Category: DIY

DIY Dog Toy Box

Between Daisy and Zoee we had too many toys for the toy basket. I needed to figure out something that would help.

I happen to have a cabinet drawer in the shed I painted it with chalk paint.

My husband added the legs which were cut off some we had bought that were too long for another project.

I designed the writing in Paint Shop Pro and printed it out the size I needed. I transferred it using graphite paper and tracing it. I found a free dog print online and did the same thing to it. I painted the writing and outlined it in a sharpie. I painted the dog prints but sprinkled a Prisma glitter into the wet paint.

This would also work for children to have something in a den to put toys in.

They seem to like it but they have not grasped the fact they should put back the toys they drag out.

Doggie Toy Box

 

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Texas Star

I have had this Texas Star for at least 10 years.

We repaint it every few years to keep it from rusting away.

It goes on the front of the house on the add/ on side that is Hardiplank. I love it there because it shows up really good.

As you can see it needs a new paint job I normally use Rustoleum flat black on it.

At our house we are always doing projects right now we are repainting our house, adding the new cedar shutters Jack built and doing some minor repairs. It is a big job but it needed to be done.

I will post some pictures soon.

Texas Star

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DIY Headboard Footboard/ Bench

We had this headboard and footboard already it was a queen size.

I wanted to make a swing out of it using as much of the materials as possible including the support boards.

Jack said it would be too heavy for that so we ended up doing a bench instead.

I wanted to leave the headboard as tall as we could for a statement piece.

I love the way this turned out.

This can be done with any headboard and footboard.

Anything we can recycle, repurpose and DIY I love.

headboardfootboardbench

 

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DIY Vases

This project is super easy the drying time is what takes the longest.

Blow up a balloon put it in a bucket or something to hold it still.

Cut newspaper into squares dip those into Elmer’s Glue and water or Modge Podge.

Cover the entire balloon except at the area at the top where the tye is. Apply with two good coats of the paper making sure all the edges are down good. Let dry overnight. Rotate the balloon to get all sides.

Mix up plaster of Paris sort of thick and paint all over the balloon. Let dry and reapply let that dry overnight.

The next day pop the balloon and decide how big you want the opening and just cut it with some old scissors.

Mix up some plaster of Paris and add to the inside of the vase to make it waterproof. This will take a while to dry but in the meantime, you can paint the outside.

I used metallic acrylics because they come in so many great colors. Apply like you want them trying not to cover one area too much with one color unless your only doing one color.

The stuff in my vases was weeds and things I picked in the pasture and dried out. I sprayed with clear spray to help with the shedding.

This is a great project to do with kids and very inexpensive.

Supplies Needed:

Newspaper

Plaster of Paris

Modge Podge or Elmers Glue

Balloon

Paint

vases2

 

 

 

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DIY coasters

I have been making coasters out of wood, concrete, and plaster.

My crafting or DIY is one way I can keep my mind active since I am getting older.

The plaster ones tend to get bumped and the paint chips off I have not figured out the solution to this yet.

The concrete ones are great and seem to have no issues.

The wooden ones my husband cut out of cedar fence pickets. Hobby Lobby sales a set of 4 for $3.99 and the pickets were $2.50 each we got about 12 coasters out of a picket.

I tied them with twine and they look so cute.

I start making these things and before I know it I have so many who knows what I will do them with all lol.

Maybe I will try and sale some stuff after I get plenty of them made.

I used metallic paints because I love them so much and they come in so many colors. As you can see I stenciled some, painted some, taped some for stripes and monogrammed some.

Who knows maybe I can sell some of these.

Coasters2Coasters1

 

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Tray DIY

My sister Sheri found these room service trays and she gave me three of them. These were very heavy and quite large.

I have used my DIY skills and challenged myself to get creative. So far I have completed two of the trays. I want to do them all different.

The first one is done using tile, grout and mirror flakes used for vases and epoxy which by the way was quite a challenge for us. Once we figured out why it was not getting hard we sanded it and tried one more time and it worked. There is only one low spot in the whole tray. The first challenge we had was how to get the flakes in just the areas I wanted without moving. We poured a small amount of epoxy into the side areas then waited a little bit and sprinkled in the mirror flakes. We then waited until the epoxy dried before we poured anymore over it.

The second one I painted with a mix of brown and grey and I used Modge Podge and kept coating it letting it dry in between the coats. I think I did about 5 or 6 coats. My grandmother always told us when we were kids that the key to decoupage is light even coats until no edges can be felt. I found these postcards a few years ago on eBay and they worked out great for this.

The black one is my favorite I think its the sparkly mirror stones, the glitzy glamour look. and the epoxy shine. It goes with nothing in our house but I love it.

Tray1Tray2

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DIY again

I love crafting stuff and especially doing DIY stuff.

I found some prints I fell in love with and my original plan was to mount them on canvas that was until I found this old headboard.

I have not seen anyone do this exact thing so I wanted it to look perfect.

My mind started working overtime. I knew I wanted grey chalk paint so I mixed up my own using plaster of Paris and a Valspar sample from Lowes. When using chalk paint no sanding is needed.

I put two coats of the grey paint on letting it dry for a few days in between then I sanded it lightly by hand and waxed it using Minwax finishing paste wax. I waited awhile and buffed it out using a clean soft cloth.

The prints could have been put directly on the headboard BUT I wanted to add dimension without using traditional matt techniques. I bought the whole piece of matt board for $9.00 at Hobby Lobby and my husband and I figured up the spacing between the prints vs the spacing around the prints. We cut out matt board to go behind the prints. Placing the prints directly on top of the matt board. The prints are 11″ x 14″.

Last year after the Christmas holidays I found this cotton streamer on clearance for like $3.00 I snatched it up knowing I would find a use for it. I love clearance.

Now I have a new wall hanging for our dining room wall and I love it. This might just be my all-time favorite DIY.

Cotton1Cotton2

 

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Hypertufa

Hypertufa is a rock like concrete planter that is much lighter than straight concrete.

Anything from a plastic container, flower pot, stainless steel bowl, plastic bowl, boxes etc can be your molds.

All the supplies are available for about $20.00 – $25.00 and this is plenty to make probably 6 – 8 things depending on the size.

The first batch I tried equal parts of Portland Cement, Peat Moss, and Perlite. I found this to be a bit too crumbly.

Next, I tried 1 1/2 times Portland Cement to 1 part everything else and this seemed to work out better. Let it sit for a few minutes to see if the texture is sort of like oatmeal add more dry ingredients or more water to get it the right consistency.

Spray molds with a nonstick spray and start putting in the mixture molding it to the sides and bottom as you go. It is sort of like a texture type clay mixture.

Place it in the bag for 48 hrs turn the mold over gently to release on a flat surface let dry another 24 hours. Then place in the sun for a week or so. After that soak it in water overnight and then it is ready to plant in.

Notice all the textures that show up in this planter it makes for a very natural looking container that is very lightweight. The Aloe Vera is very happy in it.

I will be making a few more things now that I have the ratio figured out correctly. I want to do a big trough.

Hypertufa3Hypertufa2Hypertufa1

 

 

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New swing

My sister’s neighbors were throwing away this old glider, and 4 metal chairs. They were all very rusted and needed some new bolts some TLC and some paint.

We snagged them all and decided to make the glider into a swing. The only issue is we have had to move the chains several times because it was bucking us out lol. I think finally we have it where it needs to be which is different than this picture.

One chair of the four has been painted and it’s a moss green I am not sure what colors the rest of the chairs will be. They just do not make chairs like this anymore the new ones that are similar are not near as heavy.

You know what they say one person’s trash is another person treasure.

Swing

 

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DIY – Concrete projects

I LOVE playing with concrete even though its hard to mix up and pour.

Recently I have been making stepping stones.
I buy the glass marble flat rocks for decoration they are cheapest at the dollar store.
The square mosaic tiles come in a sheet at Lowes and Home Depot.
To start out I bought a large plastic food tray at Walmart in the summer stuff, and some metal bowl pans in the dog section. I had a few plastic buckets from the dollar store to use.

Instructions:
Spray your mold with any nonstick cooking spray.
Mix up your sakrete as directed.
Pour some into the mold, then add the wire then pour the rest.
Let it sit 15 – 20 minutes and add the stones if they sink wait a bit longer.
Let dry overnight and they fall right out of the molds due to using the nonstick spray.

If you want to make a flower pot you will need a mold and something as the insert which will have to be weighted down. Use the nonstick cooking spray on the outside of what you are inserting in the middle and spray your mold just like before. I used some square containers and then inserted the plastic flower pots and weighted them down with rocks.
Wait about the same amount of time to insert your stones as above. You can use rocks like I used on the bigger one. Let dry overnight and both of the molds should pop right out. I made a mistake and did not allow for the drainage holes so make sure to do that first.

You can get about 4 stepping stones per bag of sakcrete maybe 5 if you do the smaller ones.

I love anything DIY and playing with concrete is fun and inexpensive.

Steppingstones1Stepping Stones 2Concrete Planters

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