DIY Funky Junk Mobile Art

July 17, 2017 by Florence 58 Comments

I’ve been mulling over a hanging mobile idea quite a while….just needed a little motivation to get going! And I’m so glad for the incentive to finally create what I call my “DIY Funky Junk Mobile Art”!

And this month my incentive was the Craft Room Destash Challenge! Every month, a group of bloggers challenge each other to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Check out some awesome creations you might be able to make from your own stash!

We are allowed up to $10 for necessary supplies to complete it. Luckily, this cheapskate didn’t need to spend anything more! I’ve been hoarding collecting all these bits of junk while waiting for inspiration to hit in how to use them.

[clickToTweet tweet=”What crafty creations could you make today from YOUR craft stash?! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge” quote=”What crafty creations could you make today from YOUR craft stash?! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge”]

If you’d like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!

It’s a Mobile, but not a Mobile. It’s Mobile “Art”

Everything came from estate sales or trash. At least one is “mystery junk,” which I’ll show you further down.

I created a mobile, but it’s not the traditional kind that makes pleasing tinkling noises when the wind blows. My mobile is more “art” to display junky pieces of flotsam and use up a few beads.

Here is a mere fraction of my bead stash. I bought these and more from a yard sale a few years ago. I planned to sell them in my Etsy shop, but I found they were pretty ordinary, so I decided to use them instead. This is a great way because it makes the mobile so much prettier and more interesting.

I found out a long time ago that beading and jewelry-making were not my thing at all! Ha! Too tedious. I wouldn’t have been able to complete this project without the jeweler’s loop below that fits around the head. This is great for other close work like threading the needle on a sewing machine!

My first husband worked at a jewelry shop and got this for me. I’m so glad to have it! He died some years ago…I wrote a post on how I managed to survive that very hard time in my life.15 Ways to Survive Widowhood.

Creating the Mobile~

For this fun project I used what I had on hand:

parts of an old mobile that fell apart
junk from a vintage telephone I took apart a while back
small junky pieces I’ve picked up at estate sales
metal rabies dog tags I found in the trash behind the vet’s office when I was looking for boxes
vintage skeleton keys
more modern keys
an old hinge thingy

I’m not sure what the iron “S” that’s supporting all this junk came from. It was a freebie at a yard sale.

Working with the “S” was a bit of a balancing challenge. First it had to balance horizontally in order to be relatively level while hanging in the air. I did that using lots of fishing line tied at various points around it.

Then it had to be balanced as I started hanging the beaded junk. After I got everything on, it evened out. I really love the look of the randomly strung beads!

We are enjoying it now on our covered porch.

The Finished “Art”

Daylight…

And Dusk….

Just a close-up….

The Parts of the Mobile “Art”~

Here are a few close close-ups of some of the more unusual pieces of junk, if you’re interested.

These are bits of the old mobile. I started to throw it away a while back. I’m glad I saved it.

A brass mystery item from an estate sale…anyone have a clue what it is? The long tube part is hollow.

Brass Shoe Ashtray from India…

Green bell-shaped rabies tag…

The next three are parts from the old telephone we found at an estate sale. It didn’t work, so I took it apart to see what was in it.

And finally, an old door hinge thingy~

I guess it goes to show you….you can make “art” out of just about anything!

[clickToTweet tweet=”I guess it goes to show you….you can make ‘art’ out of just about anything!” quote=”I guess it goes to show you….you can make ‘art’ out of just about anything!”]

I have a few more mobile art projects up my sleeve, so stay tuned!

And now, don’t forget to visit the awesome craft projects from the other talented bloggers!

Sharing with these link parties~

An InLinkz Link-up

Unique Patriotic Door Sign that No One Else Has

June 25, 2017 by Florence 30 Comments

This is the evolution of a unique Patriotic door sign that no one else has! It’s certainly true that I find holiday-related items at thrift stores well before or after the actual holiday. I found this in February at my favorite thrift store for $2.99.

July 4th was a long way off. It’s a wonder I bought it…I hated the color, and I didn’t like the middle portion at all. Give me bright red, white, and blue!! The only thing I liked about it was the raised metal swirly designs on the ends. I planned to repurpose it into my version, whatever that was.

I asked the hubby to put eye screws along the bottom edge. I’m afraid I’m pretty hopeless with tools like drills, saws and things. He helps me a lot, but I’m the one that comes up with the ideas. Some are good; and some….well, you know….I envy those DIY bloggers who are so adept at all those power tools! Me and a saw? Well, let’s just say, I’m scared I would end up in the ER with a bloody hand and a missing finger.

I remember a few years ago, hubby warned me matter-of-factly that our big power saw didn’t have a safety. I expressed concern over his using such an old machine. “Oh, you have to know what you’re doing,” he said glibly. Shortly after, I came home from an errand, only to find the-hubby-who-can-fix-anything, and who knows how to use all our power tools was desperately nursing a nearly severed thumb. The doc in the ER had to sew it to the the fingernail because there was very little left to sew it to. Did I mention that he passes out easily? Did I mention that he passes out when I’m having my blood drawn? This was a real experience I can tell you! All that to say, you can see why I’m a little nervous about saws.

As I said, I hated the middle part. Nice sentiment, but it looked faded, and “manufactured,” if that makes sense. I would have liked to remove it, but I couldn’t see a way to do it without tearing up the sign completely. I had to come up with another idea.

Down to the basement to experiment with paint. “We’ll just paint over it,” I said to myself. Scrounging around my paint stash, I triumphantly emerged with bright red paint. Trying to tone down the blue with a little white dry brush, I highlighted the metal swirly designs too. A good start. Then I began with red in the middle. It should have worked, but I didn’t like it.

OK, change gears. I scrounged around and found some really blue, blue. More like a really bright royal blue…not my first choice on shade, but it would have to do. This cheapskate will make it work!

Meanwhile I carried out the rest of the plan. I thought it would be cute to hang red and blue pallet wood from the sign. I had the chain, the eye screws, the pallet wood, and the paint. I planned to stencil star shapes on the pallet and paint them white.

I laboriously painted the stars, and a new message over the solid blue in the middle. I was afraid of clashing blues, but I think it’s OK. If it is, too bad….it doesn’t bother me. Here is the finished result hanging on our front door. I love it, even though it bangs around when you go in and out the door. A small price to pay for a unique Patriotic door sign that no one else has!

How do you like it?

PLEASE PIN!

Sharing with these link parties here.

Junker TV Tables Pulled from the Dumpster and Revived Again

June 18, 2017 by Florence 42 Comments

The “junker TV tables pulled from the dumpster and revived again” is a story I wasn’t planning on telling! Mainly because I wasn’t planning on giving them new life at all! We’ve had them a long time….so long, in fact, I can’t remember where we got them, but I bet we pulled them from a campground dumpster. When we’re camping, I always check the dumpsters, especially on Mondays when the weekenders have departed.

They were rickety and I can see why they got chunked. Sitting forlornly forgotten and unused in our basement, they’ve been gathering dust for years. I thought it was past time they landed in our next garage sale.

“I sure do hate to see those go,” hubby said wistfully. What? After all this time?? I pretended not to hear. “I sure do like those TV tables.” Sigh.

We’re SUPPOSED to be downsizing.

We’re SUPPOSED to be getting rid of excess junk.

We haven’t used them in years.

They’re STILL rickety.

“I wish you would fix them up.”

You know what that means. Work your magic on them Florence. Let’s-keep-these-rickety-TV-tables-we-don’t-need,-and-haven’t-used-in-years. He suffers from a malady I call Depression Thinking. Sometimes I think he has it worse than I do.

“I want to use them in the motorhome.” Our motorhome is OLD, with no slide, and limited room inside, but I bowed to the inevitable, and put them in my DIY project to-do list.

Fixing Up the Junker TV Tables~

Saltwash Technique

Since we’re keeping the-rickety-TV-tables-we-don’t-need, I decided to conduct scientific experiments, which is another way of saying, just do any old thing to them because they’re junkers anyway.

“Let’s use the SALTWASH,” I said to myself jubilantly. I was a little worried it was going to make them lumpy on top, and not smooth like tables need to be, but such was not the case.

For the uninitiated, Saltwash is a powdered paint additive. You just mix it into the paint color of your choice…to the consistency of thick cake batter. Then you start globbing it on. I chose green because our motorhome is green.

Here it is globbed on. It’s probably supposed to be globbier, but I had to make it stretch as I was running out of paint.

Let dry till tacky to the touch.

Smooth out the peaks a bit with a brush.

Let it totally dry.

After totally dry, add the topcoat color.

Let that dry.

Sand to bring out the underlying color. Sounds easy right? It WAS easy.

TA-DAH!

Not bad, but a little blah.

I think we need to up the game with more serious scientific experimentation, don’t you?

Image Transfers Technique~

I decided I wanted image transfers in the middle. Can you do image transfers over saltwash? I have no idea.

What kind of image transfers? They’re a zillion images to choose from. Something travel related….motorhome means travel and foreign places. A little search on Graphics Fairy, and I found a couple of images I liked.

Using “Mod Podge Image Transfer Medium” for the first time, I really liked it and probably won’t go back to using regular Modge Podge. It’s much easier to get the paper off leaving the image behind. You can read all about image transfer techniques on The Graphics Fairy.

And by the way, when doing image transfers, they tell you NOT to use an inkjet image…it won’t work. But it works fine. (I can’t be bothered with running down to Kinkos for a laser image every time I want to do an image transfer.)

Inkjet images will work if you wait 24 hrs to allow the ink to set. I have absolutely no trouble with smear or bleeding.

Here is a vintage map of France I chose. Be sure to smear the transfer medium on the correct side of the paper! That is, on TOP of the image. Ask me why I’m emphasizing that…LOL.

Completely cover your image with the white paste. See all that excess white paper on the side and bottom? Be sure to cut that off, trimming close to the image. Don’t leave it on like I did. It wasn’t easy to rub off.

Fixing the Mistakes~

Mistake #1

See below the completed image transfer of the map of France….and here is mistake #1. Can you see it?

Other than there being all that white paper on the side…

Other than it being a little off-center….

The printing is backwards! I totally forgot to do a reverse image, necessary when you have any kind of printing, words, or script involved.

So HOW am I gonna fix that!!!??? Just keep reading. I’ll show you what I did.

Table 2….another oops. Holding the image above the table while eyeballing the center, the image literally slipped out of my hand. Unfortunately, it didn’t slip into a centered position. Yikes!

As Momma used to say, “You’ll never notice it on a galloping horse.” But it bothered me.

This calls for more image transfers! Remember it’s a scientific experiment!

You see how I placed the postmark image right over the word “France”? The rest of the backwards words on the map are so small, they’ll never be noticed. It’s for us, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Same with the one below~

Mistake #2~

But we still have the problem of everything being off-center. Here is what I did to correct that.

I just happened to have a whole bunch of vintage foreign stamps I got at an estate sale. Mod-podging those all around the images helped to balance it out.

Finished! They’re not perfect. But for junkers, we’re happy. We can enjoy using these once again.

For a fun touch, I tried using crackle medium on top of the saltwash and image transfers, but it wouldn’t crackle. That’s OK. Not bad for scientific experiments.

Here we are enjoying it at the campsite!

Want to see a tour of the vintage motorhome? Let me know in the comments!

My First Jewelry Box Makeover and Indulging my Secret Passion

June 4, 2017 by Florence 34 Comments

Welcome to my first jewelry box makeover! (You have to read all the way to the end to find out about indulging my secret passion!) I know jewelry box makeovers are not new, but hang with me, would ya? As I’ve watched, drooled, and admired other makeovers, I knew the day would come when I finally found one of my own to re-do! And I found it early last year…. see Hauls from Four Thrift Stores.

But as many of you know, 2016 was a rough year for me as I recovered slowly from 3 sets of broken bones. I essentially spent 8 months in a chair, so I’m finally getting a few DIY projects done that I could only dream about last year. You can read some of that saga in Vintage Picker Off Limits Home Tour.

So this little $1.99 jewelry box had its turn. Luckily it didn’t need much, and I got in gear to carry out my vision.

The Makeover Process~

My go-to color is always white because it usually sells better, and this is destined for my Etsy shop.

Taking the plunge on buying Dixie Belle “Dropcloth,”

I’m crazy about this paint, its coverage, and the look. I had totally used up all my other white with the Jewelry chest makeover! (wink, wink) See why in this post DIY Headache. I know you remember it!

The first thing I did was remove the glass in the door. Before I bought this baby, I made sure it had removable door glass. We had hardware cloth on hand, so all I had to do was cut the wire to the appropriate dimension as the glass in the door.

Yeah, right. Easier said than done.

You ever used vintage IRON tin snips? I could barely hold them in my lily white hand, much less guide it into cutting. I had to rest them on the table to cut, but with difficulty, I achieved it.

So now all I had to do was paint it and try not to hit the jewelry felt inside. The little knobs on the drawers were not removable, so I just painted those too.

TA-DA!

The Finished Result~

I used part of a French stencil found on Amazon for the top. I mixed a bit of white and black acrylic paint found at a garage sale to form the stenciled design.

And added a bit of drawer interest….

I decoupaged the napkins onto the drawer sides. I have a lifetime supply of these napkins, so you’ll definitely be seeing them again! The subtle colors blend well with the paint color, I think. The felt inside is a pale lavender-gray, and in good shape.

What was the hardest part of this job?

Getting the stencil centered and straight! That’s the only thing I hate about stenciling.
Getting the drawers to fit into the slots after having been painted and decoupaged. That took a good bit of sanding and waxing, but they finally fit.
Cutting that dang hardware cloth with the mammoth tin snips!

Notice I’m actually holding and cutting with those snips here. I must have grown stronger since the day I cut that “cloth.” LOL

Later on I learned there is an easier way. I just didn’t find it in my husband’s vast array of tools.

I love how my first jewelry box makeover turned out! What about you?

This one is also waiting in the wings until I can get around to it. Stay tuned!

Indulging My Secret Passion~

By the way, I’ve been thinking over adding another topic to my vintage niche here on the blog. I would like to add a gardening element because it’s truly one of my passions! I’m constantly amazed at what I learned from my Mother, an avid gardener, even when I didn’t think I was listening….LOL. I’ve been thinking about this for some time even though it doesn’t exactly fit my niche. Would there be interest if I were to indulge my secret passion?

day-lily-a-favorite-flower — A Favorite Flower

Vintage Pick That Became a DIY Headache

May 21, 2017 by Florence 62 Comments

Would you like to know about the vintage pick that became a DIY headache? I’m depending on YOU to tell me if it’s a happy ending! Final reveal at the end!

A year ago I attended an estate sale in a historic part of town. One of my most memorable finds was this….

…a vintage gold Elgin American Beauty compact carry-all dating from the 50’s-60’s. Bought for $5. Sold in my Etsy shop for $125! This was such a pretty piece in wonderful condition! (I had to get the estate sale person to show me how to open it.)

Finding the Homemade Tool Chest

But the real find of the day….my absolute favorite….was this! It looks rough, I know. A homemade tool chest & dirty. At the sale it was sitting on the floor & loaded with screws, bolts, and the like. Isn’t it cute though? I fell in LOVE!

homemade tool chest in original state — Tool Chest in its Primitive State

It had great bones, and when I saw that the top lifted up, I was sold. Paid $5 for the chest & all contents.

homemade tool chest lid lifts up — Lid Lifted Up

And the inside of the drawers was very primitive.

primitive tool chest drawers — A Primitive Interior

Transforming the Homemade Tool Chest

It sat in the basement for a year.

When I finally got around to working on it, I removed knobs and gave it a good sanding.

I couldn’t wait to put on the first coat of paint! Annie Sloan “Old White.”

To my chagrin & horror, the next day it was PINK! Oh well, “it just needs another coat of paint,” I told myself.

More paint applied. Pink again the next day.

More paint….still pink.

More paint…pink.

More paint….pink.

MORE….p..p..p..p..pink!

Okay. “What we need is some stain-blocker paint,” I told myself confidently. Ah! Found some oil-based in the basement. How old was it???Who knows! Who cares? Slapped that on….WHAT??? STILL PINK!!!???

Well, it just needs another coat of Annie Sloan! Putting any kind of paint on top of oil-based….not a good idea. I knew better, but I was getting slightly desperate.

The results? P-I-N-K!!!

Resignedly, I dragged to Home Depot. Dreading buying a whole gallon of stain blocker paint, I was delighted to find a quart of Zinsser Gray Stain-Blocker Oops paint. “Great! We got it licked now!”

Do I even have to tell you??? P…I…N…K.

stain blocker paint on old tool chest — Covered in the 2nd Stain Blocker

So how come this works on all the other dark stained wooden items I’ve got???

This calls for another coat of Annie Sloan….Nope…..Pink.

I was beginning to despair. I was beginning to wish I’d never laid eyes on this !@#$%&* chest. Fickle me. I had fallen out of love.

I considered covering everything with decoupage. Nope. Didn’t want to do that either.

I considered painting it pink.

I considered painting it black.

I considered chunking it.

no, No, NO! I will NOT give up!

Okay. When all else fails, ask Google. Google suggests shellac. Noooooo! I don’t want to strip this down to bare wood!!!!! It’s got at least 10 coats of paint on it! But I found a suggestion for shellac that works OVER paint. And we just happened to have some!

Slap that stuff on & wait for the miracle of no-bleed-through. Right? Uh…not exactly. I used only 1 coat. Should have used 2, but it WAS much better.

So I felt I could FINALLY progress with this project, instead of endlessly slapping paint on it day after day. I was making a career out of painting this and getting nowhere!

painted and refreshed homemade tool chest — Pondering Decoupage Design

I planned to do some decoupage all along. Decisions, decisions about what kind and the design.

The Transforming Plan:

Napkin decoupage to the drawer fronts

Paper decoupage to drawer sides

Paper decoupage to drawer bottoms

New Knob for top

New Knobs on drawers

Stencil of some kind

Bottom napkin won out for drawer fronts~

choice of 2 decoupage napkins — Pondering Decoupage Napkin Choices

Found paper that looked like old letters~just sand the corners back a bit so it looks worn. Apply “Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution” to give it some age~

aging decoupage paper — Aging the Decoupage

Can’t make a choice, so mix n match papers on the insides of drawers~

choosing between papers for lining drawers on homemade tool chest — Decoupaged Drawers

I found a French stencil I liked on Amazon, and applied it to the top.

Stenciled lid of the Tool Chest turned jewelry chest — French Stencil on the top of Lid

Also stenciled under the top lid.

Under the top lid of the old tool chest — Stencil inside top of Lid

And made a trip to Hobby Lobby for knobs. Found 4 other knobs in my stash to use for legs. I can’t decide whether I like it with legs or not. What do you think?

Final result!!

And here’s the back….

Those 4 holes were there originally. The only thing I can think of is to cover these with buttons. Do y’all have any other ideas?

the back of the tool chest — The back of the toolchest

Is the pink gone? NO! You can see it up on the top edges in this photo. I can also see it just under the paint in various places. Uh oh, I might have to take up that career again. But at this point in time, I probably won’t do anything. Maybe later.

What do you think of the DIY Headache????

Sharing with these link parties here~

« Previous Page
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
…
9
Next Page »