Soap Holder and Antique Store Finds

A couple of weeks ago, Pam from basketsnprims posted a picture of a soap holder she won on ebay. I absolutely loved it and asked her if she would mind if I did a tutorial on it. Below is a picture of hers. To see where she has it displayed and more pictures of her gorgeous kitchen, click here.



I searched every thrift store and dollar store in my area, but couldn't find a round wooden bowl. I did find a square one at WalMart for either $1.97 or $2.97 that I thought would work just fine. I first made a pattern with curves similar to Pam's but decided that it didn't look quite right with the square bowl, so I went with a simpler look.

You should be able to click on the pattern below and print it out. Tape it together, matching up the lines and cut out.



You'll need a 13" piece of 1x8 pine board, a wood bowl and a 3" square concrete nail.

With a miter saw, cut the bowl in half.

Trace the pattern onto the 1x8 pine board and cut out. Drill a 1/2" hole at the top for hanging and then sand both the base piece and the bowl half. Wipe off excess sawdust and glue bowl to base.

When completely dry, paint as desired and add nail.

I think this turned out pretty good. I still like Pam's better, but this will work for me. And after seeing this picture, I'm thinking curvy sides may not have looked bad after all! Well, I do have the other half of the bowl. . . . !!!

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I made a couple of trips to an antique store that's near by me. On my first trip I found this old bucket for $10.00 and this 12 tube candle mold for only $29.00!! I saw some like this one on ebay selling for $49.00 and up.

The second time I went, I found these lanterns. The revere lantern on the left was $24.00 and the ship lantern was $22.00. When I got home, I realized that the ship lantern is exactly like the one that I bought (and posted a couple of months ago) from one of my favorite prim stores. I paid $29.00 for it.

On my last trip there, I bought this wire basket for $12.00 and this basket cubby for $15.00. The baskets fit straighter in the cubby than what the picture shows, I just forgot to fix them before I took the picture!

Simply Home Outdoors

Hi, everyone!! Sorry I don't really have anything to post. I've been in a slump since the 4th of July and I can't seem to snap out of it! :( Hopefully, it doesn't last too long!!

I do have some pictures of my outside that I'd like to share with you. We don't save our do-it-yourself skills for just inside. We've done a lot of work outside, too. Over the years, we have installed new windows, sided the house, built a garage, set up a pool, built a new side porch and pool deck, created a grilling area from stones we got for $30 at a masonry "yard sale", put in barn stone planters and poured a new driveway and colored, stamped patio! (My hubby has his own concrete business!) And, yes, we've done it all ourselves!! We feel a sense of pride whenever someone pays a compliment on our home because we've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. And the best part is, we saved a lot of money doing it ourselves!!

The only major project left is to install a new roof. Hopefully, we'll do that this year. I'd also like to replace our front sidewalk sometime. I don't care for the pavers anymore. I'm tired of getting ants building nests, or whatever they're doing, in between the joints. I already have a color and stamp pattern picked out! ;)

Well, hopefully, it won't be so long before my next post. I NEED to snap out of this sluggishness!!! I have things to do, I just don't feel like doing them! NOT GOOD!!!

Mantle Clock and Patriotic Swap Goodies

We have been having some gorgeous weather here in Ohio!! Other than a thunderstorm and a humid 90 degrees on Thursday, the skies have been sunny with a few puffy white clouds and temps in the low to mid 80's!! Needless to say, I'm spending a lot of time outdoors. It's not all relaxation and soaking up the sun, either! (Well, maybe a little bit!)

I've been busy doing yard work and staining a privacy fence that we put up on Memorial weekend. We have my side of the family (25 to 30 people) coming over for the 4th of July and I always set the 4th as a goal to get big projects done. Nothing like having company over to get you motivated!! LOL I work best under pressure.

So among all of the hoopla of getting things done, I realized that it's been awhile since I've posted. And I did say that my next post would be a tutorial on making a mantle clock.

So here it is. . . . .

Supplies:

• 11" x 15" 1/4" sanded plywood
• 1 x 4 15" long (2 pieces)
• 1 x 6 13" long (2 pieces)
• 1/4" x 4" 10" long
• knob
• clock (WalMart)
  

The clock faces at my craft supply stores were smaller than what I wanted and sell for $11-$12 for a complete kit. I found a clock at WalMart for $3.97 that was the size I was looking for.

Remove the plastic cover by using a screwdriver. There are tabs at the 6 & 12 o'clock position.

Carefully remove the hands by pulling on the ends at the center of the clock. I stained my clock face with 2 coats of Minwax Aged Oak gel stain.

Using the lid as a template, trace a circle on a piece of paper.


Cut out the circle about 1/8" past the marked line.



Transfer the pattern onto the 11" x 15" 1/4" plywood. I laid the 1/4" x 4" drawer piece on the bottom and then centered the circle in between.

Drill a 1" pilot hole in the center of the circle to use as the starting point to cut out the circle. Whether you use a jigsaw or scroll saw, make sure to use a fine tooth blade made for cutting thin wood to prevent chipping and splintering. Take your time and go slow!!! You want to cut a perfect circle! I strongly recommend using a scroll saw; you have much better control. (Scroll saw tip - remove the blade and then center the pilot hole over the blade opening and then replace the blade through the pilot hole.)

Sand all of your wood pieces. On the fake drawer piece, I rounded the edges with a sander. Glue and nail the face piece onto the 1 x 4 side pieces. Center the 1 x 6 top and bottom pieces and then glue and nail in place. Center and glue the drawer piece on.

Let dry completely and then finish as desired. Don't forget to finish the knob!

The final step is to glue the clock in place and add the knob. I used Elmer's Stix-All Gel Cement and ran a bead of glue around the opening in the back of the clock base.

It's up to you whether you choose to put the plastic cover back on or not. I chose not to.

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I also wanted to share with you the wonderful goodies I received from Rene from Two Mile Creek Primitives. She was my swap partner in Char's Patriot swap. I was so excited when I got her package in the mail! She had a tutorial on making wood star holders on her blog and I was hoping that she would send me one and she did!!! She also sent me three prim fabric stars, a prim patriotic pear and wooden hang tags. Thank you so much, Rene! I love them!! I know exactly where I'm putting everything and they came just in time for my 4th of July cookout!

Fireplace Makeover

I've mentioned before that I've been doing some major tweaking. One of the areas I've been working on is my fireplace. I've had it decorated this same way for about two years! Can you believe it? I really liked the look of the window frame and I loved the wreath, but the wreath was hard to keep clean. It had some pip berries in it, so I had to watch getting it wet or the berries would split open and lightly batting it with a dust rag caused some of the other berry thingys to break off. So I decided it was time to take it down. And you know how it goes - one little change snowballs into a major makeover!

This is the before picture:


And this is the after:

There's the tavern sign I gave a tutorial on in a previous post. I also made a new game board. The red one with the star was made couple of years ago. The mantle clock was made with a clock I bought at WalMart for $3.97. It was so easy!! I'll share the tutorial in my next post. I still need to find something to put on the left of the clock. I'm thinking something round to soften the hard edges of the boards and mantle clock. I was thinking a couple of the tall canister-shaped stacking boxes but not sure if it would be too many because of the ones on my t.v. (I know, I know.. look at that ancient t.v.! For 20 years old, it still has a great picture, so I can't convince hubby to replace it with a flat screen.)

The chair on the left side of the hearth was Golden Brown and I painted it Territorial Beige. On the right side of the hearth I replaced the small bench with a larger one and placed the crock with twigs that was on the mantle on the bench. I also added a bowl with rag balls. You can see a close up in my header picture. The rag balls were made from suit jackets that I bought at Goodwill. Regular price was $6.00 each, but I went on customer appreciation day and got them for $3.90. I made 3 balls out of two sleeves. I saw some rag balls at one of my favorite prim shops selling for $5.00 a piece!!

I also changed the fireplace screen with the one we had in our family room. I liked the style of the other one, but it didn't fit right, which drove me nuts! I still don't know what I'm going to do with the actual fireplace. We don't build fires in it anymore since we got new carpet a couple of years ago and I didn't want to take the chance of making a mess from hauling in wood and cleaning out the ashes. So, for now, I guess I'll just leave it empty.

Well, that's it for now. I'm still tweaking other areas and will post pics when I get them done.

Blanket Crane Tutorial

Some of you have requested a tutorial on making a blanket crane, so I've tried my best to draw a diagram and come up with step by step directions. I want to point out, though, that mine is stationary, it doesn't swing.

I hope these directions make sense and are easy to follow. Please forgive me - sometimes my methods are a little unusual and trying to explain them is kind of hard. I wish I had Linda's (Behind My Red Door) eloquent way with words!

You should be able to click on the pictures and print out the directions for easier reference.

Making Your Own Stencils

I've mentioned before that when I'm cleaning and tweaking, it usually involves making and/or painting things. I don't know about any of you, but when I get an idea for something, I have a hard time waiting until I get the materials to make them. So when I want to make a sign or a game board, I don't want to order stencils and then have to wait for them to arrive. So I make my own! I use my computer to print out lettering and to find pictures and clip art. I usually use freezer paper because it has a waxy coating on the back and is more durable. But in a pinch, like for this sign, I used regular computer paper. Cut the freezer paper to regular paper size and place it in your printer so that the letters are printed on the paper side, not the waxed side.

These are the steps I took to make a tavern sign.

First, I needed an image of a horse. I would have googled images for a picture of a horse, but I had a Warren Kimble wallpaper print that I used instead. A little tip for you - if you have a picture that's on a dark background and can't see the image to trace a pattern, tape it to a window pane. The sunlight will illuminate the image, making it easier to trace. (See images below)

I have a program on my computer called "Print Artist". (I think it was a free program that came with my printer). You can make all kinds of things like cards, signs, calendars and banners, which is the feature that I used.

Print out your wording. Tape together your paper if you need to.

Next, cut out the letters. I like to use embroidery scissors because they're small and thin. For letters that have centers that aren't attached (like B, A, D, etc.) I leave them attached until all the letters are cut out and I'm ready to stencil. That way I don't lose the pieces. (See below)

After all the letters are cut out, lay the stencils on your board, spraying lightly with adhesive spray. (Follow directions on the can for stencils).

Apply your paint .

And then sand and stain. And . . .

TA DA!! You have a handmade sign! (I dropped the sander above his knee and it removed too much paint! Oops!)

Since I've learned to do this, I don't remember when the last time I bought a stencil. Stencils can be a little pricey, especially for one this size. This sign measures 24" x 28".

You can do so many things; just use your imagination! Later on, I'll show you how to make a checkers game board using this method.