Cake pan turned recipe holder {quick tutorial}

A friend found this old weathered cake pan at a flea market for change.  She knew I could do something with it.  The first thing I did was see if it was magnetic....and it was!

I cut some brown vinyl on my silhouette and applied it to the the inside.  Popped a couple of marble magnets into it and voila!  Instant recipe holder.

Two-sided Welcome Door

An old door that I picked up at a garage sale for like $5.  We originally planning on making it into a table, but since we have 3 tables in storage to paint, we had to come up with plan B.  This was plan B....and it turnout out so much cooler than expected.  LOVE it when that happens!! 

 My partner in crime here couldn't wait, so I can't take credit for the actual painting, but we conspired on the idea.  Didn't she do a fabulous job???  (She doesn't have a blog, so I'm posting it.)

Its for sale here. SOLD

Linking here:

Lampshade Revamp {tutorial}

Yesterday I decided I wanted to change out the light in my laundry room.  I'm in the middle of an almost total overhaul in that room, so why not the light too?  (It helps that my Brother-in-Law is here visiting and he is an electrician.)

This is what I started with...

I like the after much better! ;)  I was inspired by a shade I found and posted here.

Supplies:

Wire shade or frame

Fabric

How to:

First I had to reinforce the shade frame, which I picked up for $1 at antique/junk store.  I knew I was either going to fabric wrap the entire frame or fabric tie it.  Either way there were not enough wire supports and it would end up looking like a weird square shade, so I decided to add some more joints.  I happen to have 14 gauge wire leftover (who doesn't, right?) from my Christmas bulb wreath project and mason jar lanterns, so I cut 4 lengths 2 inches taller than the shade.  I wrapped them around the top and bottom wires.

This is what some of my "joints" look like.  I knew they were going to be wrapped in fabric, so I wasn't too worried about how they looked.  (This little project has me wondering what I could do with a soldering tool....hmmm, add that to the Christmas list?)

 Here it is after my alterations.

From here I only have the after pictures as the whole thing happened too fast I forgot to take pics.

I had white eyelet fabric left over from a project 6 years ago (yes, I said SIX years!) and thought it was time to use it up.  I took two long strips of fabric and cut them 1 1/2" wide and just wrapped it around the top and bottom circular parts of the frame (not the vertical). (A sheet would be great for this.)  I almost stopped there and did that to the whole frame, but I have another wire shade I'll try that with. :)  You can see the bottom of the frame wrapped below.

Then I cut A LOT of 1 1/2" strips about 14" long.  Measure the length in between your joints and add a few inches.  It might take a little experimenting to get the right length.

Start tying.  And tying.  And tying.  Put a good movie in and tie some more.  I tied a knot around one wire, then strung it across and tied another knot around the next one and trimmed the end off.  With my next strip, I tied a knot just below the knot I just finished, strung it across and tied on the next wire.  Working my way around back to the first and then kept going around and around, stopping to shove them snug against the top.

After a few rounds I was kinda worried about what it was going to look like, but I kept going.  I figure if I hated it, I could cut it apart and I was only out some scrap fabric.  

Many rounds later, here ya go...

I had my BIL remove the fixture that was there.  I don't have a before pic, but trust me....it was random for a laundry room, and dark.  We actually had to retrofit a pendant fixture.  I bought a new ceiling cap (because that one that came with it was really ugly plain.)  I would love to run you through how to hang a fixture, but since I am not an electrician I would hate to mess up directions.  This shade can be used on a lamp as well.

I even like how the inside looks, which is good because we have tall ceilings and the door opens up under the fixture so it has to be hung rather high.  

This room is about as big as a shoebox, so its really hard to get a good picture.  Plus there is NO natural light.

Hopefully I will have more to show from the laundry room soon....

I was featured on One Thrifty Gurl

Well, my etsy shop was!  :)

I had an old atlas book from when we lived in the Pacific NW and since I wasn't using it anymore and can't stand to throw things away, I made some things out of it.

Like this card set

And this pennant garland

And from those scraps I punched these embellies

 Sometimes it pays (literally) to think outside of the box!

Go check her out at OneThriftyGurl.  I'm hosting a $25 gift certificate give away to my shop!

Stamped Garden Marker Spoons {tutorial}

Taking the metal jewelry stamping in a different twist, I stamped some spoons.  I am NOT a gardener.  I love the look of plants, but just cannot keep them alive (maybe its because I forget to water them???  Just a thought...)

Anyway...I've seen these garden marker spoons around and have found some old spoons for pennies at garage and estate sales. So...here ya go.

Supplies:

Old spoons

Metal stamping set

Dish towel

Rubber mallet

Hammer
Permanent marker

How to:

I first took the spoons out onto the driveway, set them (one by one) on a dish towel, and pounded them out with a rubber mallet.  My kids rode circles around me in the driveway and the neighbors were wondering what the heck I was doing (especially since it was in the high 90's and late afternoon.)  Put the spoon bowl side up and start pounding away.  

Tip:I found that they all flattened differently.  Some got a little curvy in the middle, so I took a regular hammer and gently pounded (can you do that?) the roundness flat.  Next time I'm going to try the hubs vice and see if I can get them totally flat.

Once you have them relatively flat, go inside and nurse the blister on your hand then proceed onto the next step.

Figure out what you want to write (stamp) on the spoons.  Like I said before, I am no gardener so I had to google common herbs.  Silly, I know, but I did.  I wrote my words down the spoon because I was worried about spacing the letters across.  The shorter herbs would have worked fine across.

I marked where my letters were going to go with a dot of the permanent marker before I stamped.  Then stamped the letter, colored over the letters again with the marker and polished it off.

A perfect gift idea for someone who grows their own herbs, mother's day gift, thank you gift or for yourself.  (Maybe I should have stamped "please water me?")  The best part...if you already have a stamping set, these are dirt cheap. (Hee hee :)  You could give them with a live herb, or pot and seeds.

Next I'm going to try to flatten them and bend the handles to make hooks.  Saw that somewhere? and LOVED it!

Jute rope...

Why does a person need 900 feet of jute?  Well, first of all it was 50% off so that's like $0.01 per foot (including tax!)  Secondly, I plan on wrapping a few things with it....and its a great natural summer look!  Lamp bases, lamp shades, wreaths, candlestick, letters, flower pots, frames....hmmm....what else can I wrap???

Book Bundles {quick tutorial}

This was one of the easiest projects to make!  

I ran into Goodwill one morning to see if they had any lampshades.  They were having a 50% off sale, so I grabbed some hardback books.  My 3 year old helped me pick them out.  

 When I got home, in about 10 minutes I turned this...

into this.....

Supplies:

Old hardback books (make sure they don't have markings on the paper edges) 

Jute twine

How to:

Take the dust covers off

Open the front cover and with scissors or an exacto knife (knife works better), separate the cover from the front page by cutting it off.  

Repeat for back.

Repeat for other books.

Stack them together.

Tie jute twine around (like wrapping a present) and knot at the top.  Tie a bow.

Done.

Map Cards and Envelopes

The hubs is in a purging mode.  I have to be sneaky about checking boxes before they head to his trunk, which is why I usually volunteer to take the boxes to donate.  Don't get me wrong, I'm purging too, but I have to make sure the things that leave the house and things I want to leave the house.  Know what I mean?

Anyway....an old NW Map book was in the pile and I rescued it and now I'm turning trash into treasure!  

I few years ago I bought some envelope dies for my Accucut.  I  bought them and once they arrived I though....now what?  I normally use card blanks for my cards and those come with envelopes.  

Hmm...I'm using up some of my random pieces of scrapbook paper...when my mom comes to visit she buys and cuts wrapping paper (cute!)...but what else???  

Enter map book.  

Which is now a stationary set!

I'm selling them here in my etsy shop.