Upcycling DIY home decor, woodworking and Crafts
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Yardsticks aren’t just for measuring anymore. You can repurpose cool vintage yardsticks into some unique upcycled decor, jewelry and accessories. Here are 50 of our favorite repurposed yardstick projects from around the web. If we missed yours, send us a link so you can be included!
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Today’s project is a rustic, reclaimed wood Christmas tree advent calendar that you can make for little to no cost! Building from salvaged wood and paper crafting all in one project! I created the blocks using Eileen Hull’s (soon to be released) Scoreboards Block dies. The die makes blocks in three sizes, for tons of creative potential. Think about artist trading cards, but 3-D! Last Christmas I showed you how to make an advent calendar from wooden blocks, and that is the first thing I thought of when I saw this die. Read on to see how I used stencils from Stencil Girl, spray ink, number stickers and washi tape to decorate my mat board cubes. Watch the video to make your own tree, or display your blocks freestanding. These would make great Christmas gifts and decor for your holiday get togethers.
For the Blocks
Mat Board
Heidi Swapp Spray ink Gold, Green, Red
Stickles in red, green, gold
Washi Tape in Christmas Patterns
Stencils (I used Stencil Girl)
Mod Podge Antique
For the Tree
Scrap wood
Mitre Saw
Nailer or hammer and nails
Wood Glue
E6000
5 gallon paint stirrers
ADVENT BLOCKS
You may want to decorate your cubes before assembling them into the 3D shape. First I will show you assembly, then how I decorated my cubes.
I chose the smallest of the three cubes for my calendar. This is what the mat board looks like after it is cut with Eileen’s awesome new die!
Fold cubes along score lines. Two of the scored rectangles are needed for each cube. Place them together to form the cube. You can glue the tabs in place if you would like, but I didn’t find it necessary with the mat board. I haven’t tried other paper.
Place stencils over blocks and spray.
Clean up excess ink that’s on the stencils for a reverse image on the blocks, and you waste less ink!
I used red, gold and green sprays, allowing about 10 minutes dry time between each color.
Once that dried, I adhered washi tape to some blocks, the black sticker numbers and coated with the front surface with Mod Podge Antique for an aged look. I thought it needed some sparkle, so I added stickles in red, green and gold.
RECLAIMED WOOD CHRISTMAS TREE
I made the tree like I showed you in this DIY wood pallet Christmas Tree post, and in the video at the end of this post. The only difference is I used chippy, weathered 2×4 scrap wood I found at a demolition site. I determined the dimensions of my tree based on the 1.5 inch advent cubes. The base is 19 inches, and the height is 20 inches without the frame.
I made the five shelves from paint stirrers, cutting them with the mitre saw to lengths that allowed 2 inches for each block. So the first one is 2 inches, then 6 inches and so on, 10 inches, 14 inches and finally 18 inches for the bottom shelf. I laid the tree flat and added a thin line of E6000 to the back of the paint stirrer and placed them on the tree where I wanted the shelves.
I decided to use scrap wood strips to frame the tree, just cutting to length with my mitre saw and using my Ryobi nailer to attach.
I hope you enjoyed the project and the blocks as much as I did! Visit Artists on the Block for more news, updates and projects as artist trading blocks take over the mixed media community!
Be sure and visit other projects using the blocks in the Stencil Girl and Sizzix Artist Trading Blocks Hop
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This is your first peak into my new studio, unless of course, you follow Saved By Love Creations on Instagram. It is finally coming together in an awesome creative space after a couple of months of building and repurposing. Today I am sharing with you a vintage steamer trunk I scored and converted into storage for my supplies, as well as a scrap wood + curtain rod washi tape organizer I threw together with my Kreg Jig.
The vintage steamer trunk organizer is self explanatory. I just opened it up and stored my stuff in there. It is so cool looking that I didn’t have to do much.
Washi Tape Organizer DIY
My friend gave me these random thingies. He knew I would use them eventually.
I attached scrap wood planks between them using my Kreg Jig, like I showed you in this DIY Pallet Sign Tutorial.
I removed the “legs” and distress painted the piece like I showed you in this DIY Distress Painting With Vasoline Tutorial.
Next I attached curtain rods to the front that I got for $2 each at Wal Mart, screwed wire onto the back and hung on a hook to the wall.
Pretty simple project, and I cost next to nothing.
While we are on the topic, you may want to check out last year’s budget friendly craft storage ideas we brought you:
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Today I have another scrap wood/ pallet wood project to help you get in the Christmas spirit. There is a video showing how to create adorable trees from your scrap pile that you can use as decor, card holders, advent calendars, outdoor decor, gifts and more. The larger one I am using as a card display. Super cute, quick and easy to make, these primitive trees are the way to go.
Scrap wood
Wood glue
Mitre saw
Brad Nailer
Wire and hooks for Christmas card holder
Paint if you want to paint your trees
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I had the wonderful opportunity to try out the new Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint, available online at Home Depot. You can have it shipped to your home, or to your local Home Depot for free pick-up! This product is perfect for creating distressed signs, which is what I am sharing with you today. I am most impressed by the huge color palette, the high quality of the paint, the ease of distressing and the variety of mediums and finishing options. There are so many things I plan to do with this stuff, but for now…
The technique is the same as this rustic sign DIY from guest artist Pam of The Little Red Porch, using the chalky finish paint. I also added a video illustrating how to use Photoshop to print sections of your sign for taping together and transferring onto the wood. We had several questions on that part in the first post, so hopefully things will be clearer, at least for those of you who use Photoshop.
Begin with a piece of scrap wood in the size you want your sign. I have tons of the stuff lying around here. The 2 signs I am using for this tutorial are on very different wood. The Proverbs verse is on rough MDF, and the other is on smooth ply wood. Both have their place, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. I prefer the smoother, I discovered.
My cheap foam brush worked great for the background. I used the chalky finish paint in “Primitive” for my background. Great coverage, especially on this chippy, rough surface! While that is drying…
Create your text using your favorite software. Print your artwork in sections if your sign is larger than your printer will print. Here is how to do that with Photoshop:
Tape image sections together. You may need to cut off any border your printer added where the sections meet.
Place transfer paper between text and wood and trace letters with stylus or pen.
Once your text is transferred, fill it in with your color of choice. I used Carbon for the black, Everlasting for the white, and a mixture of Romance and Innocence for the pink color.
Just use a small round paintbrush. I like to use watercolor brushes for hand lettering with paint. I wet them first and it seems to help the flow. Play around until you figure out what works best for you.
Once you are happy with your lettering, you may want to sand distress the piece, and frame your sign like we showed you in Pam’s DIY sign tutorial previously.
I applied clear wax and let that dry for about one hour.
I applied the dark brown creme wax over the top of the clear creme wax, with a lint free cloth. Wipe back to remove excess, working in a few inch sections at a time. If you find you have overdone it with the dark and can’t wipe away enough, you can use the clear wax to pull it up. Just dip a clean cloth in the clear and wipe the area that is too dark.
For the “Awesome” sign, I cut the text out and made a stencil with my Cricut. Also, I painted it on smooth ply sheets. I used the soft varnish finish instead of wax, and it is velvety fabulousness.
I heart it so much I want to make a thousand more.
Stay tuned as I am planning projects using the Americana Chalky finish image transfer and crackle mediums.
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I was pondering what to do with the ever growing pile of scrap wood in my work room, when it occurred to me that you might have the same quandary. I started searching and was amazed to find everything from toys, to storage to jewelry to home decor and more. Lots of cool wall art and holiday decor projects are waiting for you and your scraps. Get going!
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Today I am sharing how to create a mixed media portrait on scrap wood. This project involves layering acrylic paint, distress ink and paper with Mod Podge for a unique and personal piece of art that is all you! Some of you may be thinking, “but I can’t draw or paint”. Yes you can. Last year at some point I ordered a video from Cloth Paper Scissors Called All about Faces, with mixed media artist Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. This fantastic workshop helped me overcome my fear of creating faces, and drove home the fact that we may not all be able to draw realistically, but we can all draw and our art will get it’s point across!
Mod Podge Matte
Foam Brushes, Watercolor brushes size 0, small and med round
Gesso and Brush
Scrap Wood
Collage paper scraps
Acrylic Paints: Titanium White, Titan Buff, Burnt Sienna, Red, Black, Aqua, Blue, Green Used here
Distress ink Pads Walnut and Antique Linen
Brayer
Background stamps
White Gel Pen
Graphite Pencil
Eraser
All About Faces with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
I cut a scrap piece of 3/4 inch plywood into two 12 inch squares and painted a layer of gesso on top of each. Let dry.
Cover gesso in thin layer of Mod Podge, then adhere random collage papers in coordinating colors. Cover papers with layer of Mod Podge and let dry.
Run a smooth or textured brayer through 2 colors of acrylic paint that coordinate with your background papers. I used green and Titan Buff. Randomly run brayer over papers to create background interest. Add one or 2 drops of alcohol ink in to leftover paint and brayer in different areas. Let dry.
Sketch outline of object. Fill in skin and clothing with acrylic wash (water plus paint) and dab with paper towels to reveal paper underneath until you are happy with the look.
Paint in the details as shown and let dry. Outline with fine detail watercolor brush and black acrylic paint. The video linked above gives great tips for face painting, but basically use 3 colors; light, medium and dark for creating the dimension.
I ended up tearing strips of washi tap and filling in the arms and skirt. I used distress stain to color the skirt. I stamped “Love” with black acrylic paint. The lettering around the head I did with size 0 paintbrush and black acrylic paint. Play with hand lettering on scrap paper to get the feel for it.
More mixed media to come!
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I am so excited about today’s project. The closet situation in my new place is less than optimal (totally crappy). In desperate need of a solution, I searched and landed on this simple armoire building plan from Ana White. If you have been around here long, you know I am a big fan of Ana’s site. She introduced me to woodworking and I have been covered in sawdust since that day. This project was easy to follow. I made some adjustments since I wanted it larger than the dimensions of the original plan, and I was improvising with salvaged wood I had on hand.
This was my first project using Annie Sloan chalk paint. Don’t you love the color?! It is called Arles, and I finished with Annie Sloan Clear Wax, then Dark Wax over the top of that. Its a bit more “aged” than what I had planned. Turns out a little of the dark wax goes quite far. I will keep that in mind for my next project. I still love it. If you run into that, you can always paint over the wax. It wasn’t that big of a deal to me in this case. We all know I will be painting it a new color when I change my room decor anyway, right?
Here is the Annie Sloan paint. Yum.
Sad quality iPhone shot of the armoire before painting. Hard to get any shots of it really, because of the room size and… oh yeah, I made it huge.
Did you check out the knobs I found at Hobby Lobby? Perfect.
That’s it. I love it. Off to figure out what to build next.
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The abundance of curbside discarded chairs in my area has me looking for ways to repurpose old chairs and their parts. Today’s post brings my favorite finds for DIY upcycling inpsiration. I truly didn’t anticipate finding a wreath during my searching on this one, but it happened. Not only that, but it’s pretty cool, I must say. You will see chair back, legs, spindles, even entire chairs given new purpose in some seriously creative ways. Enjoy!
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This week’s 50+ round-up is all about DIY shelves. It is amazing what you can use to create shelving, so think outside of the box and keep your eyes peeled while you are out there junking!
