easy projects

little things :: recorder edition

5 September 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

If you have kids or ever were a kid, I’m betting that you have an old recorder lying around. Didn’t everyone play recorder in school? I know I did, my sister did, and both of my kids did.

And I’m guessing that you also have some weird little strip of wall that is too small for just about anything decorative. Well, guess again, people!

Dig up that old recorder make it sing again!

No, you don’t have to play Lightly Row…just find an awkward spot and hang that recorder up, just like this…

It’s just a tiny little speck of wall between two door frames. Perfect for a recorder! Don’t you think?

How much did it cost? $0, since I had not one but two recorders hanging around. And if you want to get all funky and colorful, you could spend about $5 and get one of these…

Now go play Lightly Row while you’re looking for a place to hang your recorder!

spinning a yarn

28 December 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

In the office of my home there is a large and boring wall that’s been crying out for help for some time now.

It really needs some paint, but that’s not happening this week. I already started to give the wall a bit of flair with this fabulous frame…

…but there’s still a lot of wall left.

So I decided to spin a yarn. Or at least use a skein of yarn to create a wall hanging. Here’s the yarn…

It’s some seriously gorgeous yarn, and I wish that I could knit a throw with it, but I don’t have enough and it seems that they’re not making it any more. So a wall hanging it is.

This was a really quick & easy project. I used embroidery stretcher bars that I already had at home. They are pretty inexpensive – a couple of bucks each at your local craft store.

I tied the yarn around the stretcher bar…

…and started wrapping the yarn haphazardly around the stretcher bars…

…and when I was just about out of yarn, I knotted the end of the yarn around the stretcher bar…

And that’s all it took to create this…

I love it! Adds some color, texture, and visual interest to an otherwise boring wall!

And cheap to boot! While this project was free to me, since I had everything sitting around at home, if you had to go out to buy the pieces and parts, you could probably make this for between $10-$15. Not bad! Perfect for decorating on a tight budget.

This project even won the seal of approval from my 11-year-old son, who said it’s “really cool!” Can’t beat that!

beach in a jar

24 April 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

A friend of mine bought her first place a couple of months ago, and I recently got the grand tour.

I wanted to give her a little housewarming gift, but I wanted it to be meaningful to her. She has a beachy/cottagey style, and has said that she wants her home to be peaceful and relaxing, just like she’s on vacation. At the beach.

I thought, why not put the beach in a jar?

So, I purchased a glass jar with a lid, some vase filler – also known as sand – and I had a bag of seashells in my basement curing, waiting for just the right craft project.

First I filled the bottom of the jar with sand…

…then layered in the seashells, and voila!

A quick and easy (and inexpensive, yet meaningful) housewarming gift that will look great on a shelf.

(Hope my friend doesn’t read this post before I give her the housewarming gift!)

there’s a bird in my purse – tutorial

2 April 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

As you may know, I have a bird problem. So, in the event that you have a bird problem too, I thought I’d show you how to get a bird to nest in a vintage purse.

You will need the following supplies:

Vintage purse
Floral foam
Spanish moss
Floral pins (optional)
Decorative bird’s nest
Decorative bird’s eggs
Decorative bird
A couple of feathers
Hot glue gun

First order of business, find a vintage purse. Check your local Goodwill, thrift store, or garage sale.

Then take some floral foam and cut it to fit inside the purse.

No need to use special tools to cut the foam. Basic scissors will do. And take note…cutting the foam is not a tidy job. You will need to vacuum after this project.

Then insert the foam into the purse.

Next step is to cover the foam with the Spanish moss.

You can secure the moss with floral pins.

Next step is the nest. A nest from a craft store may have wire prongs. Position the nest where you want it in the purse and push the prongs through the moss and into the floral foam. If the nest doesn’t have prongs, you can use floral pins to secure it.

When the nest is secure, hot glue several eggs in the nest.

Place your bird in the nest. Your bird may have wires in the legs. If so, you can use them to secure the bird in the floral foam.

However, if you’re placing your bird in the nest, the wire may be too flimsy to poke through the nest. In that case, clip the wires and hot glue the bird in place in the nest or purse.

If your purse has a pocket, you can hot glue a couple of feathers in the pocket. And voila! A bird has nested in your purse!

I made this purse for my friend Claire, whose house I featured in a recent Road Trip. Since Claire has lots of blue in her house – from sky blue to Tiffany blue – and plenty of red accents, I thought this would be a perfect gift for her (although I did ask her in advance if she was afraid of birds, since some people are, like my sister). The good news is she loved it!

Showing off my bird problem at Funky Junk Interiors and Remodelaholic…

joining the drop cloth curtain revolution

30 January 2011 by Andrea 1 Comment

I’m finally joining the drop cloth curtain revolution that is making its way across Blogland, like here and here and quite a few other places. Official name is the Internet Bloggers Drop Cloth Revolution (IBDCR). Viva la revolucion!

With two 8-foot tall windows in our family room and not much more than an $8 budget, I thought drop cloth curtains would be a terrific option, plus I love the grey-beige color and believe it or not, they look like linen!

Of course I forgot to take a before pic, so let’s just jump right in…

Click on the photo to enlarge

These curtains are so simple, just about anyone could make them!

Step 1. Buy 6′ x 9′ canvas drop cloth. I purchased 4 at $9.97 each from Home Depot. Get out clearance curtain rods ($12.97 each) from garage, where they’ve been “curing” for a year.

Step 2. Wash & dry drop cloths. Iron drop cloths.

Step 3. Hang curtain rods.

Step 4. Attach curtain clips to drop cloth panels. If panel is too long, fold a length toward the front of the curtain to the desired length (see photo). Slide rings on to curtain rods.

Step 5. Stand back and admire your handy work!

Did you notice? No mention of a sewing machine anywhere. This is a no-sew project!

Don’t they look fabulous? Really dresses up the windows, giving them a touch of class. and really warms up the room! No one would ever guess they weren’t linen!

Click on the photo to enlarge. And no, the left curtain rod is not uneven…that’s just the camera angle!

So, I added gorgeous window treatments to two 8-foot windows for less than $65. Plus, these curtains were so quick & easy, I might move on and use them on the sliding glass door in the kitchen!

Edited to add – This project is the first 2011 House Goal that I’ve completed. One down, 11 to go!

sign language

27 November 2010 by Andrea 3 Comments

Sometimes it’s just easier to post a sign than to try to explain everything.

That’s what I was thinking when I created this piece for my coat closet…

A coat closet sign. Pretty ingenious, huh? I thought it was important for my guests to be able to find their coats.

OK, who am I kidding? I rarely have guests!

But irrespective of the number of guests I do or don’t have, I thought this coat plaque would be cute.

I took an unfinished wood plaque, painted a base coat of yummy midnight blue, followed by coats of light gray and a hint of taupey beige. Then I cut out a coat graphic and decoupaged it on to the painted plaque. Distressed the edges a bit with sandpaper, to reveal the yummy midnight blue, then topped it off with a layer of non-yellowing polyurethane, attached it to the door with non-damaging 3M picture-hanging velcro, and voila!

Now go hang up your coat!

Showing off this project at the link party over at Funky Junk Interiors.

easy art

21 November 2010 by Andrea 2 Comments

When I redecorated my teen daughter’s room almost 2 years ago, I placed 3 frames on one wall, because she really wanted to hang pictures of her & her friends.

Well, because after 2 years I got tired of waiting for her to add the pictures and looking at this…

…2 of the frames with the original picture that came with the frame and the 3rd frame on the floor collecting lots of dust and hair product overspray.

I finally took matters into my own hands and decided to remedy the problem, since it doesn’t look like the friend photos are happening any time soon. So, I removed the picture frame girl photo and replaced with 3 different scrapbook papers that match the colors in her room, and that I already had on hand.

Here are the closeups…

Super cute & easy! And cheap, since I already had the paper on hand. Plus, my daughter likes it! Good stuff all the way around!

(If only I could show you pics of the rest of her cute room, but I’m afraid the Health Department will recognize it and condemn it! Maybe after she goes off to college next fall…)