Potting Bench Makeover

Remember this great bench Steel and I garbage picked found??  Well, it got a makeover!

It was in pretty bad shape and needed some cleaning.  I found this wood cleaner in the garage that would do the job.  I hear that vinegar will do the job as well but might as well use up the wood cleaner.  I mixed with water in a bucket.  I didn't pay too much attention to the directions of measuring out 1 part clear to 5 parts water.  I just poured.

Just a few strokes with the nylon scrub brush and I could see that it was working and working well.

I scrubbed down the whole bench and let it sit for 20 minutes and hosed it off.

I gave it a few days to dry...

Then...
I grabbed some Krylon Watermelon...

and sprayed away, following up with a hand sander...

My plans were to stain over top of my freshly painted and sanded project.  This would stain the bare wood.  

I had to put my project on hold due to time constraints and other time consuming demands.  My project sat on the top of our hill for a couple weeks and the more I looked at it, the more I DID NOT like the color watermelon!  I think watermelon is a nice enough color and all but not for this particular Potting Bench.

I decided to grab some Krylon Ballet Slipper and White...

I sprayed and sprayed...  

I can't tell you details of how I sprayed but I tried to give the same effect as I got when I sanded (using the watermelon).  This took a lot of trial and error.  This was more of an experiment than anything else.

Having the watermelon underneath was a nice effect, as it showed through in lightly sprayed areas.

I am over all pleased with the way it turned out.

Silicone Wristband Turned Key Fob

Saw this great idea at Dollar Store Mom and had to give it a whirl just needed some wristbands.  Imagine my surprise when Steel's football coach passed some out at his first practice a few weeks back.  I found some extra key rings in our key basket, I just needed to pick up some brads at the craft store.  

Click Read More for the How To...

Puppy Treat Jar

We were in need of a Puppy Treat Jar.  The container that our pretzels came it was the perfect size.  I cut out vinyl lettering on my Silhouette and transferred it to the container.

Check out my Pocket Finds Jar for a step by step tutorial.  

Potting Bench

We were driving down the street and saw this great weathered bench 4 or 5 houses down sitting on the side of the road.  Well, we were on our way out and I hoped that it would still be there on the way home.  It was!  However, the hub was no longer with me.  I told Steel that I wanted it and hoped that Daddy would be home soon so he could help me grab it.  Steel told me that he could help me carry it.  (Steel is 6.)  Well, after I thought about it, I decided we could walk down and see how heavy it was.  Not too bad!  Yes, I had my 6 year old help me garbage pick!  Technically, it wasn't garbage picking because it wasn't garbage day, right?

I am so excited.  I plan on putting this behind the garage and using it as a potting bench.  I'm kind of  thinking that, that is what it is supposed to be used for?  I just need to decide if I should stain it, or possibly white wash it.  What about turquoise blue washing it to give it a nice blue hue?  Should I see if I can clean the grayed appearance of it first?  Some help with ideas would be greatly appreciated!  I would like to protect it in some fashion so that I can use it for a few years.  It's a little wobbly and needs a little TLC but I think it will be great!!!

Ice Cream Stache

This may be a bit late in the game (seeings how the excitement of the ice cream truck has fizzled in our house) but I had this empty OxiClean container and decided to use it to stache cash for the ice cream truck.  I just had to jump on the Stache bandwagon.  lol.  It's kinda hard to get a good pic when the words are wrapping around the container, but you get the idea...

I designed the lettering with my Silhouette Studio, cut it out in vinyl (imagine me doing that!) and stuck it on an empty OxiClean container.  

Suncatcher Windchimes

I got my inspiration from www.crafter.org.  I took it one step further and made windchimes with our suncatchers.  This is a super easy project if you can tolerate the funky smell coming from your oven.  lol.  It's a bit weird but, it's over quickly and I sprayed some air freshener afterwards and all was good.  I would suggest putting them in the oven and spending some time outdoors while they are in the oven, just remember to take your kitchen timer with you!!!  

Click Read More for the How To...

Make Your Own Laundry Soap - Dry Version

I prefer this to the liquid version.  It is much easier to make and lasts much longer.  And you don't have to worry about the temperature of the water and the gelling of the soap, etc.  I made several batches of the liquid and each turned out a bit different in consistency, it was quite puzzling.

I have a front loading washer that has a drawer to pull out to fill with detergent and I thought that I could only add liquid soap.  I was wrong.  A friend told me that she used dry in front loader's soap drawer and the game was on!  I absolutely love this soap and it's so cheap.  I haven't bothered to figure out the savings but I have yet to buy more of any of the ingredients and I've been making my own soap for 4 months.  All of the ingredients totaled less than $10 and I have made 3 batches of liquid and 1 batch of the dry.  That's good enough for me!

See liquid version post here.



Ingredients
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1 1/2 cup Borax
1 1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 1/2 cup OxiClean
(All ingredients were purchased at Walmart in the detergent aisle and conveniently located next to each other.)

 

How I Did It

1.  I chopped the bar of fels naptha into small-ish pieces with a butter knife.  It chopped easily.  I placed the pieces, along with 1/2 cup of borax into my Magic Bullet and chopped it up.  The borax kept the soap from sticking to the blade.  (I, actually, separated this into three small batches since the whole batch wouldn't fix in my magic bullet.)  

                                   

                                   

2.  I added my chopped soap into an empty (and washed) ice cream tub and added the remaining ingredients.

3.  I secured the lid on the ice cream tub and shook it until I was satisfied that my ingredients were good and mixed.

4.  I add 2 Tbsp. to each load.

I prefer this to the liquid version.  It is much easier to make and lasts much longer.

I have a front loading washer that has a drawer to pull out to fill with detergent and I thought that I could only add liquid soap.  I was wrong.  A friend told me that she used dry in front loader's soap drawer and the game was on!

See liquid version post here.

Vertical Pallet Flower Garden

I absolutely love my Vertical Pallet Flower Garden.  It is complete with it's own irrigation system!!!  Have you seen Home Depot's commericial that shows their vertical garden project?  Well, a couple friends of mine were talking about it and I went to their website to check it out.  Well, I thought...why not make it out of an old pallet?!  Much easier and cheaper!  Check out my inspiration here. 

Click Read More for How I Did It...

Tin Can Windchimes

Steel especially had fun painting these.  Mom had to put them together.  We hung them on his playset on a flower hanger hook thing.  I was lucky to find 4 different sized cans quite easily.  Start saving those cans!!!

Click Read More for the How To...

Pallet Herb Garden

I love my Pallet Herb Garden.  With lots of luck, I can keep my herbs alive long enough to take my clippings and freeze my fresh herbs for later use.  I found my inspiration at http://kellymoorebag.com.  

Click Read More for the How To

St. Patty's Party Gold Treats

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without a Pot O' Gold, right?  Well, I decided to send in some gold treats for Steel's classmates to celebrate the holiday.  

Click Read More for tutorial

Freezer Slop Bucket

I have been keeping a bucket in the freezer that I pour off fat or extra slop leftover from cooking.  This works much better than trying your luck at sending them down the drain.  Ask anyone that has had to pay a hefty plumber bill because their pipes needed to be snaked out.  =)  When the bucket is full, it can be placed in the trash.  Being frozen leads to less mess in the trash!  

Throw Pillow From Old Baby Blanket

To help cheer on our Steelers today...

I made Steel a baby blanket (like 6 years ago) and it's been sitting at the top of his closet with the rest of his blankets.  With all this pillow making this weekend, Steel wanted one of his own for his room.

So I took the baby blanket that I had embroidered on fleece and used that as the front piece...

I used some Steelers fleece that I had stored away and used it as the back...

Puppy enjoyed pillow making weekend as well...

Make Your Own Stamps with Bottle Caps and Foam Stickers

Materials

Bottle Caps - Gatorade and Milk Caps are the best because of the larger size.

Foam Letters or Shapes - This is where it can get a bit tricky.  I bought foam letter stickers (oops), when you stamp the letters will  be backwards.  I realized this just as Steel and I were getting ready to stick the letters on the bottle caps.  SO - I highly suggest that you either stick to the foam shape stickers or letter without the sticker so that you can adhere them backwards so that they will stamp properly.  

Glue - For the non-sticker letters!

Ink Pads - I was pleasantly surprised that these have come down in price over the years, I found them at the craft store for a buck a piece!  

The How To
1.  Stick shapes to the bottle caps.  (See below how I improvised using letters because I bought the wrong ones!)

2.  Stamp away!

Improvising:  As I explained above, I bought letters with adhesive, it didn't hit me until we went to stick the letters to the caps.  (If you buy letters without the adhesive, you can glue them to the caps backwards (or upside down, if you will) in order to stamp the letters correctly.)  However with the letters that I bought with the adhesive... You can stamp in a secret code.  Stamp the letters from right to left to create your message...  (This is a bit confusing to explain to a 6 year old so I remedied the situation by running to the dollar store the very next day!)  Anywho...


1.  Apply foam stickers to bottle caps.

2.  Stamp from right to left.

3.  Reveal your secret code in a mirror...

Inspiration:  http://vanessasvalues.blogspot.com