DIY – Page 19 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

My New Crafty Corner

Published on July 22, 2014July 23, 2014 by Jenna4 Comments

I’m super excited to share my new craft cart with you! Although I ordered it back in March with free shipping, the company insisted that offer didn’t apply to Alaska, so we had it shipped to my mother-in-law’s house in Washington, where it sat until we visited a few weeks ago. It then made the long haul up the AlCan with my classic truck and took shape after several hours of assembly by the hubs. But it was sooooooo worth it!

I’m still filling some of the drawers, but most are packed with my craft supplies. I’ve been able to fit everything in this one cabinet, sans fabric – which will soon be organized and stored in a rarely used space, so watch for a post on that too. The top two drawers have movable dividers which make organizing super easy.

I scored some favor tins at the craft store with a coupon sale to organize the little things like beads and buttons. The clear tops make it easy to find exactly what I’m looking for and I still have a few empty containers to grow into!

I hung my cutting board on the side with a few hooks, so it’s easy to pull out and trim things quickly. I plan to add a roll of craft paper above the cutting board for gift wrapping and easy cover for messy projects.

On the other side I put a hook for my craft bag, which holds my current craft project. It’s the best way I’ve found to craft on the go. 🙂

I hung a few display boards above the cabinet and set my mannequin bust on one corner with a wire basket to hold prepped inventory. The little ceramic pot acts as my trash can and a couple metal tubs hold recent projects that are awaiting prepping for their Etsy closeup. A fellow crafter is making me an adorable owl tool holder, which I’ll be sure to show off when it’s ready.

Eventually, I’ll add some shelves above the display boards to hold some of my other display pieces and finished inventory, but for now it’s just great to have a dedicated space for creating. Not having to first find the materials needed, then haul them out and set them all up, to craft for a few minutes and then have to gather it all back up to go back into storage again is HEAVEN! I can be working on something and realize I need another material or tool, roll out a drawer, grab it and keep on crafting. That alone inspires me to work on projects.

Even better is that we added wheels on the bottom so it can move! I can pull it out into the middle of the room so I can work on a project from all sides or invite friends over for a craft session. But the real reason for the wheels is so I can pull it out into the living room and watch TV with the hubs while crafting! I did just that when I was organizing everything into it and it was perfect. Now I just need the stool I want to go on sale, so I have a seat at the ready to serve as a crafting post or a photo prop!

A Little Extra Support

Published on July 20, 2014July 23, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

Apparently the little tropical plant I have on my desk at work is very happy in it’s home, because it has grown like wildfire. It had spread so much that I’d started using nearby picture frames and awards to support the new growth! It was getting a bit out of hand and the drooping stems weren’t growing strong enough to support the new growth.

So I decided to give my little purple plant some extra support with a trellis of sorts. I picked up some copper tubing used for plumbing at the big box hardware store. I planned to make an upward spiral, but realized I didn’t have a lot of height to work with in this spot and that plan would require tools to cut the tubing, which I didn’t have at my disposal while at the office. So instead I curled the tube around and then arched it over so I could push the ends back into the pot.

I added the new twisty trellis to over the plant and started fishing the stems up and threw it. No rhyme or reason, just gently pulling each through the loops until it seemed to sit well.

A few minutes later my little plant looked like this.

I showed off my handiwork to my co-workers who were pretty darn impressed and then placed my newly supported greenery back in it’s usual spot.

Not bad for a few dollars of tubing and a break spent creating something. 🙂

Light It Up

Published on July 18, 2014July 19, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

A few weeks ago I shared some do’s and don’ts of flag etiquette, which included keeping the flag lit if you choose not to take it down at dusk. Here in Alaska, that’s not a problem during the summer since the sun never truly goes down. However come winter, we will have the opposite – more hours of dark than light. And the darkness will descend long before we make it home to remove the flag each day. So rather than not fly the flag all winter, the hubs rigged this fancy light for the flag.

It’s powered by a solar panel, which should still get enough sunlight each day to power the LED light through the darkness, even in the winter. Installation was pretty simple. He just picked the best location, attached it to the wall with a few screws and angled the light. Since he picked it out and installed it without me, I don’t know much of the details beyond that. I don’t even know where he got it or how much it cost. I’m just pleased to have a light at the ready that didn’t require extensive landscaping to install and isn’t a monstrously obvious contraption!

What’s in a name?

Published on July 16, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

I ordered this cut metal name plate on one of my favorite “daily deals” websites for around $20 including shipping and love it, but I’m not sure how I want to use it. The website showed them affixed to the exterior of a building, but it’s not very large (about 12″ long by 4″ high), so I’m worried that it would get lost on the side of the house plus I’m not crazy about the idea of attaching anything to our new siding. I originally thought I’d use it out near the road as part of an address sign, but that’s a low-priority project so it will be a while before I work on that.

When it first arrived in the mail I considered making a light box so it would be lit from behind similar to the trendy marque letters everyone is DIYing these days, but I’m not sure where I’d use that either. I’ve also considered painting it, adding some metal stakes and using it as garden art in the landscaping that will come once the fence is installed around the backyard or in the rain garden. I even went as far as pulling out some paint options.

But I just can’t commit. I’ve searched Pinterest for ideas and haven’t come up with anything beyond what I’ve already considered, so I want to hear your suggestions. How and where would you use it? Would you paint it? If so, what color? I’m betting someone will have an amazing idea that will make me say – Why didn’t I think of that?! And inspire me to make it happen!

Hanging the Hose

Published on July 15, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

For some unknown reason our builder decided to install our front hose spigot in the middle of the space between our garage and front porch, under a window. I’m guessing the plumber chose that spot because it was an easy location to run the pipe to. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite jive with my landscaping plans, which had a flowerbed going in from the porch to the garage and back to the window.

Life would have been much simpler if he’d just put it next to the front porch where I’d envisioned it, but if you know me you know simple rarely happens in my life. So rather than traipse through my flower bed every time I want to turn on the water, and then have a hose trapped amongst plants, I altered my plan and put in a divided flowerbed with a walkway to the spigot.

But that made the hose the center of attention, so it has to look good. Problem was that I didn’t want to attach anything to the house unless absolutely necessary since we had brand new siding. About the time we were installing the flowerbeds I found this fabulous idea on one of my favorite blogs and knew it would work for our hose. I like the idea of the metal post holder, but I didn’t think it would work well without support around it like she had, so I opted to do it the old fashioned way with the post in the ground. The hubs cut down a 4×4 and we dug a hole with the post-hole digger next to the spigot. We just backfilled the hole around the pole and then screwed on a pretty metal bracket so there was a spot to coil and hang the hose.

Since I have a fancy watering wand I just lean that against the pole, which allows it to drain if I don’t get everything out before coiling the hose. This is the first time I’ve used an expandable hose, but I love it because it’s light weight and easy to move. Plus it hangs on the bracket very easily without a lot of weight.

So that’s it: a pole in a hole, a bracket, some screws and a hose.

Free & Easy!

Published on July 13, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

I recently found some pretty green bottles and instantly knew that I wanted to use them in the kitchen for the hand and dish soap. I lucked out and the top from the store dish soap bottle fit the glass bottle perfectly. It even screwed on tight without a hassle.

The hand pump was a little more difficult. I tried a pump like the one we used on the mason jar soap bottles, but it wasn’t the right size to fit the opening. I had a small hand soap bottle in our bathroom that had a larger pump so I decided to try that. That one did fit, unfortunately the stem wasn’t long enough to reach the soap at the bottom of the bottle.

Then I remembered that we had a package of flexible straws somewhere and wondered if that might fit the pump. I dug through the cabinets and found them, then tested out the length next to the bottle. It seemed like it would work, so I pulled the old stem out of the pump and pushed the straw in. The connection was a little loose due to the flexible part of the straw, but it stayed snugly attached as I fussed with it.

Since it seemed pretty secure, I put everything together and gave the pump a couple pushes. It took a few before the soap started flowing, but when it did it worked just fine. It’s been about a week now and it’s still working great, so I guess my little DIY rig is good enough. And it’s a whole lot prettier than the plastic store bottles!

I’m not crazy about the different colors of the two tops, but they work and I’m probably the only one who notices it. Plus the bottles fit the little tray I’d been using to hold their plastic predecessors as if it was made just for them, leaving just enough room for the sponge. But the best part about the whole project is that it was 100% free! Now if only I could get all my projects to be this affordable and easy. 🙂

Berries in a Bucket

Published on June 28, 2014June 24, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

Strawberries are my favorite part of summer, so when the coordinator of the Farmer’s Market I frequent offered me an entire flat of starts for free because they weren’t top stock I was elated. Since we don’t have the vegetable garden set up yet, I had to figure out another spot for my personal berry patch.

I’d seen tiered planters on Pinterest and knew I could rig something similar that would work using a large metal tub I already had. The hubs found me a freebie metal bucket to create the second level and it fit perfectly.

I didn’t take pictures of the process since it was so simple. He drilled a few drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket and I just placed it on top of the soil in the larger tub, filled it with dirt and planted my new berry babies. Easy peasy, berry squeezey.

And here we go…

Published on June 24, 2014August 6, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Sorry for “going dark” recently, but we’ve been traveling the AlCan to Portland and back to visit family and bring home my prized 1955 F-100 pick-up. I’ll be posting about the trip soon, but for now I’ll get you caught up on a few projects I didn’t have time to share before our trip.

The biggest was the installation of our first landscaping, two flowerbeds out front! After waiting weeks for the builder to grade our lot without resolution, the plants that had been sitting on my porch in anticipation were in desperate need of a permanent home. So we purchased top soil, mulch and weed fabric and set to work.

I marked out the shape I wanted with the hose as a guide. Then the hubs helped me till and level the area.

We added a layer of top soil on top of the tilled ground in the area where we planned to plant.

Next, we put down the weed fabric and used some large metal staples that came home in a bucket the hubs found for me as pins.

Then we put a section of pea gravel on top of the fabric along the house so when the rain water runs off the roof it doesn’t pool in the bed. Luckily, the hubs was able to get a free supply of gravel that worked out to be just the right amount for this project!

We also placed large rocks from around the yard along the border.

After that, I laid out the plants to decide exactly where I wanted everything. It took a little rearranging to get everything just right, but it was fun trying out different groupings.

Once I was happy with the layout, I cut holes in the weed fabric to plant each. The hubs filled in mulch around each plant as I moved on to the next plant.

We also did a small bed between the porch and the garage, which included a walkway to the hose spigot on the wall. The pavers were a bargain find on a local buy/sell page for just $2/each, so we picked all we could and have a healthy stash for other projects.

We followed the same process as the larger bed, but included spots for a rain barrel, hose rack and fountain.

The rain barrel and fountain still need some work, but at least they are in place and prepped. Watch for posts about those and the hose holder soon.

The entire process took about two days – much longer than I estimated, but it was well worth the effort and looks great! Although the kids played most of the time we were working, they did take a few breaks for naps on the pea gravel which they apparently found quite comfy.

In retrospect, I probably should have skipped the weed fabric since everything we planted are perennials – hosta, iris, lilies, phlox, dianthus, peony, pincushion flower, lavender and salvia – which will spread with each season, requiring I cut a bigger opening to allow that process. I’ll leave it in place for now and see how it goes. For now, I’m just giddy to have our first plants in the ground.

Now I just need to get the rain garden, lawn and veggie garden going! Let the madness of planting begin!

A Quick Fix

Published on May 30, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

When we first brought Luna home, she took out her anxiety on my storage bench in the Master Closet. Since my other chitlins had somehow stained the seat while we lived in the rental house I wasn’t too upset about it.

But now that we’ve passed the “settling in” phase and she is secure in her role of ruling the DB&DT household, it was time to fix this little blemish.

I dug through my fabric stash and decided a tan microsuede remnant was the perfect match for the master bedroom decor and was just the right size for the project. Apparently, Luna felt a tad bit guilty about her role in creating the problem, so she wanted to help by taking her bath right next to the board as I worked on it.

A few staples and snips later, it looks better than new!

So good in fact, that the Princess herself came to give it a royal approval!

And then pause to appreciate how pretty she was after her bath!

Hopefully, she has no plans to tear up her new throne now that it’s been upgraded. 🙂

Honoring Old Glory

Published on May 30, 2014May 30, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

The problem with short work weeks is that, well they’re short and therefore seem to go by that much faster! Dealing with our builder and having my truck in the shop or 3 days didn’t help either. I’ve had several items to write about this week and just haven’t had time to get them out of my head and on the screen! Now its Friday and I’m just getting around to sharing those ideas with you, so here we go.

Although we did a quick overnight visit to some friends in Seward, we spent the rest of our Memorial Day weekend working on things around the house, including installing a flag pole for the flag my Mother-In-Law got the hubs for his birthday… back in March. Yeah, we’ve been a little busy…

We’d tried to by a bracket and pole at several retailers over the last few weeks only to find that you had to buy everything as a kit with the flag. Or you could buy just the bracket without the pole or flag. WTH?! So the hubs got creative and purchased a wooden broom handle, which he shaved down on one end to fit the bracket.

And Wa-La! We have a flag on our front porch, just in time to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.

Not respecting the flag is one of my top pet-peeves, so it’s no surprise that I grit my teeth every day when I drive past the flag that our neighbor put out and obviously forgot about some time ago. It’s faded, frayed and stuck around the pole it’s on. Plus there is no light on it at night. It disgusts me so much I couldn’t even bring myself to take a picture of it to show you how horrible it looks.

Unfortunately, there are people in our country who have never been taught how to respect the flag – like a previous co-worker who had no clue why it was would a bad thing to let the flag touch the ground when we were setting up for an event! Let’s just say I didn’t show extreme patience when correcting her. And now that we’ve entered the season of patriotic holidays I thought it would be helpful to share a few dos and don’ts on handling Old Glory.

Federal law stipulates many aspects of flag etiquette and the section of law that deals with the American Flag etiquette is referred to as the “Flag Code”. The basics of this code include the following guidelines:

The flag should be lighted at all times, either by sunlight or by an appropriate light source.
The flag should be flown in fair weather, unless the flag is designed for inclement weather use.
The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. It is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
The flag should not be used for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations.
The flag should never have any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind placed on it, or attached to it.
The flag should never be used for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything. (This is super hard to abide by as a photographer, but I do!)
When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.
The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner.

For a more comprehensive set of flag etiquette rules, click here. Please make sure you honor the flag – and those who serve it – when using it in your decorations. And if you know someone who needs an introduction to the rules, or even a refresher, I hope you’ll share this post with them.