff was hardening quickly, and I wound up just using my fingers to get it where it needed to be.  Wait 2 hours, sand, add more to fill in the deep spaces, wait 2 hours, sand, repeat.  After it was built up to a satisfactory level, I started painting with...yep, the RED. Ha!

It took multiple coats, again.  Paint.  Wait an hour, reapply, wait, paint, wait, paint, etc.  About the 4th coat had the wood filler completely covered and blended, and the place where the miter cuts met looked really good thanks to the wood filler.

I REALLY wanted to stencil something on it, but my stencil skills are SERIOUSLY lacking.  I was almost resigned to installing it with no decoration, when I figured out that I could do a reverse stencil on it.  So, I used some peel and stick letters, some painter's tape, and an odd piece of flooring to keep a straight upper line and painted over it in black, the same color as the legs.

After waiting an hour or so, I did another coat of black, let dry, then removed the letters, tape and flooring.  I borrowed a small paintbrush from my artist of a daughter and went back over the edges with some touch-up paint to get the lettering as clean as possible.

Let it all sit and dry for an hour or two, then applied the first coat of poly.  Wait 2 hours, reapply. 

Here's the thing I'm learning in all of these projects. My push to get things DONE, isn't always the best way to do them.  I really should have allowed for more time to let it all sit and dry and harden before trying to install it.  Just because it's horribly hot outside, and the paint and poly is smooth and dry to the touch, doesn't mean its HARD and ready to move around.

Called Dad and Uncle to help me get it installed, and as I was trying to communicate with them the way I envisioned it being affixed to the wall, we managed to bump it a couple times, and there are now a few little nicks on it.  It's not huge stuff, but I'll always know its there if I don't go back and fix it.

I let it sit for several days, after I saw that, and then moved in.  I was just given a sign from an old church coffee shop, and I mounted that on the wall to cover the old telephone jack.

Voila!

I'm going to go back and sand, touch up and re-poly the couple of spots that bother me, and realized that when I measured and built the box, I didn't allow for the extra 3/4" of the width of the baseboard, so that needs to be painted/hid.

But I like it.

Total cost = $28 (wood filler, wall anchors, poly, new switch & faceplate)
Total time = TOO long  (weeks?)
Outcome = The kid doesn't hate it, so I call that a SUCCESS!

Fence Picket Floating Shelves

I had to rearrange my room to make space for a home office, and in so doing, I some of my shelf space.  Suddenly, I had to put supplies for an office in the spaces I had used to display my kids' artwork.  After I got all the furniture placed, I realized I had a completely blank area in which I could hang small shelves.  A quick search of Pinterest, located floating shelves, but when I saw the labor intensity and the hardware I would need to buy to pull them off, I was disheartened.

Then I came across this post, and had a flash of inspiration.

I had to replace some pickets on my fence because I have a black lab who thinks she's in training as an escape artist, and I bought the 8' pickets from Home Depot, and cut off 12" so I could have a slightly higher fence in that area of the yard.

I grabbed my circular saw and cut 1" strip off the length of each 12" section.  Then sanded each piece with my sanding sponge.

I hate nails, so tried to use screws to attach the sections in an "L" shape, and split the wood.. :( That didn't work!  Pulled out some small nails and my hammer and, using wood glue, made quick work of the little ledges.

Then I covered with 3 coats of a nice red paint that I've been enjoying.

(That blue/red piece at the top is another, much larger project, that I'll be posting next.)

When dry, I used the same nails, made sure they were level and nailed to my wall.

SO easy, and I think they turned out GREAT!

Total Cost = materials already on hand
Total Time = 1 day (waiting for paint to dry)
Outcome = SUCCESS!

Plastic Bags bag

So, I see all these cute things on Pinterest that people have made out of their plastic shopping bags, and being someone who highly prizes repurposing and reusing things, I thought I would try to make something.

I started out by folding a bunch of the bags, longwise, and placing books on them to help flatten.

After several weeks, I had people over and needed to clean, so had to finally DO something with them or give up the project.  So I wove several together, and then pulled out the iron.

I was overly cautious, at first, and used an old towel to protect the iron (or maybe it was the bags) from the heat, and had the heat on low.  I quickly figured out that those bags were NOT going to fuse or melt unless I kicked the heat up a bunch.  I kept turning the heat up, placing the towel on the section I wanted fused, and then placing the iron on it for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 seconds.

By the time I got it to work, the iron was all the way up to high, and 10 seconds was just about perfect.  Of course, I gave myself a wonderful little memento of the attempt that, even 4 weeks later, is still healing. (Sad face)

I kept weaving more bags into the "fabric" and fusing (melting) with the iron.  After I got about a 3'x1' panel all fused, I looked at it and thought, "now what?". 

Umm....so yeah, I hadn't really thought it all the way through.  "Ah, ha!  A bag!  I'll make it into a cute little beach bag!" I thought.

I folded the "fabric" in half and added another bag to each end to act as the joining piece, then went back to towel, iron, count, check, repeat.

I used scissors to try to even the top all the way across, and then realized that I still needed to figure out handles.  By then, I had spent almost 2 hours on it, and was getting tired and frustrated, so decided I'd line the bag with cloth and sew the handles to the cloth part of the bag.

My sewing machine isn't cooperating so I took everything over to Mom's to use her fancy stuff.  When I got there and started explaining what all I wanted to do, everyone looked at me like I had turned purple and sprouted horns.  I looked at them, I looked at what I had already done, and I made a decision.

From now on, I am just going to take those shopping bags back to Walmart and put them in their recycling bins.  This was NOT worth all the effort.


Total cost = Iron burn
Total time = 2 hours
Outcome = Dud

More Torani bottle ideas

Oh, yeah, more ideas for glass bottles.  I keep trying to come up with new stuff, not just copy the things I've seen on Pinterest.  The thing is, that's HARD to do!  Y'all are all so creative, and have such beautiful photos, that while I am proud of my work, I'm never fully convinced anyone else would like it.

That's why I maintain that if you're going to do crafts, do it because you like it.  Do things you like to do.  Try things you want to try.  Trying to copy other's work is what makes me the Make-Do Queen, because I always wind up substituting stuff and never using the exact same materials.  lol

Now, on to today's post.

I have three different results.  I started with 4 bottles, but one has gone back on the shelf for a re-think because it just didn't turn out well at all.  I'll come up with a use for it eventually, but for now, I'm calling it a dud. 

I had a nice vibrant blue that I started with, then drizzled white paint into the bottle, as well, and let it swirl.  I REALLY love the colors and marbled look of it!

Over the course of a couple days, I would lay the bottle flat and let the paint run to a new side, then add in a little more, if I felt it was needed, until the bottle was fully coated.  Then, turn it upside down into an old coffee can or whip cream container (something of which I have gobs) and let drain/dry for another day or two.  The weather warmed up and I was able to set them outside in the sun, which helped.

To finish, I just grabbed twigs out of my front yard (I have a HUGE Cypress tree) and tied raffia ribbon to give it a "spring" look.

For this one, I printed a globe-image off my computer, then blew it up to a good size, then pasted it onto the back of my trusty paper tape.  Using a cutting board and an box cutter, I cut the tape to create a stencil.  If you have a Circut or other fancy gadget that makes these sorts of things for you, I'M SO JEALOUS!!

This time, I left the Etching cream on for almost 10 minutes. 

My Dollar Tree purchase of the hydrating beads. I only used about half of the beads that came in the package, and kept the expanding "vase" for use some other time.  Might make a cute gift bag.

Followed the suggested instructions on letting the beads hydrate before placing anything in the bottle.

Then added garden soil. I had some that I purchased from Dollar Tree a couple months ago when I was impatient for spring, and combined that with some Miracle Grow potting soil to give a good mixture.

I have an ivy that I took cuttings from, and used. Somehow, I neglected to take a solo "after" picture.  So scroll down to see the final result.  I actually like it a lot....but I really love plants and planting.

And finally, I revisited my initial post of a solar powered lamp, but stenciled and painted for a more earthy look. Somehow, I neglected to take enough "before" pictures of this one, so I'll have to explain it a little more thoroughly.

Basically, I dripped blue paint down only one side of the bottle, careful to keep it from spreading by letting it mostly dry on that same side for several days.  Then I repeated with the green.  After letting it drain and dry, I stenciled it with the same globe stencil used above. Then, just to be safe, I sprayed multiple layers of clear sealer.  I know that probably completely ruins the whole idea of "earth friendly", but I really didn't want the stencil to wear off over time.  Its a completely optional step, and I should warn you that if you DO use the sealer, it will ruin any etching you've done with the etching cream, so...be informed.

When Dollar Tree was carrying the little solar lamps, I had purchased a bunch for project use, so took one a part, and placed the solar part and lamp shade onto the painted and stenciled bottle.  If you want to, you could easily glue it down with an epoxy or super-glue type adhesive.  I just sat it on top since there is little chance it will get knocked over.  The light is a really cool effect at night.  I wish I had the right kind of camera to do it justice.

TAA-DAA!!!

Total cost: Dollar Tree beads, lamp, raffia ribbon and dirt - $4.00 (I already had the other materials.)

Total time: I would work on them for 30 min every other day or so over the course of several weeks, so....maybe, with drying time, it could all be done in 5 days.