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Aug 27, 2015

CUTE IDEA FOR WOOD IRIONING BOARDS

Do you have a cute, vintage, wooden ironing board sitting around like this?

Want to spruce it up a bit with a touch of country?
Well, if so, take a look at this idea I had.
Well, to be honest, my Aunt Marlene told me one day about an idea she had had and I kinda took it from there. And here's how it went.

I had bought a saying on jute twine for hanging that said "SIMPLIFY."  And I had it hanging behind my wood and coal, cast iron stove. I loved it there.  
Well, last visit from my aunt, she said that it would look real cute if I put that on my plain, wooden ironing board sitting beside it.

And that's what I did.
I started cutting the letters off the jute twine

and placing them on the ironing board with tape for temporary spacing. 

Then after I was happy with the positioning, I used some E-6000 glue and glued on tiny drops to hold them in place. Just a tad bit of that stuff goes a long way. And by using a little bit, it will be easier to remove if I ever decide to change it up a bit.

And don't worry, if you don't have any of these type of letters or words around, you can easily make some.

Here's how I do it.

I take those foam trays that you get from the deli with sliced cheese or sandwich meats on, and save them.

And just cut you out some lettering from that.
 If you can't draw them, print you some out from Microsoft Word and trace them out.
And then just cover it in whatever type of left over fabric, with glue, you have sitting around.  I save all my scraps for little projects like this.
To glue the fabric on, I just use a bit of hot glue.  It's quick and easy and you won't have to wait for it to dry like the E-6000.

But I went ahead and used the ones I already had, here's a close up of them.
And continued to glue them on my board.

And I made sure to leave it laying on it's back, to dry, for about 24 hours or so.
I'm sure it would dry quicker, but this is strong glue and takes a while to dry.

And here it is so much cuter!




A really simple and cheap fix to spruce up those plain, wooden ironing boards!

See ya'll next time!
~Lisa

GOOD OLE COUNTRY FENCES #8


Hey ya'll!
Today I'm joining up with  Run*A*Round Ranch Report to share some country fence photos.
(Click on the photos to view in large file size.)

I traveled up to West Virgina yesterday, looking for some good ones, but oddly, these cute fence pictures came right from about 2 miles from my home, here in KY.
Guess it's true. "The grass isn't always greener on the other side."
- Ricky Gervais




But since I did travel up to West Virgina, I thought I'd still share a quick photo from there.
Heard of the Moth Man?
I hadn't until 1994 on a night I wish I'd stayed home...
Whether you believe in things like this or not, I'm not trying to persuade you one way or the other.
I just know what I saw.
And I don't really want to go into details about it...
I just got a cold chill.
But this depiction is about 90% accurate.

Statue dedicated to the Moth Man in Point Pleasant, West Virgina
 It wasn't scary being there by a man made likeness of it.  But when I pass the place I did see it here in KY, I still get creeped out!

And they also have a good mini-museum dedicated to detailed sightings, a bridge collapse, Men in Black and various other related interests of this creature.
Men in Black in the Moth Man museum, Point Pleasant, West Virgina

See ya'll next time!

 Thanks again to Good Fences for the linkup!

Aug 21, 2015

Mason Jar Soap Dispeners


I made some of these Mason Jar Soap Dispensers a few years ago, but in a different style, for my craft booth.
These I made in 2013 with cute homespun and wooden stars & rusty bells.

 And still today, they are great sellers.
I guess mainly because of the cool, Mason jars. They are just so country and cute, everyone seems to love them. I know I sure do.

Here is the basics of how I made these and what you may need.
-Ball Jars
-Soap Pump Dispenser 
(I bought the pre-made plastic ones with hand soap already in them, just toss the plastic container.) 
-Screwdriver and Hammer
-E-6000 Glue

This is the $1.00 Silk brand soap bottle I bought so I could get the foaming pump for one of them.
In the pic below, I'd already punched a whole and put the pump in the mason lid though.
Here is where I needed a screwdriver to start the hole.
I made sure to lay it outside right on top of a crack between the boards,
so that when it went through, it would hit the crack.
 A drill would have worked, but I didn't have one handy and my husband was at work.
But the screwdriver, hammer and pliers did the job.
 After the first couple punches.
 And then I started using the pliers to pinch it away and make the hole bigger.
 It really only took about 4 or 5 minutes. The lid metal peals back pretty easily.
And then after I got the hole the right size, (remember, this one above is for a foaming pump which is a lot bigger than the regular ones,) I needed to glue it in place.
 Place the glue on the plastic and let it get all over the metal lid too.
I needed to use a very strong holding glue, so I went with the E-6000 from Walmart. The only
thing with that glue is that it needs to sit and cure for around 24 hours. So glue it and get on to other crafts for a bit.

And here it is from the front.
OH, POINT OF INTEREST!
Notice my lids and rims are almost black. That is because I bought some Rustoleum spray paint and previously sprayed them a Rubbed Bronze color.

I just didn't like the shiny gold, regular rims for these jars.
 They are a deeper, metallic, rubbed color in person. Way prettier than this pic looks.

Then just fill up the jar, after letting that dry for 24 hours,
 and stick the metal ring on to hold it in place.
And you are done.
 And here that one is:

I finished it off with jut twine and a grungy tag I previously made.

And then for the red one, I used one of those pre-made lids especially made for Ball jars.
Here is how it looks.
Here is the lid out of the pack. I got it at a Burkes Outlet store for a little over $2.00, but it wouldn't be cost worthy to buy lots of these for that price. So I will stick to making my own like above.
I just had to pick a cute color for the soap, my kitchen is red, so  I found some $1.00 Apple Crisp shampoo and used that.

Just fill and stick it together.
 And that is all for that one!





Notice this soap looks watery. It's because it is the foam dispenser pump.
A very cute Mason Jar craft to do!
I am keeping one of the red ones for my kitchen!

See ya'll next time!
~Lisa

Aug 20, 2015

Good Ole Country Fences #7

Today I'm joining up with  Run*A*Round Ranch Report to share some country fence photos.

I snapped these while out on a drive in eastern KY.

 I spotted that old rusty roof way out in a field of freshly bailed hay.
I love seeing big fields of rolled hay.  When they cover them in the white plastic they look just like huge marshmellows. Well, I didn't realize that until my nephew Sylas said that one day. lol

Just look at that long, wire fence there too.

 And then zoom in a bit farther, you can see all the beautiful, old rusty tin.
I just love rusty stuff!


Thanks again to Good Fences for the linkup!

HALLOWEEN CUPCAKE CANDLES with Free Linkup


Here's a little different spin I thought I'd try with some cute candles.
I call them Cupcake Candles.

I had some candy corn style candles left over from my craft booth sales, and I was trying to find a way to re-do them to sale again.  And then I thought about making something with the cute Halloween cupcake papers I had on hand.
And then I thought, hum, what about some Halloween Cupcake Candles?
They'd be cute tucked on a kitchen shelf maybe.

Here's what I did. I took the cute little candy corn votives, (if you don't have this style,  you can easily paint your own on the plain white ones with some yellow and orange paint,) Halloween cupcake wrappers and dried pumpkin pods. And later a rusty lid that I made.

And glued them to the cupcake papers.  Just to hold them in place good. I used E-6000 glue from Walmart.

And then to dress them up, I tossed in the top, around the candle, some pumpkin putka pods.  

The pumpkin putka pds are used in primitive decorating for bowl fillers and crafts. I found mine on ebay from a wonderful lady's store called simple*gatherings. You get 4 cups for only $5.74. So it really goes a long way.
And then I took a bit of grapevine garland and made a circle big enough to hold it all.
I think I may sit this on a dark little saucer of some sort also on my shelf.

And then I thought I could do a little bit more and put these in some grungy, rusty jar lids I've previously made. (Later this week, I'm posting on how to grung up the entire Mason jars also.)
And here they are in the lids:
I added some more dried pumpkin pods,
And to kind of finish it off, I took (ripped) a sprig of one of my pip berry garlands, and tied it around the jar lid. They are made of coated wire, so they bend very easily.
And that is about it. So many ways you can really go about making these cupcake candles. I could have even put one of the cupcake, paper liners in the rusty lid too! I will on my next one.

Hope ya'll liked this little idea for the votives.  And remember, if you don't have the candy corn ones, just take the white, plain ones and paint a stripe of orange and yellow and BAM! You got'em.

See ya'll next time!
~Lisa