Tuesday, June 28, 2011

DIY Wednesday: Garden Ornaments

Hello!

Welcome if you're new to my blog! Thank you for reading. I really appreciate anyone that can use what I blog to make something beautiful!

This week's tutorial is from a guest blog I did for Boone-Ames Macaroni Kid Newsletter. (Please subscribe to their newsletter if you're in the area...they have great family friendly activities!)

This project has great possibilities as garden ornaments, bird feeders, bird baths, cupcake stands, centerpieces...whatever you can think of, you can use this for!

Click here for a printable PDF tutorial.
Link
Glass Plate Garden Ornaments




Supplies:

Various Glass Ornaments & Vases (I got all mine for less than $2.00!)
Epoxy Glue (5.00 for an entire bottle, but you will only use half)
Rubbing Alcohol
Plastic Gloves



Total for Project: Under $5.00


Directions:

Step One: Play Around

If you’re like me, you’ve collected your glass pieces over a period of time. You probably didn’t have a specific design in place when you started to pick things up.

When I was looking for items, I made sure I looked for both flat (serving plates) and tall pieces (vases, ice cream bowls, cups, candlesticks). I also found some glass insulators from old trains and used that in one of my pieces. (So think outside the box!) I have an infinitely for milk glass so I also included that into the mix. Think old china too. Estate sales and garage sales are fantastic places to look.

Once you have all your pieces, start playing around with how you want to stack them. Keep this in mind: you are going to want to, if you’re able, create a place for a stake to go from the ground into the first item you stack. This will make your piece more stable and allow you to go even taller. My stacks didn’t quite work out that way.



Step Two: Prepare Your Surface

You will want to make sure that the surface that you’re applying glue to is clean. In order to do this, you will want to use some rubbing alcohol to clean everything that is going to receive glue. Let the surface dry completely before moving on to gluing.

Step Three: Glue Everything Together

You are going to use an ultra strong epoxy to glue everything together. You will want to look at the instructions on the package to make sure the epoxy is made for this purpose. Seems like common sense, but when I worked retail there were so many people that returned items simply because they didn’t read the label.

This epoxy is super glue on steroids. You will want to be extra careful with the application. Especially if you’re like me and get glue everywhere! Grab some gloves and some plastic to cover your space.

Working from bottom to top, glue two pieces together at a time. Follow the directions on the label; for example, my epoxy was set at 6 minutes. So after the epoxy was set, I would move on to the next item.

Apply epoxy to both items, not just one. This will make the bond stronger. It’s important that you use epoxy. Glues such as hot glue or gorilla glue will melt in the summer sun. The resin from the epoxy should not. You may want something like an old paintbrush or a pencil to spread out the resign. I used the applicator, but it ended up getting gunked up.



Step Four: Dry & Display

Allow your creation to dry for the time indicated by the epoxy instructions. Your ornament is done! Enjoy your work of art.





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Monday, June 27, 2011

The Junk Express: Third Stop Red Barn Rustics

Hi!

Whew, it was along journey, but here's the last post on the junk sale that took place in Boone, Iowa this last weekend. It was so fun to see all the unique items that were found and got good homes instead of being sent to the dump!

The last stop was Red Barn Rustics. As you may have guessed it, the sale took place in a old red barn. All the items were really unique and fun, but the one item I fell in love with was an old greenish-blue wood island. If I would have been in a different house, I would have bought it in a heart beat. I literally called my husband begging to get it, but we both knew we just don't have a kitchen for an island.

Make sure to check out Red Barn Rustic's blog, follow her to get all the sale dates and while you're at it, follow us on Facebook!

Enjoy!


Here's the table I fell in love with. Unfortunately this pictures doesn't do it justice. Red Barn Rustics has a much better picture. It was beautiful!


It's was quite solid too.


Cute night stands!


I love old windows and this one is beautiful!


A "chippy" table! Love it


I love this old wash basins. My mother-in-law has a duel tub one and spray painted the base a fun green and uses it for parties to cool beverages (really nice since there is a built in drain). If you bought this, it's a great idea for it!


Welcome to the barn! I love the welcome sign.



Such cute chairs! Love the fabric too.


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Junk Express: Second Stop Junk Refunkery

Hey Everyone,

It's time for some more awesome junk! The second stop on the Junk Express is the Junk Refunkery. This Junk Refunkery is located right outside town in this really neat barn. At 10 am on Saturday, this place was hoppin' (to say it mildly) and for good reason.

What I loved was there was so much to see! I mean you could take an hour just wandering around and enjoying all the cool finds. I almost wish that I could have known where each item came from and if there was a story with it! (That would be a cool idea to put on the tags!)

Any who, enjoy some fun junk, like Junk Refunkery on Facebook to get future sale dates and while you're at it, like us too! :)

On a side note, thank you to the 200 people that have read my blog in the last couple of days and the 6,000 of you that visited in the last month! I'm truly blessed that anyone is remotely interested in reading anything I've wrote or done! Thank you so much! I love to share my projects, and give people tutorials on how to start their own projects!

Anyways, on to the fun junk!



How can you not love this bed? I just love the color. I could base an entire house on that color! It reminds me of a cottage on the beach! When I saw it, I started thinking...where can I put this? Unfortunately I have no where to put it...some day! (Not to mention that bench fits right in at the end of the bed)


Unique planter holder. I could visualize this in my mother-in-law's garden.


I love what the plant baskets/buckets are hanging from! It's beautiful! (not to mention that fun table!)


I love this table. Was it a former work bench? It would work really cool as a kitchen island.


My mother in law did this with an old scale. It's so cool. I read a description online stating this kind of paint is "chippy"....I love it! I love "chippy" paint! (aka rust ha!)


Need a giant letter? There were a couple at the sale. This piece brings two questions to mind, 1) Where in the heck do you find a letter like this? and 2) Where could I put it (and is there a B somewhere?)...Really fun urban accent.


I have a severe crush on this serving tray. I want a metal serving tray for outside. But I don't have patio furniture yet, and I should probably wait for that before getting other furniture. But remember that awesome red stool I got at a garage sale a few weeks ago? This would match perfectly. I walked past it four or five times and ultimately decided to pass. (with a heart breaking :)


Lots of people were loving this table! When I stood in line to buy my jewelry holder, everyone was chatting about it. Really neat table.


More really cool letters!


I love painted chairs with a new fabric seat.


In addition to all that neat cool junk, I got my own jewelry holder at Junk Refunkery.

I have a little notebook I carry with me, and it's full of ideas and lists. One of the lists is junky things I want to find. A jewelry holder was on the list so I allowed myself to purchase it. :)

It turned out so cool!






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Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Junk Express: First Stop Once Was

Everyone!

I had a busy morning going around and seeing all the different junk sales going on around here. When I read about these sales on Facebook, I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to see. I knew it involved junk, but what exactly would be for sale? Would the junk already be dressed up with paint or something? Or would it just be natural? What kind of stuff would they have? The mystery caused me to pull my one year old daughter out of bed and drag her around to three different sales. (I've never seen anything like this in South Dakota...but maybe I just wasn't looking? Iowa after all is the land of the American Pickers)

I have to say, it was quite awesome. I made a vow to myself before I left the house: If I don't know an exact place to put someone, I'm not going to get it. This was a good ground rule; otherwise I would have been coming home with car loads of stuff. I mean, this stuff was that much fun. It was like going to three garage sales and there only being good stuff. No actual junk (lots of fun junk).

I did ask the nice people running these three sales if I could cover their sale for my blog. They allowed me to take pictures. I should preface it with I forgot my camera when I intially went out, so I had to come back a few hours later to take pictures. This was both a good and bad thing. I missed some of the more popular things since they were purchased, but a second look made me notice things I looked over before.

The first stop on the Junk Express: Once Was on Linn Street in Boone.

FYI. Once Was is going to be open for business tomorrow again. (As well as Junk Refunkery on 205th St in Boone. That was my second stop, and I'll be blogging about it tomorrow)

The first thing I noticed when I walked up to Once Was was all the awesome furniture. I love furniture, and I especially loved this furniture with its character and love. My favorite item (that was gone when I came back) was a bright yellow serving tray. I don't have any patio furniture yet, and I could bring myself to purchasing it...and I, of course, regret that decision.

(Let that be a lesson to the rest of you! This stuff gets snatched up quickly!)


A pretty green desk and white chair. I love the finish on this furniture. It's soft, but still modern.


I didn't notice this table the first time through! It's really neat.


I love this ice chest! It's so unique.


You know I love outdoor furniture (yet own none...go figure)



I saw this piece right when I walked up. It's so cool for so many reasons. One the color is great. Plus, if you can notice, there is a really neat webbing detailed inside it and three it's got a retro feel too.


I love this old filing cabinet. I was thinking it would make a great end table!

I'd like to thank the artists that collect this great junk, gave it a bit of love and were so generous to allow me to photograph it! It was so nice they all worked together and scheduled sales the same day. It made the experience even better! I also appreciated the chance to see some members of the community out and about.


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Friday, June 24, 2011

My Friday Fun

Hi There!

I just had to share some projects I have going on.

My craft ADD reared it's ugly head today. I first decided I needed to sand the dresser I got a couple of weekends ago since it was blocking the door. I then figured that I may as well grab this old door I'm going to turn into a craft display since it needs to be sanded. I open the shed, and see the old windows I picked up. May as well grab those too. Then, I see the stained glass window I got from my parents. Probably should grab that. Oh and the two ladders I got from the side of the shed. Well heck, I may as well grab the two boards I had set aside for growth charts.

So my 1 project turned into 8 projects. How does this always happen? So I did a ton of sanding and power washing today.

Tomorrow's goal is priming (if the weather cooperates) and then painting this week. My other goal tomorrow going to two different sales "Junkin' in June" and Junk Refunkery...a sale of awesome junk turned treasure! Check out their respective sites for more information! I will blog if I purchase anything. My sure my husband would rather I didn't, but who can resist cute junk? Not I.


My dresser find from a few weekends ago freshly sanded. Now for some primer!


Old windows. The stained glass one has sentamental value to me since it was from my last house and LOVED that tiny house. I have some plans for these finds. They just got the heck washed out of them today.


The old door left in our shed from our landlord (I got permission to use it)...It's going to be used in my craft show display/consignment show display (haven't decided which one yet). The two ladders were also free finds and were REALLY dirty. I washed the heck out of them. One is going to hold quilts in our living room. I haven't decided what to do with the other one yet. Might be a craft show display too.


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