10/17 DIY Projects

DIY Copper Tin Can Planters and Chalkboard Tags

Copper Tin Can Planters

How gorgeous is this copper color???  I didn’t think it was possible… but I may have found another spray paint that I like just as much as my favorite gold spray paint…

Here it is.

Rustoleum Copper Metallic Spray Paint

Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint in Copper.  I got mine here (affiliate link).  Don’t let the weird orange-y looking cap fool you.  This paint has the same beautiful sheen as the gold one that I love so much.  I wouldn’t say it’s a chrome finish, but it’s more of a brushed metal look.

Start with some tin cans and remove the labels and any gunk underneath them.

Tin Cans

These cans used to hold diced tomatoes and are about 4 inches in diameter each.  I actually really like the way they looked originally and you could totally skip the spray painting if you want to keep the silver chrome.  If you’re set on making them copper like I was, then place them upside down and spray them in light coats with the copper spray paint.  I sprayed about 3 coats.  (If you’re new to my blog, then you will not have noticed that I’ve linked my spray painting tips a bajillion times before and I recommend checking them out to review some basics :)).

Copper Cans

LOVE.

Ideally I wanted to apply the chalkboard paint directly to the cans, but I realized later that the ridges would get in the way of creating clean lines and writing smoothly with chalk.   So, I came up with a plan to make chalkboard tags.

I chose to make the tags out of balsa wood because it’s easy to cut and more durable than something like paper or poster board.  The sheet of balsa wood I used was 3 inches wide and 1/16″ thick.  Since I conveniently wanted the tags to be 3 inches wide, all I needed to do was measure out the length of each tag and cut accordingly.

Two Inch Marks

With a pencil, I drew tick marks every two inches (each tag will be two inches long)  on both edges of the wood and I did three sets of these for a total of three tags to be cut.  Using a ruler, draw a line connecting the tick marks across from each other.  These are the lines you’re going to cut along.

Xacto cutting

Make sure to work on top of a cutting mat.  Lightly go over the line with your X-acto knife first to create a shallow cut, then go over it again with more pressure to cut through the entire piece of wood.  The groove will act like a little track that will help keep your knife guided along the line.

I rounded out the the corners free handed with my X-acto knife and cut out little holes for the twine to go through.  First draw a small circle on each tag where you want the holes to be and then cut them out with your knife using more of a poking motion.  Keep poking around the circle until the hole is created.  Your tags should look something like this.

Wood tags

Paint them with chalkboard paint, allowing each layer to dry 1 hour before adding the next.  I applied a total of 4 layers, though the minimum you should paint is 2.  I let it dry for 24 hours before rubbing chalk on the surface to prep it for use.

Tie a chalkboard tag around each can with twine, securing it in place with a bow, and you’ll have these *adorable* labeled planters.

Copper Tin Can Planters and Chalkboard Tags

I knew I was going to put my herb plants in these cans and the chalkboard tags are a perfect way to label them.   Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t get creative or festive with what you write on them.

Want some Halloween spirit?

Tin Can Planters Boo

Thanksgiving is around the corner, isn’t it?

Tin Can Planters thx

Or how about my personal favorite?

Tin Can Planters Ugh

“Ugh” is something I say when I really like something, like UGH so good, or UGH these planters are so cute.

What would you write on the chalkboard tags?  Leave me a comment and let’s chat :)

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10/14 DIY Projects / Seasonal/Holiday

DIY Gold Dipped Pumpkin Vase

Gold Dipped Pumpkin Vase

I’m back with the gold, y’all.

I’ve been loving all the pumpkin vases on Pinterest and wanted to try my hand at it with my gold flair.  I set out to look for a naturally white pumpkin, but after a week of searching I couldn’t find any other than the mini-sized ones.  So what do we do in these situations?  Yup, we DIY.

Pie Pumpkin

This is a pie pumpkin.  I learned that it’s meant more for eating (pumpkin pie!) than for decorative purposes.  For my purposes, it is the perfect and most manageable size for this vase project.

First, cut out the top like you would for a jack-o-lantern and remove the pumpkin seeds and stringy insides.  I used a metal spoon to scrap everything out and it worked just fine.

Now if you want the top part of your pumpkin to remain orange, then you can skip the step I took to spray paint the majority of the top portion white.  If you’re lucky enough to find a white pumpkin, that would be best if you want your pumpkin to be white and gold like mine.  I learned the sad way that painters tape will strip the white paint off of the pumpkin :(  This called for improvisation.

Aluminum Foil Pumpkin

After the white spray paint dried, I wrapped aluminum foil around the top 2/3 of the pumpkin and stuffed the excess in the opening at the top, using the straight edge of the foil to delineate at the bottom where I wanted the gold paint to start.  Since there’s no adhesion between the foil and the pumpkin, it is super important to make sure your spray paint strokes go from the foil towards the bottom of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Painting Direction

This actually worked really well!  I was surprised.  Again, the key is to spray from left to right as shown in the photo above.  If you go in any other direction, you are more likely to get the gold paint underneath the foil and won’t achieve a clean line.  I held the pumpkin just like I did in the photo and rotated it like a rotisserie chicken, spraying left to right in light coats.  Review some spray painting basics here if you’d like.  The spray paint I used is my most favorite spray paint ever: Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint in Gold.

That’s it for the crafting part.  The next part is optional, but I highly recommend it.

Aluminum Can Pumpkin

I picked up this tip from Pinterest (Are you following me yet?  I’d love to have you!) to place an aluminum can inside the pumpkin for your flowers to sit in.  GENIUS.  Not only will you not have to fill up the entire pumpkin with water, but the can helps keep the flowers arranged and contained better.

Pour water and arrange flowers into the can and that’s it!

Gold Dipped Pumpkins Centerpiece

I love fall decorating with hydrangeas.  They are so elegant and happen to fit nicely with my new pumpkin vase :)  I got a couple of those mini white pumpkins I mentioned earlier and painted them in the same way, except I used painters tape instead of aluminum foil.  They’re all sitting on my dining table and are a nice variation to my fall centerpiece.

My boyfriend mentioned to me probably about 26 times that this pumpkin vase is going to “die soon.”  While it is always sad to think that my work will be going in the trash, a large part of me is relieved by that in this kind of situation.  Apartment living usually doesn’t afford much storage, and I just don’t have the space to store a lot of seasonal decor.  Plus, decorating should never be permanent, right?  It’s the process that really makes it special and gets you into the spirit of the season.

Take for instance these pumpkins my friends and I carved back in 2010.

Carved Pumpkins

Pretty sweet, right?  Can you guess which one was mine?  Hint: it’s missing a tooth.  It just isn’t Fall or Halloween without pumpkins, whether you carve them, don’t carve them, or turn them into vases.  Pumpkins aren’t forever, but the memories of them are.  :) Cheesy overload.

Happy pumpkin decorating!

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10/10 DIY Projects

DIY No Sew Table Runner

DIY No Sew Table Runner

You don’t have a sewing machine and/or do not know how to use one and/or do not have the patience to sew?  Let’s be friends. :)

Learning to sew has been on my to-do list ever since I quickly forgot how to use a sewing machine after learning in my 8th grade Home Ec. class.  I envy those who can whip out tote bags, scarves, and other sewing creations with seemingly endless ease and grace.  I’d love to say that I’m that girl, but I’m not, and luckily for those of you like me, there are ways to work around this.

Let me introduce the star of the show.

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10/07 DIY Projects

DIY Candle Holders

DIY Candle Holders

Fall decorating continues with these super easy DIY candle holders.  The inspiration came to me when I removed the rope bundled around the wheat grass I used for my fall centerpiece.  I wanted to re-purpose the rope somehow and thought an easy, beautiful way to use them would be to wrap them around candles.  All I needed next were some affordable candle holders, which warranted a trip to the dollar store.

DIY Candle Holders Materials

The votive and candlestick holders were all dollar store purchases, as well as the candles themselves.  The only other thing you need is a glue gun.

DIY Candle Holders glue gun

Apply the glue to the rim of the candlestick holder and place the votive candle holder on top.  Do this quickly (and carefully) since the glue sets very fast.  *Side note:  How sweet is my mini green glue gun?  Green is my favorite color.*

DIY Candle Holders glued

Bam.  That’s it!  Wasn’t that quick?  From this point on there’s a million things you can do with them.  I may paint them in the future actually, but for now I just put in white candles and wrapped the rope around each of them.

DIY Candle Holders Rope

The rope is actually made from the same stiff material as the wheat grass so it held its shape very well.  It may have been easier to use a synthetic fiber rope, but I just love the look of this wheat grass material.

DIY Candle Holders 2

Love how simple and easy these are.   I’m a lover of neutral colors and they can make fall decorating effortless and elegant.  It’s nice and refreshing sometimes to just keep things simple.

Thanks for stopping by!

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10/03 Seasonal/Holiday

Fall Centerpiece

Fall Centerpiece

October is here already?!?!   It’s amazing how fast this year has gone by, which is what I say every year, and October marks the start to a whirlwind of holidays, spending more time with loved ones, and gaining weight!  I decided to welcome in this time of year with a fall centerpiece to bring in the warmth of the season’s festivities.

Starting with the flowers.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers always make me smile :)  They are the quintessential fall bloom and their golden, yellow color fits in with any fall decor.

Pitcher

I arranged them in this gorgeous white pitcher that I got on the cheap at Target.  I’m a fan of farmhouse style and I got this pitcher with that aesthetic in mind.

Wheat grass

I found the dried wheat grass at HomeGoods and they were originally just bundled together with a rope.  I cut them down to my desired length and put them in a gold, votive candle holder.  I felt like it was still missing something, so I wrapped around a brown ribbon and tied it into a bow.

Pumpkin Candle

Ah, on to my precious.  I couldn’t say no to this metallic pumpkin.  Is that a lid, you ask?  What’s inside?

Pumpkin candle open

It’s a pumpkin spice candle.  UGH, so cute.  Smells delicious too.

Wood

Finally, I corralled it all together with this piece of wood from Michaels.  I’ve seen this thing many, many times at Michaels, almost purposefully walking down that aisle just to look at it and come up with an excuse for why I needed it.  And then it hit me.  I’d use it to put other stuff on top of it.  Genius.

Fall Centerpiece 2

You guys.  I love fall.  It’s incredible how something seemingly small like a centerpiece can liven your spirits and get you excited about the days ahead of you.  My heart is filled with joy when I walk into my kitchen every morning and am greeted with this fall scenery.  It’s truly a powerful thing. ;)

I hope you’re all as excited about fall as I am, and most of all, I hope you’re inspired to get your hands on some fall decorating.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today!

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