Spice Rack Paint Storage Mini Makeover

While laying in bed one night, an idea hit me. Does that happen to anyone else? I think I need to keep a notepad next to my bed. I'll have a great idea then fall asleep and when I wake up, all that I can remember is that I had a great idea, but do not remember what it was. Anyways, I remembered this one.

I "upcycled" an old spice rack by painting it white and hanging it in my shop to hold my small bottles of acrylic paints. It's size works perfectly!

Here's an updated pic of the outside of my shop, that my husband and I built this past fall and winter. It looks a little different now then when were building the greenhouse boxes on the back. 

Spice racks always seem to pop up at thrift stores or yard sales for pennies. Have you used an old spice rack for something other than holding spices. I'd love to hear about your ideas, because I have a few stored away still.

Have a great day!

'til next time,

Adina

Burlap & Wood Love Frame Collage

I've been imagining this one for a while now and am happy to be able to finally show it off! The inspiration came from all of the different collage frames and frame gallery walls that seem to be everywhere lately. 

After a trip to Goodwill and $4 later I was well on my way to starting my frame collage.

I had black primer and black spray paint on hand already, so I gave the mismatched frames a couple coats of each.

Much to my dismay, when I asked my husband for help gluing the frames together, he told me I should've glued them before painting them. Apparently wood glue doesn't adhere to paint very well. I had to sand the paint off of the edges of the frames before I glued them together. Once I finished sanding the edges, I just needed to come up with a design and glue them together. He was kind enough to let me borrow his wood glue and his clamps.

Two days later I removed the clamps and used a small brad nail gun to shoot small nails through the portions of the frames that were glued, just as an extra step to make sure that the collage was good and sturdy. I had to spray paint them again to cover the edges that I had sanded.

In the meantime, while the frames were drying, I cut pieces of scrap burlap to fit the cardboard backs of four of the frames and glued the burlap onto the cardboard with spray adhesive.

Now I have a secure frame collage and burlap pieces for the four frames that I want to spell LOVE and two empty frames for pictures.

I decided to find a font online and print the letters LOVE on a manilla file to create my own stencils.

I cut the letters out of the manilla files with an exacto knife and painted the letters on the burlap cardboard pieces with black acrylic paint and a sponge brush. Now all I had to do was wait for the black paint to dry on the burlap, attach a sawtooth hanger on the collage, clean the glass pieces, print two pictures and put the frames back together.

The entire collage measures 27" across and 20" tall. There are four 5x7 frames and one 4x6 frame. The total out of pocket cost was $4.

I already have frames to make another one with the word FAMILY. I'm debating using vinyl letters directly on the glass without the cardboard backing. Tons of possibilities with this one. You can even use an already made frame collage to save time. I've seen them at Old Time Pottery and Wal-mart for as low as $10. I've thought about using scrapbook paper with solid color letters over it in the frames as well, with color coordinated paint on the frames to match the scrapbook paper.

Let me know what you think.

'til next time,

Adina

Linking to

Metamorphosis Monday at betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

uncommonly-yours-link-party-28 at Uncommon Designs

 

Cabin Chronicles Part 4

Now that the cabin is under roof, it is time to start closing it in. I will apologize in advance for not having the foresight to always have a camera with me. There are a few steps that do not have "during" pictures.

I'm going to back up to Part 3 for a minute. While we were building rafters to support the roof tin we also framed out the upstairs loft walls.

Here's a view from the inside downstairs looking out of the front door.

At this point, I was beginning to have my "moments". I didn't think we would ever get finished with this project. I did not sign up for this. I really wanted my beach life back. Playing in the ocean seemed so much more enticing than spending another weekend in the blistering sun or freezing cold with a hammer and a saw. As discouragement was setting in, my husband shows up with a pair of rocking chairs for the front porch. WHY? Why rocking chairs and why now? If only they were beach chairs. He did have a reason. He sat me down in one of the chairs and had me envision what it would be like to be sitting here, one day, when the construction was complete. I guess it helped a little, if I closed my eyes really tight.

Enough dreaming, back to measuring and cutting.

We had purchased old windows that we refurbished for use in the cabin and needed to cut openings to fit two smaller windows on both sides of the chimney upstairs along with a larger window for the opposite wall upstairs. We also needed to cut four openings downstairs in the log walls to fit two windows on each side of the cabin. Once the openings were cut out we framed them in 2x6 lumber and hung the old windows. We also framed the openings for the front and back doors with 2x6 lumber and installed both doors.

This is the part with the missing pictures, so here are a couple that you can see the front and back doors in, however, the chinking in between the logs is already done in these pics and we haven't really done it yet.

Now we were able to start closing in the upstairs walls with really heavy, thick plywood and then we proceeded to cut battons to add some character to the plywood walls. Then we went on a hunt for a stain that would closely match the log color and were not successful at finding any, so we mix our own blend of three different colors to achieve what we thought was a pretty good match. We painted the plywood and battons with our stain blend with a couple of coats to make sure it was sealed and protected.

Maybe you can pretend that the chinking isn't completed in the above picture also, because I do not have pics of these steps. Although I probably should have. My husband, who is deathly afraid of heights and myself trying to balance large sheets of plywood on ladders with hammers. I bet it was a sight:)

The next step to close the cabin in is the chinking and I will share that with you next time.

Thanks again for following along. I hope you have a great weekend and remember, if you get discouraged in the midst of a huge undertaking, stop and daydream a little about the end result of your hard work. It actually does help to picture it complete and imagine the sense of accomplishment you will feel then:)

 

Sometimes it helps to look back at where you started to see just how far you've come. If you'd like to look back to where we started go to Part 1.

 

'til next time

Adina

Part 5

Quick Garden Freebies

Celery and scallions for free!

I work part-time at a restaurant and decided to try a tip that I had read a while back. Place the end that you cut off of your celery stalk and scallions in water to grow another plant. I am able to have both of these items from the restaurant anytime, for free, because they normally just get tossed into the trash.

I used a ramekin and toothpicks for this project. It reminds me of growing carrots in a paper cup with toothpicks in elementary school:) These are the results after a week in the water! This is so much easier than starting them from seed and a lot faster too.

The celery is just starting to grow roots and the scallions have plenty of root growth already, so I'm planning to move them into the soil in the garden this weekend.

Do you have any easy garden tips? I'll take all of the help I can get as a newbie gardener.

'til next time,

Adina


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