Primitive Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree

I recently posted about how to make a Tobacco Stick Tree out of old tobacco sticks. Well, today I'm going to share with you the process of how I take this a step further by adding grapevine. And turning those old, unwanted tobacco sticks into a cute Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree.

A row of old tobacco sticks after I had washed them. I try to pick close sizes when working with them.

Since making this very first tobacco stick grapevine tree, like this, I've made many more with a few different options now. I prefer the skinnier ones like this:

And here it is when I was just toying with some grapevine on it:

And I started to like it. So I added a few more strands to fill it in. And it started to look like this:

Then I had to add even more grapevine to hid the legs, which I was planning on leaving showing, but it looked weird. And I also started to tie in some sprigs of pip berry garland to add more interest, like this:

 The grapevine garland comes in rolls and looks like this when unrolled:

I didn't want to overload it with the grapevine garland so much that it would hide the tobacco sticks. I think they look kinda cute showing through. Here it is all done with everything except the lights.

And my latest one is now a tabletop version for those spots where we just don't have enough room for the full size. Here is the beginning of my very first ever, tabletop tobacco stick tree without any decorations so you can see the basic frame:

And here is the same one, tabletop version with a bit of grapevine garland just strung on. So you start to get the picture:

I'm still working on this one, :-) 

here's an update pic now:

But here's a few below that I have recently finished and sold:

This one with yellow pip berries was a trial and error. I took sprigs of pip berries and put them on one by one instead of stringing the strands of garland.

I didn't want to hide all the tobacco sticks. 

And here's another shorter, tabletop kind with grapevine, star lights and pip berries:

Small, skinny and plain. Love this one.

I made these to sell in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555,

Here's some other things I've been making too, if you are interested.

Primitive Crafts:

Tobacco Stick Chair

Americana Tobacco Stick Flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primitive Barnwood Tool Box

 

Happy Crafting Ya'll! 
-Lisa 

Cheap Craft Show Display Cabinet

Since I sell many little items and crafts in my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall, I am always in need of more shelving. And the other night at a local auction, I won this little white night stand for only $5.

Sure it needs some work, (has a top drawer missing!) but for $5 I knew I could do something with it. It's real wood, so it's sturdy. Something you don't hardly find now a days. lol.

I took one can of Walmart brand black spray paint to it.

Then just roughly sanded all the edges after it dried. I liked it like that so I left it. And where the top drawer was missing, I just stapled in a strip of black and white fabric.

I got the idea to use some pine boards because we are currently remaking our kitchen and I just laid a piece on the top of the nightstand, and liked it. So it just went from there. And believe me, I do not do exact cuts and measurements. I'm bad with that stuff, but this one still turned out good. The pine boards are really easy to cut with just a simple jig saw. I used a few more 1x3 pine boards (maybe for trim?) and kinda just doodled a little drawing, in the shape of a basic ladder, kinda. lol. and just cut cut cut until I got it to looking like a little shelf. That is what I am putting on top of the night stand to give it height and extra storage/display in my booth.

 

And here's what I came up with.

It's perfect to add extra height in my booth and the shelves, even though small, lets me add extra items! I love it.

And for the back. I went out into the garage, searching for something to make it a little bit more sturdy. And guess what I found. I had a black bookcase sitting out there holding on VHS Disney tapes. Lol. So I turned it around and removed half of the backing from that. Since it's not holding nothing great, I won't really care if it has a back or not. And I cut the cardboard type backing with regular scissors. That stuff is very thin! But it worked great!

And once again, here's the before:

 And here's the after:

 

Hope you got some inspiration from this and can maybe turn an old broken piece of furniture into something useful in your home or your craft booth!

Happy Crafting Ya'll!

Primitive Bench

Here's the latest addition to my items for sale in my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall. It's a piano bench that I redid into the primitive theme.

And here it was before the makeover:

I first I tried to leave it in the off whiteish/light brown base with sage stars and red writing, and then I hated it!

Next, I painted it all over again in the black and loved it. Especially after I took sand paper and scruffed up all the edges to make it a little worn looking.

And here it is again, the second time I tried, lol. And definitely the best of the two.

Don't forget to like my Booth #555 on Facebook for the latest items!

    And here's a few other things that I'm working on and will be putting in my booth this week, if' you'd like to take a look:  

 

If you'd like to see another one of my piano bench remakes, here's the link:

Old Piano Bench Repurposed

Happy Crafting Ya'll!

DIY Frosted Metal Stars

I am gearing up for winter sales in my booth #555. And am doing a lot of winter projects right now.
Todays post is how I take plain metal stars and paint them to look like they are frosted. I love this effect and its super easy!

Here is the before version, in which I buy these by the gross.Sorry the pic is so off centered. This tablet is taking a lot to get used to.

 First  I bought some Rustoleum spray paint in metallic finish color.

 I sprayed the star in an even coat and allowed it to almost dry.

Then I sprayed it again in another even coat and used a piece of crinkled up tissue paper to dab the wet paint. Giving it a frosted appearance. Don't overdue it. It just takes sparse dabs here n there.
I had zebra themed tissue paper on hand.

And that was really all there was to it. I really love the frosted look. And it gives me a break from constantly stocking the basic colors of red, white and blue stars.

Price for $9.99 in my Booth#555

Sold

THANK YOU!

PRIMITIVE SNOWMEN JINGLE BELLS | Various Styles Over the Years

It's that time of year again! The time that I really start to begin painting more Christmas decorations for my Booth#555 at the Peddlers Mall. I got the Christmas spirit in September, lol.

And today I am starting on a new batch of Snowmen Jingle Bells. I got inspiration for these from the Oriental Trading Catalog. Theirs sale for $16.00 per dozen.

To buy them at $16.00 per dozen to resell wasn't really leaving me any room for profit in my craft booth. So I decided to find the plain jingle bells, same size and paint them. I found a package of 6 at the Dollar General Store for a $1.50. And then after the Christmas sale, I bought all the rest of them for half off! Totally amazing deal! So here's what I have started with:

I seriously buy every box of these I find, especially at the after Christmas sales! I will get around to using them, believe me!

I've came a long way through the years with these. I started making them back in November of 2010. You simply paint a base coat. I hang the hangers on a strip of wire and spray paint a bunch at once. And then just sit and paint on the snowmen in sections. Bodies, heads, arms, clothes, then snowflakes, etc. I do them in sections like that to not have to be changing my paint color much. And a hint is to lay them in egg carton tops, lined with paper towels, to help keep from rolling around. Here's what my first batch ever, looked like:

2010 Batch of Bells

$1.59 each

 

2011 Batch of Bells

Sold for $1.00 each to move faster, it seemed

 

2012 Batch of Bells 

Raised back to $1.59 each since I finished them in wax & began to package them.

These I experimented with dipping them in hot, butter colored wax, after painting. It made a great finish. 

Can't really see it in the pics, but looks pretty good. And the middle one is an old, black crow wearing a santa hat. 

 

Being as I did the extra wax dipping, is why I raised these back to $1.59 each.

2013 Batch of Bells

PHOTO COMING SOON!

Keep in mind, these are great crafts to make and sell. Especially if you find them in boxes of 6 marked down to half price to only $.75cents. That makes you only have like 12cents each in them. Sometimes even less if the sale is bigger. Then just your time to paint with paint you already have, probably. 

They are steady sellers for my craft booth. And with changing the theme a little each year, it makes a great item for people to look for. Sometimes I even put the date on the back of them. When I remember to, that is.

Hope this gives you some ideas to do with those plain ole' jingle bells!

Happy Crafting ya'll,

-Lisa

Primitive Wood Shelf | FAITH FAMILY FRIENDS

I made this simple little wall hanging shelf outta some leftover pieces of pine boards.

They were used earlier by me, to make a concrete cross.

So after I took the frame back out, I knew I could use them for something else as well.

I just started arranging them in no particular order, just trying to piece together something that would look cute. And then after a few here and there mis-licks, I came up with this cute little shelf looking thing. lol.

It looked kinda country, so I decided to just nail it together with some headless nails and add two saw-toothed hangers on the back.

You can see that at the bottom, one of my nails tried to breath through. Oh well, I just left it that way. It was easier than trying to take a headless nail back out. lol.

Then I added some black, crafting, apple barrel paint for the base color. And then used some flat, plastic wording stencils for the "FAITH FAMILY and FRIENDS" saying. I applied it with a makeup sponge.

And here it is, all finished and from scraps of wood:

I think it's okay for a fast project out of scrap wood, don't you?

OLD WINDOW MAKEOVER for Laundry Room

Since making my last Old Window Makeover post, I've been inspired to try something new. And this time it is a vintage window with the glass left intact. I am turning it into a decoration piece saying, "General Store," to hang in my laundry room.

Here's how it went.

I started out with a plain, old wooden window. I left the glass in it this time. The only "work" I done on the window frame itself, was to add a sawtooth hanger to the back.

Here it is before:

The other side had less peeling paint, so I made it the front.

After making up my mind that I wanted to put "General Store" on it, I printed out the words using Microsoft Word. I kept playing with it until I got the size right. I then taped the printed out papers underneath the window and outlined the words "General Store," with a black permanent marker. This helped me tremendously to get the wording kinda centered.

Then I just peeled off the tape, and colored the rest of the words in with the same black, permanent marker. So easy!

It was very simple. The permanent marker dried really quick. The only aggravating part was that you have to make small markings to fill in all the words really good.

But other than that, SUPER EASY!

Oh, and then I took a plastic, red and white checkered place mat and put it on the backside of the window with some clear packaging tape. Just a few pieces, one on each edge. This way it made the words really stand out. And since my kitchen area and laundry room are joined, the red and white checkered matches my kitchen!

And here it is again, all finished, from a little farther back.

That is all directly above my washer and dryer. I think it looks really cute. And I added the old crock and red handled rolling pin to try and tie it in with the kitchen decorations.

And there you have it, an old kitchen window makeover for my laundry room. Hope you find some old windows here or there to re-do. I got this window, along with 4 others, for only $2 each at a yardsale a while back.

To see what I done with the other 4 windows I had, click here.