DIY Stamped Gift Tags

I have been on a kick recently about making stamped gift tags.  

I have all sorts of stamps I have collected over the years and they are now being put to use. 

And if you don't have the right stamp for the right occasion, 

they are super easy and cheap over on ebay.

Here's what you need:

-Plain Manilla Tags or Make Your Own 

out of stock paper and a tag punch (which I do a lot!)

I got my punch on ebay.

-Stamp of choice

 

-String 

( I love bakers twine and it comes in all sorts of various colors)

Then simply just get to stamping up your favorite designs! 

String it and you are done!

So super easy and the designs are only limited to your imagination really!

Here's some of my recent sets.  I tend to make them in sets of 25. 

That amount fits great in my little baggies.

Oh yea, some of them I like to "Grungy" up. 

I think it makes them a bit more primitive looking.

But you must do this before stamping, or so I've learned so that the stamped

design doesn't run.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST

To do so, I just mix a bit of brown craft paint into a small amount of water.

I then dip the tags down into the mix, 

lay them on a baking sheet and back for about 10 minutes in a 400* oven.

Take out, set aside and cool. And then I go back and brush on a bit of Vanilla Extract.

It takes a bit of time, but it is o'so worth it!

Here's a close up of some of my "grungy" tags:

Whether you choose to make your tags grungy or not, I'm sure they will be super cute.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST 

These are awesome to tie onto gifts or to just decorate your primitives with.

I also even just add them as a "Made by" tag for some of my handmade crafts now and then.

Till next time,

Happy Crafting Ya'll,

~Lisa

DIY Light Box for Photos

I saw a great post over at Pretty Handy Girl that made me want to make one of these handmade light boxes. Even if you already have one of those $60 pop up light boxes, like me, you will want to give this one a try. Why? This light box isn't so super hard to handle.  It comes down in 5 seconds for flat storage. The pop up light box takes 30 minutes to figure out how to fold and twist it back up!  And I love how the light comes through these sides way better than the fabric on the pop up kind.

Here is what I used:

-4 Foam boards (3 for sides and top & I used one for a white bottom)

Mine were 20" by 16", just what I had on hand.

-Roll of parchment paper 

-Packaging tape

-Xacto knife

-Lamp that bends & bulbs (PrettyHandyGirl recommends 2 lamps and 1 CFL bulb and 1 Incandescent bulb for best lighting)

How To:

First off, I cut out the inside of 3 of the foam boards just a tad skinnier than a sheet of parchment paper is wide.

And then use packaging tape to cover the cutout with the parchment paper.

And this is what it will look like from the front:

And here's two of them done:

And here is when I started setting it up and arranging them.

I wanted to put a wooden pop crate in the background to give my photos a rustic look.

And I also used a piece of the cut out parts, covered the front of it with a sheet of parchment paper also. 

I made it for just a pop in background for when I need a solid white background instead like this:

And unlike the one from Pretty Handy Girl, I didn't tape mine together. I just stood them up and they are pretty sturdy with just a mason jar on each side as a support.  So for me, this will be a super easy assembly and dis-assembly process.

I still have to get the bulbs that she recommends though because my upclose photos are okay, but not awesome. Here is one of when I only had one 75 watt regular light bulb.

I can't wait to see it when I get the other CFL bulb she recommends so that I can put it on the other side!

But overall, it was a very easy light box to make.  

I think it took me a total of about maybe 20 minutes or so. A definite thing to make if you need a place for pics of items for Etsy or eBay like I do.

See ya'll next time,

~Lisa

MASON JAR LID WREATH DIY Craft Tutorial

MASON JAR LID WREATH

Want a cute way to use up all of those extra Mason Jar lid rings you got laying around? I recently saw a  few posts on Pinterest about these and I couldn't wait to give it a try.

I have quite a few...

  And this is how I did it.

Super easy.  Seriously.  Just take some sort of heavy wire,  or in my case, I used a wire clothes hanger.  I used wire cutters and clipped one end open so I can string the rings on them.

 

Then I just bent it to the shape I needed and started sliding them on.

 

 

The number of lids basically depend on how big you want your wreath to be.  Oh, and these ones I was using are Regular mouth, standard lids. So just play with it.  But I'd recommend at least having 30 to 50 rings on hand. More for a larger one or so on. 

 

You could also experiment with "fillers" in between each ring to save on using so many. But for my first one here, I'm just gonna keep it as simple as I can.

And seriously, that is it.  After you have strung enough, just twist up your wire together and if you can, leave the hook for easy hanging. Otherwise you can tie on some sort of fabric hanger if you have to.

You probably will have to go back, once it is hanging and straighten out the rings. They tend to move and shift while working with the wire a lot.

See how they shift. But it's easy to straighten them up. And after it's done, they stay even with the door opening and closing.

Super easy and cheap craft that definitely screams country any where you place it.

I'm already thinking of making another one.

But for it, I am thinking of experimenting with those foam floater sticks for swimming. I bet they would hold good, as long as they will fit inside the rings. And I bet with those, I'll definitely have to use some sort of filler to hide the foam rings. 

See ya'll next time,

~Lisa

DIY LIGHT UP TWIG TREE from Branches

After buying one of these LED trees for $14.99 at Burkes Outlet, 

I thought I could probably make some similar for a lot less.

And here's how it turned out:

 

I just wanted something for a dark corner 

and I thought a lighted twig tree would do the trick!

Here's how I made it.

All you need is some 

-twig branches

-white spray paint

-$1.00 strand of lights

-container or vase to hold them

I went out and looked around the edges of our property for some ole' limbs and branches.

I picked out a pretty straight one and just broke it off with my hand.

I wanted one that had the "growing tree" look to it.

And then I used a dollar can of white spray paint and sprayed down the front.

It was pretty dried out I did two coats.

Then just flip it over and paint the other side.

Once it was white, you can really start to see all the little twigs and such. 

And while it was drying, I went in to get a little strand of lights ready.

I got this little flower design strand from the Dollar Tree for only $1.00.

They run off of two double AA batteries.

I didn't want the little flowers to stay on, so I just pulled them right off.

It was easy.

 

And then I brought the white tree limb in and stuck it in an old brown glass bleach bottle.

It's pretty old and I've had it sitting around forever wandering what to do with it. 

To attach the lights to the limbs I just used some clear tape.

Here's a pic of the old bleach bottle. Isn't that cool?

I love the deep brown color. I have another size larger also that I'm going to make a matching tree like this to go in for the other side of the bed too.

And here it is with the lights off.

It's nothing super fancy but I really do like it. 

And I really like the fact that it all costed me about $1.00 to make. All I really had to buy was the little strand of lights.

For the larger one I'm making next, I'm going to add two strands of the lights.

PS.

I've been making kinda the same things for Halloween to put on both sides of our front door. 

But I use the tall, dried flowers of a big ole' needle and thread bush. If you've ever seen those, you know the stick like things I'm talking about.

If you need something for a drap corner, I  hope you give this cheap craft a try!

Until next time,

Ya'll have a good'n!

~Lisa

DIY Primitive Sidechair

Do you have an odd chair sitting around?

Need to fix up an entry spot?

This will do, and it's easy to!

A Simple DIY Primitive Sidechair

Here is a single, scuffed up $2.00 chair that I won at the local auction house:

BEFORE

I liked how it already had the popular black and wood colors. A must with primitive decorating.

And I thought I could do just a little bit to it to make it a wantable chair.

So I got out my stencils and paint.  

I used oil based stencil paint, btw. After it dries it is very durable.

But those stars above weren't large enough so I had to find another.

I use these a lot!

 

After I stenciled this "OLDE CROW PRIMTIVES" and Star on, I let it sit and cure (dry) for 24 hours.

Then I applied an all purpose paint sealer, found in the craft section at Walmart.

It will help seal it all in a bit.

 I also took some medium grade sandpaper and scuffed up the legs a bit more.

And that was all to it.

Nothing special, but it is a little bit better than just one plain odd chair.

This primitive side chair is for sell in my Peddlers Mall 

Booth#555

$14.99

SOLD 

Thank you