Junkin' Jewels Series - Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home!

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  When Danni Baird of Silo Hill Farm sends out a call for all junkers to sort through their stashes and create something, you say, "Yes, Craft Mistress!" and go to work.

Well, that being said, I am an overachiever so not only did I have to create ONE item, I had to create SIX items!

All supplies came from Horror Monster, my beloved craft stash.  Nothing was purchased.

I started with this bundle of lathing and mismatched molding which has been hanging out in the breakfast room for awhile.  My husband Chucks volunteered to cut the pieces if I had a project or he was throwing it out.

What!?! Throwing it out!?!

I know - we will make stars.  Not our usual small stars, but three-foot tall stars!

WARNING:  Major photo overload coming at you!

Chucks cut two pieces of lathing 36", two pieces of lathing 30", and one piece of molding 19".  He wants you to know he did this six times. 

I used E6000 to glue the joints and rubber banded each joint until it dried.

For six stars.

Which will be approximately three feet tall!

 Since the molding cross piece would be carrying some weight, I screwed it to the two long braces.

For six stars.

I am thinking at this point Danni is going to kill me!

But I still am going to make six stars!

Six completed stars in the only clean spot in the living room.  

They make a cute fireplace screen.

Notice some pieces had been previously painted and used.

 Next I collected small bottles of craft paint with dibs and dabs left in them and went to work painting the six stars.

Then I promptly took them outside with my handy sander and distressed them.

All six stars.

Got to have them looking worn!

 I burrowed deep into Horror Monster and came up with old bottles, bed springs, tattered tags, rusty wire, twine, and rusty star garland bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago.

I had a hard time finding that garland until I realized it was neatly placed in a box labeled "rusty star garland"!

Well, I never!

The Six Junk Stash Stars

 I will not bore you absolutely to death with a long story about each star.  Just a brief note.

About each one.

Brown umber paint glaze.

All six stars were given two coats of a satin craft varnish.

Bed spring threaded through a tiny eye hook with a scrap paper cone and turquoise tissue paper.

Torn cotton ribbon tassel.

Tattered tag with a rusty star.

A close up of the embellishment.

Yes, I am going to show you all six stars!

Keep your seat.

I do want to add right here I had to go deep into the hedge in the side yard to take photos because the one afternoon when I had to take pictures, it was sunny!

The swarms of mosquitoes ate me alive!

Therefore, I am going to show you all six stars!

 I was really creative on two stars and painted them with different colors.

Rusty star garland.

Green Rolling Rock  bottle.

Tattered tag.

By the way, the left over rusty star garland is back in its box marked "rusty star garland".

Maybe next time I will remember that.

It ain't easy being organized.

Bet you thought I was going to say "green"!








I think I am in love with this one and may just keep it.

I wished I had put some flowers in the bottles!

I never think about styling my projects until I am already writing the post.












The black star distressed nicely with the old white paint peeking through.

Small old bottle.

Pink roses braided into a garland.

Pink tattered tag.

 A bright blue bead.

Everything wrapped with the rusty craft wire.

 Pink!  

Poodle Skirt Pink to be exact.  

Small glass bottle.

Roses braided into a garland.

Tattered tag.

Yada, yada.












 

When I wrapped the wire around, I added some funky beaded beads in pinks and greens.

Also there is a butterfly.

No mosquitoes though.

I do wish there was some way to use mosquitoes in craft projects.

I have several million of them.

Another colorful star with a bed spring paper cone adorning it.

Have you ever seen such a collection of odds and ends of just plain junk?

Don't lie, folks.  Most of you have it hidden away in a cabinet somewhere.

I own up to my mess and proudly display it.

I just don't open the front door!

The paper cone was fake ledger paper.

I would never use my genuinely old ledger paper.

I scan it and then print it out.

Or buy it at Hobby Lobby!

OOPS!  No, I did not go to Hobby Lobby, Danni.  Everything came from the stash!

I promise!

 This may be my favorite instead of the multi-colored one.

You know how I love turquoise.

The bed spring holds a paper cone with bright pink tissue.

How bright and cheerful

To think all this stuff was just stuck into nooks and crannies around the house.

Sakes alive!  I will have to clean more often if there is this much treasure!

How pretty!

Yes, I am congratulating myself.

If you have made it all the way to this point in this post, you should congratulate yourself.

Maybe you should go directly to your craft stash and see what creative project you can assemble from what is lurking about.

The all-star junk stash stars gather around the boxwood to show off.

I think I deserve not five stars, but SIX stars for my junk creation.

While they were kicking up their heels, my neighbor came over to ask if I would make her one in red.

Hey, Chucks!  Time to cut some more wood!

Naw, let's go junkin'!

See y'all!

Thanks Donna!!  Those were awesome!  Come back next month on the 8th to see what Revi @ Revisionary Life has to share!  

 

Get Your Kids Drinking Water!

Hi guys,

Mel from Mellywood's Mansion here today sharing my trick for getting the kids to drink more water.

 My kids fight me every step of the way when it comes to drinking water and the little ones are the worst. They point blank refuse to drink water from the tap unless it's mixed with cordial, but if it comes from a bottle, they will have anything!

So I got my cutter out and grabbed a couple of empty wine bottles.

I labeled them Fairy Mist and Jurassic Juice, much, much, tastier than that yucky water! ( I just fill them when they're not around)

For more ideas to get the kids drinking water, you can check out my Xbox Drink bottles here

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Saturday Weekly Wrap Up 34

Hello everyone!

We hope you had a great week and are off

to a fun weekend!

Here's what the IC girls have been up to this week...

For Natalie of NorthShore Days,

Spring has sprung in New Zealand!

"Woohoo...First Day of Spring..."

Danni of Silo Hill Farm was featured by 

Kirby Carespodi on her wonderful blog,

"Women Who Blog and Bloggers Who Love Them"

Here's what else Danni has been up to this week: 

Three-For All-Thursday!

The Most Awesome Week of Giveaways.....EVAH!!

&

Ghost Leaves,

Danni's turn for IC's Kidding Around Series!

Oh, and in case you missed it, Danni has put together an

awesome new series for the Cafe, JUNKIN' JEWELS, 

starring these fabulous contributors...

Mel of Mellywood's Mansion

had a freaking awesome link party!

Freaking Awesome Friday #4

Mel shared some awesome features

from Freaking Awesome Friday #3's party!

Mel is also sharing information on a great giveaway...

Win A Trip Disneyland!!

Heather of The Beating Hearth, 

well she's been pretty busy with these...

"Wicker Baby Booties For Sale....Cheap Cheap!"
This post is hilarious!

Heather is also having her very first giveaway!
Win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and some of your very own
wicker baby booties!

"Pressure to Impress...Wicker Baby Booty Project...
And our 1st Giveaway!"

Mary of Sweet Little Bluebird shared some

Tried & True Oven-Fried Chicken

5 stars!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

 Nat, Mary, Heather, Danni and Mel

Inspiration Cafe is looking for guest posters and contributors. If you would like to guest please let us know, we would love to have you. If you would prefer a feature instead, feel free to drop us a line. New or old posts welcome.

JUNKIN JEWELS PART DEUX!

Last week I posted about our upcoming Junkin Jewels series.  I was so excited about it that I actually posted that one week early!  Yep...I'm pretty excited! 

 Anyway...I have another Gem to add to the list of fabulous ladies.  Meet Revi, from Revisionary Life...

A little bit about Revi:

Revi works full time in Children's Ministry and when she's not working, she enjoys projects around her 1945 fixer-upper. She'll paint anything in her path! She collects a variety of vintage items in her trips to thrift stores, and uses them in her decor.

 Take a look at one of her favorite posts...

$1.50 Sofa Makeover

She also has an etsy that you may want to check out.
                                        http://www.etsy.com/shop/revisionarylife

In fact, several of the Junkin Jewels have etsy's and I would like to share them with you now.

Spittin Toad Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/spittintoad?ref=em
Thrify Rebel Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThriftyRebel?ref=em
Denise... On A Whim Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeItOnAWhim?ref=em

As far as I know, Donna at Distressed Donna Down Home, doesn't have an etsy....unless she's holding out on us!  But she does have a booth where she sells all of her fabulous finds and I know she works very hard at it! 
Donna will be here next Tuesday to bring us our first Junkin Jewels post so please come back and see what she's up to!

KIDDING AROUND SERIES - GHOST LEAVES

I have never done a kid craft on my blog.  I'll admit that it's possible some of my projects may have turned out to look like a kid craft, but it was not intentional.  So when the girls at the Inspiration Cafe wanted to do kid-themed crafts.....I totally freaked out.  Totally.  I mean, I've already told you that my 5 year old grandson has the attention span of a gnat, so crafting with him is almost impossible.  But, sometimes things just work out.  Last Sunday, my brother-in-law called and said my awesome nephew, Dain was wanting to come over to see me.  Always exciting! Seriously...this kid will pick up a huge snake.....

He will also make creepy faces in my corn maze for a photo shoot...

You will never be bored around a kid like this!
The wheels started turning in my head.  His attention span is bigger than a gnats...maybe like mosquito-sized.  I decided to ambush him into making a craft with me.
 To get a 9 year old boy to do a craft with you...you had better at least call it something cool...like Ghost Leaves. 
Gather up a few supplies...

You'll need 1 cute kid, some white craft paint, fake leaves,googly-eyes, magnets, a hot glue gun and some glue dots.
You'll want to paint one side those cheesy faux leaves with some white craft paint.

 I love the look on Dain's face when we first start out, but...he quickly warmed up to the whole leaf painting thing.

Paint as many leaves as the mosquito-sized attention span allows.  They dry really fast and are still very flexible. 
Flip them over and put a magnet on the back with a little hot glue.  Hold that magnet down for like 30 seconds and talk about googly-eyes.  Kids love them.  Just knowing they come next makes Dain smile.

Little glue dots are perfect for sticking on googly-eyes.  They're too small for a hot glue gun and you don't want to burn precious fingers that might be needed for picking up a snake.

You can tell that the attention span and picture taking tolerance are running low now, which is a good thing, because this project is over.  We have Ghost Leaves that will stick on your fridge...or your school locker.  Cool....

 .....and fun!
Don't have any googly-eyes??  No problem...a marker works just as well!  How do I know this?  Because after my nephew left I decided to play around and make one myself.  I opted for a Vampire Leaf....

 

Now go play! Please be sure to come back and join us for our Kidding Around link party coming up  Monday, September 16th.