Super Easy Primitive Key Hanger

I still haven’t unpacked my craft stuff yet, so I had to improvise for this Pinterest-inspired key hanger I wanted to make. I started out with this shallow crate / shelf thingy that I already had. Any shallow wood crate or tray would work!

I bought these little screw in hooks at Wally world…4 for $.97!

Making sure they won’t be too long…these are perfect! If they are too long, you could file down the excess, or put some felt dots / tape over the little protruding screws. These are a great small size and will probably work fine  for most crates / trays out there.

Just screw them in by hand. No tools necessary.

There she is, one hook short (oops). I figure I can get more hooks the next time I go, or just set a small figurine or decoration in that space.

This is where the improvising came in. Since all my hardware is packed, including all my hangers and wall hooks, I used two pop tabs nailed on either end. They are surprisingly strong. I simply nailed them down, nailing right through the small, flat metal part of the tab. Another Pinterest idea to the test, and it works great!

I love it!!!

Not only did I work on my first craft project in a while, but I also hit up my first great barn sale of the season. I got a super deal on some primitives that have already made their way to my booth at The Carriage Place. I got these two 10 foot antique shutters for….wait for it….$3!!! That means $1.50 each. Probably the best deal EVER, in the history of the world!

I also got this old ladder back chair and big blue swirly enamel tub. I thought they’d both make great garden pieces.

Two small unfinished shutters and an old tool carrier, both which I plan to eventually paint & distress.

And lastly, I got this old wooden army trunk from the 40′s. Great army green color and original hardware. Trunks always seem to sell well in my co-op.

Along with all my thrift store / garage sale “smalls”, I like to sprinkle in some really nice antiques and quality pieces here and there. This improves the overall quality of my my booth and shows dealers that come through, as well as customers, that I am “legit”. LOL. I got this beautiful antique cabinet on Craigslist. My personal rule is: only buy a piece if I know I can double my money. I know I’ll have no problem selling this beautiful cabinet for more than twice what I paid.

The same goes for this other Craigslist find; an antique oak ice box. These go for BIG money around here, so when you see one at a decent price, you gotta get it! It’s in excellent condition and was a real steal!

I am headed to the co-op for a massive over-haul on Wednesday night, so I will get some updated pics and share them with you soon. If you try out the key hanger, or any variation of it, I’d love to see a pic! Hope everyone has a super-duper week, and Happy Crafting!

The Redneck Wine Glass

I have been wanting to do this project forever! It’s the one and only “Redneck Wine Glass”! I’ve seen them everywhere from Etsy to Bass Pro Shops to our very own Finger Lakes Wineries, and they sell anywhere from $10-$20 a piece! This leaves a lot of room for profit if you decide to make them yourself! I have always thought they’d be a great item to sell at my co-op considering we are kinda out in the country. I love how they came out and am so excited to share them with you!!!

Start out with mason jars and clear candle sticks. I got all of these at The Dollar Tree, but I am sure you could get them even cheaper if you did some thrifting!

My glue of choice was E-6000, as many other tutorials had suggested. I have seen mixed feedback on using E-6000 for this particular project. Some people say that it does not hold. Others have never had a problem, even after multiple (hand) washings. My glasses seem quite sturdy and I could not pull them apart, even with great force. On the tags I made, I recommended hand washing to prevent breakage (many reports of them falling apart were only after they went through a dish washer!)

The E-6000 dries crystal clear. Use a good amount of glue to ensure a good seal!

I let mine sit like this, undisturbed for 4 days. Those who had problems with them falling apart mentioned they had only let them dry for 24 hours. I’d definitely recommend letting them dry for at least 48-36 hours or more before handling them!

Next, for the tags, I used this brown kraft paper I got at the craft store. It’s a thin card stock and was perfect for these tags!

I made up some a little blurb for the tags: “The Official Redneck Wine Glass ~ Hey y’all – You don’t have to be a hillbilly to enjoy this one of a kind glass, but you do have to have a sense of humor! Fill ‘er up with your favorite wine, beer, or moonshine, kick up your heels, and GIT-R-DONE! Care instructions: Hand wash in warm soapy water & air dry.” This text is a combo of tags I found online with my own twist. Feel free to use this wording if you are thinking of making your own tags!

I used Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the text, saved the file as a PDF, and kept making test prints to get the size right. I kept shrinking the font size til the blurb fit perfectly into my tag hole-punch! This tag punch is a large one – 3.5″ tall by 2″ wide.

To add some color, I traced the lids onto some scrapbook paper to make little lid covers. I used gingham and stars – but you could customize your glasses for any occasion by using different lid designs and themes!

And here they are! I tied a small strip of burlap on the stem of the glass (you could use raffia or torn homespun too) and then tied on my little tags with some twine.

Woohoo! I looooove them! I only made 6 for now but am totally making more! I’ll let ya know if they do well at the co-op! Hope everyone has a Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Etsy Coupon For My Blog Peeps!

Just wanted to let my crafty friends / readers know that I am selling off some of the country word blocks / shelf sitters I had stocked up on for my booth. They are now in my Etsy store at a wholesale price. I have created a special coupon for free shipping on orders over $20, especially for readers and friends of my blog. When you check out, enter craftypeeps (no space, all one word) in the coupon code section. The coupon will be active for probably a month or so and applies to anything in the shop, not just these word blocks. Anyone can use it. Spread the word!

Thanks so much for your continued support and I will be back soon with some fun craftiness!

 

Dollar Store Salt Shakers + Vintage Buttons = Button Flower Bouquets

It’s me again! I am on a crafting BINGE! I don’t know what’s gotten into me! Maybe because it’s been sunny and “Spring” feeling these last few days? I don’t know, but I’m going with it!

I have a fun “dollar store craft” for you! I made these cute little vintage button bouquets using Dollar Tree salt shakers (you can also find some at the thrift store for super cheap, like the ones here on the left) and some buttons and wire that I had on hand. So easy and a perfect Spring craft!

I also used twine for a bow accent, and shredded paper (also found at Dollar Tree) to stuff inside the shakers and help hold wire stems in place. I suggest using a pair of pliers that have a cutting edge on them, so you don’t jack up your scissors while cutting the wire.

To make the stems, you are going to twist the two sides of the wire together. Fold the wire piece over and cut it roughly the length you want the stem to be – keeping in mind it will be a tad shorter after twisting it together.

Layer your buttons to make fun, colorful little “flowers.” Slide the ends of the wire through your button flower and start twisting them together tightly, to create a sturdy stem. Cut off the excess wire.

Stuff a small amount of shredded paper down in the salt shaker to help hold the stems in place. You could use more buttons, beads, floral foam, or nothing at all…whatever you want!

Make as many flowers as you’d like! They are fun to make!

My first bouquet is a red and brown theme

And my second bouquet was a blue and black theme

I photographed them for Etsy but decided at the last-minute to bring them to the co-op. They are currently in my booth at The Carriage Place. I can’t wait to make more!

Last night I photographed a ton of new stuff I am putting in my Etsy store, and I wanted to let all my fellow crafters, that have booths or small shops, know that I am going to be selling these word blocks in groups of 6 at a wholesale price. I ordered way too many of them, so they’ll be in my shop this week at some point. They would be a great little item to resell, if you’re into country/prim decor like me!

  

I also wanted to share a few great thrift store finds from today! A great enamelware tin pan, an apothecary style jar (these sell like hot cakes in my booth!) some wooden plaques for future craft projects, vintage tin molds, and a small wooden platter with a glass cloche. I am going to paint the wooden base – probably black with a yellow prim star in the middle.

I was also sooooooooo excited to find some unique Scrabble tiles from a “Deluxe” edition of the game; 100 tiles for only $4! Best of all, they are maroon colored! I love that they are different from the regular Scrabble tiles, yet are a great color for country crafting!

And lastly, I had to share this find…..these brown kraft boxes were only $1 for a bag of 6!!! If you have an A.C. Moore’s, go grab some before they are discontinued!!! I was “that person” who depleted their inventory. Hehe. I am going to stamp them eventually. Love the variety of shapes!

That’s all for today! Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!!

Scrabble Tile Wall Art

I am finally starting to get my crafting mojo back after a few months of the winter blahs, thanks to some of my fellow crafters and friends who have been sharing some great ideas and projects lately! My friend Sara made this awesome wall plaque using burlap and Scrabble tiles, which I would LOVE to recreate for my booth at The Carriage Place!

I just adore the burlap and scrabble tiles together, so I decided to make a shadow box for my friend with the names of her expanding family. She is due in a few months to add a little boy named Henry to the crew!

So here are the supplies I used! An 8″ x 10″ shadow box from Joann’s, some Scrabble tiles that I found at Goodwill (bought the whole game for $2 and now have 100 letters to work with! Great deal!), some burlap, rusty tin shapes to accent the final project, and my trusty glue gun!

I would recommend laying out your names/words ahead of time to make sure they fit properly in your frame or shadow box. As you can see from my drawing, the names fit nicely on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper, but I couldn’t find a shadow box in that size. Now that I am done, I would have liked to get one a little bigger than 8″ x 10″, as it was cutting it a bit close to the edges. I think it would have been more visually appealing to have some space around the names – see the final product and let me know what you think!

I laid the names out on the cardboard insert to make sure they fit!

I then hot glued the pieces together, to make it easier to line them up on the background.

Cut the burlap to the size of the cardboard insert of the frame or shadow box. It was easy to cut it straight using the lines of the burlap as guides.

Warning: the burlap gets everywhere when you cut it! If you have an anal-retentive significant other like I do, I would suggest laying down some newspaper or else you’d be cleaning up all the little burlap fuzzies that cling to EVERYTHING! hehehe…

I used small dots of hot glue on the corners and around the edges to hold the burlap background in place.

Lay down the puzzle-pieces and glue the names together! Make sure they are straight!

I tried many different rusty tin accents, from little salt box houses, to hearts, to stars. I decided to go with one large star in the corner; I didn’t want it too “busy”.

Tip: Use a blow dryer on the hot setting to dissolve any hot glue string that may be on your project. After a few seconds they just disappear!

And here’s the final product! Again, I wish there was more space above the “M” in Melanie and below the “Y” in Henry. Because of my mild OCD tendencies, I may just have to go back and get a 12″ x 12″ shadow box and replace the 8″ x 10″. It’s really bugging me! lol.

UPDATE! I got a slightly larger shadow box (10″ x 10″) to create a little more space above and below the names. It was bothering me how scrunched they looked. This new shadow box is perfect! I also corrected Christine’s name…it was spelled wrong, in case anyone noticed!

I also thought I would share some updated photos of my booth at the co-op after a little re-organizing! I like to just move stuff around once in a while to keep it looking “fresh” and different. There are not a lot of crafts in there; more antiques and vintage items. I hope to get some more hand made stuff in there this Spring!

Thanks for stoppin’ by! Happy crafting!

P.S. I apologize for the random links in my post(s), that when you hover over them with your mouse, says “coupon drop down” or something like that. I am not making those links  -  it’s must be a virus or spam type action that’s automatically appearing here and there. Don’t click them. Sorry!

New Etsy Additions: Skeleton Keys, Cinnamon Sticks, Rose Hips and More!

So this post is a shameless plug for my Etsy store…sue me! I haven’t done much crafting since the Sculpey ornaments, but I have been busy trying to photograph and list some new items; mostly craft supplies. It seems my store has become more geared toward craft supplies and accessories, which I am happy to provide for those who may not have immediate access to them!

Here are a few pics, to give you an idea of what’s new over at Upstate Primitives!

Starting with jars of colored buttons! I have seen so many cute button projects on Pinterest lately, I thought these could come in handy!

TONS of skeleton keys of all shapes and sizes, and I have TONS more to come! Please feel free to email me there is a specific type of key you’re looking for!

I love these super tiny keys and thought they would make great charms for you jewelry-making peeps out there!

I also have some dried rose hips, anise stars, allspice, and cloves, for your crafting or “fixins” needs! In the near future I plan on making some scented fixins for my booth with some cinnamon-applesauce ornaments mixed in – maybe little stars or hearts – we’ll see!

I’ve had requests for the long cinnamon sticks, which can be hard to find. These are great for making giant stars (make star shape and tie together with jute or homespun strips) or “cinnamon stick santa’s” as seen on Pinterest!

Also some 6″ and 1″ cinnamon sticks!

Thanks for takin’ a look and I’ll try to be back with some crafty shananagans as soon as I get motivated! This time of year tends to be a little slower for me, but I have a few potential projects in mind. Have a great week everyone!

My First Attempt At Stamped Sculpey Clay Ornaments

Yay, the world didn’t end! That means we can keep crafting!

I’ve wanted to play with oven-bake clay for a while now so I picked up a package of Original Sculpey oven-bake clay at A.C. Moore’s the other day.  This stuff is great – it’s very easy to work with and only took me just a minute of kneading it for it to become very pliable. I can see why it’s good for kids crafts as well!

I decided to try stamping the clay. I broke out a bunch of random stamps including a set of small alphabet stamps. After some experimenting, I would recommend using stamps with heavy lines. The stamps with fine details didn’t work as well.

I see these small letter stamp sets in the $1 bins at all the craft stores! I’ve even seen them at Walmart. Scoop ‘em up when you see them, because they work AWESOME for this project! Helpful tip: write the letter / number on each side of the stamp so it’s easier to find the stamps you are looking for when they are strewn all over your craft area!

Since I do things the ghetto-fabulous way, I used different sized wine glasses / flutes as my ornament cutters. You could also use cookie cutters, which I did not think of until after the fact…duh!

(Disclaimer: I would not recommend doing using glasses that you plan to drink out of, because I don’t want to be responsible for getting you sick! Same with using knives and cookie sheets…technically you are supposed to keep your clay and food/cooking tools separate. Honestly, I just wash them really good and use them again like normal, and so far, I’ve lived!)

I rolled out the clay to approximately 1/4″, cut out the circles using my glasses, and then stamped them. There were many re-do’s and mistakes…I found some stamps worked well and some didn’t. You gotta just play around and see what looks best! I poked a small hole in the top of each pendant using a toothpick. I’ve seen others use a straw for a bigger hole.

Follow the Sculpey directions on the box to baking times. I baked mine at 275 °F for 15 minutes, and they came out great. After letting them cool completely, they were quite hard and durable.

And now for painting! Again – experimenting here. Upon tons of Googling, I found you should use water based acrylic craft paints, unless you are going to seal them first, which I didn’t want to bother with. I used the acrylic craft paints below, which happen to be super cheap too. I think these pains were $.50 each from the craft store if I remember correctly!

I tried a couple of different techniques with varying results. Technique #1 was painting over the stamp indents to get paint down in the creases, and then wiping off the surface with a DAMP paper towel.

Here are they results (below). They come out good if the stamp is deep enough. Otherwise, the paint easily wipes right out of the indented areas. See the middle of the bird cage on the left? I didn’t evenly press down the stamp, so some areas show up better with the paint than others. The key one came out pretty good!

Technique #2, which I really like, is to paint the whole surface and then wipe off the paint with a DRY paper towel. This leaves some paint on the surface, almost like a “stain”, while also leaving paint down in the grooves of the stamped design.

Here’s the result. I like this better, because the color on the surface kind of covers up any imperfections and adds to the “vintage” look.

Another way to do this would be just paint the surface with the desired color and then wipe, faced down, on the dry paper towel like this:

That seemed to work well in keeping the paint down in the grooves but leaving a nice over-all color stain on the surface. I also found you can do this, let it dry, and do this technique over again to get bolder colors! Here is the result of doing it twice:

Technique #3 was doing the 1st method (paint then wipe off with a damp paper towel) and then letting it dry…then doing a light “wash”, if you will, with another color. I started with black lines:

And then diluted some green (with a bit of water) and painted over it. I then wiped it with a dry paper towel to leave some green staining on the surface.

The result is the one in the picture below, on the bottom left. The same technique was used for the other two in this pic, but different colors. This is my fave I think! Love the two-tone look!

After they dried, I sealed them with the hard coat Mod Podge. It dried with a very subtle matte finish, and you couldn’t even tell it was there. The sparkle Mod Podge would be cool too, especially for Christmas ornaments, but I didn’t end up using it for this project.

Here are some close-up’s. I used thin jute twine I had lying around to hang them up. I think for a first try, they came out pretty neat!

My mind is spinning with ideas…these would be great as custom Christmas ornaments, tags for gifts, wedding favors, or just little ornies to hang around the house! Small ones for jewelry pendants, wine glass charms, or big ones as coasters! If only I had more time!

I found some other craft blogs with some variations on this project:

Clean, simple, white ornaments from Little Lovelies:

Or these fun, colorful little doodads from Neat and Tangled:

And some more great personalized Christmas ornies from Then She Made:

Hope you were able to get some ideas from my day of fooling around Sculpey and the links I have posted above! There is so much potential here! I can’t wait to work on some more and maybe create some ornies to sell in my Etsy store! Also coming soon to my Etsy: tons of awesome real antique skeleton keys, bulk rose hips, cinnamon sticks, and more! Stay tuned!!!

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!!!!!!! Cheers!

Easy Dollar Store Craft: Sharpie Decorated Christmas Ornaments

If you are on Pinterest, or frequently peruse craft blogs like I do, then I know you’ve seen some variation of this Sharpie project! Porcelain mugs, plates, bowls, and more…simply drawn on with Sharpies and baked for 30 minutes to make the designs permanent. Talk about easy and FUN! I love this idea – the possibilities are truly endless!

Though it’s not technically a dollar store, these porcelain ornaments were only $1.00 at A.C. Moore. I betcha you could find some similar at the Dollar Tree. If not, I know most dollar store have porcelain coffee mugs and plates that would work great too. You could also look around the thrift stores and score some cheap porcelain “canvases”!

I looked online at graphics and clip art and got some ideas on what I wanted to draw.  It’s hard to see in the picture below, but I did draw a rough outline of my design with a pencil before taking a Sharpie to it.

I love this little folk art snowman! I copied him from Chestnut Junction Graphics. I did purchase the graphic for use on other projects as well…he’s just too cute!

Helpful tip: While working on your designs, don’t fret if you make a mistake. A little rubbing alcohol will “erase” the Sharpie marker on the porcelain (before baking, that is). I used Q-tips as a way to touch up and re-do some areas.

Here are some of the designs I came up with for my ornaments! I free handed these but you could easily use a transfer method or a stamp as a base for your design if you’d like!

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to make the Sharpie designs permanent. After baking, they look exactly the same. They do not brown or fade!

I cut off the tacky gold string and replaced it with some ribbon and twine. You could use jute twine, baker’s twine, homespun fabric, ribbon, or wire to hang your ornaments. Go with whatever compliments your designs!

Awwwwww, love my lil’ snowman hanging on my lil’ country Christmas tree! What a great, cost-effective idea for Christmas gifts or party favors!

And I hung up the crow themed ornie on my crow shelf. I love crows…can ya tell?!?

And now for something even MORE fun than crafts…FREE craft supplies! I realized that since I started my blog I have never done a give-away! Shame on me! I have so many loyal readers and crafty friends that I thought I’d give away some fun stamps to say THANKS for reading my blog! Leave a comment on this post with your name and you could win one of these 3 stamps!

A large “script” stamp, which would be great for tags or scrapbooking…

A Victorian looking skeleton key

Or a set of 4 vintage “Ladies In Hats” stamps, as you may have seen on my little grubby tags! I have my own set of these pretty ladies!

I will use a random number generator to pick 3 numbers and match those numbers up with the list of comments. For example, if you’re the 3rd person to leave a comment, and one of the randomly generated numbers is “3″, then you’ll win one of the stamps! I will draw 3 numbers a week from today, which will be on Christmas Eve! I’ll email the winners and mail them out just in time to start off 2013 with some fun new craft projects!!! GOOD LUCK!

If you give the Sharpie Ornies a whirl, I’d LOVE to see pics! I’ll even post them here! Thanks! Happy Craftin’!

“Puppies In Stockings” and New Craft Supplies In my Etsy Store!

So things have been pretty busy here lately – and not in a crafty way, unfortunately. BUT, it’s been a ton of fun because Greg’s police K-9 had a litter of 9 puppies which were 3 weeks old yesterday! I thought I’d share some pictures of these cute little chunky monkeys which are sure to make you go AWWWWWW!

First, here is the very cool x-ray that was done a couple of weeks before she gave birth. I love all the little skeletons!

Here they are the day they were born. You may notice there are 10 here. She had 11 pups total, and we did lose 2. Unfortunately it is to be expected with a large litter.

Their eyes and ears do not open for at least a week or so.

A tired mama rests while babies eat…

Fast forward to this week…Christmas stocking photo shoot! Their eyes are open and they are squeaking and rolling around all over the place as they attempt to walk. After some initial chaos, I got them to cooperate and got some pretty darn cute results…

And the one going in our Christmas card this year:

I have a problem…I like to dress them up like little people. Is that so wrong? LOL!

Anyway, I wanted to share some new items, mostly craft supplies, that I have added to my Etsy store Upstate Primitives. Per some of my fellow crafters’ request, I have added some tin stars and hearts, like the ones I have used in a lot of my posts. I also added knobs, buttons, keys, and many other items you have already seen being used in some of my projects. I know there are lots of people in rural areas that don’t have access to the plethora of craft stores as I do, so I wanted to add them to my store.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season and enjoying all the small moments that make this time of year so great. Christmas lights, family and friends, holiday cookies and treats, and all that good stuff. I know I am! Have a great day and thanks so much for stoppin’ by!

Easy Thanksgiving Favors: Rolo Pretzel Turtles

I have to apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. I kinda had a craft-overload leading up to my show at the beginning of the month and needed a break! You know, let the tips of my fingers heal from all the hot glue burns….hehe!

So, in honor of Turkey Day, I made up some yummy little favors to bring to my Mom’s for dinner. I admit, I really just wanted an excuse to make these treats cause they are SO stinkin’ good! The salty crunch of pretzels with chocolate, caramel, and pecans? A-MAZING!

You’ll need: treat bags, twine, some homespun fabric torn into thin strips, and some little “Happy Thanksgiving” tags of some sort. I found this vintage “Thanksgiving Greetings” graphic online and printed it out on some heavy stock paper. You could personalize some homemade tags or print out virtually anything to decorate your favors!

Here’s the free graphic, downloaded from littlebirdieblessings.blogspot.com, if you’d like to use it

For the Rolo Pretzel Turtles, you’ll seen small pretzels (these square ones work best), some shelled pecans and a bag of Rolo’s! Chocolate wafers (melting chocolate for candy making) also work great if you want to nix the caramel.

Place the Rolo’s on top of the pretzels and put them in the oven for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees. The Rolo’s should be softened and warmed though, but not melted. Immediately place a pecan half on each one, pressing it down into the softened Rolo! Yuuuuum!

Tip: A foil lined baking tray makes for very easy clean up.

Put some in a treat bag and tie with a little strip of homespun fabric. You could also add some raffia for a nice Fall look!

Use a hole punch to punch small holes in the corners of the tags…

And tie on your tag with some twine. Cute, quick, easy, and super yummy favors that everyone will LOVE, guaranteed!

Before I go, I thought I’d share some photos of my newly re-arranged booth at The Carriage Place! I made the decision to condense back down to one booth, because I felt that one full booth was better than two sparse booths. It was getting hard to keep up with both spaces between working full time and all the other projects I have going on. I am back in my corner booth and it’s looking fresh and over-flowing with all kinds of vintage and primitive goodies!

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving, and a great long weekend with family and friends! Thank you again for all the very sweet comments, tips, and feedback you all have left for me – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. When it comes to being thankful, I am most certainly thankful for all the support and love from all my fellow crafters out there!

Pictures From “The Big Show” ~ Clarkson Craft, Food, & Wine Show 2012

Well, another show has come and gone. The show was a huge success and a lot of projects I’ve shared here sold out, including the melted snowmen ornaments, both the big and little homespun candy canes, the large spray painted jingle bells, the pins, and the night lights with silicone bulbs! It was a ton of fun and I thought I’d share some pics!

I also wanted to stop say thank you to all of my new followers who have commented and “pinned” some of my ideas here. It’s such an honor to have so many people who enjoy reading my posts. It all started as a little crafty area to document my projects, but it has blossomed into something bigger than I could have imagined. Thank you!!!

Have and awesome weekend and Happy Crafting!

More Craft Show Display Ideas

The craft show preparations are in full swing! That means tying up lots of loose ends and coming up with some new, creative ways to display my stuff. I did a post a while back on craft show display ideas, but here are a few fun ideas I have decided to go with for this years show!

My favorite display utilizes this little red suitcase that I picked up off the side of the road…for free! It was in good condition except for the inside missing some fabric. An easy fix…

I hot glued on a square of red & green fabric and tucked the edges underneath the cute red ruffles. I will use a small crock to separate the mini candy canes!

How cute is this little suitcase?? A simple safety-pin holds up a string of twine that I will use to hang up more candy canes!

Next I needed a place to display my gazillions of magnets I made this year. I literally have probably 10 times the amount of magnets, between the snowman clips, the sparkly snowman faces, and the marble magnets. I decided to dedicate this board to hanging up enamel pans, which the magnets will stick to! I’m always picking up colored enamel pans when I am out and about, for this very reason!

I recently got ahold of this cool old coal bucket from my Grandma’s house. I am not going to sell it, but I will use it as a display for my primitive tree toppers. I find it so much more visually interesting than say a plain basket or plastic container. In my opinion, displays like this really work to create that primitive/country feel you want in your space!

Another idea I got was to use this old seed bag cart to hang up ornaments and pins. I tried selling this cart at the co-op forever, to no avail. It’s been sitting in my basement because I knew I would find a use for it eventually. All I did was hammer in a few nails and voila! It will add height and visual interest to my table!

I have been debating on how to display the melted snowman ornaments because of how fragile they are. I also don’t want them swinging around and burying the eyes and noses down into the snow. I think I am going to prop them up on mason jars of varying heights.  Think of how cute this would look as a line of colored, vintage bulbs along a mantle!

And lastly, I finished up a batch of country night lights and was going to hang them up. Instead, I went with them fanned out in a shallow basket.

I have had a busy few days and finished up a TON of projects! I am so proud of myself for gittin-r-done!!! Here are some pics of some of the finished projects! Starting with my #1 best seller and personal favorite…the homespun candy cane!

And this year, some MINI candy canes too! I was going to tie them together in small bunches, but I think I’ll sell ‘em individually instead.

My annual snowman magnets…changed up the faces this year. Some with eyebrows and no mouths!

I haven’t had good luck selling my rag balls individually, so I decided to bag them up. Maybe a new look will help them sell as an instant collection of bowl fillers.

And last but not least, some sets of marble magnets. All packaged and will hopefully scream “stocking stuffers!” I have tons of single magnets, so I thought some themed groups would be fun. Cupcakes, leaves, pirates, hieroglyphics, vintage machines…something for everyone!

Hope you all had a great day and until next time, happy craftin!

Another Holiday Dollar Store Craft: Snowman Clothespin Magnets

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! I’m loving the cool, crisp, Fall weather!

I have been working on a project for my show in a few weeks and wanted to share it with you, because I love how it came out! You may remember the tiny little snowman clips from years past, but this is a new take on the same project. I was inspired by my fellow crafter & blogger Lisa to use the larger clothespins and make them into magnets for the fridge, to hold papers, pictures, or whatever. See Lisa’s take on this project here: http://www.booth555.com/2012/09/snowmen-clothes-pin-magnets.html

I started with cheap clothespins from Walmart – a 100 pack for around $3. Score! I know you can get these at any dollar store also, which is why I consider it a “dollar store craft”.

I spray painted them white with Rustoleum Heirloom White. Did one side, let it dry, and did the other side. The over-spray was enough to cover the sides.

I like to do each step in bulk, rather than do them one at a time. I always start with the noses first!

Then I used a Sharpie paint pen for the eyes and buttons. The paint pen was too thick for the little eyebrows so I used a fine tip Sharpie marker (just a regular permanent marker as opposed to a paint pen) for the fine eyebrows.

I prefer the little round magnets, which are also from the dollar store, because they are a lot stronger than the flat magnets. I ran out of them, so I used some of these flat magnets, cut into thin strips, and hot glued on. They work, but do not have as strong of a hold. If I have time, I may go back and replace them with the round ones, if my dollar store still has them in stock.

Here are some of the completed snowmen. Some have scarfs and some have little tin stars, just to mix it up a little!

I also did a batch with vintage buttons!

To display magnets, I normally would use a large tin star, the back of a cookie sheet, or the back of a large enamel pan. This time I had way too many and decided to use this old tin/metal table as a display! The magnets cling to it really well. Using some brown kraft paper from the dollar store (comes in rolls, and I use it for everything!) I just cut a piece long enough to drape over the length of the table, and voila! Thinking about stamping it with my logo stamp, or some fun Christmas stamps!

Here is how it will stand up. I left the drop leafs folded over, and it stands up perfectly. As you can see, I used these little tiny dollar store clamps (the small black ones along the top of the kraft paper) to hold the paper in place. You could easily just tape it on too. I am so excited about this idea, because it will be an easy display to transport, and will give a lot of height to my table!

Before I go, a quick update on the wooden snowman spoons! I thought they were too “blah” so I grubbied them up a bit by rubbing on some Deco Art gel stain, and then wiping off. I then sealed them with sparkle mod podge, which doesn’t show up that great in the picture because it’s a subtle shimmer. They have a little more pizzazz now, and a bit more of that “prim” feel!!!

Well, have a GREAT week and happy crafting!!!

Dollar Store Candles Turned Cute Country Decor

First of all, let me just say I am loving this crisp, cool, Fall weather and LOVE this time for year for many reasons, including:

Upstate New York is AMAZING this time of year…just sayin’. So anyway, on to the latest project – jazzing up some dollar store candles. I ordered this burlap jute webbing with many projects in mind, and I did put some of it up for sale in my Etsy store. I simply cut it to size and hot glued it in place. It is very thick, yet cuts easily. I experimented with candles and plain glass votive holders. I’m loving the tall candles – which can be found at any Dollar Tree.

Using a little bit of twine, I tied on some vintage-looking keys.

I kinda like the look of the burlap covering the entire glass holder. These would be cute for votives or even a small vase / plant / herb holder. I currently am using this one as my tooth-brush holder. Hehe.

Another variation on this project was using some torn homespun fabric. Again – just hot glued it.

Isn’t it cute? You could use any color fabric depending on the time of year of holiday you are decorating for!

There are so many ways you can take these projects and run. I’m thinking of doing a texture fierro coating on the outside, or a cinnamon / mod podge coating to get rid of the stark white of the tall Dollar Tree candles. Hmmm…so much to do, so little time!

If you make these, send me a pic! I’d love to show some variations of the project and see other peoples ideas. Hope everyone has a wonderful week and enjoys this awesome Fall weather!

This Week in “Junk” & A Vanity Table Re-Do

I say “junk” with quote because all my picks from the last week have been anything but! I found some really AWESOME stuff and am so excited to bring over it over to the Carriage Place this week! I also have added a lot of new little items to my Etsy store – there’s new stuff everywhere!!!

I’ll start with this incredible yard sale find: an antique chair from the original Silver Stadium on Norton Street, in Rochester. Thanks to my work partner and historical baseball expert Joe, he tells me these seats were originally installed in 1929 and then ripped out when the stadium was renovated in the 80′s. The stadium is now located in Downtown Rochester; now Frontier Field, home of the Rochester Red Wings. These seats are rare, as most of them were torn out and burned. I hope that a Rochester historical junkie or baseball fan will be able to add this piece to their collection – it’s headed over to the co-op on Wednesday!

Talk about another great find – this 3 gallon crock off of Craigslist. I have been researching the wreath marking and have found nothing. I really need to learn more about crock markings. I also got this old oil can with old chippy red paint and a great wooden handle. Love old, primitive tins!

I have been slowly collecting these apothecary jars – all finds from the thrift store ranging from $.99 to $2. They are all different shapes and designs, and I plan on displaying them as a group. They are a major trend right now in decorating magazines and online, such as creating a “candy bar” at a wedding, holding toiletries like Q-tips and cotton balls along a bathroom shelf, creating terrariums, or filling with ornaments or candies for holiday decor! So many uses…I am exploding with ideas for these. I am debating between bringing them to my co-op or selling them on Etsy…I think they’ll do great in either venue!

Of course I have picked up a lot of “smalls”…some vintage salt & pepper shakers, this wooden horse figure, this fun 50′s style hunter figurine, and some other junk not pictured.

And MOLDS! Tons of vintage tin molds! I love these…again, so many potential uses! You could fill them up with fixins, use em for baking, candles, tarts, soaps, bath bombs, favors…

And last but not least is this great little solid wood table with retractable arms in the front. Got this gem off of Craigslist for $10. It’s in phenomenal condition and with unfinished wood, I knew it was a candidate for a primitive/country make-over.

**UPDATE! Thanks to some readers, I finally figured out what this is! It’s a make-up vanity, with arms to fold a skirt in and out, where your legs would be. See the comments on this post to learn more. Thanks guys! **

It was full of tack holes around all the edges, which I decided to fill with wood filler, to clean it up a bit.

I used my finger to smear it into these tiny holes. Let it dry for about 10 minutes and then sanded it to smooth down the filler.

Now it’s ready for paint!

I used a satin black spray paint – Rustoleum American Accents in Canyon Black. Did a light sanding mostly on the edges to “prim” it up.

Sealed with a coat of spray polyurethane. Make sure to let it dry completely, for several hours. Otherwise you’ll get finger prints and streaks across the finish. Now, can anyone tell me what these little retractable arms are for?

I added the little teal knob from Hobby Lobby. Teal and black are one of my favorite color combos!

And here she is, ready to bring over to the co-op. I love how it came out!

Have a fantastic week and enjoy the last few days of summer. It’s winding down and soon my FAVORITE season will be here…looooooove FALL!!! Be back soon with some new pics from The Carriage Place and other crafty chaos! Later!