Tea-Pot Bird House

Do you have a tea-pot that has a crack, chip or missing the lid?  Why not make a bird house !!  If you follow my blog, you know I am addicted to this drill bit by Hitachi, found at your local hardware store.  This drill bit works great on ceramics and glass and comes in many sizes, and it seems to never dull, my bits are about 3 years old.

Supplies needed:

• Teapot
• Drill Bit
• Water (optional)
• Moss

I drill ceramics and glass under water, keeps the bit cool and avoids cracks and breakage.  I also like to put a piece of packing tape on the area I am going to drill, so the bit doesn’t slip off my target.  I drilled a hole in the bottom of the tea-pot and added some nesting material, moss, and hung from a tree.  I had my binoculars ready, waiting for my new friends to move in and one moved in, but not what I expected.  How did he get in there?

Last August I posted another use for your tea-pots in the garden, I couldn’t wait to bring it back out this year.  http://www.aponytailkindofday.com/2012/08/13/garden-tea-party/

Have an ugly stump in your yard?  Why not use it for a planter?

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Create a solar chandelier for your garden

I stopped at my favorite Goodwill store the other day and found a cute, broken chandelier, and instantly knew what I wanted to do with it.  I have been wanting an outdoor solar chandelier for a long time, I had already purchased the lights at the dollar store, but didn’t see a light that I thought would fit my style.  Until now !!

I started working on it immediately, I stripped out the electrical wires and lights and cleaned up the metal and porcelain.  I glued the tops of the solar lights to the fixtures and hung it from a branch over a table I have under a tree.  I couldn’t wait until it turned dark !

In the dark..

This little broken ugly old chandelier has found new purpose and adds a romantic and beautiful addition to my eclectic backyard.  This is one of my favorite repurpose projects and all for around 10 dollars.  Did I mention, I love it !!

Split Pea Wreaths

I love wreaths !  I change my wreaths often and that can be expensive, so when I saw the split pea wreaths on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one, or two…..or three 🙂  I started with one, and I have to tell you, they are messy.  Split peas bounce, even with a tray underneath my work area, they went everywhere.

I had everything I needed in the house, here is the list for 1 small wreath

• dry split peas, 2 bags per small wreath
• Mod Podge
• clear spray acrylic, I like Mod Podge brand
• small wreath form
• paint brush
• tray, to hold the peas

I first tried using a hot glue gun, but didn’t like the way it was coming out, and I also burned myself several times pressing the peas into the glue.  Place your  wreath in a container with peas.  Apply Mod Podge to a section of the wreath, apply peas and press the peas into the glue.  Do not go cheap on the glue, Mod Podge is thick and worth every cent.  Move on to another section and continue until the wreath is covered.  Since I made 3 wreaths,  I found that completing a side and letting it dry for 30 minutes before going to another side works best.  Did I mention that this wasn’t a quick project?  I let the wreath dry overnight and applied the spray acrylic the next day.

I wanted to hang mine on my fireplace, and I wanted it to hang down.  I  first tried burlap bows, but it didn’t seem springy, so I took a pink plaid pillow case and made ribbon out of it.

Even though I glued everything well and sprayed the wreaths with spray acrylic, twice, peas still fell off when I was hanging them.  That didn’t stop me, I had to make three !!

 

Easter isn’t Easter without dressing up my Geese 🙂

Dictionary Print Flowers

Here is a fun way to add some dimension and interest to gifts, frames and cork boards.

I can’t resist playing with dictionary pages.  I have a die cut machine, Sizzix Big Kick, and it makes cutting shapes so easy.  This isn’t an ad for Sizzix, but with Joann’s 40 percent off a regular price item and their 25 percent off your entire purchase, you can pick the machine up for under $50.00, and I use it often.  It does die cuts and also embosses, wait until you see my soda can that I embossed with it!!

I made some fans, cut out some petals and circles and added some buttons.

I tried a tinting technique I have been reading about, I think it will look better on my next try 🙂

 

 

I can’t wait to glue them on tacks and add them to my corkboard.   Next time you see a worn out book and want to throw it away, or that loose button that you don’t remember what it went to, save it and decorate a package with it 🙂

Easy Jelly Bean and Tulip Centerpiece

How cute and easy is this jelly bean Easter centerpiece? Use fake flowers, or use real flowers by placing a smaller vase with water in the middle and filling in the gap between the two vases with jelly beans.

 

Supplies:

• 2 nesting glass vases or containers (such as a drinking glass), one shorter and at least an inch narrower.   I used a square container and a salsa jar
• Jelly Beans
• Fresh or fake flowers, I use fake because I have animals and I never know what is poisonous

I inserted the smaller vase inside, then filled the gap with my jelly beans.  Finally, I placed a bouquet of tulips in the salsa jar and that is all there is to it.

I hope my guests enjoy my Easter centerpiece as much as I do 🙂

 

Soda Bottle Make-Over and Storage

This saying describes my life !!  When you love to explore, create and try new things, clutter happens.  I was reading a Pinterest post, and had a thought. A friend dropped off her recycling and there were 6 2 liter bottles in it and I have tons of contact paper and vinyl on tubes and not a great place to store them.    Solution?

I cut the tops off of the bottles, drilled a hole in the bottom and screwed them to the wall……

The tops that I cut off make great funnels, but I don’t need 6 of them, so I will have to think of something functional for them 🙂

Excuse the clutter in my office 🙂  This is what happens when you work from home !

5 minute Apothecary Jars

Apothecary jars are a fun way to display everything from cotton balls in your bathroom to Easter Candy on your dessert table.  All you need is a glass candle holder, a glass jar with a lid and E6000.  You probably already have what need in the back of that cupboard where things get lost, yes, we all have that cupboard.

Supplies

 

I saw a video online that shows you how to make it in 15 seconds, basically you apply E6000 on the candle holder, put the jar on top and let dry.  That’s it, Easy Peasy ! I filled my jars with Easter Candy to display on my dessert table.  I found candy button strips at the dollar store today and instantly went back to when I was in grade school and would stop at the penny candy store.

Happy Crafting !

DIY Teacup Bird Feeder

Spring is just around the corner and anyone that follows my blog knows that I love decorating outside.  I found a cute set of dishes at Goodwill for a few dollars and decided to make a few teacup bird feeders.  This will be the easiest bird feeder you will ever make.

Every house should have a tube of E6000 and who doesn’t have a teacup with a chip in it.  I made sure the cup and saucer were clean, and after I figured out where they would be glued together, I lightly sanded the areas.  I applied the E6000 and let dry for 24 hours.

Supplies

 

That’s it, just add bird seed.  I wish I had a picture of the feeder hanging in a tree, but I didn’t want to plow through the snow to get to a tree 🙂

Teacup Bird Feeder

This DIY is so fun and easy to make, and the birds like them too. Hope you enjoy making this sweet little craft!

Happy Crafting!

 

 

During My Break From Blogging…

I realize it has been over a month since my last blog post.   My intention was not to stop blogging, but it just sort of happened. There’s been plenty to blog about, but I haven’t felt like spending much time on the computer lately. You know what? It’s been sort of nice.   There are times when you just need to step away from technology and spend more time with people. The last month has been that kind of time for me, and it was good.

I have been playing with a new machine I bought, a Silhouette cutting machine.  I initially bought it for cutting cards and shapes, but never realized what amazing things it can do.  I took on a challenge to see what I could do with a roll of contact paper from the dollar store.  Living in a log home makes decorating walls difficult, but I have two interior walls that have painted sheetrock, so I can play with color.  So I was considering a wall graphic. you know … those big stickers for the wall. anyway, i go back and forth on whether i like them.  The Silhouette comes with a graphic program that allows you to import graphics and then it sends it to the cutting machine, cutting out the design on whatever you have inserted into the machine.  I started with birds on a branch, and I have to admit, I was quite impressed with how easily it was to apply.

Birds on a Branch

 

and I couldn’t help myself, I have to cut out another one….

 

Wash, Brush, Floss and Flush

 

I barely used anything from my dollar store roll of contact paper, and after researching online what these decals would cost, I am tickled pink !!  I still don’t know if I like wall decals, but with vinyl decals,  you can remove them easily.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

I LOVE my local Goodwill store…..

I know that I have mentioned this before, but it is worth mentioning again, I have the best Goodwill store ever!

I went for my weekly visit, and I noticed a set of 6 ladder back chairs.  Everyone that knows me, knows I have an addiction to chairs, I have them everywhere, seriously, everywhere.  I have chairs hanging in trees, decorated in gardens, mounted to walls, in every corner, stored in my cellar and attic, as well as a warehouse we have.  I took at good look at the 6 chairs, and they needed work, each needed to have a new seat, but the price was 14.99 a chair, so I passed on the chairs.

I continued looking around and decided to look at the chairs again, and they weren’t 14.99 a chair, it was for the set.  If you know anything about Goodwill stores, they have colored tags and everyday they have a special color tag that is half off, and today was a green day and my chairs had green tags. Now my 14.99 chairs are 7.50 a set, and with my senior discount they are 6.75 a set.  SOLD

Now the adventure begins….

I am very fortunate to have a store locally that sells  chair repairs supplies.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough rush to redo all six chairs, so she recommended flat reed splint seats.  I can cane and rush, but have never tried splint seats, but I have woven hundreds of baskets, so I was ready for the challenge.  I found many videos on YouTube and many sites with different patterns, but I couldn’t make up my mind on patterns.  The solution was easy, 6 chairs, 6 different patterns, how much fun will this be !

I don’t know if I am going to leave them natural or add a little tint to them, I guess  I will figure that out when I finish them all.

This has to be the best 6.75 I have ever spent..