Saturday Shop Spotlight {spoon hook board}

In the last week or two I have acquired several cabinet doors for dirt cheap. I have a few ideas for them, one of them being these super cheap, super easy {spoon hook boards}.

The supplies are minimal. All you need is a cabinet door {or old board}, some old teaspoons, a couple of screws.

I started by bending the spoons to create a "U" shape.


Next I drilled hole in the top of each spoon handle.


I would suggest using a drill bit especially for metal because this might happen:


Studly was heading out to the "Depot" for light bulbs so I had him pick up one of these {a metal bit}. They run about $4 and are well worth the money.


I finished drilling my holes


then layed them out in preparation for attaching them to the cabinet.

Okay, time for another {fail}.

Here's what happens if you get antsy and don't drill pilot holes first.
Ah Crap!!! Glad I was only out a couple of bucks, but I still can't stand tossing out a perfectly good cabinet door...well, aside for the big crack down the center.

My advice, take 60 seconds and drill pilot holes before screwing on the spoons.

All right, now we are ready to attach the spoons.


Voila! A fun, little hook board, perfect for the kitchen {or anywhere else in the house for that matter} for under $5.

They make the perfect spot for aprons or dish towels.


If you like these sah-weet things, but don't want to have to make one, stop by the shop and pick one up instead.

Thursday Thrifty Throwdown...on Friday

Hallelujah, we're back in business. I wasn't able to post all day yesterday, so now my Thrifty Thursday Throwdown is my Thrifty Friday Throwdown...doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it?
Todays' s feature: crusty, old ladders.
The wave of budget decorating is great because it makes a person think outside of the box and get innovative with design. All you have to work with is what is available at the thrift store/yard sale/flee market. And not only is it economical, it is also really satisfying...at least for me anyway. I get a lot of enjoyment out recyling old items and repurposing things that would otherwise end up in the junk yard.
So, imagine my delight when I acquired this old, wooden ladder.

I could see that its days of being a working ladder were over due to its dry and brittle state, not to mention that it was also rickety and unstable. But that didn’t deter me because I had something different in store for it. This old ladder was “moving up the ladder” as it were, from someone’s old work shed to my living room.
I'm in the process of redecorating my living room and I knew that somehow incorporating this unespected element into the design would give it that extra dose of character it needed.
I actually ended up cutting my ladder down. Which left with a step stool and two random pieces.

I really needed an end table and I thought an old step stool would be perfect.

{Did you notice that I still haven't painted one of my lamp shades. Ya, I'll get around to it someday}.

The top isn't very big so I was kinda limited in my decorating. But it's a good space for adding a little pop of color and texture.

The rungs created the perfect little spot for some homeless books and magazines.

I swear that isn't an old beer bottle. It's actually a really old bottle of some sort. It has nifty measurements on the side in mililters and there's a date on the bottoms that says 1845. At least I'm saying that it's a date.

I am having a hard time leaving it alone. Every time I walk by I rearrange things...hence the various combinations of knick knacks in every picture.

I really love the look of the faded, natural wood, but I have a hard time leaving well enough alone. Should I kiss the wood with a little bit of white/cream paint or just leave it be? Suggestions?

I couldn't very well toss out the left over ladder parts, for it is not the frugal way. So, I decided to use one section as a magazine rack. I'm always looking for places to stash my magazines so it worked out perfectly.



For the time being, the third piece of ladder is currently residing in the nursery as a blanket/book holder, but I'm not loving it so I'm not sure that is where it will stay.

I think I spent $8 for the ladder and I was able to get three functional pieces out of it. If I do the that right that would mean each piece cost me a little over $2. Not too shabby, methinks.

Linking to:
Funky Junk Interiors


Miss Mustard Seed

My Crap-vintage Christmas Tree

I use the term crap loosely (and lovingly), because as we all know...one man's crap is another man's treasure.

I feel like I should mention that I have had my tree up since Thanksgiving...I just haven't decorated it (mainly because when I went to plug the {prelit} thing in nothing happened...not a single bulb worked). So, I left the tree sitting there til I could muster up the energy to restring her with lights.

In the meantime I began the inner debate, {should I or should I not do something different with the tree this year}? My heart said "go for it, do something different for a change", but my head kept telling me "don't do it, you'll have stud muffin to answer to". (I guess it isn't really practical to run out and by all new stuff to decorate the tree with, when the stuff I already have is perfectly fine).

But then, I came up with a happy {medium}...do something fun and different, just don't spend any money. Easier said than done right? But I was determined to do it and I did (except for the $25 I spent on new lights...but that doesn't count).
I started by gathering all the crap I could find in the house and garage that I thought would look {decent} smooshed up in a tree.

Here's what I came up with.




I used some old, silver platters left over from my vintage platter photo frame project.


and a few other silver accents I picked up at the thrift store for fifty cents a piece.


I found this cool, silver sugar bowl and creamer set a little while ago. I didn't have any purpose for them until now.

Old picture frames I simply painted silver.



An extra {skeleton} shade I had sitting in the garage. I embellished it with some more family pictures by clothes pinning them to the frame.

I also stuffed a few {wooden} candle stick holders I picked up a while back in for good measure.

Some left over teacups from my teacup clock and Anthro teacup lamp projects.

Old sheet music that I turned into stars and banners.


And finally, a porcelin platter that I had been saving for something special. I found some left over Christmas rub ons that I used to embellish her a bit. I really like how it turned out.

And the skirt is an leftover, unused painters canvas.
I have to admit, that a tree blinged out in mercury glass ornaments and sparkly silver accents would have been pretty awesome, but I think my crap-vintage Christmas tree is pretty great too. It is {sentimental} becuase of the family pictures I used and {unique }I'm sure. And the very best part...it was {free}. HOLLA.

Linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick's holiday home, Christmas tree link up party.

Cookie Sheet Advent Calendars

Well, I am officially in Christmas mode and to kick it off I thought I'd share a fun and cheap mini tutorial for making a Christmas Countdown Calendar using an old cookie sheet.
I've made a few of these and my kiddos absolutely love them. And because they are so inexpensive to assemble, they make the perfect neighbor and teacher gifts.

Here's what you need for the project:
1 cookie sheet (I found mine at the thrift store for $1.50. They seem to be pretty abundant. One little tip, be sure to take a magnet with you to make sure the cookie sheet is magnetic. I didn't realize that not all cookie sheets are magnetic so double check before you buy.

mod podge


craft paint


glitter glue (this isn't really necessary, but I used it to add a little sparkle to my magnets...I like sparkley things).


scrapbook paper, old sheet music or old book pages plus whatever embellishments you want to use to decorate (I kept it pretty simple. Once you get all of the magnets on the board you don't need a lot of decoration...in my humble opinion.


paint pen and/or number rub ons


knick knacks for making your magnets i.e. dice, dominoes, miniture playing cards, miniture clothes pins, scrapbook tags, buttons, old drawer knobs etc.

craft magnets


ribbon

To begin, drill holes in the top left and right hand corners of the cookie sheet (to accomodate the ribbon which you will use to hang the calendar).

After you've drilled your holes, it's time to start decorating the sheet. Make sure to flip your cookie sheet over so that the bottom is facing up. This is going to become the front of your magnet board.
Paint around the edges of the cookie sheet and just slightly onto the front of the board. It isn't necessary to paint the enter cookie sheet, as you will be covering the surface with scrapbook paper/sheet music. You can see here how it should look.

After the paint has dried, cover/decoupage the surface with paper using mod podge. I like to cover the entire surface with the "podge" then one by one place the paper. After each piece I paint a coat of "podge" over it.
Once you have the entire surface covered go over it with one more coat of "podge" and allow to dry.
Once dry apply embellishments and decorations. I kept my design pretty simple by adding only a border and page topper. This part is totally up to your discretion.
Here's how my sheet looked after paint, "podge" and embellishments.

Next, assemble your magnets. I used a combination of housefold items...dice, paper clamp, drawer knob, bottle cap, button as well as scrabook items to create my magnets. Really, anything goes. Just rummage through the junk drawer and see what you have lying around. I found a box of dominoes at the thrift store for fifty cents, so you may be able to pick up some cheap treasures there.
Once you have accumulated twenty-five items you need to number them. The nice thing about the dice and dominoes is that they are already numbered, so you don't have to bother with them. For everything else you can use a paint pen, or number rub ons. Once you have everything numbered, glue (hot glue or epoxy work) the craft magnets to the backs of all your knick knacks.

Thread some ribbon through the holes you drilled and tie the ends together into a bow. Here's what mine looked like when completed.
Voila! A super cheap and chic advent calendar that will be loved by adults and kids alike.

Oh, and the best part, you can use the backside (the concave side) to store your magnets as you remove them. I love's me some built in storage.

Not to shabby for a little time and a few bucks, eh?

Linking to: