Pallet pumpkin

It look so easy on Pinterest, doesn't it? You just take a pallet, use a jigsaw to cut it apart, and turn it into a pumpkin for your front porch. "It's so easy," they say. "Anyone can do it." If so, then I should be able to do it. And I certainly have pallets. 

So I pulled out my Reciprocating saw, and started cutting. I realized very quickly that it made good work of the wood, but whoever said it would cut right through nails must of had a different brand of saw.

I finally gave up on cutting through the nose, and just cut around the nails. Then I had a much more manageable section of pallet with which to work. So I took it over to my sawhorse.

I sketched out a pumpkin shaped using a pencil on the wood, then got out my jigsaw and began to try and cut out that outline. It works really well, except for when it got to the hall thicker cross pieces. For that, I had to get out my circular saw. By then, I had every saw I owned sitting on my sawhorse table for use.

Once you get it cut out, you really are pretty much done. That is the hard part. From there it was just spraying it with several coats of orange spray paint.

Oh, after gluing up the piece that did not have an anchor because I cut the nails in the wrong place.

When I first painted it, the kid said it needed a longer stem, so I went back and cut more off the top so that it would have a more pronounced stem.

Then I went back over the stem section with some green paint, let everything dry, and voilà! A reusable pumpkin for my front porch.

Oh! Somewhere during all of this, I did sand everything thoroughly. At any rate, it's done and it was basically free, and I'm very happy with it. 

I will probably try and make larger versions or smaller versions for subsequent years so that I can have a grouping. But this year I'm calling it good enough.

Cost: free, materials on hand. 

Time: one afternoon

Outcome: SUCCESS!!

Now go make-do something of your own! 

Summers Woodworking Birdhouse Challenge

Summers Woodworking is having a birdhouse challenge. Since they extended the deadline an extra two weeks, and I had an idea, I went ahead and built something. It is not Art, but it is pretty much all recycled or salvaged materials.

Here's the link to the YouTube video. 

http://youtu.be/pkHxPg7Yg_4

Go watch mine, then look at my comments and get the link to watch everybody else's. There are some very amazingly skilled craftsmen out there!

Cost: 1 Can of spray paint $3.98

Time: 6-8 hours

Outcome: SUCCESS!!!

Now go make-do something of your own!

Saving $$

I have these free-spirited girls, who are really amazing to parent, most of the time.  Then there are the times when they do something so totally off the wall that there’s nothing to be done but laugh and paint over it.

Several years ago, my oldest was having all kinds of emotional adolescent angst and I figured it would somehow be therapeutic for her to have a couple of her friends over and let them repaint her room.  I provided them with several colors of paint, and they opted to go for the splatter-paint look.  Here’s a before picture of them investigating the paint.  See how innocent it all seems?

I go back about 10 minutes later to check on them, and all seems to be progressing as expected, so I close the door (to protect the rest of the house) and go back to baking cookies (I had a new recipe to try).  See the pic.  Just teen girls having a little fun.  No worries.

I come back about 20 minutes later to see if they’re done yet, and open the door to this. :o  :o  :o

WHAT!?!?!?!

The room looked like a crime scene!  What in the world happened here and what were they thinking?!  At that point, there’s nothing to do, but to make them shower, and promise to re-do it the minute she moves out.  

Fast-forward 3-years, and she goes off to college.  I get a 3-day weekend, Home Depot has a sale on paint, and it’s decided.  Repainting a room shouldn’t be that big of a deal, so I’ll just hit the highlights.  

First lesson learned is that you can make the room all one color again, but the texture created by the splatter paint still remains. See those drips!!??

Second lesson learned, is that the multi-colored floor really camouflaged how many stickers were also on the floor. I wound up putting down the first layer of paint, then scraping up the stickers and bumps that it highlighted.  

But the biggest lesson I learned is that spray painting the custom-fit blinds was much cheaper and easier than buying new ones.  I hung them from a post in my backyard and used 3 cans of black spray paint to get a very thorough coverage of the material.  After hanging them back up in the room, I’m so relieved I didn’t just throw them out!

I know the room is rather stark, now, but after all the color, I find it to be a relief.  Eventually, I will convert it to my craft room or something, but it works for now.

Total Cost: $17 for spray paint (with tax)

Total Time: 4 hours, mostly dry time

Outcome: Success! 

Now go make-do something of your own!

Enhancing my She Cave

So I have this shed in my backyard.  It’s WONDERFUL!  It’s big and has real walls, a big door, windows, electricity….it’s my workspace and I love it.  Except for July and August when it’s 100+ degrees here, in Texas, and the lack of air circulation in the shed makes for very sweaty projects.  I honestly think I lose about 5 pounds each weekend I’m out there in the heat!

At any rate, I saw this video on YouTube done by the wonderful April Wilkerson, and thought, EURKA!  I have a window AC unit. I should totally put that in out in the shed to see if I can just cool things off enough that I don’t worry about passing out when I get so focused I forget to keep slamming the water.

After much thought, I opted for a spot next to my workbench, thinking that the closer it is to me, the faster it will cool me off.  Makes sense, right?  Here’s the lovely wall that a kid started helping me paint.  

 

If you look at the picture for very long, you’ll have some foreshadowing on what the biggest issue with this whole project turned out to be.  Any guesses?  

 

After measuring the size of the unit, I measured and cut the 2x4 studs to build a support structure under the unit, along with a header, of sorts, to go over the unit. That’s when it hit me.  There was an electric wire in the middle of the studs and to add more in, I would need to disconnect the wires from the plug, pull the wires out, run them through the new 2x4s, and then re-attach. GAAAAH!!!!!! So. I drilled holes in the new studs through which to thread the electric wires that run to the plug nearest the unit. 

 

Then I turned the power off to the shed, pulled the electric wires out of the plug and backed them through the existing 2x4, threaded the new ones in, used my Ryobi Brad Nailer to attach the studs to the other studs, along with some other screws just for good measure, and then reattached the wires to the plug.  WHEW!  Trying to manipulate that electrical conduit was WORK and without power, I didn’t have my normal fans running, and it was July in Texas and I was so afraid that I had sweat all over the wires and would short out the whole thing!  YIKES! I was worried!  I can’t tell you how relieved I was to flip the breaker back on and have the shed not explode!

 

Next, I drilled pilot holes in the wall in what I was planning to call the corners of the opening.  After trying a couple of times to get the circular saw to cut out the opening, I gave up and went to borrow dad’s jigsaw, again.  I REALLY should invest in my own jigsaw!  

 

The jigsaw was the right tool and I quickly had the opening.  

After checking the sizing multiple times, I trimmed more area off the face, then built a header of sorts to frame out the rest of the opening.  Then wrapped the whole opening with the pink foam insulation stuff, and slid the unit into the wall.  

After I was sure it was snug, I emptied a can of spray foam insulation all around the edges to try to help keep out air/water, and then put more particle board over the whole wall area to help with the finish out.

 

Once I got it in, I realized something.  The unit blows air UP….not OUT…..thus the totally ghetto plastic trying to get the air to go OUT into the shed.  What a bummer!  At any rate, it’s done and I think once I get the rest of the shed insulated and walled off, the unit will have a much higher likelihood of success.  

 

Total Cost: $18 for spray foam insulation, and the pink stuff from Home Depot

Total Time: 8 hours, mostly because I kept having to stop and go get another tool/item.

Outcome: Partial Success. 

Now go make something of your own!

**NOTE: Looking at these pictures has promoted me to go out a faceplate on that plug. MUCH better! 

Patio furniture repurpose

Since entering that 2x4 challenge, I've been trying to build/create and post YouTube videos. I felt so bad that I had all these subscribers (a whopping 14), and almost nothing for them to watch. Ha!

I must admit, though, my heart and comfort are with the written word and still pictures (does anyone actually like how they look or sound in videos????).

At any rate...one night I built a fire in my fire pit, and D2 (2nd daughter) brought her homework, a flashlight and a blanket outside and completed it by the fire. She commented on our need for a side table on which she could set her drink and music, and it got me thinking. Here's the fire. It was really nice.

The next day, I went out to my shed to see if I could figure out a side table for outside, with existing materials. 

First, I grabbed some scrap 2x4, and built a rough frame. Then I painted some of my fence picket scraps and using my new Ryobi Brad nailer, affixed them to the side of the frame. I had some extra tile that I used as the top. I used construction adhesive to glue it to the wood frame. 

At first, I used some reclaimed scrap wood for legs. I painted them and then wrestled with how to connect them to the table. I used screws and brackets and didn't have enough clearance in the 12"x12" space to get all the screws in good and tight. It was frustrating!! 

Once I did finally get them on, I realized that the legs weren't even close to straight, and the table seriously wobbled. 

By then, I was tired and frustrated and felt like I would just have to live with it, and after all, it was scrap and would be outside being constantly degraded, so why did it matter? And I set it outside and went to bed. 

I probably would have left it like that and just thrown it out, eventually, if the dog hadn't gotten involved. 

We got so mad about her tearing up the wall, (see YouTube videos) that we chained her outside for a while. She wrapped the chain around the table and knocked off one of the legs. Now I had to fix it!

So, first I cut the legs off to the point where the one seemed to bow the most, which made a big difference. By then, the girls had given me a Kreg Jig R3 for Mother's Day, so I used it to drill pocket holes in the legs and between that, and the shorter/straighter legs, the table became instantly better! Now I actually liked it and wanted to improve it. 

I measured and cut more fence picket pieces and stained them with weatherproofing and used the Brad Nailer to place in the empty corners. I also went over it all with a sander to smooth out the rough spots. 

FINALLY! Something I could appreciate and post! :D 

Then I got to work on repurposing some other patio items. Here's the picture of those. Hopefully, I can get it all written up shortly.

Total cost: $0 Materials on hand

Total time: maybe 3-4 hours total, mostly me trying to figure it out and re-do it. 

Outcome: SUCCESS!!

Now go make something of your own...

A Video Post

Normally, I post written info with pictures about something I've created.  Today, I'm posting a link to a video I did about creating this.

Several weeks ago, I came upon the Summer's Woodworking 2x4 Challenge and it looked way too fun to not try.  The challenge is to see what you can build out of a regular 2x4.  Those things are cheap, so I figured it would be a relatively inexpensive way to challenge myself to do something new.
I gotta tell you. It was WORK!  Between struggles with the Table Saw from dullsville, and learning how NOT to use a planer or camera phone, I learned a great deal.  The video max length was 10 minutes, and I realized that cutting it down to that was almost as hard as making the thing.  I really like to document stuff!

At any rate, here's the video.  Hope you enjoy!

If I were doing it over again (and I may), I would shorten the post and lengthen the paddles.  I think I'm also going to do a cross beam base that will just sit over the top of the rain barrel (trash cans) when the lid is off.  I certainly have plenty of 2x4 scraps.

Cost: 2 planers, 1 mini jar of tinted weatherproofing, and 1 2x4 - $25
Time: 3 full days
Outcome: Success! I learned something.

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!