Posts Tagged ‘Upcycle projects’

I’m a Hard Core Auntie because…

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I Encourage My Nieces and Nephews to Make!  Okay, sometimes I Make them Make!

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But not with cooking or Drawing!

This is my Mirror Identical Twin Nieces Drawing a Picture, Together, at the Same Exact Time.

Isn’t that cool?  (PS…I did not teach them to cook or drawer, but I encourage it.)

I have taught them other Creative Things….

By way of Helping this Aunt Upcycle, Rehab and/or Fix!

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I got these old, Ratty, painted gold Chairs for Free. I thought this would make a Good Learning project for my Brother’s Kids!

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I was surprised, because ALL three, even the 15-year-old brother, got into it!

The took Apart the ratty seats with disintegrated Foam and weakened zig-zag Wire coils.

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And with the h=Help of Uncle, they Built the Seats back up Again!

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They Added Batting to the new foam, again, with the help of Uncle, and of course, Under my Direction.  I was solely Only the Project Manager on This Remake!

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Then the new Upholstery was added to the fixed seats!

But we Were Not Done Yet!

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After a Full, but light Sanding, they spray painted the Chairs!

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When Dried, they Put the chairs all back Together again.

They were so Proud of Their own work!!

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So Proud, I just Gave the Chairs to them to use at Home!

And their Creativity has not Stopped There!

My Brother was Gifted a box of old scratched up 45 Records.

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My 15-year-old Nephew was inspired by Them!

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He added Record Decor Along to his growing broken Skateboard Collection.

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He Came up with this on his Own and I am one Proud Aunt!

And his 12 years Sisters make this Upcycling Aunt Just as Proud!

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It started with a Curb Alert Free Stuff Pile where I got to Teach my Nieces Picking 101.  Stop the Car. Get Out of the Car. Take a Real Close Look.  My nieces Loved a couple of Wood Boxes in the Pile.  And Of course I eyed a Mid Century-ish Metal Stand or Table Base.

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They put the wire table together with one of the wood boxes and made a table.

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Then they added a Lower Shelf!  Now they have a Bedroom Side Table that Holds their Pet Rat’s, Ink Spot and Einstein, Cage.

And Speaking of Ink Spot and Einstein…

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The Twins looked up Online How to Make a Rat Cage Hammock and They Made one All on Their Own.

Look Close at the Stitching…Isn’t that so Cute.

Then there was this…

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We Took her Camping and she Whittled a little Man and then added the Moss Hair.

Her Idea and Her Work.

I Love seeing the Creativity Grow in Young People and am Fortunate to be Able to see it First Hand in Some of my Nieces and Nephews.  I can’t wait until my next project with them!

Also, I Feel my Very Own Creating Mode Coming Up.                                                                So, Stay Tuned for my Next Creative Blog!

Thanks for Visiting and Do Please Come Again!

Gnome

 

 

We moved closer to the In-laws and I developed a hang up for a pile of old fence boards that have sat on their side yard for ever.

I finally got brave and asked if I could have some and then My Big Hang Up Started.

Okay it started with this…

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I picked up this cool piece of wood and then made this necklace holder from it over a year ago

I make art from old leather belts, so I have a lot of belt buckles hanging around.

And then I made this out of the other half of the wood.  Rack4 (2).jpg

I realized I like making hanging racks out of interesting and unusual bits and pieces.  Although hard to tell between my cool old kitchen gadgets, the rack is made from old metal water facet knobs and big butterfly screws.

So once I had the fence boards…The Hand Ups Began!  I started to dig around in my widgets, gadgets, screws, hooks and thingies.

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I went first to my mass amount of belt buckles and made a couple of my mini necklace holders.

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I have been noticing mermaids a lot lately because my older sister who was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer last year loves them.   So, I have mermaids around and made this beachy themed key and coat rack.

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I dug deep and found these huge screw things with a nuclear-ish symbol on the ends.  I loved them and finally found a project for them!  They would make great “hooks” for a coat/jewelry rack!

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I had more wood but was running out of ideas, so one day I really dug through my stuff and I did not even know I had these little red hooks.  I love the bright color against the awesome worn wood grain.

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This one makes a Great Industrial Chic Necklace holder!

I ventured out from just making racks, I made some signs too.

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Vintage and Ready for Sale.  Original Handmade Art Things made from Vintage Stuff!

Easy to Make your Own and Easier to Buy from Me!

My Favorite sign is the one I made for my brother for sales we do together.

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I Introduced my brother to the old fence board and now he has his own line of cool things.  Come to one of our sales!

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I hope to open up an online store again soon too.  So you can shop directly from the comfort of you home!

Thanks for visiting and Come Again!

Gnome

 

 

If You Have Seen Any of my Other Posts, You May Know I Like using Od Leather Belts in some of my Projects.

DON’T MAKE ME TAKE MY BELT OFF!

And

BELT CHAIR

Well, I have Not Stopped.  Actually, I have bumped it up some.

We moved from a house in rural Georgia to a tiny apartment in the Loop in Downtown Chicago.                                 I could not bring many craft or art supplies.  I grabbed what I could, and that was belts.

From NecklaceHolder

You can Take me Away from All my Supplies, but You can’t Take Crafting Away from Me!

We Moved into said Tiny Apartment with No Art or Decor on the Walls.

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What is a Craftsy Artsy Girl to Do?  Make her own Decor and Wall Art Pieces!

And All I Had Was Belts!   So Belts I Used!

From NecklaceHolder

There are the Buckets for my Jewelry!

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And the Bathroom Cotton Ball Bucket!

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But all These Buckets Did not Help Decorate My Walls.

So, I had to Up My Belting Game!

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Bam!   Belt Art!

The Above One for the Living Room.

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And This One for the Grey, White and Black Bathroom!

Oh yea…I Was on an Old Leather Belt Art Hot Streak.

So Don’t Stop Me Now Lord!

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I Needed something More Flowing and Organic-like to hide the spread out holes in the Wall.

I Put my Mind to the Test and This is what My Mind Did…
With the Help of some Recyclables!

From NecklaceHolder

Two Belts and Cut Up Toilet Paper Rolls!  

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My husband LOVES this one. I Love the Other Two Wall Pieces.

And I am Not Done There.

Yes, More Belt Decor!

From NecklaceHolder

This One Has a Purpose!

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One Day I Got Sick and Tired of My Knotted Tangled Up Necklaces.

I Had the Wood Board already, but Could not Find the Right Hooks, that Weren’t Hooks.

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And Then It Came to Me!    BUCKLES!

I Have Lots and Lots of Buckles!

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My Necklace Problem is Solved.

And I No Longer have a Blank Bedroom Wall!

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Although It Seems like we are Crowded with Belt Decor…it is Spread Out enough Not to be Overwhelming.

This is Now how the Couch area Looks, Minus the End Tables and Lamps that have been Added!

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Not a Belt to Be Seen!

Mind You Guests do Not Miss the Old Leather Belt Theme We Got Going On Up in Here!

Wait!
I am not Done with My Leather Belt Upcylcing Art Extravaganza!  No, I Am Not.

There were Bits and Pieces of leather Belt that I Did not Want to Waste…
So Here Is What I Did with Them!

From NecklaceHolder

Yes, Greeting Cards. The Above is My Dot Dot Dot Collection.

From NecklaceHolder

And That is My Dash Collection of Greeting Cards.

And with that, I will Now Sign off…
But Before I Go, I Must Inform You that All of This is For Sale.
And If Anything Above is Not on my Etsy Shop Yet, Just Let Me Know!

OUR OWN BIG WORLD!

Good Day to You.
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Summer Loving…

Is a Great Time to Craft!

And Since Summer is Over…

It is a Great Time to Get Back to Blogging, especially since I have not posted crafts in quite a while!

The following projects will have to do with items in the photos from my last past, HOW WE MAKE A HOUSE A HOME OVER AND OVER AGAIN .

I’m feeling frisky, let’s start in the bedroom!

Get your mind out of the gutter, we just needed some storage! I found this, yes without a drawer, for cheap!

From 2014 Projects

I saw it and had an idea which I had to talk The Hub into, as usual.

Sanding came first…

From 2014 Projects

And then the painting!

From 2014 Projects

Have I ever told you, “I don’t like painting.” But it was worth it, especially with my decision to paint this one area red as it goes with the soda crates I am going to use as storage really well!

Next Decision…

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What kind of Knobs?

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Neither one of those…
Something Completely Different!

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My Dresser, craft storage, make-up and hair do-ing area! Done and Done!

Continuing on with the Bedroom…

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The Wall Decor!

Although I have no photos to show how I did this…

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I am confident that you can take a needlepoint hoop, material and do it yourself!

The interesting thing is that some of the material I designed myself. Oh yes, I did!

You can see how I did this in one of my first posts on this blog at WHO KNEW?

Don’t mind the bikes…
They were part of the decor for a while!

Now on to the kitchen and the ever-changing lights!

From 2014 Projects

I started out with this yoke double light. I just used two small work lights, but took off the pinching attachments.

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I wound the wires around the rings for them to blend in and put the wire in the back of the yoke to hide them there as well.

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And there you have it!

But then I had more stuff and got creative…
Again!

From 2014 Projects

This is what you do with an old soda shop crate, an old colander, an old dog chain and a light fixture!

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Pretty much straight forward…
Put a hole in the colander, put the light fixture through it and then through the crate and line wire along the center chain.

From 2014 Projects

And there have it, once again.

Now, to the front porch!

From 2014 Projects

It all started with this 75 cent table that was falling apart.

Literally, it is made of particle board which was dripping apart slowly!

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I used glue, in the form of Modge Podge and an old book to keep it all together. I decoupaged underneath it where it was also falling apart!

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And I painted it.
Again with the painting!

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It has sat on my front porch for over 4 months and no more falling apart!

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“Awwwwesooome,” if I do say some myself!

The table sits in front of another one of my summer loving projects!

From 2014 Projects

And it all started with these…

From 2014 Projects

Which I painted. What is with all this painting?

In the above photo there are pieces of wood in the background which I put across the seats of the chairs.

From 2014 Projects

On top of the slats I placed lots of pillows (yard sale finds). The seating pillows needing hiding…

So I put a vintage 1970 avocado green round table cloth with fringe on them.

I am sure you are interested in why I went that color and style, right?

Well, it is the only thing I found to match this…

From GnomeShackPorch

Which I already had on the front porch!

But, wait…there is more for the porch.

From 2014 Projects

Look What I did to this thing to match the other things.
Oh so Matchy Matchy…

From 2014 Projects

But not too matchy matchy, right?

And here are a few more touches!

Plain ugly rug that The Hub insisted on buying….

From 2014 Projects

Meet Spray Paint and a Stencil!

From 2014 Projects

Not sure I love the turn out…
But anything is better than that the original fugley thing!

From 2014 Projects

Oh and Look what I did with the tons of twigs that fall in my yard!

From 2014 Projects

Twig Garland!

And yes, I added a mosquito net to the Porch Lounger! Love it, Right?

And I know you will love this too…

From 2014 Projects

So much cuteness mushed together right next to the front door under the maibox…
What a Greeting!

Have fun making your own stuff…
I hope I motivated and inspired you!

GET OUT THERE AND CREATE!

And just to let you know…
I sell old things and things I make from old things!

If you are interested please visit my shop, OUR OWN BIG WORLD!

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I am so impressed with Puerto Rico…

And the creativity I found there!

We stopped in for some chilled coffee at a cafe and this is what we found!

From Craft Ideas From PR!

Cool, eh?

Look Closer…

From Craft Ideas From PR!

It is made from old book covers!

How cool is that?

And there is more!

From Craft Ideas From PR!

Don’t be distracted by Jim’s great looks…

That is a piece made from old wooden spoons and a small mirror above his cute head!

Loved this place!

After the trip to the cafe we went to the Museo De Las Americas.

From Craft Ideas From PR!

Where we ran into BASURA by Nick Quijan

From Craft Ideas From PR!

Yes…
Basura means Trash.

And Yes, this Artist made Art from Trash!

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Trash he found on one stretch of beach in Old San Juan right there in Puerto Rico!

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I love these “men”!

And…
So inspired by the art and creativity around me…
I started to see art in everything…

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Here…

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And there…

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And that pile too!

I searched, gathered and took home my own little pile!

From Craft Ideas From PR!

I wish I could have taken more of those little pieces of drift wood home with me…
There were thousands of them!

From Craft Ideas From PR!

And who doesn’t love sea glass?

From Craft Ideas From PR!

Playing with my finds…

From Craft Ideas From PR!

I like it!

I can’t wait to put those pieces to work for me…

Not sure it will be this sunburst or what…

But I am sure I will tell you all about it!

Keep your eyes and mind open…
Beauty is everywhere…
And…
In everything…
And Everybody!

To see my online shop for Things That I Have Made and Vintage Things…

GO TO…Our Own Big World!

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