Wine Barrel Plaque {a knock off}

Oh, drive by garage sale finds…how I love thee!

I love garage sales, but it seems like my weekends are crazy and I usually don’t end up making it to Saturday morning sales. 

Excitingly enough last Friday,  as I was driving back from getting my first pumpkin spiced latte of the season {heaven in a cup}, I saw a Friday morning moving sale!  If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen my pic of all the loot I scored for only $4!

Lemme show ya what I did with one of those amazing steals…

Have you seen the lovely wine barrel plaques from Ballard?    I noticed them a while back, thinking ‘oh, I wish I could find and old barrel lid like that’.  Well, I have yet to find one.  So what do you do if you can’t find something you want? 

You create it!!

So here are Ballard's barrel lids.  Pretty nice huh? They are three different sizes but the smallest is 14” in diameter and 4” deep.  It sales for $69.00.

Enter my $1 garage sale find. 

Um, what is it?  Maybe a drying rack of sorts? 

Fill me in if you know.  All I saw was my barrel lid project!

So I started with the lid and just stained it with gel stain I had from my trunk makeover.  Next I stenciled on the words I wanted.  I started with Pinot Noir because it’s my fave and the numbers are Mr. Husband’s and my anniversary.  A little fleur de lis stamp for some softness, and there ya go. 

A custom piece for a DOLLAR!

   

The lower parts had slats so I had to add in some cardboard.  I painted it all out in black, almost dry brushing, to give it an aged rustic appearance.  I stenciled on the words and numbers and free handed the shield and leaf in the center.

 

What do you think about 2 custom pieces for a dollar?

How about 3 for a dollar?!

  

For this one I used cardboard again and painted it all in Heirloom white.  I then stenciled on my words, freehanded some designs and lightly sanded & glazed it.

 

I quite like them.  Mine measure 12” in diameter and 2” deep, so they are a tiny bit smaller than theirs, and just a little cheaper.  Just a little. ;)

 

I hope this inspires you to think about things differently look at that garage sale “junk” and see past what it is,  to what it could be. 

Linking up…

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Just} A Cake Stand

I love cake stands and I really only have one, which is weird….anyway, I have loved seeing all the amazing repurposing of things to make unique cake stands.  So, here is another one.  Nothing too crazy cool or spectacular,  but pretty cute for very little time or money. And now I have two cake stands!

I had 2 little votive holders that I bought from the dollar store a while back.  Because they are from the dollar store, they were sort of irregular, which in this case was wonderful!  One of the bottoms was smaller so it fit perfectly in the other, so I Gorilla glued them together and then placed my old {like first married old} metal charger plate on top.  Throw in a little ORB spray paint to unify the look,  and what do you get?…

A super lovely -using what you have- dollar store -one of a kind -cake stand!

I am not sure where she will end up, but I borrowed this little arrangement from my Etsy Shop to show you one way it could be used.

* My sincerest apologies about the dust in these pics that is driving me nuts!!  So please ignore. ;)

 

Do you have a fab cake stand you’ve created?

Gettin’ Linky with it…

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Fall into Autumn

Here is a simple little update on a piece of  Fall decor.

       

I’ve had this little fall leaf picture kicking around for a few years and I have never put it out.  Not to say it isn’t cute, but I just wasn’t feelin’ it.  It needed an update. So I simply popped off the letters and removed the fabric leaf.  Then added some jute twine, spelled out Autumn in stickers and glued on a couple faux fall leaves in the center.  I was thinking it might be fun to change them to dried ones when the leaves start changing here, but for now I am pleased with the transformation.

I really almost gave that little picture away, but I am glad I gave it a second chance.  Look what a little creativity and 10 minutes can do! 

Do you have any Fall decor that needs some new life?

Linking up…

A {Frugal} Fix

  

Have I ever told you I love clearance & scratch ‘n dent items?  Well just  in case you missed that, I DO! ;)  One reason being that I love to give new life to otherwise discarded items to make them beautiful and/or functional once again.  Finding something for little of nothing and then making it look fantabulous is  a natural high for me.  LOVE.

 

Enter these candle holders.  I picked them up for a tiny bit of $ because of the obvious damage.  But I love the chunky shape, slightly aged appearance plus they are sturdy and heavy.

 

Add a little hot glue, jute and paint…

I first wrapped the jute twine around the cracked areas then stenciled the numbers on.  I decided on the month Mr. Husband and I were married and my two little’s birth months. Very Important Months. :)

 

I really love how they turned out.  Just a little reminder to grab those {not so perfect} items that others may walk by and make them perfect for you.

Linking up…

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

                                   

Functional & Fashionable

My paper towel holder had seen better days.  I have grown tired of looking at it everyday in it’s not so pretty state.  I have been looking for a new one that A. I like and B. wasn’t too pricey.  Then I had a fab idea.

Here is a quick  {seriously, like 15 min} update that is sooo simple.

  

See the poor gal in her before state.  Tired, worn and used probably 20+ times a day for 6 years.  I had this extra curtain rod finial floating around and decided it would make a perfect topper.  I just Gorilla Glued it onto the existing top. This way we can still unscrew it to put the roll of paper towels on.*  I love the shape and how it adds some character to a utilitarian item.

*This may be common sense to you, but I could just see myself gluing it to the wood part and then not being able to put the roll of towels on.  Needless to say, I am a little proud that I was using the old noggin…  Today anyway. 

So here is why I love spray paint… 

Just a couple coats of this easy-to-apply-magic-in-a-can, and you give a combination of different finishes and colors a totally uniform look.  No one would ever know that I didn’t purchase it this way.  In less than 15 minutes I  gave it a high end look for fa-REE!

 

Gettin linky with it…