How To’s – Addicted To DiY Projects

DiY Jacket & Glove Holder With Clock

So for this project I ended up using flooring pieces that had been thrown away at the local flooring dumpster. We had found a bunch of pieces of hardwood flooring that I really liked a lot. I wanted to use them in some way for one of my projects.

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I just wasn’t for sure what or where to use them.

Until the other day when I was messing around with the same pieces and had them staggered as I was arranging them around. I was like those look really awesome that way.

Then I saw the exact same thing I had done on Pinterest that night. And it was a coat holder that was for sale for like $200!

So I of course was like I can make that! I mean it was the exact same placing of the wood pieces as I had just had mine in the day before.

I decided to try something different with mine however. I decided that I wanted to put a small clock into mine. I had never actually seen a coat rack like these that had a clock in them.

I am not saying that there are none out there somewhere. Its just that I personally have never seen one. And as I was thinking about it I thought that it would be a great idea to put a clock right there with all of your outside attire.

I mean what are you always worried about normally when you are getting your jacket, gloves, and hat on? The time of course. I know that I always am asking or wondering what time it is while I am getting everything on and looking for my keys.

Reason being is because I am usually running late and I really have to keep track of exactly how late I am becoming! So I decided to start my project of diy coat rack but make it a little more exclusive for me.

So I put in a clock, gloves holder, and a place for your keys. I decided that I wanted a coat holder that would have everything that I need in one spot, right before I walk out the door. one that had everything I needed on it. That way it’s like a one stop deal right before I walk out the door.

And having the clock in there is definitely a great thing when it comes to one stop before heading out the door. I don’t have to go looking for my phone, or the watch that I forgot to put on, right before I am ready to head out. It’s right there by my coat, my gloves, and my car keys. I can glance at it as I am getting everything on. It really is great and useful to me.

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So if you would like to try this project for yourself, here is a list of the things you will need. And I have also included some pictures and links tp some of the items I used for this project or have used on other projects that could be useful when trying to do this project.

As an amazon affiliate I may earn a small commission from any qualified sales that result from my links.

1. Wood pieces (6-7)

2. luon board. You will need a piece of this very thin board for your back. So it needs to be the size of what your coat holder will be.

3. Drill and short & medium size screws. And you will need to have a bit for drilling your holes out as well as having a bit for your screws.

4. Jacket hooks

5. Clock workings

6. Plastic piece to pull your twine through for your gloves.

7. Twine

8. Thicker rope. (This is only if you want to go around the edges of yours, or if you want to use the rope for hanging it)

9. Clothespins

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10. Fairy Lights (if you want to run lights along the top of your coat rack)

So I started with my lauan boards and used them to secure my floor pieces to. The lauan boards are thin pieces of wood that resemble osb boards or plywood.

And it is your choice if you want to use something like the lauan boards or if you want to use something a little more stout. Some people put these types of projects on much thicker pallet type pieces.

Once I had all of my pieces of wood where I wanted them to be, I just started securing them to my lauan board with short screws.

It’s just whether you want to work with something not as stout and secure it more towards the end. Or if you want something very stout to start with when it comes to your attaching of the floor pieces. I just used my multi tool to go around the back of it and cut the lauan board to fit around my wood floor pieces. Which I laid out in a random up and down pattern.

I really didn’t think about it when I started on mine. I had a lot of pieces of the thin wood material, and so I used it I did have to go over the back of it with another piece to make it more stable at the end.

And putting another piece helped to hide a lot of the screws and nails that I had used to secure everything.

Here is a picture of the back of mine. Showing the thin wood that I used to secure everything onto mine.

So after you have your boards attached to whichever backing you choose to use, and you have cut away any extra lauan boards that are showing, you will want to start getting your hole ready for your clock.

I used a bulova clock i had gotten from goodwill for mine. It was actually in a little wooden mantle when I got it. So I just took it out of the mantle it came in and used it for this project.

I laid the clock where I wanted it to be on my coat rack, and I drew a circle around it making sure it was the exact size of my clock face. I then proceeded to make my cut into the boards so I could get it started for my jigsaw to then take over.

When using a jigsaw you will have to have a small spot cut out first so you can get your jigsaw blade down in it. Then when you have your jigsaw blade down in the hole you can usually just turn it on and start cutting your hole out.

Now you will want to get your hooks you are using for your coats to hang on. And position them on your board wherever you want your coats to hang at. Make sure that you use heavy duty enough hooks for hanging the types of coats and attire you will be using them for. Here is a link for some good coat holding hooks through amazon. Click Here

Next you will want to get some twine and clothespins. Find something to run your twine through that will also screw to your board. I actually used a plastic piece that is meant for holding down cords in your home. They have 2 nails in them normally that you would nail into the wall or floor to keep a cord in place. I just altered them a little bit by taking out the nails and putting twine through them. Then I just used screws to attach it to my board. There are many things that you can use. As long as you are able to get the twine hanging down and attached to your clothespins then you are good to go.

And you will just want to run your twine through it while making sure to attach your clothespins on each side of it. And you can put as many hooks as you want to. Just depends on your preference on how many pairs of gloves or mittens you are planning on hanging on them.

As you can see in picture above the gloves are being held with twine and clothespins

Now once you have your hooks fastened into the places that you want them to go, and you have your mitten holder done, you will want to string your fairy lights along the top of your coat rack. Or however you would like to hang them. You could go all the way around the coat holder if you wanted to. It’s just a matter of personal preference once again.

Your last step will be to attach another piece of lauan board onto the back of your coat rack in order to hide all of the screws and mess ups you may have showing when done. Cut around it so that it fits your coat rack without any of it being seen when looking at it. Then secure your rope at the top of it and put your shelf bracket holders onto the back of it, and then you are done!

Well unless of course you would want to stain the back of your coat rack. I am probably going to stain mine eventually so that it does look better. But for the time being I decided to hold off on it since no one will be seeing the back of it anyways. So I hope that someone out there decides to try this project out and hopefully I have been of some help on how to do one. I am not the best at these things yet, but I am trying to be more thorough when I post a DiY how to project on here.

And I do have to say that I love my coat rack with clock and glove holder. It helps me when leaving to know the time and having all of my winter attire in one area. Which keeps me a little more organized in my life. So good luck and happy projecting!

And don’t forget to follow my blog if you liked this project and would like to see more like this!

6 Awesome Ways To Display Things In Your Home

1. This first project , the two toned wall, is one I had tried a while back on my back wall. I think that this is an awesome way to be able to display more of your pretties. In an area that you would not have been able to do this with before.

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If you have limited space and you are trying not to have to put a piece of furniture in a certain area, then this two toned shelfing will be perfect for you.

After you are done with this project you will now have space to put candles, nic nacks, or even to display part of your favorite books from your library. All without having to put a shelf or table down on the floor. Which would have taken up more of your precious space you might be trying to save.

Ladder shelf I built on the wall in my living room

2. Here is a ladder shelf that I made for my living room area. This thing is ideal when you are working with limited space in your home. I have 4 shelves on it and they help out a lot with being able to display some of my pictures and pretties I have.

A lot of my pretties would not have been able to be displayed in my living room had I not constructed this ladder shelf.

I even was able to put my printer on the bottom shelf so I can now have it right there by my favorite chair and working area in my trailer.

Wrought iron candle holder I turned into a picture holder

3. This wrought iron candle holder was not being used because I really could not find the room for it in my home. So since I couldn’t find anywhere to display it I decided to try using it as a holder for one of my collages I had done of my daughter.

It turned out very well I thought. It gives you a different type of look when it comes to displaying your favorite photos. And you can actually have it sitting on a table while holding your favorite picture, or have it up on the wall. Either way you go it will look really good and it’s a different look than you normally see.

My tree branch turned into a necklace and bracelet display

4. Here is a tree branch that I turned into a jewelry display. This is a very easy and cheap way to display your favorite necklaces and bracelets. All you have to do is find the perfect tree branch for your own jewelry and do a few minor fixes to it, and it’s ready to go.

5. Here is a mirror that I put into one of my seashells that I had laying around my place. I needed a mirror and the epoxy stand I had made was in front of me with my large seashell on it . So I positioned the mirror into the seashell to hold it for me.

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And after that I decided to make it permanent. So I hot glued my mirror into the seashell since it seemed to work so well as a mirror holder.

6. Here is a different way to display and store your favorite sunglasses. All I did was cut triangle shape 45’s made of wood to fit in the corner.

As I made my little shelves I just kept going up in size. I started at the top where I wanted my first one to be. And then just made my way down the corner where I wanted them to be. Just increasing the size of each one by just a little bit.

Then I screwed each one of them into the wall. Securing each one with at least 2 small screws. Then when you have your screws all in you would want to add a screw or nail in the very front of each one of your small shelves. This will help to keep your sunglasses on each individual shelf.

Without putting something on each shelf to help secure them, I was not able to get my sunglasses to stay on the shelves. So you can use whatever you would like on the shelves to help secure your glasses. There are many different ways that you can do it I am sure.

So I hope that you liked my different ways of displaying my items at home and my space saving techniques. Follow my blog if you would like to have more ideas for your home or would like to see more of my projects.

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Ocean Scene Epoxy Picture

So I started this project out with a piece of wood that had actually been cut out for a lazy susan. I found it in the local flooring store dumpster along with a lazy susan.

This piece was actually cut perfectly for making a lazy susan and so it looked like a round piece of wood with a quarter section taken out. But since I was not needing a lazy susan I went ahead and cut the board in half. Leaving me with a decent canvas to work with.

My piece of wood as I was adding real sand to it

I then mixed up my resin and added my sand to it. Making it pretty thick. But not so thick as to where it wouldn’t spread well. And I took my sand and spread it all along the flat bottom side of my wood piece. Making it appear to be a beach area.

I actually took some of my epoxy spray paint and sprayed it on top of my sand in order to help seal my sand in place, and to give it different colors. I used the darker color around the edges where the water would be coming in and the light colors for the rest of it.

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What it looked like as I added my epoxy with green food coloring to it

I then added my epoxy resin with green coloring added to it. And then I added some blue at the top. Though it appeared to be very pretty when you looked at it I ended up changing my colors just because it appeared to me as looking like algae would when the green color of the water hit the shoreline. I don’t know whether I am just crazy or if it really was looking like algae, but either way I bailed on the greenish colors that met with my sand.

What it looked like as I added some blue to it

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So as you can see below here I added a blue to it and flooded the entire picture with my blue and white colors to overtake the green.

As I changed my mind and decided to go with blues and white

So I then put a whole thin coat of resin over the entire picture. And then went through with my tinted white resin in thin lines. Which I then used my blow dryer to push the white and clear resin around.

This is to create your appearance of the waves. I am very new to working with epoxy and ocean scenes. So I am still trying to get my waves just right. I always seem to put too much white or something.

As I was getting more of the white added for the waves effect

The 3rd day when I added more clear epoxy and white to it. Trying to get the waves right

So I also did my picture here in layers. Which I think gives you more depth when doing epoxy resin ocean scenery. So what I did was I let my blue and whites dry and then went over them with the clear epoxy and white epoxy. Pushed them around with my blow dryer and then let them cure for another day.

And this is after I let the clear epoxy and epoxy tinted with white in it dry.

And though I am not done with this piece yet, I figured I would post it and then update it later when I figure out exactly what I want to do with it.

Some epoxy enamel spray paint that I picked up at our local hardware store for like $1.50 a piece. They are for appliances actually, but I found out that they work well with sand when doing a beach scene.

Right now I am still trying to figure out if I want it to be an ocean scene or turn it into the sky with the earth below. Or if I want to make it into a little side table or leave it as a picture. So I will put any updates on here that I decide to do with it.

And if anyone has any comments or suggestions on what I should do with it please feel free to leave your comments.

Epoxy Resin River Tree Stump

One of my tree stumps I carved out and poured epoxy resin in

Here is another tree stump that I carved out and poured an epoxy river in

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So for this project I went to a neighbor of mine who is something of a lumberjack. I purchased a couple different tree stumps from him for my projects I was wanting to try. I ended up getting the double tree stump that I had turned into a side table with a built in light, and I got a regular tree stump to turn into a table with the epoxy river in it.

This one is the double tree stump turned into a side table

For the double tree stump turned into a side table, I carved out along the edge of the main tree stump on bottom. I just went along with a spot that was already in it. I think it was an axe line that had been left while they were cutting them. And since there was already a spot started, I just took off where they had left off.

So I went ahead and got my multi tool, made by Porter Cable, and started making my river pathway.

So after I carved out the area where I wanted my river to go, I then just cleaned the inside of it out so that there was no debris left in it and it was pretty much smooth all the way through. I then taped the ends of it. This is so that your epoxy resin does not run over the sides. If it does run over your sides then you will end up wasting a lot of your epoxy.

So you will want to be sure that your ends are really secure. And before you start to pour your epoxy you will want to be sure that you have a large piece of plastic put down under where you will be working. And be sure to have your gloves, mixing materials, and everything else that you are going to be using during your pour. You will not want to be having to run around looking for items after you have your epoxy mixed.

Once you are ready to do your pouring into your carved out area of your tree stump, you will want to mix your epoxy resin. Make sure that you mix equal parts of your epoxy. If they are not the exact same amounts then your epoxy will not cure properly. And you will want to be sure that you stir your epoxy for at least a few minutes. That being if you are not mixing up a whole lot. If you are mixing up a whole gallon or more then you should stir it for at least 5 minutes. This will ensure that your epoxy is completely mixed up properly. If you don’t get it mixed up right, then your epoxy will not cure properly. Leaving you with a sticky mess that will not ever harden.

Once you have your epoxy mixed up, you will want to add your blue coloring. There are many different types of things that you can use in order to achieve your blue for your river. I used dark blue acrylic paint for mine. It doesn’t take much when you use paint. As opposed to food coloring, which will take more if you want to achieve a darker blue look. But even with food coloring it will not take much to achieve the blue you desire. Not when you look at how much is used out of your bottle when your done.

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So when you get the color that you want after mixing your color additive to your epoxy, you will want to pour your epoxy into your carved area of your tree stump. You will want to let your resin dry according to how deep you went with your river carving. If you only went a couple inches down, then it won’t take quite as long to cure. If you went deeper or made your river really wide, then it will take a little bit longer for the epoxy to cure.

On a norm most people would probably let their projects like this cure for a whole 24 hours. Just to be safe. I did not add anything to my colors when I did this particular tree stump. I just let it stay a very dark blue. I liked the look of the really dark blue for the water. Now on my other stump that I displayed, with the 3 different channels of river going through it. I did add some white to it as I went. Swirling it through it as it was drying.

The tree stump with 3 river channels running through it

My tree stump with the dark blue river in it

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I also used a blow dryer on the epoxy after I added the white to it. To mix it through the streams a blow dryer or a heat gun will work great. Whether you do only a dark blue or you add some white to get different effects with your stream, you will want to use a heat gun or a blow torch on your epoxy in order to get the bubbles out of it.

Just take any type of torch and go over the surface of your epoxy. Making sure not to stay in any one position for too long. As you lightly go over the entire surface you will see how it makes a change in the epoxy. Taking away all of the bubbles as you go. A heat gun will also work to get all of the bubbles out. I did not have a heat gun. So like I said, I used a blow dryer. And it worked just fine also. You will want to be sure that your blow dryer is a fairly new one though. Make sure it works really well and is not one that is barely holding on in its electronic life.

I am not quite finished with either of my tree stumps. They could both use a little bit more work. But who knows when I will get to actually finishing them up

So I decided to go ahead and do this post on epoxy resin river tree stumps. So no matter how your epoxy project turns out just remember that you will get better at it as you go.

So good luck in all your project making and sign up to be involved in all of my new projects I will be posting on here!

Seashell Epoxy Resin Table

What you will need for this project:

Epoxy Resin 1-2 gallons
Coloring for resin (green)
Seashells
Small bench
Tape
Border to hold epoxy in (I used vinyl flooring piece)
Piece of plastic (for keeping epoxy off your floor)
Plastic Gloves
Stir stick
Plastic cup to mix epoxy in (preferably a few)

This was the small bench table before I got started turning it into an epoxy table

So I got myself started with this project by finding this little bench in the local flooring store dumpster. Just like so many of my items that I use on here for my projects.

Someone had pitched it and I thought that it was adorable. Just because of the smallness of it. The legs fold in on both sides. Making it even smaller when you might need it.

So I wanted to try to do one of the pours I had seen on YouTube. I loved the deep pours that you can see in them. But I am strapped for money most of the time.

So I decided to try a smaller version by doing my smaller work bench. This way I wouldn’t have to have quite as much epoxy for the whole project to actually turn out right.

I knew that if I did a large one that while it would be awesome, it would also require a lot of the epoxy. And at $43 a gallon that is alot of money for me.

Especially when I would have to buy 2 gallons at a time basically. In order to realistically do a large table of epoxy resin it would easily have taken 2 gallons.

So I decided to start small. And I did mine a little different than most do. In the way of using the little work bench as my table and just adding epoxy to it as I built up the sides.

And yet another view of what the bench looked like before I got started on it

And I built up my sides by using tape and pieces of vinyl flooring. Once again the vinyl flooring was what I had gotten out of the local flooring stores dumpster. So I had plenty of it, and it was free. When you get stuff like that for free, and you know that they were throwing it away anyways, it doesn’t bother you much to use it in projects like these.

Here is what it looked like after I got the first few layers on it.

So even after I stapled the tape to the bottom wooden part of my little bench I then put a piece of the vinyl flooring all the way around it also. I then even went ahead and put hot glue in between the vinyl flooring and my epoxy project. Just to try and make sure that I did not have any major leaks. And you want to know what? I still had some leaks come through! So as we know by now, I am not your everyday Martha Stewart. I am learning myself as I am blogging. And just trying to share with everyone the trials and errors that I am going through.

So on this blog of mine you will find all kinds of honesty when it comes to what I really encountered while doing a project of mine. Live and learn right? And the way I look at it, I think it is refreshing to hear the horror stories that people will encounter along the way to getting their perfect projects.

Because sometimes when you stumble onto a website of perfectness it is a little discerning when you see all of these perfect projects being assembled by someone. And they never show you or tell you about some of their first projects that they had done. Or about some of the projects that came out a complete disaster. You may start to think in your head that if your projects are not coming out just like some of these blogs projects, that you might as well wrap it up.

None of us like to do something and know that our something is no where near what it should be. That we have a lot of work to do on it in order for it to even come close to standing up with all the other projects of the world. It does leave you feeling flustered and aggravated at times. So this is why I decided to start posting a lot of my projects that I did not feel all the way comfortable with. I knew that they were not the best projects on the internet. And I really wanted for a lot of them to look way better than what they were looking.

But I thought about it and figured that maybe it would be something of a good thing for some people out there. That way as I grow and get better in some of the projects that I do, then people could see these and grow with me. Seeing that not every blogger starts off being really good at every single project that they attempt. And I will never be an expert at any one of these projects that I do. Because I enjoy doing so many different things.

I do not stick with just one type of project in my life. I will do something for a while and then move onto something else. Just because I love learning about new things. And I will admit that I get bored with things easily. A character flaw of mine. I have tried to work on it some. But I can even remember as a child going through my entire bedroom at home, rearranging everything. I would rearrange and deep clean every single piece of furniture that I had in my bedroom. Until I would have it looking just perfect. And then I would do it all again not even a month after I got the first look conquered.

So anyway after I got the sides of my epoxy table built up, I then poured my epoxy. I poured it in layers. Letting about half an inch of epoxy harden all the way and then I would pour another thin layer of it. I put the seashells in the epoxy as I was going. That way the seashells would be layered looking as I went up. I used a laundry dye for the green coloring that I used.

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Which was a very pretty color, but in the end of my table project I have noticed that you cannot really see the seashells that are in the middle of the table. I went a little bit too dark. If a person were wanting the shells to be seen in the middle, then you would have to go with an almost clear look to it. Barely using any color at all. So a word to warn you if you decide to try a project just like this one. It will be a waste of money in shells if you put a bunch through the middle and then use a lot of coloring.

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But at least the ones at the top you can see. And I left some of them sticking out at the top. Like my star fish looks really cool. He is submerged in epoxy in most of his areas. Yet the middle part of him is sticking out at the top. I also used real sand at the end of the table. I just used some regular sand that I had been using for my water displays through the summer. I mixed epoxy resin clear with the sand, and then spread it throughout the one end of the table. Making it a little thicker so it appears to have some depth with the entire table.

I ended up going almost all the way clear with my last couple layers of epoxy. Just to try and make sure that you could see some of the seashells in the table. If I had not gone clear at the top then you probably would not have been able to see any of the shells. And I would have really been devastated by that! But like I said. Live and learn.

Here is a picture of my table when I had just a few thin layers done.

And in the end I decided to put some crashing waves going into the shore. As you can see in the picture below. Being where my sandy beach was at. Well at least I hope that this is what it resembles. This was my first time doing an epoxy project such as this. And I have not had much experience with putting waves in. So I am learning on how to make them look realistic. So you be the judge of which look that you like the best. The before without the waves, or the after with the waves?

Feel free to leave your comments. And be sure to follow or sign up if you would like to see more projects such as this one in the future,

Here is the latest look of my seashell epoxy table

Here is a picture of my little table after it was finished. And before I added the waves. Though I had not finished it with the polishing or the last clear coat of epoxy.

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Epoxy Resin Guitar

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So as you see above I have started trying my epoxy projects on different types of things. I had an old acoustic guitar that I should have gotten a picture of before I started, and yet I did not! I could kick myself when I do these types of things.

But this guitar was old and it was not all that appealing to the eye. In my opinion of course. But I will pull up a picture of what the guitar looked like before I did my epoxy pour, that way everyone can get a good idea of the before and after. It should be no problem finding one that looks just like that one did. There are a million of them in the world if not more.

That being the reason I decided to try this out on the poor dull thing. In my opinion it looks way better now. It has some style! Instead of looking just like so many other brown acoustic guitars in this world, it now has a style of it’s own. And there is not another one just like it anywhere in the world! You ensure that when you do a pour painting, or a pour painting with epoxy.

So you can see below the before and after pictures of the guitar.

The before

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The after

Because of the unique designs that are captured as a result of pour painting in itself, a person could use the same colors, same technique, same surface, and try to recreate a certain look a thousand times, and still never be all the way successful. There would always be a little bit of a difference in the pour paintings. Just like there are no 2 snowflakes, or no 2 fingerprints alike in the world, it is the same for epoxy pour painting.

So to achieve this look on this guitar I used epoxy resin clear, and paint. The paint colors that I used were a dark blue (magenta) I think would be the correct term for the color I used. A dark gray, light gray, white, red, and black. But for the black I had no regular paint in black, so I used what I had, spray paint. And it worked out just fine. I just sprayed it into my layers of paint where I felt that I needed it.

All I did was start my pour with the layered effect. I started with the dark blue in the very bottom. Then I went to white, then dark gray, spray paint black, red, and then I believe I went back to the white. And for each layer I used about a quarter inch of paint in a plastic measuring cup I had extra laying around the kitchen.

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I have heard of people using certain types of things to put in with their paints to keep them from mixing together as they do the layers. I will admit that I had never heard of whatever it is that they use. And I did not have any of whatever it is they call it. And so I did not use it. And I had no problems with my paints pouring out. They did not mix together to create one big crazy color. So long as you do not start stirring them together then in my opinion you will be fine.

And when you dump your cup with all of your colors onto your surface you should have no problems with your colors mixing together, so long as you don’t take a paint brush, or your gloved finger, and mix them together. I dumped mine onto the guitar and then started tilting the guitar this way and that way letting them all run on their own. Steering them in the direction that I wanted them to go and then turning the guitar to make them flow another direction before they had time to start forming lines.

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And it is all just a matter of personal preference on how you do your pour. You will start to see different patterns and designs as your paints start going everywhere on your surface. You are in charge of how you want them to look. You can make them run faster by tilting your project steeper and letting them go. Or you can give them a small incline so that they run slower. You can make them keep changing directions really fast. Or you can make them take on very few directions if you choose.

It is all in your hands. That is the fun of pour painting. Now when you are using the epoxy resin with paints to achieve a pour painting, there will be some very big differences in how they will react. When you add epoxy to the scene you are now on limited time. As we all know, epoxy will harden pretty fast. And once it hardens it hardens. It does not play!

So keep this in mind when you add epoxy resin and do any type of pour with it. The more epoxy you are using, the more time you will have before it gets really thick and starts hardening. The less amount of epoxy, the less time you will have to get it poured. A small amount of epoxy can harden sometimes before you know it.

It happened to me once. I had a small amount to touch up a tree trunk that I was doing. I got sidetracked just for a few minutes and when I went to pour the epoxy out, it was all the way hardened in the bottom of my cup. It came out in the form of the bottom of my cup. (Which was pretty neat actually) but I had no use for it. So I had to throw it away and go get some more to mix up.

And anyone who knows a little about epoxy resin will know that it is not cheap at all. When I first started buying it I was buying it from local businesses. And these local places only would sell like 1 oz containers, or possible 5 oz containers. If you were lucky enough to find some of the 5 oz containers of it. And I was getting charged like $6-$8 for an oz of the stuff. So lets do the math on how much you would pay if you were buying it in small quantities at local places, as opposed to buying it online in a more bulk manner.

I get it now for $42-$55 a gallon online. And usually the more you buy the more your going to save. So if you were paying $6 for an oz at your local hardware store and there are 128 oz in a gallon. That would be 128x$6=$768! Now is that not crazy! While you can order it online by the gallon For lets say $55. So we are talking about $713 difference in the cost. Granted most people are not going to go out to their local hardware store and buy 128 1 oz tubles of epoxy resin. Just so they can do a project.

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But when you are just beginning to work with the stuff and you know nothing about nothing, you might end up putting out some extra cash that you really should not be putting out. I was doing that in the beginning. Just because I knew nothing about where to buy it, or how far a certain amount will go. And I was just excited to get started on a project, and so I went to local places and would buy like 5 or 6 tubes of whatever they had in stock.

Now that I know a little bit more about how epoxy works, and where you can get it in bigger amounts, I would not recommend to anyone the purchasing of smaller amounts from their local hardware stores. I mean if you just need a very small amount for something, then by all means that is the way to go. But if you are planning on doing any type of projecting with the epoxy, then I would definitely recommend going with the online purchase of at least a gallon of it.

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And you will be surprised by how far a gallon will go. Especially if you are just doing smaller projects. I was able to do my entire coffee table in my living room.

I also got this far on this little table project that I am working on

I did the epoxy guitar here

My tree stump that I am still working on with the river running through it.

I also did this tree stump with the river running through it. And I ended up wasting a whole lot of my epoxy on this project. All because I did not have the ends secured like I should have and it kept on seeping through and dripping in multiple spots onto my floor!

So as you can see, a gallon of epoxy can go a very long way!

If you would like to get some tips on pouring epoxy resin check out my page The Best Tips When Doing A Guitar Pour, Or Any Other Pour With Epoxy Resin.

My First Attempt At Epoxy Resin Tabletop

So this is what my living room table looked like when I first got done with my epoxy ocean scene.

I have just recently started working with epoxy resin. And I really love working with the stuff. I have done some pour paintings with epoxy resin and I have done the streams through pieces of wood.

I used tree stumps for the projects I have done so far. Putting in the epoxy rivers in the tree stumps were awesome and I love doing them, but I really wanted to do the ocean scene with a large tabletop.

My side table made from a double tree stump with a stream of epoxy resin in it.

Another view of my stream in a tree stump

How I did my table was to first start with a batch of epoxy resin clear and I mixed it together. You will want to mix your 2 parts together very well.

I didn’t mix mine quite well enough on one of my first attempts and it would never dry. It just stayed really sticky!

So you definitely want to mix the 2 parts together very well before you attempt to pour it anywhere.

I then added blue paint to my mixture. It was a dark blue that I had left over. I had also used a very dark stain color on the wood of my coffee table before I ever poured any epoxy on it.

I left the very end of the table with just the clear epoxy to achieve a super dark look. And then started pouring my dark blue right next to it.

I then used a squeegee to get it all spread out to where I wanted it to go. (You will want to remember to put tape up along your sides to try and prevent your epoxy from going over your sides onto the floor)

And I would suggest even then having some buckets or bowls ready and a big sheet of plastic ready under the entire project. Because when it starts leaking it will become a big sticky mess for you. Especially once it hardens. It then becomes really hard to get up.

I found all of this out the hard way! So take my advice on this when working with epoxy. Make sure you wear gloves, have plastic laid out under your project, tie your hair back, if you have longer hair, and have some alcohol ready to help get the sticky epoxy off things it may get on as you go.

And when you mix the epoxy in something, you will want to mix it in something that you can just throw away afterwards. Because once it hardens, it will be next to impossible to get it out of whatever it hardens in.

So once you get everything ready you just pour your epoxy onto your table and then you will want to pour different colors of it as you go with your ocean scenery.

Now you can use food coloring or paint to achieve these colors. I know there are other things you can use but these are the things I used to achieve my colors. So I know they worked well for me.

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So I just added some green to my water scene to make it appear like real water. And actually for the green I used one of the packets you can buy in the laundry isles at Walmart. It is for dying your clothes different colors. And it actually made it a very pretty green color. The more I added, the darker the green would get. The less I added the lighter the green would be with the clear look.

Here is a picture of a project I am working on now where I am using the clothes dye for the coloring.

Picture of a small table I am building up with epoxy resin and using seashells in it to make it appear there are shells floating throughout the table top once it is finished.

So I then used a lighter blue color as I went to get the depth effect for the ocean water. Then I started using some white paint once I hit the shore area. And I used a blow dryer to push the paints around to the look that I wanted. We then used some light brown stain to achieve the look of the shore. The light brown did make it appear as if it is sand at the edge.

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And then ended it with a dark stain once again. There are many things that you can use in epoxy I have found out through trying them myself. I have used stain, spray paint, paint, and food coloring.

And everyone of them has worked for getting the colors I was wanting. And that was without effecting the epoxy. It still cured and hardened just fine.

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The only times I really had any problems with the way it cured was when I didn’t mix equal parts to my mixture, or when I didn’t mix the 2 parts together well enough.

That is where you will come into some major problems with your epoxy curing properly. You will always want to be sure that you are mixing the exact same amount of your part 1 and part 2 together. And once they are together in your mixing bowl, you will want to be sure they are stirred and mixed very well before you go to pour it on anything.

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As long as you do those 2 things every time then you should have no problems with your epoxy curing properly. No matter what you use for your coloring, and no matter what you pour it on. You should always end up with your epoxy curing to a very hard top on anything you put it on.

Another word of wisdom is that the less of the mixture you mix together, the faster it is going to start hardening.

So if you are only mixing together a small amount to do something,I would suggest to try and hurry and get it where you are wanting it. Otherwise it will start hardening on you and making it very hard to work with.

I had a small amount harden all the way in my cup I had mixed it in one time. Because I took too long to get it poured out. I got sidetracked on something for just a few minutes and when I looked in my cup the epoxy I was going to pour was hard as a rock.

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So you do not want to play around once it is mixed. Now when you have a bigger amount of the mixture, then it takes it a lot longer before it starts to thicken up any.

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But even with a big mixture you don’t want to fool around. Because it does start to thicken and harden pretty fast compared to most things you will probably work with in your life.

So I will also point out that you can use a torch or a blow dryer on your epoxy to get your bubbles out of it. I didn’t realize at first that you could actually put a flame right on it. I thought I would catch the whole scene on fire. But after my boyfriend showed me that a torch took the bubbles out very fast and didn’t catch it all on fire I was ecstatic.

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Though I prefer still to use a blow dryer when I am trying to move the epoxy into corners or to move it with the other colors to blend all of it. It just makes it blend and move easily. That’s just my opinion of using the blow dryer and torch on it.

You can try different ways to find out what works best for you and whatever it is that your trying to do with it.

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When you have a thicker type pour you will want to let your epoxy cure for many hours before messing with it. Maybe even up to a day of drying time if it is 1/2” or more on thickness.

If it’s pretty thin, then you will want to let it dry for 3-4 hours at least. And you can test it out with just a fingertip pushing against it. If your fingertip comes back a little sticky, then you know you have some time to go. If it’s hitting hard surface, then you are good.

So I hope some of this posting has helped a little with someone. I know I am not the greatest at explaining things in posts. But I will try to at least get some of my experiences out there so that it may help someone else who is trying the same thing, and just might be stumped on the same problem as I was.

So happy projecting, and I hope that maybe someone will be inspired to try something new out just like I have done.

Yours doesn’t have to be the best, just as long as it is making you happy, then don’t worry about the rest!

My back room makeover 2

This is the back wall after I filled in all the holes with drywall mudd.

This is what one of my walls looks like after got done painting

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These were the paint colors I used. Dark gray, cream, and a light gray I made up. .

Here us one of the before pictures pf the back room

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These are the receptacle casings that I spray painted.

This is the back corner after getting the two walls done.

So as you can see I am moving along with my back room makeover. This room is looking so much better it is amazing. And as I have cleaned and began organizing the room it is really becoming a useful room that you can actually stand to walk into.

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I have used some big iron shelving system that was torn down and thrown in the dumpster at our local flooring business. They had a bunch of them piled in there and they looked like they were about brand new. So I decided that they would definitely be able to be put to use in my new craft room.

This picture shows the white shelves that I got out of the dumpster and put them to use.

Here is another item that I got out of the local flooring store dumpster. This 5 gallon bucket of benjamin moore cream colored paint was unopened!

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So I have been moving along with the remodeling of the back room and I have gotten behind on my posts to keep the whole thing documented. Since this is my first real makeover of a room of any size. So this means that I may be posting my next updates quicker than one might be expecting.

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If I get on the ball and sit down to computer and take the pictures I need for it. I guess we will see whether I get it done fast or not.

So I will leave it at that. Happy projecting and good luck with all of your projects you may try!

DiY Photo Branch

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So here is a project that me and my granddaughter did over the weekend. She decided after seeing a lot of my different projects around my home that she wanted us to do a project together. One that she could take home to her mother.

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So I decided to try one with branches. Thinking that if we did something that could hang on the wall, plus be useful, her mother wouldn’t flip out! (They are in the process of moving again with not much space at this time)

So I let her pick out her tree branch for this project from several that I had laying around in the yard. Future projects I had yet started on. And we then went and took a set of led lights out of one of my twine lights.

The fairy lights as some call them are the type that you can just plug into a usb adapter. I like these types of lights. For one because they can be plugged into a 6 way charger for usb’s. I have a few of these around my home. So it makes it more convenient for me. And they usually have a very long area between your first light and where you plug in at.

So we got out my staple gun and I proceeded to wrap the fairy lights from the very bottom of the branch to the very top. Using a wrap around effect so that most all of the branch was covered. We then took an old electric lights cord that I had saved after they quit working, and cut the pieces that used to house the small lightbulbs.

They have little clip areas where you would attach them to things as you were hanging them. So we used the hot glue gun to attach them to our branch, with the clip thing facing forward. Then all you had to do was slide your picture down into the clip. It holds them perfectly!

We then took a piece of twine and stapled it on each branch piece so that it hangs on the wall perfectly. It makes it look sort of like a wishbone.

But it works, and Addy really loves it. So that was all that mattered on this project.

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Me and Addy on Halloween, which we were also celebrating her birthday. Which was a few days earlier, but it works. I love Halloween. And now I have a little ghoul baby!

DiY Poof Yarn Rug

So this is a fairly easy project. Though it is easy, it also is very time consuming! If you are wanting a decent sized rug then we are talking at least 4 hours of working on it with very small breaks.

I really can’t say how long mine took exactly, because I worked on it in small time increments. I would sit and roll the yarn into the little poofs as I was sitting around talking. So I never did time myself on how long it took me.

I just know that as I was sitting there working on it that first day I couldn’t believe how many more it was going to take me to actually finish it!

So be prepared and have a lot of yarn ready for your project. I did multi color. Mainly because I kept running out of the yarn I was working with!

But in the end I think it turned out well with the multi color. As long as you stick to a color scheme that goes well together, you can use about whatever you want!

I actually have chunky multi color yarn in there, as well as a furry type of yarn that felt like rabbits fur. I used to have a rabbit. His name was Blackjack. (I was working as a blackjack dealer on one of the riverboats at the time). I also have the thinner yarn in there as solid colors. So it is however you want it to turn out.

This is one of the chunky yarns I used. And they were small so I ended up using 3 of them.

I will say that if you use the chunky yarn, it will go much faster. And it does make them softer when stepping on them. The downside to that is how much yarn you will have to use.

The measurements for my rug ended up being 30” x 14”. So you get an idea of how big it turned out. And I used a whole skein of the rabbit fur, a whole large skein of multi color regular yarn, a whole skein of white and cream, a whole skein of multi color blue white and black, and 2 small skeins of a cream multi color chunky yarn.

It sounds like a lot of yarn. And it is actually. But I had a lot of it already here at my house. And I think that most all of what I did buy was relatively cheap. Nothing over $5. I think a couple were only $1.77. Except for the rabbit fur one. It was like $6 and it was a small skein of it. I didn’t realize how much it was really going to take me when I got the rabbit fur one. So live and learn I guess.

So you will also need something to glue your poof balls to. What is going to be your foundation for your rug. I used pink pads. This is what I call them because the plastic on them is pink, while the other layer of fabric is white. I get them from being paralyzed. Because I am incontinent my insurance gives them to me each month for free. Though I don’t have the bladder problems that I once did directly after being paralyzed, my body is still in recovery mode and confused mode most of the time.

But anyways these things are great for using for my projects. Or I have given some to family members a few times for puppy pee pads. Since I was wanting mine to be a bathroom rug I decided that the pink pads would be perfect.

The cotton side helps to absorb the moisture and the plastic keeps the moisture from getting to your floor.

The pink pad flipped over and opened to show the pink plastic liner.

I doubled mine up, to make it even softer. (Another problem I have from being paralyzed is nerve damage in my feet) So that it is even better feeling when I step on it after getting out of the shower.

And so far it is working great as a bath rug. You can tell by my pictures that I am not completely done with mine. I still need to glue it together the rest of the way. And do some trimming here and there. I needed my pictures of the rug to show the pink plastic in there and so I figured I would finish it up after I got my post done.

I am a procrastinator though. So I guess we will see how long it takes me to get the bottom all wrapped up.

Picture of my new bath rug out in my living room. With my dogkatie, who likes to lay next to rugs, instead of on rugs, like most normal dogs.

So you will want to start with your foundation (pink pads or whatever you want to use for yours) and get it to the size you want it. I would leave it a little bigger than smaller. You can always trim it down if you need to in the end. It’s a lot harder to have to add to it in the end than it is to just make some trim adjustments. Though both are possible. So no worries, you can’t mess it up beyond repair!

Now you want to start making your poof balls.

How to make your balls to attach to your foundation.

I have made a collage from step one to gluing your first piece above. Hopefully it helps some. There are different ways you can do it. I found it easier to just take the yarn and wrap it around my thumb and then my pinky finger and just keep going around the two fingers until you have a decent amount of yarn for your poof. Then you just cut your yarn.

Then cut yourself a small piece to tie around your yarn that you wrapped. Place your extra piece under and just tie it in a small knot. Or you can just loop it once and as long as you pull it tightly it will stay in place.

Then you will want to cut it on the ends making it instead of loops on the end, it will be a bunch of little strands of yarn. Making it appear as if it’s having a bad hair day.

Now you just take it and pull all of your strands together (like they will be once glued onto your foundation) and just trim all of your long pieces and get it relatively even.

Now it’s ready to be glued onto it’s foundation. Just start at the corner edge and start working your way around your foundation. I worked from the outside to the inside. There are many ways you can do it. It’s a matter of preference.

And just keep on gluing your poofs as closely together as you can, until you get all of your space covered. I used a hot glue gun to put all of mine on. And it worked great. Besides getting a couple burns along the way. So I suggest wearing gloves when working with the hot glue gun.

Especially since you will be putting your fingers down in there trying to push your poofs into place. And sometimes you won’t be able to see very well when you are trying to get one in place.

So good luck if anyone should happen to try this project. Let me know how yous turns out. Good luck and happy crafting!

Back Yard Water Displays

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image_005eba8b-0473-458f-9fc4-2e7c966fde27.img_0115.jpg — One Of My Backyard Water Displays

So I have a spot in my backyard that I use for my water displays. And I will change this display around after I get it done and get pictures plus video. This gives me the opportunity to keep on getting better at making these displays. I guess I can’t stand keeping anything the same. Because as soon as I get something done around my place, I am off and running on changing something else. I love to learn new things.

I get bored with things easily. Therefore it is like I cannot stick with anything. I am constantly changing something about myself, my home, or the way that I do things. Since I got paralyzed 6 years ago I have now learned a whole lot about construction, laying tile, working on cars, sewing, clothing alterations, tattooing, drawing, and I learned how to play guitar. I guess this was what I needed in order to keep myself moving forward and not letting myself slide back into my old lifestyle as a junky.

It is very true for me as the old saying goes “Idle time is the devil’s playground”. If I keep myself busy all of the time, then I do not have time to try and get myself into trouble. And I feel a sense of accomplishment after every new thing that I do, or learn. When I was a drug addict/junky before I got paralyzed I never had anything. I was never learning anything new. Except possibly a new drug dealer to get my drugs from.

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I don’t even think that my daughter’s understood the extremes that the drugs ruled and took up every waking minute of my days. When I went back to school, once I got my first apartment after becoming paralyzed, I would call up my oldest daughter all of the time asking her questions about my homework, how to do word, and many other things. Finally she gets exasperated with me one day and was like ” why don’t you just google it?”. It is so much easier she said. I was like, if I knew how to google, then I would have been doing it all along clearly, rather than calling your bitchy little ass!

I then proceeded to tell her my opinion of her as a teacher. And how I could not believe that she taught high school students with how little bit of patience that she has. So needless to say we got to fighting on the phone and ended up hanging up on each other. Which is nothing new in the life of me and my family. We fight all of the time. But the great thing about being a family is that you make up with each other. Once everyone calms down that is. But this shows the extent that drugs ruled my life back then. I knew nothing about google, or word, or computers, nor anything else for that matter. I only knew how to wake up each day and start chasing that drug.

Or chasing the money to get the drug. Or looking to find someone who had the drug I needed. After I finally got the money for it. Then by the time you would actually get your drug, the day would be about over. So then you usually get high. Maybe nod off in your plate of spaghetti, and then go to sleep. Just to have it all start over the next day when you woke up.

And there was no changing it. The withdrawals and sickness you would feel when you did not have your drug of choice (mine being heroin, oxycodone, and in the beginning lortabs) was so terrible that you wouldn’t have to be out of drugs to be dreading it. All that would have to happen was to start running a little bit low on your supply. And your brain would start thinking about how you had better start figuring out how to get more. Before you would run out.

So as you can see my life was literally ran by my opiate addiction. I was not in control of the ride, the heroin was. Or the needle, or whichever opiate I happened to be on at the time. And of course I tried to get off of these terrible things many times in my life. Just to find myself failing miserably. Because every time that I would be off of them for a while I would still feel that depression creeping into my soul. And that yearning for the way that they used to make me feel.

I felt weak, and I just wished to die most of the time. Feeling as though everyone would be better off without an idiot like me in their life. For all that I did was mess up time after time. Promising every time that it would never happen again. And lying to everyone around me, including myself. Saying how I had control this time. Stretching the truth with how much I was doing. Trying to appear as if I were doing better than what I was actually doing.

Now after being paralyzed because of my use of needles 6 years ago, something has happened to me, and it has all been taken away. That old yearning for the way that it made me feel. The old struggles with being anywhere around an opiate. I couldn’t be within a mile of someone that I knew might have a pain pill without going into full throttle piece of shit mode. Trying to come up with some type of plan to steal a few, without them noticing. Well borrow was always the way I would look at it. Sign Up

You tried to convince yourself that you would replace them before they would ever notice that they were gone. And had an armored truck wrecked in front of your house, throwing every single oxycodone they were carrying right into your living room, then yes you probably would have replaced them like you kept telling yourself in your mind. But in the real world, you were usually struggling from day to day just to keep yourself from being sick. And struggling to keep yourself off of the streets. So you were never going to be able to take care of yourself and your addiction, plus be able to get the extra’s to get someone back. That other person that you ended up owing is always put to the back burner.

So for me to be able to go to my mother’s house nowadays and never even think about getting into her pain pills is a miracle in itself. She can now leave them in her purse, or her nightstand, without fear that I will be swiping a few every time that I came around. It has taken a while to get to this point for both of us. It takes a long time to build trust back up with someone that you have harmed over and over again in life. And it took some time for me to get better and to change my ways of thinking.

It did not happen overnight. And you don’t just suddenly become a perfect upstanding citizen, after being a piece of shit one all of your life. But if you work at it, and stay focused, it can happen. And through all of my projects I have become a better person. So while I may not ever be like a martha stewart in the way that I do crafts, or remodeling. But my crafts have helped me to become a better person. On the inside, and on the outside as well.

For they have helped me keep my mind busy at times when I felt lonely, with not many people coming to visit. Times I could have easily teetered towards drugs again for comfort. They have given me a sense of achievement, and something to go forward for in my life. And they have kept me in shape, contributing to helping me get stronger in my walking capabilities, with all the running around the yard, and the trailer. Always trying to finish something, or clean something, or organize something. Not to mention the fact that I am always getting better at the projects that I do.

So maybe one day I will be able to make a living from the affiliate marketing I am trying to do. Or maybe I will get good enough to be able to sell some of my crafts. You never know. I just know that it is working for me and it is making me happy in life. And that is all that you can do is to try and be as happy as possible with whatever you have going on in your life. And if you cannot manage to pull any bit of happiness out of your life, with what you are doing or you have going on. Then it might be time to try and change your life.

So I will get back to my project and how it was that I did it. I actually dug a pretty big area so I could put my reservoir down in it and have the water display on top of it. This has proven to be a big problem for me when it comes to water displays. I do not know how I seem to screw them up every time, but I do! So I try and keep it very simple. Basically the water in the reservoir is plenty deep enough for my water pump.

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I will then get my hose that I need to run from my water pump up to my display. After you get your hose long enough to reach then you should make sure that it is secure onto your pump, and anywhere else. In case you have to use more than one hose or you might end up using an adapter so that you can run straight up and then to the left or right.

So once you have everything secure to your pump then you will want to make sure that everything is working properly. You definitely want to make sure that your water is coming back into your reservoir without any leaks or major splash. Because if you have even a little tiny leak then you will be bone dry before you know it. And then it will burn your water pump up quickly. So you will want to be sure that you have laid down your plastic liners properly where your water is going right back into your reservoir.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_4079.jpg — My Back Yard Water Display Area

That was always where I would have some major problems. If I don’t point my water to going almost straight back into my reservoir then I will end up losing water somewhere every single time.

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So in the video that I have on this post I have my water display as a small gurgle of water coming out of the ground. In that water display I did not have any hoses going at all from my water pump. I had a sump pump that I got on the streets for dirt cheap going. And I was just letting it go without the hoses attached. And it just put the water straight up into a small gurgle that of course came right back down on itself. So you did not have to worry about any loss of water. But it was definitely nice when you walked up to it.

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Once you have your pump working properly you will want to put something strong over your reservoir. Something like chicken wire would work to cover your reservoir. This will also help to keep all of the crap from getting down in your water display. I then added a bunch of little rocks all over the top. Covering up my chicken wire completely. I got all of my small rocks from a local gravel company called IMI. And when I called and asked them about getting some small rocks for my projects I was working on they told me on the phone that I could fill up my buckets as much as I could hold for $5. So I was immediately there with several of my totes.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is photo_1567134219466.png — My First Water Display That I Did With The Help Of A Friend

So I have also been collecting large rocks for my water displays for the last couple of years. I have got all of my rocks for completely free. I have gotten them from my family who lives in the country and had lots of big boulders they had cleared out of the woods, and from friends who would go to the river and bring me back rocks every time they would go.Sign Up

So I also have been getting pallets from different places locally. I found one guy who lives right down the road from me who sells all kinds of different types of pallets. And he sells them for dirt cheap. Like $2 a piece. So I also found the old vintage looking ladder at his place. It was not in the greatest shape when I saw it there. And so he told me that I could have it. And so I put it in as part of my water display layout. I wanted it to look very country, and very old fashioned. I love antiques and vintage things. So I wanted my water display to look like these 2 things combined.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_0113.jpg — Another Style Water Display I Did In Back Yard Area

I then brought a bunch of my plants outside and sat them around my water display area. Making it look much better I thought. I have always loved plants. And I seem to do well with most plants. All except for ferns. I definitely do not have a green thumb for ferns!

So I know that this is definitely not the best tutorial for doing your own water displays, but I at least will put it out there how I have done mine, and give any kinds of pointers on how to do it cheaply and the easiest way that you can do one. So if you happen to try your own water display at home then let me know how it works out for you. Good Luck & Happy Crafting!

Old Tennis Shoe Transformation

So here are the tennis shoes after I got done with them. I have actually lost the original picture of what they looked like. So I can tell you that they were just plain white and not really that white actually.

So the makeover they got really was a great improvement. I actually never wore them before I did this to them. Now I wear them all the time. And that is saying something because I can never find a comfortable shoe to wear.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_0903.jpg — After I got done with the makeover

Because of all the nerve damage that happened to me as a result of being paralyzed, I have a really hard time with shoes. I can wear them for a little while and then I have to get out of them and back to running around with no shoes.

So like I said, for me to be able to wear a pair of shoes for any amount of time and say they are comfortable, is definitely saying something.

So for this shoe makeover all that I did was take an old pair of guess tennis shoes that I had back in my closet, and put glue and glitter on them.

What you will need.

Elmers Glue
Small Paint Brush
Black Glitter
White Marker
Old Pair Of Tennis Shoes

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So once you get all of your supplies together then you will want to get a regular sized bowl. Then pour your elmers glue into it. Just start with about a quarter of a bowl full. You can always add to it later if you need to. Then add your glitter. It will take a lot of glitter to really start to notice a big difference in your glue. Once you get it as dark as you want it, all you do is start putting it on your tennis shoes with your paint brush.

Now you can use masking tape to tape off the bottom part of your tennis shoe to keep them white as you apply your glitter glue. I didn’t do it because it was very easy to just wipe off the little bit that I ended up getting on them. And I was just fairly careful not to get my mixture on the place that I did not want it. But it is just a matter of personal preference on how you want to do it.Sign Up

So once you get your glitter mixture on every part that you want it on, you will then take your white marker and start to color in the sole part of your shoes. The part at the bottom side of your shoe. Not the very bottom. This will really make them stand out once they are all the way done.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_0931.jpg — Almost All The Way Done

Now you will just want to let them dry. I put mine in front of a fan for about 4 hours and then still didn’t touch them until another couple hours. I am a very impatient person and so usually I am jumping the gun on my projects. And usually it does not end well when I try to rush them!

I also went ahead and did another makeover on my van’s that I had done earlier this week. I had thought I had posted a how to on those shoes, but I guess I did not. Cause when I went to try and find it I could not. They were my new shoes that I slung fingernail polish all over! So I had originally made them over with silver glitter and glue. So I decided to try a multi color of glitter on them. So I did just the top front part of them with the black glitter I had made up. And I think they turned out pretty cool. I think that they look good with a two-toned look.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_0916.jpg

DiY Hanging Lights

So for this project I ended up using

1. Elmers Glue

2. Balloon

3. Bowl (for your glue)

4. Rubber gloves (so you don’t get your hands a nasty mess)

5. Twine (a little thinner twine is what I used)

6. Scissors

7. An old light from those plug in candles that you see at Christmas time (or you can use the light strands of little led lights)

I actually went to goodwill and got a bunch of small lights that they had there for like $1 a piece. I got an assortment of different types of lights that I could take out and reuse for my different projects I do. And I didn’t pay over $10 for all of them I got. And I got at least 6 of them I could use.

There are actually many different ways that you can light your project up at the end. It’s all a matter of personal preference. I will have links to amazon also throughout my post of lighting types you can get from them.

I will also go ahead and disclose that I am an affiliate with Amazon and I may make a small commission off qualified purchases that result from clicking on my links.

While I am trying to get myself going in affiliate marketing I have learned already to not try to sell things that I have no knowledge of. So when I do put advertisements on my site, whether it be in my posts or my pages, it is going to be products that I have used myself. Or I will at least have some knowledge about how that product has worked out for others that I know. I will try and be as honest as possible when I advertise or when I recommend something to anyone who reads my stuff. Because I know that I hate to be steered the wrong way just for that person who is steering me to make a sale.

So once you have all your items gathered, you will want to fill your bowl up with the elmers glue. I added black sparkles to my first light. It’s up to you on whether or not you use them. Put your rubber gloves on and proceed to start dipping your twine into the glue.

After you have it all good and soaked with it, you will want to start at the beginning of the twine and just wring your string out as you go. Getting all of the excess glue off of it. Do this as you wrap it around your balloon.

Your going to want to go in a little bit of different directions as you are wrapping your balloon with your glue soaked twine. You want every bit of it covered but have it looking like it’s very random.

My balloon before I got all the way done

My ball after I popped my balloon and got my lights in it.

I actually tied my 2 ends together in a little knot as well as putting a little bit of hot glue in different areas to help hold it and make it secure.

You will then put your ball up somewhere safe to dry. I let mine dry for about 12-14 hours. It was pretty secure at that point. So I then just had to cut a small hole in the twine so I could get my light up into it. I ended up using some led string lights that I had. You just plug them into any usb charger and you are good to go. I like using them because they usually have very long amounts of string from your plug area to where the lights actually start. And having all the little lights all stuffed in together inside of your ball really looks awesome for some nice soft lighting.

My first ball I used brown twine on and I didn’t blow my balloon up as much as I did with my second balloon.

So these diy hanging lights are fun and easy to do for everyone in your family. And there are many ways that you can do them to go along with the style that someone wants. You can do different colors of twine or rope, different thickness, different size balloons. And with your balloons all you have to do to change the size or shape of your form is to either blow them up bigger or smaller.

So they are a very cheap project to do. The materials that you get will usually last you through many of these ball lights if you are wanting to make a bunch of them.

So drop me a line and let me know how your project turns out if you would decide to try it.

Good luck and happy crafting!

Lovin Squares Headboard

So for this project I went a little bit out there and it may not be for some. I am of course still trying to finish it and can’t decide exactly how to get the rest of it the way I want it.

But I figured I’d post it and if someone out there liked it they will know how to do it. It has not been that hard of a project, but it is a little time consuming.

I wish I had taken pictures all the way through it so I could post them as I explain, but I rarely do that on the assumption that I will not get it quite right. Or it won’t be as good as all the ones I see on Pinterest or YouTube.

I am getting better at the projects that I do but I am no where near what I want to be. So for this Headboard you are just going to get a sheet of plywood (however thick is of your preference). And cut it to however tall or however wide you want it to be. It will all depend on your bed and what you like.

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So then you will take frog tape (or just regular old masking tape) and start laying it out on your plywood board. Once again it’s your preference on how big you want your squares to be, or how wide or if you want them all the same size or not. I didn’t make mine all the same size. They are each a little different on the sizes, but not so much that it’s really noticeable. I just liked how they looked and went with it.

Then you take your taped up board outside and get out your favorite spray paints. I used gray, black teal blue and a light blue with glitter in it for mine. But whatever colors you want to compliment your room I would just get shades of a couple colors and then put a few bolder colors with them. The type of bold colors that goes with anything.

After letting your spray paint dry all the way, you will then peel off your tape, leaving you with the original color of the wood for in between each color.

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I then took a dark stain and painted in between each one of my squares. Being sure I went over it twice because I could still see some of the board color underneath the first coat. And I would use caution when applying the stain (if you even use stain). Once again it’s a person’s preference on what color or type to put in between your squares.

But if you use stain it does like to run to the sides some as you take it down your lines. I used a paintbrush to put my stain on. It worked out well for me. But there are many ways of putting stain on, and it is just however you feel most comfortable with when you stain something.

But do not forget to wear gloves when staining. Stain is very hard to get off your hands once you get it on them. Not to mention your clothes, and anything else that you may happen to get it on. It’s going to be no picnic when it comes to taking it off anything out there.

So after you let your stain dry you are then ready to start putting on your tile pieces. I had a lot of different types of pieces that I got for free from sample boards that most flooring stores just throw away. I had all different colors and different sizes of the small types that you use for backsplash most of the time. So I just started positioning them on my headboard until I formed a heart that actually resembled a hear.

Then after I got them all where I wanted them I then proceeded to glue them down. I ended up using hot glue to get them to stick on there right. I started out trying to use flooring glue. The type that works great for bigger pieces of tile that you are laying down on the floor, or even the wall. But trying to use it for this project was a disaster!

I don’t know y you have ever worked with flooring glue that you use for hardwood flooring, but let me assure you that it is no picnic at all to work with. It is the stickiest, nastiest mess ever to work with! And so it was not long before I had floor glue all over the place. And every little piece had tons of extra glue seeping out the side, looking just awful!

So I changed my whole game plan and took everything off and cleaned my little pieces up and proceeded to start again. But this time I used the hot glue gun. This worked out way better for me. Aside from burning myself a couple times I was able to get them glued down in no time and had no more problems.

So then you will want to let your pieces forming your heart dry very well before hanging it up above your bed. I let mine dry for a couple hours just to be sure. I then just positioned it above my bed where I wanted it to go, and I screwed a couple screws in at the four corners. This holds it up very well, and you will never have to worry about it going anywhere.

What makes this type of Headboard so great is that it is lightweight, easy to mount to your wall, and can be made in many different types or shapes or colors. So you can just have fun with it.

And if you are experimenting some, I would suggest to just buy a little extra wood for your project in case you decide to try it a different way. Partical boards are not really expensive. I can’t remember for sure but I am pretty sure that the boyfriend got mine at our local hardware store for less than $8 for a whole sheet.

And your leftover board from your Headboard can be used for other projects that you may decide to try. So happy projecting! I hope it turns out well for you if you decide to try it out.

Tree Trunk Turned Table With Built In Light

So with this project of mine I had the boyfriend go down to my neighbors and pick out some tree stumps he had all piled up in his driveway.

So he ends up bringing this stump to me. Which was a lot larger than what I really had in mind. I was just going to put a glass piece on top of one of the stumps to turn it into a table.

But I got this one because he said it was awesome with having 2 areas for 2 tables in one.

I basically left it out on my front porch for a while just using it to sit things on as we worked outside.

Until recently when a friend of mine gave me this big rotating light. Claiming it would be awesome to use for when I do tattoos.

Because it has a light in the middle and a circular light around the middle light. So it does make for a great source of light if you need it. And the fact that you can swivel it or adjust it makes it even better.

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The problem with it was that it had been taken off something else and so now your left with just a long circular piece at the bottom. Making it impossible to sit anywhere unless you put the piece down into a hole first.

I knew in order to use it I would have to attach it to something pretty big. Because the light itself is not exactly small. So it would have to have something pretty sturdy to maintain it.

That’s when I got the idea to put it on the tree trunk that the boyfriend picked out. I don’t know if you have ever picked up or tried to move a tree stump before, but let me assure you that they are pretty damned heavy!

And my tree trunk here had not just one trunk but 2 trunks on it. Making it even heavier than most of your normal ones. So I decided it would be perfect to convert it into a side table that has a place for you to sit your stuff, and a built in adjustable light.

And it was just what I needed for a table next to my rocking chair in the living room. Where I do most of my arts and crafts from.

So luckily I had an old vintage tool that I personally never knew what it was for but thought it looked cool. This tool ended up being a tree bark peeler.

All you have to do is take the tool with both hands on the handles and place it at the top of the stump, right where the bark meets the tree itself and pull it downwards. And it peels it right off. Very easy to use and light weight. I am super glad I got the tool from my friend a long while back, thinking it just looked cool.

So after the bark was gone I then got my hammer drill with a big bit and proceeded to drill the hole where my light would go down in.

It didn’t take but 15 minutes to drill it down deep enough so that the whole circular piece was buried and not seen. Which actually stabilized it pretty well just on it’s own.

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But I didn’t want to take any chances so I also put hot glue down in the hole before I lowered the base of the light into it. Let it dry for a while and now it’s in there and I don’t have any worries about it tumbling over. I can actually spin the light around 360 degrees if I want to. And it doesn’t even try to tilt when I spin it. I also secured 2 screws on the backside so you have a place to wrap your lamp cord when it is not plugged into an outlet.

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For the other level of the trunk I got a piece of glass I had laying around here that came from one of my old pieces of furniture or projects I have done, and I put it on for my actual table. This area I can now sit my pretties, or whatever you may want to sit on it for your convenience. I am not all the way done with my diy side table yet. I only have the piece of glass secured against the wall with screws for now.

My somewhat finished tree stump turned table with built in light.

I screwed one on the top side of the glass, and screwed one on the other end on the opposite side of the glass so it secures the glass from tipping or moving.

I am thinking about getting suction cup pieces to actually attach the glass to the wood. That is the only idea I have come up with so far on how to get the glass to stay in place to the wood.

And I am going to probably sand it down some more and someone told me to spray it with polyurethane to preserve the wood better. So I will post updates on it when I do get these things done.

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So you can see below the before and after pictures of the guitar.

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