PRIMITIVE CHEESE BOX MAKEOVER

I bought this old, wooden cheese box from the auction for $2.00 along with a few other items a while back.  It has already sold at my booth for $6.00 (thank you buyer!)
But being such an easy makeover, I thought I'd share it in case ya'll come across any type of old, wooden boxes yourself.

Here it was before:

I gave it a quick dry wash in black. I call dry washing simply only putting a sparse amount of paint on a brush, where it is kinda rough to get a good coating.  But going back and forth over it makes for good looking, old brush strokes.  I usually never put much paint on a brush for this. Opposed to a thick, deep, wet coating of paint.

See, you can still see some of the old wood showing through. I don't want so much paint as to make it look like a brand new, black box.  Just enough to give it a black undertone.

The Primitives: Blessings from our Past stencil was found on eBay.

And I used DELTA brand stencil paint, in the Heritage colors collection ,

with a makeup sponge for the wording and stars.

Super simple and now a cute shelf sitter for homes with the primitive theme.

Happy Crafting ya'll,

-Lisa

NEW BATCH OF DIY NIGHTLIGHTS with SILICONE DIPPED BULBS

It's time for me to gear up and do another batch of the little night lights with silicone dipped bulbs! 

I'm trying to catch up on these little cuties to stock up the two new booths at the co-op in a neighboring town.  

Here's a link to some I made in a different, grungy, primitive style a while back.

And so here is how I'm doing this new batch.

First, start off by gathering your supplies. 

I get it all at the Dollar Mart except for the 100% silicone which is found at the Dollar General.

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-Night lights without the dimmer detection. Just the basic ones.

-Extra packs of bulbs to make replacement bulbs.

-A short cup, not too deep that you can't reach down to the bottom easily.

-Ground Cinnamon

-String and clothespins to hang bulbs to dry.

-100% tube of Silicone (I strongly recommend only getting the 100%!) & a caulking gun which squirts out the silicone.

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Okay, after all supplies are gathered, start by putting up your string and clothespins to have them ready. Thankfully I have a  year round clothesline just outside my kitchen. And I use that.

Then mix up your silicone mixture.  I use these little plastic disposable cups that come in large packs for a $1.  They are short enough and small enough to hold a good grip on.

 Squirt out about 3/4 of the cup full of the 100% silicone and stir in the other 1/4 with the ground cinnamon.

Then immediately stick in one bulb, straight down into the mixture, give it a twist as you are bringing it out and up and bam, that's it!

Don't worry if you can't get a cute tip on it, it does take a few good tries to get it down.

Then go hang them to dry.  Thankfully the silicone dries fast.  But I usually leave them hanging for about 4 or 5 hours to make sure it's cured, in the sun.

And later on that night I start painting the bases of the night lights in different colors. I usually prefer black, white or soft colors like buttercup yellow.  

I just think those are more of a prim color theme.

After painting them, I tie on a bit of homespun fabric 

and sometimes glue on accent pieces like metal stars.

I use E-6000 glue from Walmart. It's a strong, forever hold.

And that's it.  Stick the hand dipped silicone bulb in to finish them off and here we go.

A cute little primitive nightlight with hand dipped silicone bulbs.

And here is a night shot of it all lit up.
The cinnamon gives it a warm, soft glow.

$3.00 each

I'm not going to put these in baggies to sell.  I'm just going to tie a cute tag to them and sit them in a bowl, probably.

I'm still pricing these for $3.00 each and the packs of replacement bulbs are priced for  2 for $3.00.

These make for great craft fair and booth items to sell since they are so cute and affordable.  I hope ya'll give them a try!

Happy Crafting,
until next time!
~Lisa

AND If interested,
HERE IS THE LITTLE BATTERY OPERATED CANDLE BULBS I previously made:

Always make sure you use the correct wattage bulb for each of your night lights and candles when changing out bulbs! 

These nightlight bulbs are 4 WATS.

RUSTY HORSESHOE CRAFTS and BARBWIRE WREATH

Hey ya'll. I've been super busy the last month and a half with new calves on my lil' farm. This is all new for me and wow at the things you learn.  But anyways this is leading up to my new craft post today using old rusty things on the farm.

I have tons of ole rusty horseshoes around not because I've had horses but because I love rusty farm stuff.

So when putting up a new wooden door for the calves I thought about making a sign that said COWS but by using the horseshoes as letters. Here's how I started.

I just laid them out and moved them around until they started looking like the letters I needed. I just loved tge big fat one I had for a c.

I used medium sized wood screws and screwed them into the door.

And then came the "s."  I got it but it doesn't look as good as the other letters.

But I got it the best I could.

The s is just the best I could get it but I'm sure the cows wont mind.

And then I needed to make something to fill the space around it.  So I wanted a rusty wreath made of barbwire. So for me I just went over in an old field and cut some. But if you don't have any, maybe you can ask around or buy a new roll of wire, and spray paint it rusty brown.

Here I just made a few circles with it and then screwed it straight to the door.

And for one last sign for the side of the lil ole barn, here's what I made.

I did finally wash off the MOO sign later. I screwed it to a piece of 2x6 then to the wall. But fir the word COWS I just screwed each letter to the wall individually.

DIY EASY GENERAL STORE SIGN

Here is a very easy General Store sign you could make for any country kitchen out of about any kind of wood.  I free handed the words Eggs, Butter, Lard and Opinions on it with just chalk! And nope, I didn't even use the fancy chalk paint to get to do this!

I started off with these extra pieces of wood.  The larger one, would've been a little bit too big or I would've loved it.


The board to the left is just a piece of pine board left over from our counter top redo.
So really, any type of board will do.

All you really need is to buy some black paint from Walmart like this:

 It is outdoor, flat black.

Paint it on the board,


One coat was all I needed because I like to let some wood show.

Then I put a saw tooth hanger on the back. You can get them in a pack at
the Dollar Tree for $1.00.

And while you're there, pick up some chalk. That is what I free handed
the words with was chalk!

And best of all is that  since the black paint is outdoor paint, the chalk
wipes right off with a damp rag.  If you ever want to change it up again.

I just thought up words that might be on a sign in an old general store.
But you could easily make this board into a memo board or a menu board for your
country kitchen!


Hope ya'll will give this cute sign a try!
Happy Crafting!
~Lisa

PS:
I did finally get to do something with the HUGE piece of old cute wood up there on the right.
I just painted it black with the same paint, in case I ever want to write on it too. 
But for now,
here's how I have it used in my home:

Just sitting on a counter top, holding a wreath hanger at the top.
With a few dish towels draped over it and a piece of my favorite fabric!

Primitive Wooden Pumpkins Pumpkin Boards

Primitive Wooden Pumpkins

Here are some cute "Pumpkin Boards" as my Aunt Marlene calls them, that I made for decorations a few years back.  And I just ran across them on my pc and realized I've never shared them.

I made them out of some left over boards that we had from a remodel. 

The boards are not thick, maybe about a half inch or less and they are pine.

Pine is great for crafts because it is very lightweight.

I started with the long boards and just free handed some cuts to make kinda in the shape of notches.

And then at the top, shaped it off with a pumpkin type stem.  And then I cut out those marks with a jigsaw.

I painted the the boards a cinnamon orange in flat. I love this color.

It is an outdoor paint too, so it will be fine to sit beside a door in by the drive.

After I let the paint dry, I took some very rough grit sandpaper and sanded all the notches and sides to give the pumpkin a worn look.

  

And notice the little wooden star I attached with glue?

I just kinda freehanded a star shape onto some very thin plywood board we had. This is the type of board that is meant to go down on floors before linoleum. I think it's called lieu-on or something of the such.  It's very cheap and is available at Lowes.

And then on a few of them, I thought that maybe stenciling a star on would be way easier and faster.

And it was! Shew.

On a few of them, while I had my stencils out, I also used the checkerboard pattern to dress them up a bit.

And then on a few, by the stems, I took a piece of twine, the kind in the garden section, and tied a little bow.

 And then on a few of the others,  I took some sprigs of grapevine garland and kinda twirled it around it.

Oh, one more thing. To make the pumpkin stand up on it's own. I used a square piece of leftover board I had laying around for the large pumpkin. Because it needs the most support. I nailed it up from the bottom into the pumpkin.  And then I took a triangular piece of board I cut with a jigsaw and made a brace, on the back, from that bottom square piece to the back of the pumpkin.

It made it hold very good and stood strong.

On the smaller pumpkin I didn't put the square bottom, but instead just a triangle piece of wood as a stand.  And it worked great.

I wish I had more pics of the process, but I made these a few years ago and I'm just happy I found these.

Hope ya'll liked these wooden pumpkins.
Wouldn't they look cute with some tiny primitive lights strung on them too?

You may also like my related posts:

Snowman & Pumpkin Wooden Spoons
or
The Pumpkin Signs
or
Halloween Candles

See ya'll next time!

~Lisa