tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84880770411756374782024-03-13T18:15:23.950+00:00Coach House Crafting on a budgetHome & Garden crafts don't have to cost the earth!
Add a heap of scrap materials to a spoonful of inspiration and what do you get?
THRIFTY CRAFTING.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-29697868940375511072015-12-17T16:30:00.001+00:002015-12-17T16:30:51.479+00:00Christmas decorThis is the first christmas for me and my husband without both our daughters living at home, they both moved out with boyfriends earlier in the year and at 24 years of age I guess I had a good inning holding on to them for that long.<br />
They'll be round for christmas and hopefully will stay christmas eve so I'm super glad of that however I'm finding myself looking forward to christmas being over. I'm not usually such a bah humbug but I am so looking forward to summer and am done with this weird weather that cannot decide whether it's going to rain, snow or be sunny so does all of them in one day. Actually if I could I would much prefer to be on a plane jetting off to the caribbean right about now.<br />
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I haven't gone so overboard with decorations this year either, I'm kind of over the tinsel and as many sparkles as possible - it always looks great for a few weeks but I hate having to put it all away in the new year.<br />
I did make a sled though - yay! I've wanted to make a sled for indoors for a few years now but never really got round to it, sorted it this year though. I saw a nice looking sled on Pinterest and got a few other ideas and came up with this<br />
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I also pimped up this old pair of figure skates that I bought off Ebay. All I did was spray adhesive to the bottom of them and the blades and rolled them in fake snow and then added some ribbon and a xmas pick.<br />
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Then I made some snowballs from spare tree baubles using the same method - spray adhesive and then rolled them in fake snow.<br />
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This hat I picked up from Ebay for a couple of pounds and pimped it up to look snowy.<br />
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A few Poinsettias in a jug and some xmas blocks I made a few years ago.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-73871967768899876342015-11-11T21:33:00.000+00:002015-11-11T21:33:14.541+00:00Upcycled SideboardThis last piece of furniture has got to be the most tedious and annoying piece I have ever done to date though it did also teach me alot about my methods and what works, what doesn't and what I should or shouldn't do on future pieces. <br />
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I started out with a lovely Stag sideboard that I won at auction for £5.<br />
From the start I knew I wanted to use it as a TV stand in the lounge, but that is as far as my imagination went, in fact on the first day of painting I still wasn't sure what colour I was actually wanting to do it.<br />
Lesson no1: Don't start anything until I know exactly what I'm wanting the outcome to be.<br />
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Here she is the day I bought her home<br />
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I knew I wanted to take the middle drawer and door out so that I could fit a shelf at the top for the DVD player and a shelf below to allow me to add a couple of baskets at a later date.<br />
The problem with that idea was that there was no middle side piece inside so once I removed the centre door I was left with no side panel where the right hand door closed.<br />
Easy enough to rectify, just build one right? You'd think it would be that easy but I'm tight fisted so would only use the wood I had laying around and while this was decent plyboard it wasn't as thick as the other side and so it looks out of place.<br />
Lesson no2: If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly.<br />
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For this project I decided to treat myself to a new set of brushes. Normally I use Harris brushes (specifically the no hair loss ones) as I find them brilliant at minimising brush strokes,
especially the ones with tapered bristles, but I wanted a change so I bought a set of <a href="http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/r/RODSRTBS/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Prodec X5</span></a> brushes at a brilliant price of £6.95 and I have to say that for the
price the brushes were fabulous and there was no hair loss with them. <br />
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I
also purchased a Latex extender to thin the viscosity of the emulsion
paint, this helped to reduce drag lines from the brush when the paint
had dried.<br />
Floetrol is the most popular Latex extender but I just
couldn't warrant the cost of it knowing that I may only ever use it once
so I chose <a href="http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/z/ZAMIX_LATEX_EXTENDER/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Zamix Latex Extender</span></a>.
A quick google search suggested that many decorators much preferred
Zamix to Floetrol so I was happy to test it at the much lower price of
£13.11.<br />
The product did exactly what it said on the tin, the flow
of the paint was much improved and the levelling was much improved also.
The Zamix I purchased was for Latex/Emulsion paint so could not be used
with the Rustoleum oil based red paint I finally used.<br />
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Back to the sideboard:<br />
Here it is stripped down, everything removed and the side piece put in on the centre right. It may not look too obvious in the photo but there's quite a difference in thickness between that piece and the one centre left.<br />
I also added the top shelf support and the middle shelf support and then sanded it to within an inch of its life.<br />
IMO prep is key no matter what product you're using - this unit had alot of grease on it and I fail to see how any product would manage to adhere to it.<br />
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The first colour I tried was brown, brown to match the wall it was going against in the lounge. The problem was that after I sanded it down it seemed to lose the brown colour and become grey, not what i wanted. I also painted all the inside cream, several coats in fact and it was still looking blotchy at this point. <br />
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I hated the brown so decided it needed to be red. I sanded the whole thing back down and got out a tin of red paint. The problem with this red one was that it just wasn't covering the cream inside, in fact 4 coats later and it still wasn't covering. The outside was looking terrible too and as it dried I could see the red wasn't drying to the shade I had hoped, this was a muted dull colour whereas I wanted vibrance.<br />
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By this point I was seriously ready to junk this piece, November 5th was fast approaching and I honestly would have been relieved to see this at least provide some satisfaction through heat on the fire.<br />
As it happens I was interested to see what the top would sand down like - I think I'd decided that one final idea would be to sand it all down to natural wood and see what it looked like then.<br />
The top sanded like a dream and I was surprised to find that the wood underneath all my coats of paint and whatever the manufacturer had put on it was really quite awesome.<br />
Once it was sanded I accidentally dropped some wood oil on it and rather than attempt to sand it back out I decided to oil the entire top - I loved the look after. So now I had renewed interest in the piece, if I could just get the doors and drawer front to look as nice as the top did I was in with a fighting chance of salvaging this.<br />
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But what coulour to paint it?<br />
Well I decided no more emulsion paint and no more home made chalk paint.<br />
Lesson no3: Don't attempt to make chalk paint if you've never used retail chalk paint and therefore know what the product is supposed to look like, paint like and feel like.<br />
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So I did what is probably the laziest and maybe stupidest thing I could do - I purchased oil based gloss paint in Cardinal Red.<br />
Gloss paint goes on thicker so requires less coats BUT it takes an age to harden and until it has fully hardened it is not going to withstand any knock to it, it will chip! Also the thicker paint means that the doors and drawers will almost certainly struggle to open and close without huge effort.<br />
I spent way too much time afterwards having to sand the sides of the doors just to get them to open and close and I even ended up greasing the drawer tracks to get them to slide. All of these adjustments meant that the uncured paint chipped in several areas.<br />
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Lesson no4: Keep all door and drawer areas either free from paint or only covered with one coat and make sure all sanding of door sides is done and checked before applying varnish.<br />
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The finished look is not what I would originally have been looking for, it's bright and it's highly glossed but all in all I am not offended by the piece either.<br />
It's certainly useable and the red doesn't look too out of place in our lounge as the colour palette is cream and brown with red accent,. in fact it does look rather nice and even Mr CH is impressed with it.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-10996647974554323682015-10-24T17:46:00.001+01:002015-11-01T18:43:24.612+00:00Pallet wood clock<br />
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So I started this wooden clock weeks ago after seeing so many nice ones on Pinterest. I basically wanted an oversized wooden clock that I could make from pallet wood.<br />
If I had realised beforehand just how tedious and annoying it was trying to get the numbers and the angles of the numbers right I probably would have never started the project but hey ho it's finished now and I'm quite happy with the finished product.<br />
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I'll give you a run down on how I did it and I'll let you know how I would do it differently if I did another one.<br />
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First off I gathered several planks of pallet wood and laid them good side down - with pallet wood the "good" side is basically the better of either side, they're never going to be perfect.<br />
Once I had them laid down I used large clamps to really squeeze them together ..... then I realised this was pointless as I couldn't attach the pieces that would hold them all together while the clamps were in place so even at this early stage I was making silly mistakes.<br />
Once I had removed the clamps I attached 4 pieces across the back and screwed them down while trying to pull the front wood together as much as possible.<br />
With that done and now measuring approx 40" x 40" I found the centre point and used that point to draw the circle I would then cut out. TBH there has got to be easier ways to draw a circle but I used a nail in the centre, attached a pencil to string, attached the string to the nail and did the circle that way BUT it kept coming out wrong because no matter how hard I tried to keep the pencil in the right position I found that even a teeny tint movement took the circle off circle - so frustrating!<br />
I managed it eventually and then I just cut the circle out with my jig saw - it was at this point when I realised I should have used less screws to screw the back supports on and I should have made sure they were out of the path of the jigsaw. I broke a couple of blades before admitting defeat and actually unscrewing certain nails - yes I am that lazy that I would waste blades rather than unscrew something.<br />
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As you can see the circle wasn't perfect but it didn't take long to sand that bulge out.<br />
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Next I needed to create a half inch or so band all the way round the clock. I decided to try using the same nail method but with 2 strings attached to the pencil - I figured this would stop that movement I spoke of earlier. It didn't! After several attempts I was getting the same rubbish result and the band would be half inch thick in one place a quarter inch thick in the next, so I came up with what I think was a brilliant idea but forgot to photograph it.<br />
To get the band regular all the way round I put my metal ruler at the top black mark and then I marked with a pencil half inch or so down from it. Then I moved an inch to the right and repeated - all the way round. Time consuming but I don't mind that when I know it will result in an even band! Once I had gone all the way round I just used a pencil to join all those dots up and the band was formed.<br />
This next part was the part that got me swearing and cursing for days on end. For the life of me I could not figure out how to get the numbers in the correct places, not only speced evenly but looking correct with the opposite number. It was easy to get the line from 12 to 6 right and the 9 to 3 right but the rest of them just wouldn't come out even no matter how much I measured and divided.<br />
Eventually I had another brain wave - I used my pull down saw to cut a piece of wood with a perfect 30 degree angle to it.<br />
This piece of 30 degree wood was then used from the middle of the clock face to give me the correct angle for each number, so all I had to do was draw a line along that 30 degrees.<br />
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Once I had all the lines in place I could freehand the roman numerals - this was the next tedious part and next time I would definitely consider vinyl instead of a sharpie.<br />
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Once i had all the numbers on I used a sharpie to go over them and then also went ahead and coloured in the band that I created before.<br />
Once that was done I gave it a coat of varnish and that's pretty much it.<br />
But what about the clock mechanism you may ask. Well, I actually forgot about it! No seriously I forgot it needed a mechanism. Once I went online to buy one I found that I couldn't find one that would go through my thickness of wood even with an extender. I was advised that I could route out a few mils on the backside of the clock so that a mechanism would then fit in this gouged out area but I'm way too lazy for that. Instead I bought one of those mechanisms that you stick directly to a wall and then stick numbers on the wall too. Obviously I didn't need the numbers but the mechanism and hands were easy to fit to the clock.<br />
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It's not on the wall yet because the wood started to seperate as it dried out indoors. You can see that the 3rd plank down is showing a small gap at the bottom of it. If this is as bad as it gets then I'll hang it but if it gets worse I will have to adjust it from behind cos it will bug the hell out of me. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-46929666606819166152015-10-11T22:56:00.000+01:002015-11-01T18:39:45.248+00:00Antique wooden trunk I now have a workshop full of half finished and not yet started projects - a symptom of trying to juggle too many things I'm afraid. The end result of having so many things to do is that nothing is getting finished and yet despite this fact I still went to auction and bought up every piece of furniture that went for £3 or £5. Ordinarily I would love the fact that no one wanted the furniture but my lack of ability to say No means I now have too much to do and unfortunately this comes at a time when not only is the garden renovation needing my time but I also need to get started on christmas decorations. So it seems I have to learn to prioritise - eek!<br />
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With this lack of time in mind I decided that the wooden trunk I bought at auction would have to get less of a makeover than I originally intended.<br />
It was going to get a serious paint job and distressed but oh well I still like how it turned out.<br />
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It was in fairly good knick anyway so I was determined to win this piece and paid something like £55 for it. Normally I would have stopped at £30 as I really am a tight wad but I didn't know when another dome top wooden trunk would come along up here in the back of beyond so I left the bidding to Mr CH.<br />
As you can see it was originally covered in canvas. The canvas was filthy though and I considered leaving it on for all of 10 seconds. The main reason to strip it off - other than the ghastly smell - was that I saw evidence of woodworm on the inside when I pulled off some paper.<br />
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The entire trunk had to be stripped inside and out, hours into this project I realised that there was going to be no skimping on it - this 'quick' makeover was going to be anything but.<br />
The canvas had to be burned off as it had been glued on with something that just would not budge but yet seemed to turn to dust when heat was applied.<br />
Once it was completely stripped inside and out it had to be treated for woodworm as there was alot of evidence of the little blighters. There's every chance they were gone but I couldn't risk it as the trunk was to go in the living room which has solid wood floors - suffice to say I literally drowned the thing in killer.<br />
The outside was then dyed with Wickes Medium Oak wood dye and given a couple of coats of varnish.<br />
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All of the metal work had to be brushed with a wire brush and toothbrush - more tedious work.<br />
I then used a teeny tiny art brush and painted all the metal work with Hammerite Black hammered paint - this was actually the best part, I love this kind of work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpP33VoX_4SRFq4qwhd8RviAMrCOLtH1nPWFzq_m87Ro43m4frWnRr324hLY1pMqXfgkzVHgOlWityCR9PhsGbSjL-uxI-VOYPVxIZWO8ujAfRpd1uTwwq9UeFOH5jvxS1GFuEzeBq_s/s1600/chest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpP33VoX_4SRFq4qwhd8RviAMrCOLtH1nPWFzq_m87Ro43m4frWnRr324hLY1pMqXfgkzVHgOlWityCR9PhsGbSjL-uxI-VOYPVxIZWO8ujAfRpd1uTwwq9UeFOH5jvxS1GFuEzeBq_s/s640/chest.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See all the woodworm holes.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Inside I gave it a coat of paint but being the tight gal I am it had to be a colour I already had. I was going to go for white because I'm totally unadventurous when it comes to these things but I found a large tub of Farrow & Ball paint that was crying to be used - why not!<br />
Initially I was going to do several coats of solid colour but tbh I just wanted it done so I could gain some space so I did one coat and then distressed it and gave it a coat of varnish.<br />
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I love how it turned out, it wasn't as quick as I thought it would be but it looks great in the front room holding all our winter blankets.<br />
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Sharing at<img alt="NEWDIYBUTTON" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1333" data-jpibfi-indexer="3" height="150" src="http://www.pinkwhen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/NEWDIYBUTTON.jpg" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; float: none; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 27px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; word-wrap: break-word;" width="150" /><br />
<a href="http://www.interiorfrugalista.com/2015/10/diy-sunday-showcase-party.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Interior Frugalista</span></a> <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-32682482376525138692015-09-15T22:44:00.000+01:002015-09-15T22:44:30.495+01:00Auction lotsWe live in the Scottish Highlands. We chose to live here to get away from the hussle and bustle of the credit card lifestyle we had in England. We wanted a life of clean air, no mortgage and freedom for our children in relative safety as they grew up and we got that, all of it.<br />
We love living here, despite the naff weather we literally love living here. The only slight niggle we have ever had is the lack of shops, the nearest town is 15 miles away but has no bargain stores or shops where I would have a choice of brushes, paints etc. Homebase is the only DIY store and while it's certainly handy to have in a town with not much else, the choice is limited.<br />
We can drive 2 hours south to Inverness City and we used to do this on a regular basis but now it just seems like a chore that neither of us wants to do so I mostly have to buy online.<br />
You can imagine the joy then when a town store decided to open a weekly auction - hey, it's somewhere to go in a county that has nothing!<br />
Mr CH and I went to the auction a few weeks ago and I bought a wooden trunk to renovate and a side cabinet with strange carvings on it to renovate as a fish tank stand. But this week we went with the intentions of bidding solely on a freezer Mr CH needs to keep the food for the birds of prey in.<br />
Mr CH won the freezer but no one was bidding on the furniture that was that - I mean literally no one!<br />
Well what's a girl to do when furniture such as a Stag cabinet was in danger of ungoing unsold at £2 - buy it of course!<br />
This set the tone though and I ended up buying 5 other pieces for £2 each and I'm not even sure what I can do with them.<br />
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This is the Stag sideboard is the only piece that I have a mission for so far.<br />
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I guess I'm going to be scouring Pinterest for ideas for all these items for quite some time.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-15718476433016011952015-08-17T20:41:00.000+01:002015-08-17T20:41:40.846+01:00Draper pocket hole jig - review so far!I have wanted a pocket hole jig for quite some time now but I kept putting it off because I basically thought the one I wanted (the Kreg K4MS) was too expensive. Then I decided to do some research and find a good but cheaper alternative - after all a pocket hole jig is a pocket hole jig right? Well not so much, as it turns out!<br />
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After much research I decided on the Draper jig and at a cost of £50 it was considerably less than the Kreg K4MS at £96.<br />
Mr CH never understood the theory behind this, as far as he is concerned you buy the product that you want because an alternative is never going to quite live up to your expectations - wise words!<br />
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My jig arrived and I was so excited to get going with it on some coffee tables and a sideboard I was making a new top for but when I opened it up it was obvious that the company had sent me a used product - all the parts were loose in the box, some of the pocket hole screws were missing and the part you drill though actually had some damage to it.<br />
It took a few weeks for Draper to send me a replacement because I went away on holiday but I was still excited to get going with the new product when it arrived.<br />
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In the box <br />
<ul>
<li>Clamp assembly and base</li>
<li>75mm square recess drilling bit</li>
<li>150mm square recess drilling bit</li>
<li>Drilling depth stop collar</li>
<li>Drill bit</li>
<li>Drilling depth stop collar</li>
<li>2.5mm hex key</li>
<li>5mm hex key</li>
<li>Replacement drill bit collars</li>
<li>Drill guides</li>
<li>Pocket hole screws</li>
<li>Instructions</li>
</ul>
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At this point I have to say that the instructions are naff, really seriously naff! If you're an expert with pocket hole jigs then you'll obviously know what you're doing so it won't matter (though I seriously doubt an "expert" would be using this jig) but if you're a complete newbie to them you're gonna have to find your info elsewhere. The problem with that is I scoured the net looking for a tutorial using the Draper Jig and couldn't find anything - the Kreg jig had loads but it isn't relevant to using this Draper jig.<br />
Eventually I figured things out by wasting time and wood and seeing what does and doesn't work and when I eventually got the hang of it I was looking forward to producing professional looking pocket holes!!<br />
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I'm not sure what these pocket holes are supposed to look like but to me they looked very rough though it's not a problem because you don't actually see them and yes, the join is exceptionally strong.<br />
Along with naff instructions this jig came with no info on how to figure out where to set the drill stop and it makes no mention of screw sizes and how to work out what to use and what size wood to use for each screw size. <br />
The problem I had that really reaaaaaaally annoyed me is that the clamp kept leaving dents on the good side of the wood. Even when I had the clamp open as much as possible and used only 3/4" wood there were still dents on the good side which are going to take time to get out.<br />
The dents haven't shown up too well in the picture but honestly they are really evident and spoil the finish. The wood I use for my projects is pallet wood so it's never perfect anyway but these dents are really annoying.<br />
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The other problem I encountered is that the drill guides kept loosening on the jig plate and it made it harder to drill and the finished drill hole wasn't accurate. It was a simple solution to keep retightening the drill guides but very annoying.<br />
I haven't yet completed a project using this jig because each piece now needs alot of time sanding it to get those darned dents out.<br />
Basically I wish I had followed my husbands advice and just bought the Kreg jig,<i> </i>I really do not like this jig for many reason however I should point out it's good points as well as its bad<br />
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PROs<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Metal construction</li>
<li>Cheaper than Kreg</li>
</ul>
Seriously that is it!<br />
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CONs<br />
<ul>
<li>Poor instructions</li>
<li>Poor clamp design</li>
<li>No versatility</li>
<li>Dents on work!</li>
<li>Wobbly unstable parts. </li>
</ul>
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I may learn to like this jig the more I use it but I seriously doubt it and I can actually see me purchasing the Kreg jig I originally wanted and selling this one.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-84140598374282359042015-08-04T18:52:00.000+01:002015-08-04T18:52:50.040+01:00Auction furniture revivalA new auction place has opened up in town and last week Mr CH and I went along to see what was up for grabs. It was an antiques and jewellery auction and I had my eye on a few pieces of furniture but I'm quite tight fisted and won't go over what I want to pay for an item. Mr CH on the other hand knows what we should pay for something but gets caught in the excitement of a bidding war and doesn't like to back down, a few times I had to tell him no more!<br />
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I particularly liked a very large, carved chest of drawers, I had so many ideas running round my head for what I could do to it but when it came to bidding it hit my limit very quickly and while Mr CH would happily have bid until he won, it would have taken some of the pleasure out of the project for me if I knew I'd paid more than I wanted for it.<br />
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We did win this lovely wooden trunk though<br />
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If I only came away with one thing from the auction this trunk would be the one thing I would want.<br />
It even still has the original top box inside<br />
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Thankfully all the metal work is still in situ with just one nail missing from the front lock.<br />
I'm looking forward to transforming this trunk and can't wait to start taking all that dirty ugly canvas off to the lovely wood below.<br />
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We also had the winning bid on this lovely solid wood sideboard<br />
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Not sure what the carvings are all about but they certainly add some interest.<br />
Initially we didn't realise the unit had drawers as they're very concealed when they're closed. It wasn't until we got it home that I discovered them.<br />
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It's not without its damage though - the previous owners obviously removed the original backing and replaced it with some nasty fibre board. They've also mullered the base panels for some reason and haven't done a very good job of making good.<br />
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A piece of carving from the bottom back has also been removed, probably to make the side board fit somewhere and it also looks like it used to have a top half attached to it as you can see where something has been removed just at the back of the top.<br />
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Two projects I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into. The trunk will be a blanket box for the front room and the sideboard (after much work) will be the new fish tank stand, at 4ft the tank fits on it perfectly.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-77134130384241558692015-06-11T13:16:00.000+01:002015-06-11T13:16:49.223+01:00Pocket hole jigs and combi tools.I feel as though I'm really letting this, my first blog site, down due to the lack of posts however I have many projects ongoing but nothing finished yet to actually post, it's slow progress at the moment.<br />
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Among my current projects are a coffee table completely from pallet/scrap wood so it's going to take a hell of alot of sanding but needs to be ready asap due to the new sofa arriving, a mahoosive clock for the wall - I think it's about 3ft round - which has been sanded and needs the numbers adding but I've just realised I should have checked that I can obtain the correct size clock arms first and also a round pergola for the garden. When I say round it's actually several pieces set in the ground to give the illusion of being round.<br />
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To complete the coffee table project I treated myself to a pocket hole jig. I've wanted one of these forever but absolutely refused to pay Kreg prices for what is essentially plastic, no matter how many DIYers rave about them. It was kind of cutting off my nose to spite my face though because my projects just never had that finished look that they could have had. In the end I decided to have a go at making one having watched a 'youtube' video on how to do it but the end result was me almost losing my hand to the miter saw and that's when I decided the expense of a jig was nothing compared to the loss of a finger or limb!<br />I did a bit of research and found another pocket hole jig that does exactly the same as the Kreg jig but is half the price AND it's of a metal construction plus the reviews on it were awesome, so I'm now waiting for it to arrive and hoping it will do so before I go on holiday next week.<br />
The jig I chose was this Draper model<br />
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Once I have used it for the coffee table project I will post a review on it as I think it's important that we have info on all the tools available and not just the most popular ones - which for some reason are more costly also.<br />
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Another new piece of equipment I have that I will shortly write a review on is this Makita combination table / miter saw<br />
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Ordinarily I wouldn't have entertained this tool because I prefer individual tools as opposed to combi's but Mr CH bought this for me because he could see it would be useful to me as a space saver.<br />
One of the few power tools I have never really used to any great extent is the table saw - hubby has 2 of them with long tables but they scare the bejesus out of me. I mean, they literally terrify me though I have no idea why. I have an irrational fear of me falling on one face down while it's in use but where that fear has come from I really don't know.<br />
I'm currently making an extension table with stop block for the miter part of the tool but will then be making a few table saw sleds to be able to use the top saw, so far I've used the miter part alot but haven't even had the guts to switch the table saw on yet - I'll be making plenty of push sticks and push blocks for using this!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-47297002006040623892015-05-06T08:27:00.000+01:002015-05-06T08:27:09.601+01:00Easy DIY Pallet wood Adirondack chairsPersonally I don't think a garden can ever have too much seating, whether it be stone seats hidden away, huge swing chairs in the middle of a lawn or plenty of comfy Adirondack chairs round a firepit.<br />
A couple of years ago I made 2 Adirondack chairs from plans I found on the 'Ana White' website which proved to be very popular at home and fought over the handful of times we decided to sit out in the garden. So popular that I decided I needed to make a couple more this year just so that I don't have to race the kids to them during the next BBQ.<br />
The ones I made 2 years ago are quite angular, I chose the plan because it was exceedingly simple to follow and I had all the encessary sized wood from pallets that I had taken apart.<br />
Before I remind you of those first chairs let me take a second to remind you of the best pallet breaker to ever be designed - I chose the 4 way bar.<br />
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This 4 way pallet bar turned this heap of pallets<br />
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into this<br />
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and the best bit is that I could do it all by myself. Each pallet took literally seconds to break apart and meant that not only did I get all the long lengths of wood but the spacers also - which is where the chunkier wood came from.<br />
This was my first attempt at the Adirondack chair and literally every piece of wood came from a pallet.<br />
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Deciding I wanted to add some colour to the garden I chose to paint them in Cuprinols 'Summer Damson' garden shades.<br />
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I've now completed 2 more Adirondack chairs with matching footstools but I didn't use the original plans because I wanted a more rounded chair for the second half of the garden. Again it's all pallet wood except for the main bottom rail which is scrap 6x2.<br />
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The chairs has since been painted in Cuprinols 'Fresh Rosemary' garden shades but I've yet to take a photo of them finished.<br />
The plans for these second ones are in my head. I didn't want to make it up as I went along but I really couldn't find exactly what I was loking for on the internet so I conjured these up using 3 different online designs with my own bits added. It wasn't until I'd finished them that I realised the footstool doesn't match 100% - the main leg is angular on the end not rounded to match the chair - oops!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-4990478995779552122015-03-22T12:44:00.000+00:002015-03-22T12:44:05.023+00:00Recycled garden pot holderI have decided to recycle this post from a couple of years back for 2 reasons - 1) Lack of actual gardening at the moment and 2) It's that time of year when we're sowing seeds like mad so a space saver comes in real handy.<br />
Recycling old posts is not something I tend to do as the garden is forever changing but I felt there are certain projects that never age and hopefully this may solve the issue of space for a few people. The original photo of this project (included below) has done it's rounds on Pinterest but credit rarely goes back to the original source but I have no problems with people pinning and sharing this - enjoy!<br />
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Gardening
here in the Scottish Highlands is unlike any kind of gardening I
experienced at home in England and I initially made so many mistakes
and lost so many plants due to my stubborness and naive determination to
continue growing the plants I loved rather than discovering what would
actually work here.<br />
It was during those years of frustration that I
sulked a tad where the gardening was concerned and turned my attention
to building containers, obelisks and arbours from scrapwood - it kind of
made me feel like I was achieving something despite having obliterated
all my lovely plants. Plus containers meant I could move plants around
according to the weather conditions.<br />
That's the time I came up
with this space saver idea. I needed something that would make use of
height in my greenhouse and free up some space and at the same time it
needed to be light enough to carry in and out as I needed.<br />
<br />
<br />
This is the space saver:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3tzyLMv6p213MTNrwNZWzAlgklPCXaUz9Nf64TBgUlxf8uNWpQHdkLF7AF8YiIGwmVbQZKooR2GBojOffy_ju_Wypv8qY07Unpj5LfwWpGNWmFWFy3B5b6jwOXrrz8XKBoUYzgdFkJE/s1600/space+saver2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3tzyLMv6p213MTNrwNZWzAlgklPCXaUz9Nf64TBgUlxf8uNWpQHdkLF7AF8YiIGwmVbQZKooR2GBojOffy_ju_Wypv8qY07Unpj5LfwWpGNWmFWFy3B5b6jwOXrrz8XKBoUYzgdFkJE/s320/space+saver2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3z_5-zjahCvWKaCtBthiX2725ubRPRQlmM9612PozaU4nA2DKvsgSknJ98fIbjWaN5v53M-mUvw_CHQLZZfl78nuBPLrJYRCUQeMv1kK2Epel39iH4Iy0sIDg-CfUqI7764otG9Uego/s1600/space+saver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="garden space saver, recycled wood, recycled milk carton" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3z_5-zjahCvWKaCtBthiX2725ubRPRQlmM9612PozaU4nA2DKvsgSknJ98fIbjWaN5v53M-mUvw_CHQLZZfl78nuBPLrJYRCUQeMv1kK2Epel39iH4Iy0sIDg-CfUqI7764otG9Uego/s320/space+saver.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It
was really easy to make too with limited skills and tools and used
only scrap wood and plastic milk cartons I saved. I made this one in
half a day but it could take even less time if you organise your tools
and materials beforehand which I don't tend to do!<br />
So tools and materials needed:<br />
<ul>
<li>Scrap wood. Any scrap wood can be used and adapted but I used batten, 3"x2" and plyboard.</li>
<li>Wood to use as the milk container supports - I used 1.5"x 1/4" beading.</li>
<li>Screws and/or nails.</li>
<li>Hand saw or electric cutter. </li>
<li>Tape measure (always handy but I hardly ever use them)</li>
<li>Stain for protecting. I used Cuprinol garden shades Natural Stone.</li>
<li>Plastic milk cartons. I used 30 on mine but you can make the frame and add the cartons as you collect them.</li>
</ul>
<br />
The first stage is to make a rectangle frame using
battens (or your chosen wood) and then add corner supports to the top of
the frame only. (I didn't have any particular size of frame in mind I
simply made it up as I went along - that's how I roll).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxr72XOXgotAeYAHKiCrVkYGoiQNOji1yZhXKlMBwSQ3tJKE9vIYsGsaL0EPxbu3mXNe6-0FxIX330BnFJzh1Izb-ST0qXLuc_eD-g2jnCoxIodLPaj8bqGetQ88rQscGyBk1aPLtC1Y/s1600/frame1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" scrap wood frame, garden space saver, recycled wood frame" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxr72XOXgotAeYAHKiCrVkYGoiQNOji1yZhXKlMBwSQ3tJKE9vIYsGsaL0EPxbu3mXNe6-0FxIX330BnFJzh1Izb-ST0qXLuc_eD-g2jnCoxIodLPaj8bqGetQ88rQscGyBk1aPLtC1Y/s320/frame1.jpg" height="320" width="258" /></a></div>
<br />
Once we have the frame done we need to attach some feet to support it. I used batten and 3"x2" for mine.<br />
Once the batten is cut screw or nail it to the bottom of the frame like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOyupN6S0qvVWggHNkrW-bXLtLcbXLhi6BxZe6S11Tg2CHNVFqIA_d6RSIop-0QHY-YZIujawZAdPw4Ucw0k6FOuljp_-GMf22Ut7X0m0Clw1xUs0d6_eH3wZ9ubuEKcCap6RWkAACQs/s1600/frame2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" recycled wood space saver, recycled milk carton, garden space saver" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOyupN6S0qvVWggHNkrW-bXLtLcbXLhi6BxZe6S11Tg2CHNVFqIA_d6RSIop-0QHY-YZIujawZAdPw4Ucw0k6FOuljp_-GMf22Ut7X0m0Clw1xUs0d6_eH3wZ9ubuEKcCap6RWkAACQs/s320/frame2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Once
those are attached to each side of the base end stand the frame up and
cut 2 more pieces slightly larger from 3x2, or whatever wood you have.
These are then screwed or nailed to the existing feet from the top down
like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrW76Ws-kNe3DrCNySCTMbQwGylzJIkfyBh7CS_LVjO4HqUPjoqVR7AZQkgfiIB1wlzUTyZxDSZspMyNz9S00G-n5-T6fuoPwDQe2ztXHa9bfxB5jRWgLt9pgMk6UCuXgWaMNRGAU8i4/s1600/frame4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" recycled milk carton, scrap wood frame, greenhouse space saver" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrW76Ws-kNe3DrCNySCTMbQwGylzJIkfyBh7CS_LVjO4HqUPjoqVR7AZQkgfiIB1wlzUTyZxDSZspMyNz9S00G-n5-T6fuoPwDQe2ztXHa9bfxB5jRWgLt9pgMk6UCuXgWaMNRGAU8i4/s320/frame4.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
You
can also see from the above photo that I then screwed the rectangle
frame down into the first foot that was attached, this is just for extra
stability.<br />
<br />
Next we need to make some supports for the lengths of wood that will hold the milk containers.<br />
I
used plyboard for this as it was all I had suitable that was lying
around. I basically cut 6 rectangles (3 for each side) and each
rectangle had 2 grooves cut out of it from the top of the longer side to
roughly half way through. These cuts need to be a suitable depth to
hold whatever wood you are using for the container supports like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hPmltLQl20vZ2xK9aB_VB3hQWS8FfWOZ58UTrDniaiUnNXBQlCSpp6he3A1EGC0CyVxXSM-FV4-xHhq_0UhnTBmkS4NV8lZfMFebG1GmluhcYZN_U2rwlP4OAsCf3QXrQO6qkHRG10Q/s1600/frame5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="garden space saver, scrap wood, recycled milk carton" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hPmltLQl20vZ2xK9aB_VB3hQWS8FfWOZ58UTrDniaiUnNXBQlCSpp6he3A1EGC0CyVxXSM-FV4-xHhq_0UhnTBmkS4NV8lZfMFebG1GmluhcYZN_U2rwlP4OAsCf3QXrQO6qkHRG10Q/s320/frame5.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Once
all the rectangles are cut and grooved they simply need attaching to
the sides of the frame - I just spaced mine at equalish distances.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vNrVV19_Jrn3R1F-_Jl3Pxmbx0wbeUzEL8si_-CMmY4eH2Ma_6WEuLz0u4fGhonuAnz1HDOh1ZUSkQbmX1Pcvqs_qLiAfrtU2iFbljps6HXHrVhqBW4ApbmMnxzvEp5KMrZ80zyN-kM/s1600/frame6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" carton="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vNrVV19_Jrn3R1F-_Jl3Pxmbx0wbeUzEL8si_-CMmY4eH2Ma_6WEuLz0u4fGhonuAnz1HDOh1ZUSkQbmX1Pcvqs_qLiAfrtU2iFbljps6HXHrVhqBW4ApbmMnxzvEp5KMrZ80zyN-kM/s320/frame6.jpg" frame="" height="240" milk="" pace="" recycle="" saver="" width="320" wood="" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Once
this is a completed it's just a simple case of cutting 6 lengths of
wood for the container supports (I used thin beading) making sure the
lengths are cut long enough to extend further than the supports at each
end.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCe4AdhuPyRUV28FJM9kkOJZsbpWhZkZS4zJpodbPT5F9zGaSsJXMLQsfzT3M0oZtv6SCGjJDNe08uaj1ECbx3PaXLeZZjPDWsE-KMqG0CKM0gEVaavdc5GMJExY8JCdbv3KHNq2Wmp0/s1600/frame7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" greenhouse pot holder, recycled wood, recycled milk carton" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCe4AdhuPyRUV28FJM9kkOJZsbpWhZkZS4zJpodbPT5F9zGaSsJXMLQsfzT3M0oZtv6SCGjJDNe08uaj1ECbx3PaXLeZZjPDWsE-KMqG0CKM0gEVaavdc5GMJExY8JCdbv3KHNq2Wmp0/s320/frame7.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Finally
give it all a coat of protective paint and start filling it with your
pots by simply sliding the container supports through the handles of
your milk containers.<br />
This space saver is ideal for veggie
seedlings being hardened off because you simply lift it and place it
outside in the morning and then bring it back in at night, there's no
bending and schlepping around with plastic pot holders that always tend
to split and crumble right when you don't need them to.<br />
It's also
fabulous for rooted flower cuttings that need similar hardening off
treatment and if you use the containers for herbs it can be easily
placed against a warm wall right near the house.<br />
OR if you're a
crafter like myself it would be fabulous for holding crafting goodies
such as pens, paints, ribbons, stamps etc etc.<br />
Pretty versatile huh!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVv5a3CWKTOB35jJ8yW0Bn7S6TV7NqW8HUFTTqHok8_Nxqx9V7dcXCJj319zUVbAHYyOzh_23Wqz8qV3cVw2CvEZ6krkkUOl_umN0RrF8U51kabv8V5ZQWmc80zdmHd5XVRdQ8gD1pvI/s1600/space+saver2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" crafting space saver, craft holder, craft space saver" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVv5a3CWKTOB35jJ8yW0Bn7S6TV7NqW8HUFTTqHok8_Nxqx9V7dcXCJj319zUVbAHYyOzh_23Wqz8qV3cVw2CvEZ6krkkUOl_umN0RrF8U51kabv8V5ZQWmc80zdmHd5XVRdQ8gD1pvI/s320/space+saver2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Now lets talk about those milk containers and how you can use pretty much all of the container as useful garden helpers.<br />
<br />
First
off take one of the plastic milk caontainers you've collected - all
sizes are good but I personally would find the 2 pinters too small for
this project but the bigger the container the bigger size pot it will
hold. I used 4 pinters and 6 pinters.<br />
OK so we need to pierce the
side of the container with scissors (leave the lid on to keep the air in
otherwise the container will simply collapse) and then cut right round
the container so you get this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqijkXRkrcGE5ajD3WZB08Wqd9Hjp320fOYDhOkDu_bqjR-L6Ia5YP8vMOg7DW77GSPyWV10ZKA54Nt9oJdkH1IPRS130s079S9e_jSCLKnB1r-xxKSMWZuZ-KTTKqPaftVEmiBlcTrbo/s1600/milk+container1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="plastic plant labels, recycled plant labels" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqijkXRkrcGE5ajD3WZB08Wqd9Hjp320fOYDhOkDu_bqjR-L6Ia5YP8vMOg7DW77GSPyWV10ZKA54Nt9oJdkH1IPRS130s079S9e_jSCLKnB1r-xxKSMWZuZ-KTTKqPaftVEmiBlcTrbo/s320/milk+container1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The top part with the lid is all finished and ready for your newly built space saver.<br />
Personally
I try to leave the lids on the containers that will go on the top 2
layers of the space saver to stop any water draining into the layer
below. The bottom layer of the space saver doesn't matter so much.<br />
<br />
Now
we're left with the bottom half of the container we cut so take your
scissors and cut down the length of the container stopping where you see
the next rigid line that goes all the way round the container. Turn at
this point and cut round the circumference once again until it seperates
from the bottom of the container, then take this middle section and cut
straight down the middle of it to produce this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3m83klnhXyYvf3HnVTAa78vGCOF2LRu3MoZjAjnOsurADA-dqkRTfWWfG5hAAukkuDWTWuv74U3b_sysJ6rQS_X_nK0SjmFey5DmM6-JiO12hxVLa9sooC11dTzqtLdXl6lK1ek3q14/s1600/milk+container2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" diy plant labels, recycled garden labels, milk carton plant labels" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3m83klnhXyYvf3HnVTAa78vGCOF2LRu3MoZjAjnOsurADA-dqkRTfWWfG5hAAukkuDWTWuv74U3b_sysJ6rQS_X_nK0SjmFey5DmM6-JiO12hxVLa9sooC11dTzqtLdXl6lK1ek3q14/s320/milk+container2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now
all you need to do is use the middle section to cut strips off at
whatever width you would like your plant labels to be. Once you've done
this you then cut points onto one end of the cut strips and use the
container base to store them.<br />
See, the whole container has a use - yay!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3bgqO0TElr17xcq0BFfXhOhMRBXSPS7LbrNOQqY0PZgqRJKCRcApXw2sxXSZBi0_6uNEMAWe-8S1JMg552n82zp_52dfhNUAEax2IKzDtbI56kFf49nWhtwSwCFtlyMqtls5Ifmxy4E/s1600/milk+container3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" plastic garden label, milk carton pot labels" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3bgqO0TElr17xcq0BFfXhOhMRBXSPS7LbrNOQqY0PZgqRJKCRcApXw2sxXSZBi0_6uNEMAWe-8S1JMg552n82zp_52dfhNUAEax2IKzDtbI56kFf49nWhtwSwCFtlyMqtls5Ifmxy4E/s320/milk+container3.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Here you can see the strips before having the points cut and then the pot contains some where the points have been cut.<br />
<br />
<br />
I
hope this tutorial made sense to you all and that you can replicate it
in some way for your home and garden, I would love to hear from anyone
that has made it for themselves.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBThnpwkzFb9R-yF2TsjkWbt_cgjSYGOf72BkWho39wtG-U3lqGACgxQbFyjJZ46GO6IEMO3c308zIv8BXWAgFL7RzGHVl90juC2xs22tBkzliw-qetI1D6St16G3QEbhm6xlFYSVc1U/s1600/687760C3BB0801A432E6AAC06BFB657E.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBThnpwkzFb9R-yF2TsjkWbt_cgjSYGOf72BkWho39wtG-U3lqGACgxQbFyjJZ46GO6IEMO3c308zIv8BXWAgFL7RzGHVl90juC2xs22tBkzliw-qetI1D6St16G3QEbhm6xlFYSVc1U/s1600/687760C3BB0801A432E6AAC06BFB657E.png" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-25490139573936132272015-01-25T20:10:00.000+00:002015-01-26T20:38:39.279+00:00DIY Easy pallet wood planterIt's the time of year when I'm looking for new planters for the garden but being the tight fisted so and so that I am I simply refuse to buy them so out came the pallet wood and a bit of ingenuity. I need several planters for Roses that will eventually be going out into the garden ground but for this year they need a home while the garden is finished. The planters had to be exceptionally easy to make (because I get bored easily), use as little wood as possible but still look like more than just a square box.<br />
The first one I made looked ok but I'd cut corners such as not pre drilling so the finished effect wasn't as good as it could have been - I decided that one would be the prototype and set about making another one but took my time to do it properly. The finished planter still only took one day to make so I'll definitely be making several more.<br />
<br />
This is the finished look - no painting just a light sand and a coat of outdoor varnish for protection.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYJyAnsiFEVg9e9getCdNtb-PYu7Gd_xiruzlIo6xwhLr1FCuan0iAZ-XQ8k2zkCZPxxHohOgqZ_9Ea9OrPyQ-1YDDTgyITZV4CqDQtF7U1HQYzPcVqlIxIhSih0y1c74zlkYQ6F2840/s1600/wood+planter5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYJyAnsiFEVg9e9getCdNtb-PYu7Gd_xiruzlIo6xwhLr1FCuan0iAZ-XQ8k2zkCZPxxHohOgqZ_9Ea9OrPyQ-1YDDTgyITZV4CqDQtF7U1HQYzPcVqlIxIhSih0y1c74zlkYQ6F2840/s1600/wood+planter5.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWmmKUi3pXc4mGLQ7zzKKi7rDkT0WqRVSRIJ_x-ZZPRsKaa1Cn6S4draMkPrwLyGLswUJR2MTCNyTumVyo3Sjf2GZJSlAnMmAm0Jx0c-9GslLjNEgzQsmnOM1c5m-RAkvudE0mXY0Tqo/s1600/wood+planter6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWmmKUi3pXc4mGLQ7zzKKi7rDkT0WqRVSRIJ_x-ZZPRsKaa1Cn6S4draMkPrwLyGLswUJR2MTCNyTumVyo3Sjf2GZJSlAnMmAm0Jx0c-9GslLjNEgzQsmnOM1c5m-RAkvudE0mXY0Tqo/s1600/wood+planter6.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
There are probably many tutorials online much better than anything I can give but I'll show step by step how I made this and maybe it will encourage someone to give it a go.<br />
<br />
Assemble all your wood pieces once you have decided the size you want. This may sound obvious but on the prototype I made each panel up before cutting and making the next one and I ran out of wood the right size half way through. I managed to source some eventually but I would have saved myself so much aggravation just doing it properly from the start.<br />
I decided to make my planter 20" high by whatever width the pallet wood ended up being. As it turned out I used wood that was a little over 3.5".<br />
I cut 16 pieces @ 20" and 4 pieces the width of the boards joined together (I actually need 8 width pieces but we'll come to that later).<br />
<br />
First I lay 4 of the pieces down and used the cool set square I attached to my workbench as something to straighten them against, this saved me so much time and effort in trying to hold all the pieces level and together.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3OK00XK4AUqdCsMWNhEhSwFisAUvjcoqXuWoGMZsCWVpcafN-qoM0MYeF6JEFEM5qB_ii2X-tlV9HFh1TiIGjtLCZpwWCIuePDtsdjoj2HqOBDEhi9yMJrRTPOtjPF5GuMCl9TDokHo/s1600/wood+planter11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3OK00XK4AUqdCsMWNhEhSwFisAUvjcoqXuWoGMZsCWVpcafN-qoM0MYeF6JEFEM5qB_ii2X-tlV9HFh1TiIGjtLCZpwWCIuePDtsdjoj2HqOBDEhi9yMJrRTPOtjPF5GuMCl9TDokHo/s1600/wood+planter11.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loving my set square as it helps keep it all together.</td></tr>
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Next I attached a scrap piece of wood across the middle to hold it all together while I mark out for the arch in the bottom - I forgot to take a photo though.<br />
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For the arches at the top and bottom I made a mark 2" in from either end at the bottom and used a plate to mark out a circle from those marks. I repeated this at the top and bottom of all 4 sides.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX4m9RowN4Ybbkm5oX4Q-w95OpjSSLBgFRF2KG4-vr37ZmOjsJ0i-OB2gCyIgvO8prYXrB2jBJEQD7TpTDwph-b9nf0TQ0spDskXV5lNksJrBAUlLMX28uSQyq8nL9aTrETSNmp63tQA/s1600/wood+planter10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX4m9RowN4Ybbkm5oX4Q-w95OpjSSLBgFRF2KG4-vr37ZmOjsJ0i-OB2gCyIgvO8prYXrB2jBJEQD7TpTDwph-b9nf0TQ0spDskXV5lNksJrBAUlLMX28uSQyq8nL9aTrETSNmp63tQA/s1600/wood+planter10.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marks for arches.</td></tr>
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Next I used the Jigsaw to cut out those marks.<br />
TIP: Once you have cut those arches out do not remove the scrap wood from the middle until you have secured one of the fixing battens. I made this mistake and it took me ages to get that arch to look right again because the wood dropped.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAN_9r6tEORUKdIYoH4ly8nzErNZxCb3lJF1RZqoSOt_j8Ab9yLQTF_Dd0DJm3W-XHQ-Si_nuIoPJYY1Ahogjb2MGUFhIt8sI2vi2zjAxA8JHHtoxaejDFfhkm-KRB8e3lutUZXEnZDF8/s1600/wood+planter2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAN_9r6tEORUKdIYoH4ly8nzErNZxCb3lJF1RZqoSOt_j8Ab9yLQTF_Dd0DJm3W-XHQ-Si_nuIoPJYY1Ahogjb2MGUFhIt8sI2vi2zjAxA8JHHtoxaejDFfhkm-KRB8e3lutUZXEnZDF8/s1600/wood+planter2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See the scrap wood - don't remove it yet.</td></tr>
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Next secure the fixing batten top and bottom - I fixed them 3" up from the bottom and 3" down from the top. Once they are secure it's safe to move the scrap wood from the middle. Then turn the pieces over and screw into the fixing battens to make it super secure - don't forget to pre drill.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2nt0dim0wMTG3dIuH-r02XlWk2iIYvganioySQIwYvkv-BQGuzkEEKhxDqDCQlaqJ-NEdUY_3TsU9Fe5bTmNTie0Kt-603wUQRLWX6GIrGgVkcXE18AYH7XvrqMMTnDGP0X4Mka-7nC0/s1600/wood+planter9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2nt0dim0wMTG3dIuH-r02XlWk2iIYvganioySQIwYvkv-BQGuzkEEKhxDqDCQlaqJ-NEdUY_3TsU9Fe5bTmNTie0Kt-603wUQRLWX6GIrGgVkcXE18AYH7XvrqMMTnDGP0X4Mka-7nC0/s1600/wood+planter9.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top & bottom arches cut</td></tr>
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You need to make 2 exactly like that and then make 2 more but the fixing battens will need to be a different width allowing for the sides you just made to sit snug against the new sides.<br />
I held the two finished sides up to the one I was now making and marked out where the battens sat so I could use that width for the fixing battens for the next 2 sides - does that make sense?<br />
In this photo you can see what I mean. The 2 sides are held against the one I'm making - the pencil shows you the width I'm measuring.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVO_GbKBuDUAdNF_-kx01CJ57yODCt-Nz2YcQ4YbV7ewC5IZDv0bOPsadWQesBbmJqV0ml_NAMY6WRs3fdWhuPkegKY3Khy7BffcFdJ2JV0kgqL5-2fEotwffz-cXA5_Dpn1P1tU7zGQ/s1600/wood+planter8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVO_GbKBuDUAdNF_-kx01CJ57yODCt-Nz2YcQ4YbV7ewC5IZDv0bOPsadWQesBbmJqV0ml_NAMY6WRs3fdWhuPkegKY3Khy7BffcFdJ2JV0kgqL5-2fEotwffz-cXA5_Dpn1P1tU7zGQ/s1600/wood+planter8.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pencil showing width to measure.</td></tr>
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With that done you fix the shorter battens to the next 2 sides and you should have 2 of each of these<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKNGtouOzZ1R1x9cVRCDdKyu2Nx3-jWcm0uQCOGJP_bRZuNAhWre0SlKlTIgtR63nfLeKUykVIPn8L0DWnZSMfvyf3lJvVTMZYqaFa4tzQCsrYRrPlbGycG_mJT2yXbF7HuXZVM0Es7I/s1600/wood+planter3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKNGtouOzZ1R1x9cVRCDdKyu2Nx3-jWcm0uQCOGJP_bRZuNAhWre0SlKlTIgtR63nfLeKUykVIPn8L0DWnZSMfvyf3lJvVTMZYqaFa4tzQCsrYRrPlbGycG_mJT2yXbF7HuXZVM0Es7I/s1600/wood+planter3.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished pieces ready for joining<br />
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Next I simply built the box and screwed the sides in together - pre drilling the holes first and using a screw head sinker like this, the effect is so much more pleasing and prevents splitting of wood.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-40m3yHjalMwCjbkVW6Y7q2GvyiD7iW29jfRu_rP4tBzMzqxY6l_-c4bv1eKsYsT3SIthRQDVuh0itEk2Z3anu4u4MfypvTuG2ozurFDiXBB9pfAGtYD8Azr122U9QA1lQayuOhNgWs/s1600/wood+planter4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-40m3yHjalMwCjbkVW6Y7q2GvyiD7iW29jfRu_rP4tBzMzqxY6l_-c4bv1eKsYsT3SIthRQDVuh0itEk2Z3anu4u4MfypvTuG2ozurFDiXBB9pfAGtYD8Azr122U9QA1lQayuOhNgWs/s1600/wood+planter4.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drill bit and screw head sinker.</td></tr>
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Looking inside this is what the planter looks like screwed together. It's perfectly solid by this point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMLFzZp_3_pjPAswm6MOX4AGpBv5MMbGFB20E58HjMb9_CZ3ynxt3fFKd4ozZFXeVvQ7DivdW4HXiNWfJfdhd3tCCX7iXK3yHvinaQ6CfvqHQ7J-g_krGBkvxDdICB2IqcCnTxLVSRNQ/s1600/wood+planter7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMLFzZp_3_pjPAswm6MOX4AGpBv5MMbGFB20E58HjMb9_CZ3ynxt3fFKd4ozZFXeVvQ7DivdW4HXiNWfJfdhd3tCCX7iXK3yHvinaQ6CfvqHQ7J-g_krGBkvxDdICB2IqcCnTxLVSRNQ/s1600/wood+planter7.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
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Next I cut 3 pieces of scrap wood to fix to the bottom making sure the slats had enough gap to allow for water drainage. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircC2Dxb-A3by5T0l6YFgJwXppu5N-KwTMBKqWDQ6moxUb0YM6YpdT5MbfZ2cWuv79cRdfeS1xy1iub3BIEzRvlKP1T78RzKb13p6IRMh6rfxh9ja6K_LU7J2wH-pGNlWdGwAeOwe1GgQ/s1600/DSCN7322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircC2Dxb-A3by5T0l6YFgJwXppu5N-KwTMBKqWDQ6moxUb0YM6YpdT5MbfZ2cWuv79cRdfeS1xy1iub3BIEzRvlKP1T78RzKb13p6IRMh6rfxh9ja6K_LU7J2wH-pGNlWdGwAeOwe1GgQ/s1600/DSCN7322.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slats fixed to the bottom inside.</td></tr>
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Then I needed to lay a liner in it, usually I use some of hubbys thick DPM but I was feeling especially lazy and know the DPM can be a hassle to fix so I literally used a super thick bin liner which fit perfectly and fixed it to the top batten supports with my nail gun.</div>
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To hide the plastic and make it look a bit nicer I cut some odds and ends of really thin finishing wood I found and attached it to the top of the plastic using the nail gun again into the batten. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3blXZKtj7s9yeM9haLur3TTnqAKWuh8TgAzxBqnCevMvbl69VjQ0oanh2fjGCNXvzXsi01GFyKirvgnhx67BMgipW7GDm48usl5ItQUITXlsPmbXFUyFRHOCUkUXlaIdHxIDkZywiiXk/s1600/DSCN7326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3blXZKtj7s9yeM9haLur3TTnqAKWuh8TgAzxBqnCevMvbl69VjQ0oanh2fjGCNXvzXsi01GFyKirvgnhx67BMgipW7GDm48usl5ItQUITXlsPmbXFUyFRHOCUkUXlaIdHxIDkZywiiXk/s1600/DSCN7326.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finishing wood over plastic on left.</td></tr>
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Finally, a quick sand down with 60 grit and a quick sand with 240 grit -I usually go all the way from 60, 80, 120 etc but I wanted to keep the rustic look.<br />
One coat of external varnish and it's good to go.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWmmKUi3pXc4mGLQ7zzKKi7rDkT0WqRVSRIJ_x-ZZPRsKaa1Cn6S4draMkPrwLyGLswUJR2MTCNyTumVyo3Sjf2GZJSlAnMmAm0Jx0c-9GslLjNEgzQsmnOM1c5m-RAkvudE0mXY0Tqo/s1600/wood+planter6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWmmKUi3pXc4mGLQ7zzKKi7rDkT0WqRVSRIJ_x-ZZPRsKaa1Cn6S4draMkPrwLyGLswUJR2MTCNyTumVyo3Sjf2GZJSlAnMmAm0Jx0c-9GslLjNEgzQsmnOM1c5m-RAkvudE0mXY0Tqo/s1600/wood+planter6.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished look</td></tr>
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Sharing at:<br />
<a href="http://www.sewcando.com/2015/01/share-your-projects-at-craftastic.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">SewcanDo</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.niftythriftythings.com/nifty-thrifty-sunday-187/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+niftyThriftyThings+%28{nifty+thrifty+things}%29" target="_blank">Niftythriftysunday </a></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.artisbeauty.net/2015/01/beyoutiful-link-party-and-features_21.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FWlmdn+%28ART+IS+BEAUTY%29" target="_blank">Artisbeauty </a></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-17846799886777813042015-01-21T18:16:00.000+00:002015-01-21T18:16:07.256+00:00We all love a freebieMy workshop has been a huge source of excitement for me because it means that I can now build all those wonderful projects on the <a href="http://ana-white.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;"> 'Ana White'</span></a> website that I've drooled over for months but lacked the real space to be able to get started. Space is no problem now though and with everything pretty much sorted and put away I'm ready to start hammering and drilling.<br />
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But first........<br />
<br />One of my daughters works at a local department store and I've been the lucky recipient of plants and hardware that was destined for the tip - all free of charge. The latest exciting load included plastic crates full of tester pots of paint, mainly Crown but also Laura Asley and Farrow and Ball. Luckily my daughter was also renewing her bedroom furniture at the time so I inherited an old (well not that old really) chest of drawers that was the perfect size for all these pots of paint. The drawers are a cheap Argos make so I had to reinforce the bottoms etc first but lookit<br />
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3drawers full of Crown tester pots.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXU90ReJe_Kvd1yhUsH-EvGtnzhVWbiJYJTn6QbQ-4VvGZTiYmxqJSW2_e3aXFtB3TaAs8AUL3FevpgzD5B-kNS36N7O03yWYb46lWrm7VYSq_D1Q8iipiSMsK6aQY3RITvSFFnnkXC1M/s1600/paint+pots3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXU90ReJe_Kvd1yhUsH-EvGtnzhVWbiJYJTn6QbQ-4VvGZTiYmxqJSW2_e3aXFtB3TaAs8AUL3FevpgzD5B-kNS36N7O03yWYb46lWrm7VYSq_D1Q8iipiSMsK6aQY3RITvSFFnnkXC1M/s1600/paint+pots3.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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1 drawer full of Dulux tester pots<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxtGhKDYjNkajogmo_pI-QRFwXnfd5_il6Uxd36yVVhVhysYSytfk1uB9201toU3blKuhi4uZ_-9xpurmonwQlrgs7NGoi7Sh04hknWGUbSyNVoKjUAjYE89IX1GHHgIHfuUT5C9QcOA/s1600/paint+pots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxtGhKDYjNkajogmo_pI-QRFwXnfd5_il6Uxd36yVVhVhysYSytfk1uB9201toU3blKuhi4uZ_-9xpurmonwQlrgs7NGoi7Sh04hknWGUbSyNVoKjUAjYE89IX1GHHgIHfuUT5C9QcOA/s1600/paint+pots.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Loads more tester pots waiting to be sorted and hung.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHY1p1lyVqwP5yvc5REYxDbjVe9hvMfsUi4wmnbLtL19BO0tnXhL27TfxLldt9AeSrvmByE3EAGRiXDMRoQPqbrGLAeXutw2UKlpAbMYP1FzdnW6pwW6OvDiX-omzVEyvISpworfRJVs/s1600/paint+pots2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHY1p1lyVqwP5yvc5REYxDbjVe9hvMfsUi4wmnbLtL19BO0tnXhL27TfxLldt9AeSrvmByE3EAGRiXDMRoQPqbrGLAeXutw2UKlpAbMYP1FzdnW6pwW6OvDiX-omzVEyvISpworfRJVs/s1600/paint+pots2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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I am going to have a field day making colourful bird houses this year. While emulsion paint cannot survive outside alone, coat it in outdoor varnish and it's good to go.<br />
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While we're talking freebies, look what else my daughter got, though she did have to pay £1 for each case this time - a saving of around £98 so well worth it. She got 2 for me and 2 for my husband and these could not have come at a better time because I was close to buying a set of 'Drillall' drillbits from a shopping channel despite dubious reviews online. <br />
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I must also show you the handle to the door of my workshop. I couldn't find a proper pull down handle in any of my tool boxes nor Mr CH's toolkits but I'm way too tight to consider buying one at ridiculous prices or waiting 3 weeks for delivery from online shopping - I want what I want when I want it! Nosing around Mr CH's now 1/4 smaller workshop (due to my moving in ;) ) I found an old bricklaying trowel - least I hope it's old and figured it would make a cute door handle<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-133946149777365292015-01-17T18:37:00.000+00:002015-01-17T18:37:42.341+00:00New workshop part 1My workshop is really starting to take shape now and I'm so excited that I will soon be able to start all my home and garden projects in a space that is of a decent size to move around in - no more shuffling around in a 7x12 shed with small worktops that meant I couldn't build anything bigger than a bird house and had to wait until summer so I could build outside - a complete waste of winter months when I would actually have the time to build and create things.<br />
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The new workshop is actually a quarter of my husbands existing workshop (it took me months to convince him to section me the end off) and measures just over 20ftx20ft, a huge improvement not only in actual space but worktops also. Not only has MrCH made me a worktop covering 2 lengths of the walls but I also have a concrete slab area for tall work (the rest of the floor is gravel unfortunately but I'm not complaining - yet) and he even made me a work station that I could access from all sides by boarding out the top of his pool table.<br />
It's not finished yet, I'm moved in and all my tools etc are in there but it's a mess as I try to organise stuff and work out where stuff is going. I'm not one to buy in loads of new wood in order to make lovely fancy racking and matching tool racks so everything I make is made from either old wood or pallet wood, it doesn't look posh or fancy but it does the job.<br />
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This is what I started with, 20x20 of hubbys shed. It needed insulating, boarding out and something fixing to the ceiling because the steel sheets tend to condensate in the winter and who needs to be dripped on all day!<br />
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More views of where we started. The pool table barely got used but is amazingly heavy so hubby agreed to let me make use of it as a walk around work table. We moved it slightly to the far end so that I could also make use of the concrete slab it sits on.<br />
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Insulation is in and we've begun boarding the walls out. The windows look squiffy in these pictures but they're really not, a spirit level was used throughout and the sloping roof give it an optical illusion. In fact I'm quite proud of those windows because I put them in and fixed them myself!<br />
The door is an old one we've had sitting here for years and is now in the opening you see to the right.<br />
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These are the views I'm going to have to put up with while I'm working away in there, it's hard but someone has to do it.<br />
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Next time I'll post its current progress and the weird and wonderful projects I've made for door handles and shelving etc.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-3976434476989235502014-12-23T22:24:00.001+00:002014-12-26T13:54:55.680+00:00DIY Christmas baubles / decorationsEvery year at the run up to christmas I promise myself that this will be the year when I make at least some of the umpteen ornaments and decorations that I have piling up on my 'Pinterest' list and every year I seem to end up saying "I'll start earlier next year". Of course I never do 'start earlier' because making christmas decorations doesn't seem a priority in the months when the weather is fine and I can be gardening or in the workshop making garden structures.<br />
This year was no exception, not so much due to productivity on the garden front but more to do with illness and/or loss of mojo. So now, feeling rested and relaxed after a much needed vacation to Mexico I'm finding myself frantically trying to make new ornaments and baubles with just 2 days left to the big day itself knowing that once christmas day has passed I'll once again return to thinking "I'll start earlier next year".<br />
The problem with this frantic need to create a masterpiece is that I'm cutting corners and trying to get a professional look in a quarter of the time using materials that really aren't going to cut the mustard so I've decided enough is enough - I really will simply have to 'start earlier next year'.<br />
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Before I went away I did manage to complete a set of 6 personalised baubles for the tree using my new favourite crafty product - vinyl.<br />
I cannot believe I wasn't aware of vinyl and its crafty gorgeousness before now but I really didn't, not until I came across it on 'Pinterest' and once I saw what it could do I knew I had to try a small project using vinyl and my Cricut. It's safe to say I am now so in love with vinyl projects that I'm saving up for a Silhouette Cameo to unleash a whole new load of ideas and projects.<br />
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The baubles turned out pretty good for my very first vinyl attempt and they look great on the tree. There are various tutorials all over the internet and 'Youtube' so I won't bore anyone with the precise steps that I followed to create these<br />
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For the most part they were relatively easy and I was only restricted by the few fonts I had on Cricut cartridges (another reason to get a Silhouette cameo).<br />
The hardest letters no matter which font I used were the 'O' and the 'W', it doesn't matter what method I used to put those letters on they all resulted in at least one crease and in the end I had to accept that no one was going to scrutinise them closely enough to notice.<br />
The ribbon was fiddly more than difficult but I suspect it was more the hack handed way I was going about doing it than it being a difficult job. I have a tendency to choose the quick route over the correct route too many times even though I know it's going to end in frustration and a less than perfect finished look - this is something I seriously need to work on.<br />
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Another project completed and showing the 'quick route' result is these xmas baubles<br />
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Don't laugh! I told you the result from the 'quick route' is always less than perfect.<br />
What you see here is my attempt at a bauble xmas tree only I couldn't be bothered with sorting the baubles first, working out a configuration that worked or even to fix the trigger on my glue gun first!<br />
With a broken glue gun trigger I literally had to somehow hold the gun in a position that meant I could hold it and push the glue stick through in one hand while holding the baubles together in the other hand - I do not recommend this method! This resulted in burnt fingers and glue going everywhere because I could not control the gun holding it in that manner, hence why you see alot of solid glue in the finished project. This angle is the better angle, the other side is atrocious.<br />
I would happily have thrown the whole thing away but for some bizarre reason my husband likes it - hmmmmm maybe it's a sympathy thing, maybe he felt bad for me.<br />
Needless to say I am replacing the glue gun!<br />
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Another project that should have been easy but tested my patience was the very simple baubles in a giant teacup<br />
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These things just never turn out the way I imagined even when I don't take the quick route. I'm not entirely sure what I expected or why I don't particularly like it (maybe it needs to be a xmas teacup) but it's staying for now and then I'll rethink it next year.<br />
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This could be my last post before Christmas day so in the words of Clement Moore "Happy christmas to all, and to all a good night"<br />
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Shared at:<br />
<a href="http://arttisbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/twirl-and-take-bow-link-party-and_22.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/Wlmdn+%28ART+IS+BEAUTY%29" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">ART IS BEAUTY </span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/12/clever-chicks-blog-hop-118-with-3.html" target="_blank">The chicken chick </a></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.sewcando.com/2014/12/its-christmastime-craftastic-monday.html" target="_blank">Sewcando </a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.fromgardners2bergers.com/2014/12/the-handmade-hangout-28.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">FromGardners2Bergers </span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2014/12/wow-me-wednesday-186.html" target="_blank">Gingersnapcrafts</a> </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-39148363560974734342014-12-19T18:15:00.002+00:002014-12-26T13:55:40.223+00:00Sleigh bells ring - DIY sleigh bellsHas it really been 4 months since my last post! Wow, that just goes to show the serious lack of creative impulses this year due to being ill so much. However, xmas is one time of year guarateed to get the imagination turning on all cogs and I've managed to get round to making a few decorations for the home - todays post is showing one that I've wanted to make for the last couple of years but have never seemed to get round to it - Sleigh bells!<br />
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There's loads of inspiration for these on Pinterest and so lacking is my imagination right now that I admit I had to pinch a few of the ideas but I'm totally thrilled with the finished piece.<br />
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My problem - well one of them - when working on a project is that I very rarely have a finished look in my head, the entire description I had down for this project was simply 'Sleigh bells', no ideas for what that actually meant and to be honest I made it up as I went along basing it on various Pinterest / Google images that I liked the look of.<br />
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Here's how I made it and the only item I had to buy was the belt because I didn't have an old, spare one.<br />
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I bought the belt from New look for a fiver and while that's more than I wanted to pay it had a nice pattern to it that I thought would work well so I begrudgingly put my hand in my pocket.<br />
I had intended to batter the belt with a hammer to age it but I forgot!<br />
I cut the belt into 2 lengths, one longer than the other and cut the pointed ends with scissors.<br />
To attach the Sleigh bells (which I purchased yeeeeears ago ) I used a hole punch to punch 2 tiny holes behind each bell<br />
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then thread some craft wire through the sleigh bell hook into the holes and twisted the wire round the back of the belt to secure<br />
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I then cut pieces of black duck tape to cover over the wires attaching each of the sleigh bells but to be honest I think I should have attached one long piece of fabric down the entire length of the back and glued it with Fixall glue instead of each individual sleigh bell wire. Actually I think I will rectify this before it's stored away at the end of xmas<br />
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The rest was pretty easy to make up as I went along. The 2 belt pieces were joined together at a slight angle by punching a hole and threading wire through - though hot glue would probably work just as well.<br />
I made the greenery form pieces of left over xmas decorations and wired that to the belt buckle using craft wire ( a decent gauge wire though that can withstand twisting without breaking) and the whole thing was attached to the wooden plaque with wire also - again hot glue would probably suffice.<br />
The wooden plaque is simply a small wooden board from a new set of kitchen boards I've had stashed for years (I just knew there'd be a use for them somewhere) which I painted red with my daughters acrylic paints (Sssssshhhh), sanded down when it was dry and attached vinyl lettering cut with my Cricut machine (vinyl is my new fad and I can't wait to own a Silhouette Cameo).<br />
I gave the whole board a quick spray with varnish and then attached the sleigh bells to it by threading wire through holes at the bottom of the board.<br />
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Voila! A perfectly cheap christmas decoration that with correct packaging will last for years.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-76573896841016465922014-08-15T08:55:00.000+01:002014-08-15T08:55:36.362+01:00Workshop plansI'm currently without a work shop or any kind of working space which is why I haven't been able to blog about completed projects - insert sad face here.<br />
Mr CH is going to be starting on my new workshop any time now and it's going to be amazing - insert happy, happy face here.<br />
The best bit right now is planning how it is going to look, what colour I'm painting it and of course what organisation I can come up with for all my tools - exciting!<br />
We're pretty much dictated to by the area of land we're building it on for its shape but the rest is all down to me. I had thought of doing some kind of Red on the outside as I really like this shed I've pinned on Pinterest<br />
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However I think I may regret it afterwards so I looked into the 'Cuprinol' garden paints colour chart and although I don't like painting anything Green I think I may be doing it in Seagrass<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3C3iEYibKbeb9emxKJuOfNgvd2dpkrhUGON96nN4MHPH3j2RXXAJKq_7Heb7_KOb52Mh-QDBKtwJeW9bRsP2Tcty8G60O2NtPKz1qZ5ihCjB7EGseS-NX3yxkD3IR3WMebFz6ujr3GCU/s1600/daniel-log-cabin-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3C3iEYibKbeb9emxKJuOfNgvd2dpkrhUGON96nN4MHPH3j2RXXAJKq_7Heb7_KOb52Mh-QDBKtwJeW9bRsP2Tcty8G60O2NtPKz1qZ5ihCjB7EGseS-NX3yxkD3IR3WMebFz6ujr3GCU/s1600/daniel-log-cabin-01.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tuin.co.uk/Daniel-Corner-Log-Cabin-2.6x2.6m.html" target="_blank">Daniel corner log cabin</a></td></tr>
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Of course it's going to need its own sign and I love this Potting shed sign so will probably do something similar but change the wording<br />
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The really exciting stuff though will be on the inside. I'm currently pinning every picture on storage that I can but there are some really cool ideas that I know I'm definitely going to have to include:<br />
Isn't this just a brilliant idea! I love how it uses ceiling spacefor storage - though if my ceilings aren't high enough for such deep boxes I will have to adapt it. <br />
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This would be brilliant underneath a main work bench - my work bench gets crowded with every size nail and screw as I rummage through looking for the right size and I'm a lazy worker so things never get put away until the projects finished - this will keep my workspace clear.<br />
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All my Router bits are in their own lovely wooden cases but they have to be opened to see what each one is so this will make choosing much much easier and I'll attach the picture of each bit to the front of each shelf too.<br />
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My drill has been knocked over more times than I care to remember so this will put a stop to that and will also keep those tiny adapters all in the same place too.<br />
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This is a must for my workshop. I have some very heavy clamps and too many times I have knocked them and had them hit a shin or land on my feet.<br />
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So there we have it, my reason for not posting much at the moment and the plans that are afoot to rectify it. Until I can build again I will continue to post with other projects that are on the go - usually indoor ones and/or garden ones that can be built outside. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-370019161036233342014-06-03T15:19:00.001+01:002014-06-05T09:29:48.341+01:00Diy pallet wood deckingPallet wood decking is hardly an original idea nowadays is it, there seem to be many people jumped on that band wagon and the internet is full of different designs and ideas.<br />
I have to admit Mr CH was hardly thrilled at the prospect of a pallet wood deck when I first stated that I would be making one but he humoured me none the less and helped me lay the finished boards once I had levelled and squared up the pallet base.<br />
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It didn't look much to behold at this point and I actually did consider giving up<br />
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But with a little bit ofpatience and loads of nails we were able to create this with more pallet wood and pallets to act as steps to the french doors<br />
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<table border="1" style="width: 150px;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxXuYcQXkFr6e_MyjwiHmbgGAS7y6Jn1UddFP6GrcQMnBQ3Rl3JNdraOS0CgHvxccnQXGCwIIMtSWdgPjfwhrgzRYvHiJB5Gzvc4aMegeERjtFZe85AgJmwW0srWnURHitOfcja4pu-E/s1600/Pallet+wood+Decking.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxXuYcQXkFr6e_MyjwiHmbgGAS7y6Jn1UddFP6GrcQMnBQ3Rl3JNdraOS0CgHvxccnQXGCwIIMtSWdgPjfwhrgzRYvHiJB5Gzvc4aMegeERjtFZe85AgJmwW0srWnURHitOfcja4pu-E/s320/Pallet+wood+Decking.jpg" /></a></td><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rvDvNPFOEHgvosKVcO9JV0v8M2bn_TkJ-k1ttfwWBDDtN6-d9gen03jjPNsxN_8HOMuoMDG2vupMLM_Cf6Q41ZTP3F-hQRIlt9uvuekihp3oH5FTwk8Rvd42GnnrKGP5ReMXZKIXphI/s1600/Pallet+wood+decking2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rvDvNPFOEHgvosKVcO9JV0v8M2bn_TkJ-k1ttfwWBDDtN6-d9gen03jjPNsxN_8HOMuoMDG2vupMLM_Cf6Q41ZTP3F-hQRIlt9uvuekihp3oH5FTwk8Rvd42GnnrKGP5ReMXZKIXphI/s320/Pallet+wood+decking2.jpg" /></a>
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</tbody></table>
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I know alot of peoplewould prefer proper decking and maybe some fancy fandangled rails around it but the cost of this decking was the price of a tub or two of Ronseals decking stain - that makes me very happy.<br />
As for the rails - watch this space.<br />
Incidentally those<span style="color: #a64d79;"> <a href="http://coachhousecraftingonabudget.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/diy-adirondack-chair.html" target="_blank">Purple Adirondack style chairs</a></span> were pretty easy to make too and guess what - yup, all from pallet wood also.<br />
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Linked to:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.notjustahousewife.net/2014/06/show-me-what-ya-got-167.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FlUkHL+%28Not+JUST+A+Housewife%29" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Show me what you got </span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.kammyskorner.com/2014/06/trash-2-treasure-tuesday-linky-party.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Kammys Korner </span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://igottacreate.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/wildly-original-link-party-107.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/wchBg+%28I+Gotta+Create!%29" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #a64d79;">I Gotta Create </span></a></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-17746469305753448182014-02-22T08:39:00.001+00:002014-02-22T08:39:17.722+00:00Candle making from Yankee Candle leftovers!How many of you, like me, have a tub full of leftover wax from candles that you've burned?<br />
I love Yankee Candles and burn them all the time but I can't bring myself to throw out the last bits left in the jar once the wick has burned through or when I change the scent in the sample burner. I always keep those little bits and I finally got around to making my first candle with the leftovers.<br />
I used an old Yankee candle jar and some wicks I'd bought. I have no knowledge of doing this and I have heard that wax has a flash point whereby it could get messy. I have no idea what that flash point is though so I just got on with remelting the waxes colour by colour.<br />
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Here's my little stash<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DFScdxTUX2LOcfJy6gyG3FOEHOJgBC5dIFbxjryEfqTdo9o-RHJvOM59pOLKFAhtEnSyOZ5Etvyu2TIJCa7wfwNLR4QDQfkFfwEwrc3Q_CfPekowy3hwwawQFHND98DWANjOfqyiUkU/s1600/candle2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" candle making, yankee candle, diy candle" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DFScdxTUX2LOcfJy6gyG3FOEHOJgBC5dIFbxjryEfqTdo9o-RHJvOM59pOLKFAhtEnSyOZ5Etvyu2TIJCa7wfwNLR4QDQfkFfwEwrc3Q_CfPekowy3hwwawQFHND98DWANjOfqyiUkU/s1600/candle2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The melting process was pretty easy, I just boiled some water in a saucepan and then kept it simmering while I dropped a glass bowl in and put the candle wax into the bowl until it had melted through.<br />
Once the wax melted I poured it into the Yankee candle jar and then shoved it in the freezer to set while the next lot of wax was melting in the bowl. The hardest part was keeping the wick upright and centred but once I filled the jar halfway it got much easier.<br />
The finished candle may not look amazing and I assume the fragrance is going to be weak but I kind of enjoyed doing it and may even have a go at making more<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-46597916289290481192014-02-12T17:29:00.000+00:002014-02-12T17:29:07.479+00:00DIY fireplace mantleI'm not feeling the crafty love right now - it's just too cold to do anything and all I'm inclined to do right now is sit in the warm front room and browse the tinterweb.<br />
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Thought I'd do a post on the fireplace mantle I made for the dining room log burner opening. As usual I used all scrap / salvaged wood and as usual I made it all up as I went along and yes, as usual it went very wrong initially.<br />
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The whole piece was made from 8"x2" and 6" x 2" timber and I made it in a few sections for ease and put it all together in situ.<br />
The mantle is a length of 8x2, well sanded and then stained and given a few coats of satin varnish. The upstands at each end are 6x2 timber given the same treatment as the mantle.<br />
The finials that attach the upstands to the mantle were free drawn onto 6x2 timber. I cut four of them out using a jigsaw (with a dodgy blade I might add) and then I glued and clamped them together in pairs to get the chunky look I wanted.<br />
Initially I was looking for a way to put them all together in situ but Mr CH decided (while I was away) that he would attach the upstands to the wall using 'sticks like s**t' - what a stupid idea! The finials had already been attached to the upstands via screws at the back so all that was left was to attach the mantle which Mr CH yet again decided would be fine using 'sticks like s**t'.<br />
The whole thing looked smashing....................for a week or so! Then the wood started to warp from the heat of the log burner and as the only thing holding it together was hubbys stupid 'sticks like s**t' there was nothing to control the warp and the whole mantle started to seperate.<br />
Eventually I decided I couldn't leave it that way so removed the mantle (surprisingly easily - go figure) and replaced with a new length of timber. This time I first screwed a thinner length of timber into the finials and then sat the new mantle on top of it, this meant I could screw the thin base into the mantle from underneath and voila, no more warping.<br />
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Here's the finished look. You can se the thinner length of wood just underneath the mantle - should have thought of that in the first place. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtu0Zp2-W5SUox5bguKphSLMwDmhwA6XGO63vTdYxdvvp9verz5kIAZrssx5LpW6mQW-jH4SRkzfYvgFWpetTVocliS0S_VbcHs4yjxTb9ZbdtwKfjvoYuXrDb1azQrTCPDZwrC0eudQ/s1600/Scrap+wood+fireplace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtu0Zp2-W5SUox5bguKphSLMwDmhwA6XGO63vTdYxdvvp9verz5kIAZrssx5LpW6mQW-jH4SRkzfYvgFWpetTVocliS0S_VbcHs4yjxTb9ZbdtwKfjvoYuXrDb1azQrTCPDZwrC0eudQ/s1600/Scrap+wood+fireplace.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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This one shows the finials. I made four in the shape I wanted and then glued and clamped them together in pairs. You can just see the glue seam in this one as I obviously didn't do a very good job of cleaning the glue off and glue doesn't stain.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-28888729138596730842014-01-27T09:20:00.002+00:002014-02-06T18:24:20.725+00:00Building with pallets and reclaimed wood.I'm kind of in love with the <a href="http://ana-white.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">'Ana White'</span></a> web site, so many free plans there's bound to be something for everyone and I love that they're so adaptable, it's my go to website for inspiration.<br />
This Rustic console table from Pottery Barn caught my eye, as it did for many others so I had to have a go at building it myself with my reclaimed pallet wood<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrAHwLmEIUO5lChKU6QqQx7Dwy0Ay_X1vVxfYtoxFnOi1aTS4dfL9gL9jEIE3-sd1zaOD8SE0QgzfzAS0ldnmFKkUp-CIQeuSVizOLfVdpDDwruYPlMsPdNkVFGkyxIjOUIUgTdGHiCw/s1600/rustic+console+table.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrAHwLmEIUO5lChKU6QqQx7Dwy0Ay_X1vVxfYtoxFnOi1aTS4dfL9gL9jEIE3-sd1zaOD8SE0QgzfzAS0ldnmFKkUp-CIQeuSVizOLfVdpDDwruYPlMsPdNkVFGkyxIjOUIUgTdGHiCw/s1600/rustic+console+table.jpeg" height="366" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pottery Barn Rustic Console table.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The plans I followed are <a href="http://ana-white.com/2012/05/plans/rustic-x-console" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">here</span></a><br />
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While my interpretation may not be quite as catalogue ready as something from Pottery Barn I'm still quite thrilled with how it turned out, especially considering the pallet wood I used needed a heap of planing and sanding to make it useable.<br />
The perfect place for my 'Charlie Bear' Wosley to sit. The pallet wood <a href="http://coachhousecraftingonabudget.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/pallet-wood-sign.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">'Welcome' </span></a>sign, scrap wood <a href="http://coachhousecraftingonabudget.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/wooden-blocks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">'Home' blocks</span></a> and the <a href="http://coachhousecraftingonabudget.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/scrap-wood-table-lamp.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #674ea7;">scrap wood lamp</span></a> were all past projects of mine - click on the links to go to them. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiPVn8bd2Jz96kKGMGspMKRU2eXh5hgjLf4O8a6TdiVOtBHJN_haTIBmMuXtRgH57_oF6YPhFxyQfOQMhI2WhibBMGoiU5nVW4YpNLC5XgS6Lwc0eD9ZMYi3vRTuW1PPXljCvF-5U0iM/s1600/pallet+wood+sideboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">alt="pallet wood, DIY furniture, Wood console table, DIY"<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiPVn8bd2Jz96kKGMGspMKRU2eXh5hgjLf4O8a6TdiVOtBHJN_haTIBmMuXtRgH57_oF6YPhFxyQfOQMhI2WhibBMGoiU5nVW4YpNLC5XgS6Lwc0eD9ZMYi3vRTuW1PPXljCvF-5U0iM/s1600/pallet+wood+sideboard.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rustic console table using scrap pallet wood</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwwnvDppc3y6DFAWhv62t8Uh5ZrzkvVV7l6MonnmcK_3UPLoTjGgvDTlFzpX6wdVQ28nyK9ifWWLIUhLWY5G2yE6WIq8H1qTuxQrtEHP9N7aINLnHU5ZzS4h4_7r63V20NabPcpOm_GtA/s1600/Pallet+wood+sideboard2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">alt=" DIY console table, Pallet wood, Wood furniture, DIY table"<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwwnvDppc3y6DFAWhv62t8Uh5ZrzkvVV7l6MonnmcK_3UPLoTjGgvDTlFzpX6wdVQ28nyK9ifWWLIUhLWY5G2yE6WIq8H1qTuxQrtEHP9N7aINLnHU5ZzS4h4_7r63V20NabPcpOm_GtA/s1600/Pallet+wood+sideboard2.jpg" height="400" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pallet wood sideboard</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwujMaovIV50YfRlKOhqF9KovxNoYDKbRoht-EkUE8ll0pGCwD-d7-Bqf4a7utRt9SyhkmO2US4bhkqFAGPM87axQAgtVb8WzmGNyr8CCytGfnNPDRGBo6hJ22mzHeQu_M6MhiwsknMpY/s1600/Pallet+wood+sideboard3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">alt="Wood table, DIY, Pallet wood, Scrap wood, Woodworking, Sideboard"<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwujMaovIV50YfRlKOhqF9KovxNoYDKbRoht-EkUE8ll0pGCwD-d7-Bqf4a7utRt9SyhkmO2US4bhkqFAGPM87axQAgtVb8WzmGNyr8CCytGfnNPDRGBo6hJ22mzHeQu_M6MhiwsknMpY/s1600/Pallet+wood+sideboard3.jpg" height="400" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pallet wood furniture</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Sharing at<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2014/01/sunday-showcase-party-231.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UnderTheTableAndDreaming+%28Under+The+Table+and+Dreaming%29" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Under the table and dreaming</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/before-and-after-wednesday-week-3.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20TheDedicatedHouse%20%28The%20Dedicated%20House%29" target="_blank">The dedicated house </a></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #a64d79;">Savvy southern style </span></a></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-68057537990684149182014-01-03T10:53:00.001+00:002014-01-27T09:30:48.477+00:00Pallet wood signI came across this 'Welcome' sign late last year while browsing the tinterweb for inspiration and finally managed to get my own pallet wood version finished just before xmas.<br />
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This is my inspiration found on <a href="http://threemangoseeds.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/hand-painted-welcome-sign.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">'Three Mango Seeds'</span></a> blog<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtbJus6N8a7DGjxhiQInOoKbjiq4HtcrIO23LVLJanUVYi0PPoplDVx6GcDCrLQGErvVXy0Bgh0qOjioBqC-VdCMnjTFf43P4SNQEtkiDAPN-vFITZyEQUkcBi2U4mYihRQ76MtqXOjc/s1600/handpainted3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtbJus6N8a7DGjxhiQInOoKbjiq4HtcrIO23LVLJanUVYi0PPoplDVx6GcDCrLQGErvVXy0Bgh0qOjioBqC-VdCMnjTFf43P4SNQEtkiDAPN-vFITZyEQUkcBi2U4mYihRQ76MtqXOjc/s640/handpainted3.JPG" height="640" width="518" /></a></div>
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Here's my version of it<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRfhNrqP10gB9e1g-iyy_G1hv-kbBJWfq6YsNemOxzaatkWm1lKPTi57B7rAaxpEJlwLjEB7X0D3nwqgy8KgM2CBVITuZjLMERlXf48QlrUc5t4wUOZbCIIzC2o4ocBLdPe6N7VD6Krs/s1600/welcome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRfhNrqP10gB9e1g-iyy_G1hv-kbBJWfq6YsNemOxzaatkWm1lKPTi57B7rAaxpEJlwLjEB7X0D3nwqgy8KgM2CBVITuZjLMERlXf48QlrUc5t4wUOZbCIIzC2o4ocBLdPe6N7VD6Krs/s640/welcome.jpg" height="434" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was pretty easy to do, the hardest part getting my 45 degree corners to actually be true, in fact despite my every effort I couldn't then true and so I had to put the brass corners on to help hide the obvious gaps.<br />
I ended up having to do the writing completely free hand because the lettering I had printed out was either way too small or way too big and I was too lazy to trudge all the way back to the house to reprint them. <br />
All of the wood used for this project is pallet wood from the stacks of them we dismantled last year.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2014/01/sunday-showcase-party-231.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20UnderTheTableAndDreaming%20%28Under%20The%20Table%20and%20Dreaming%29" target="_blank">Under the table and dreaming </a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-35267713247268630802013-12-29T20:19:00.000+00:002014-01-01T14:31:41.903+00:00Christmas decorations & pallet woodOh my has it really been a couple of months since I last posted! It hasn't been a conscious thing - my other 2 blogs have suffered as well because a) there's nothing doing in the garden and b) who can lose weight and stay fit at this time of year!<br />
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I have been busy building xmas decorations though and my favourite thing has to be this wreath I made from garden willow.<br />
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Despite it being the first one I ever made it was surprisingly easy to make. The willow was snipped off from the garden trees and i just kept weaving it round and round until it was fairly thick and sturdy. It was a devil to get going but that was the hardest bit!<br />
I made the flowers using some old red organza type fabric and some cream shower curtain material I bought ages ago. The tutorial for these flowers is all over the net so I won't share it here but instead of using a needle and thread or hot glue as I went I used 'Fixsall' glue.<br />
I then used the 'Fixsall' to stick the flowers to the wreath and added some fake cones and greenery using wire. The hanging bow was just as simple and I love the finished effect.<br />
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I also made this xmas mantle planter.<br />
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I made the planter from salvaged pallet wood, gave it some stain and a coat of satin varnish and then added some olde world style handles to each end. The inside was filled with greenery from the garden Firs, a few cones and baubles, candles and xmas lights run through it. I'm already looking for spring ideas for the planter.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-53029358733352994112013-10-12T17:39:00.000+01:002013-10-12T17:39:22.810+01:00DIY Adirondack chair.Usually when I build something I devise a plan in my head of what I want the finished item to look like and then I pretty much make it up as I go along, it's just the way I've always been - I've never built anything from plans! Until now that is.<br />
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I've wanted to build an Adirondack chair for ages but just haven't had enough scrap wood to even make a start so when hubby had all those pallets delivered I was adding up the projects I could do as I was ripping them apart.<br />
My pallet wood pile is precious to me though so I made the decision to make the chair following plans I found online on the<a href="http://ana-white.com/2013/06/plans/home-depot-dih-workshop-adirondack-chair" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"> Anna White</span></a> website.<br />
I have mixed feelings about these plans because while it helped immensely to have the guesswork taken out of dimensions and angles etc I found alot of the measurements inaccurate for the size of wood that was suggested to use. Most of the issues were easy enough to work round but the finished look isn't as per the diagram because I had to use a 2" piece of wood as a back slat instead of the 4" the plans stated - this is because the width of the back support is 19.5" yet the plans tell you to use five 4" slats and secure them to the 19.5" batten leaving a 0.5" gap in between, this totals 21" NOT the 19.5" that the plans state. There were a couple more discrepancies like this and had I been more experienced I would have noticed this before starting but I didn't! The finished chair still looks awesome though especially when you take into account that the wood cost me nothing more than time taking the pallets apart - all I have to do now is decide on a colour.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwsOG4KCR3W6Y2CtXAK_NkqqRySd7Subg5Vk47SDIbg_llDAtekGR_4FTjFYFPE05E4x3HGudsxyFN9hbSeKWszlGtNBAmyueow4Q6iyOEWHIz36It6-VIA9aUYrcP4DjDx9dFbYKQ0oA/s1600/adirondack+chair2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Adirondack chair, DIY, Pallet wood, Adirondack, Garden furniture" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwsOG4KCR3W6Y2CtXAK_NkqqRySd7Subg5Vk47SDIbg_llDAtekGR_4FTjFYFPE05E4x3HGudsxyFN9hbSeKWszlGtNBAmyueow4Q6iyOEWHIz36It6-VIA9aUYrcP4DjDx9dFbYKQ0oA/s400/adirondack+chair2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5wRgMVXJITJyJShzfN6BL0tAdPNxgRFwV5dzaNdCRR17YiH2CD4zxot4DBFrwZa2FmXYU645SlMCv95f7W66Ndt8q7QVkUtmuhjI1zDehQ1GI3Ccl_aP1HZfUwuND87L4gT3pANziog/s1600/adirondack+chair4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img adirondack="" alt-="" border="0" diy="" furniture="" garden="" height="400" pallet="" scrap="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5wRgMVXJITJyJShzfN6BL0tAdPNxgRFwV5dzaNdCRR17YiH2CD4zxot4DBFrwZa2FmXYU645SlMCv95f7W66Ndt8q7QVkUtmuhjI1zDehQ1GI3Ccl_aP1HZfUwuND87L4gT3pANziog/s400/adirondack+chair4.jpg" width="300" wood="" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MdFjaYxlZpZNN_ybYoWTobRMy2_4jGet_m05GGi_ghlC1gt4tdvMFXY7YgmvWVWibpRLMvGqhhExu20ncF8coyHeUCBZ0OhVi8SitKlpO6PwGEkplLMcwDHxbjl8b6-hN4cdp-tWVH8/s1600/adirondack+chair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" adirondack chair, garden DIY, pallet wood" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MdFjaYxlZpZNN_ybYoWTobRMy2_4jGet_m05GGi_ghlC1gt4tdvMFXY7YgmvWVWibpRLMvGqhhExu20ncF8coyHeUCBZ0OhVi8SitKlpO6PwGEkplLMcwDHxbjl8b6-hN4cdp-tWVH8/s400/adirondack+chair.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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I'm currently making the matching footstool via the same website but I'm having the same issue with inaccurate measurements. The length of the footstool is 23.5" and yet the plans require you to use six 4" slats with the 0.5" gap in between - this totals 27.5" NOT 23.5" so I'm yet again left with a 2" slat at the bottom.<br />
I've checked the website and everyone else that has made the same chair appears to have been able to use the stated amount and sizes of wood so maybe I am doing something wrong, I just can't igure out what.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-55811031814202899842013-10-02T07:58:00.000+01:002013-10-02T07:58:24.648+01:00Winter = Crafting time!My poor blog! It must be feeling very unloved right now, my posts throughout the entire year have been hit and miss but it's not because I no longer care for this, my first ever blog, it's simply because I have spent so much time outside gardening that I haven't gotten around to crafting or creating as much as I would like, however with the changing of the seasons comes a shift from working outside to working inside.<br />
It won't be long before the garden is all wrapped up for winter and my winter craft projects will take up my time instead. With that thought in mind I have a list ready with a few projects to get me going and no doubt more will follow as I go along.<br />
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I ran out of scrap wood earlier in the year - yes, I can hear that intake of breath, what is a girl supposed to do when her wood supply runs out and her whole ethos is crafting on a budget which doesn't allow for buying new wood in?<br />
Well first off she moans to her hubby about the dire situation, give him time to mull it over in his head and wait for his solutions.<br />
My hubbys solution came in the form of this<br />
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At first I thought he was taking the proverbial, I mean we all know how difficult these things are to take apart right?<br />
Not to be out palleted I scoured the tinterweb for a solution and came up with this - though it really grated to have to buy something to dismantle free pallets I knew I wouldn't be getting anywhere without one.<br />
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I think the whole thing including shipping came in at around £63 but it's the most amazing tool for dismantling pallets and really does work as it says it should.<br />
There are some pallets it won't work on for various reasons but it does the majority of pallets and the wood isn't annihilated so it's all reuseable.<br />
Just 6 or so of the 6ft pallets has given me this little stack to work with<br />
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I have all the 3"x1" spacers on a separate pile too - all reusable.<br />
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So what am I going to make with my first heap of wood? Well I'm finally going to get a bookcase I really need for the lounge and all my lovely books are finally going to have their own permanent home instead of being dumped in the spare room - so this is one of my first projects<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cannot find the original website.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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With Christmas just around the corner I just have to make this to sit on the dining room mantle<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCK3yuBml2V1z5b13bdACE7RoqZX8-VzcJAOQ36bBHPVVEGFd7GZhNkdl7OKCjpLGZcoc2mYTao9rAEja5JkBUPUzmScuNorpfbQNIdpuM4Rv2OXxMgsOfuHgSFYpxhH06Km15rSfzXU0/s1600/IMG_2392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCK3yuBml2V1z5b13bdACE7RoqZX8-VzcJAOQ36bBHPVVEGFd7GZhNkdl7OKCjpLGZcoc2mYTao9rAEja5JkBUPUzmScuNorpfbQNIdpuM4Rv2OXxMgsOfuHgSFYpxhH06Km15rSfzXU0/s640/IMG_2392.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://roofaboveus.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/christmas-entry.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Roof Above Us</span></a></td></tr>
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But it doesn't end there, just 5 mins on Pinterest searching Palletwood or scrapwood projects and you're hit with a veritable minefield of images. Here's some more favourites of mine that may well have to become personal projects<br />
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Cannot find where this image originated from but I would love to make this clock for both indoors and outdoors.<br />
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I'm not sure where I would put this sign from <a href="http://threemangoseeds.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/hand-painted-welcome-sign.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">'Three Mango Seeds'</span></a> but I still want it!<br />
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So simple and yet so stunning, I love this christmas tree from <a href="http://www.thewoodconnectionblog.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">'The Wood Connection Blog'</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0zorunwdDdUP3rpJnTO72yvtWxkaGgDLHhpMDLVNeIFuoBrRqBanmGJc9s6fQ36TW-mSEBh3-nLOvVj5fnFBhCEYo86x-xp92jvnVmuYaNhTWcAK9xzvw5c6WaObs-vSQBrgCz3SCrI/s1600/19e5fb1fe3da9ca06bb437db5e7554be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0zorunwdDdUP3rpJnTO72yvtWxkaGgDLHhpMDLVNeIFuoBrRqBanmGJc9s6fQ36TW-mSEBh3-nLOvVj5fnFBhCEYo86x-xp92jvnVmuYaNhTWcAK9xzvw5c6WaObs-vSQBrgCz3SCrI/s400/19e5fb1fe3da9ca06bb437db5e7554be.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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And how about this from<a href="http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2013/07/hanging-basket-wood-stand.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"> 'Shanty 2 Chic'</span></a>, it could be used as a Christmas sign holder in the winter and a hanging basket holder during the summer<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKKiFmrDRNYfisPbuJlVDEbprE5UfZDkO4rXhaGX5OsRe-mOMkfqG5NA3cv47IIMbdh4Pwpu8DliVG7CkKVyZszyGYVJQsHyK0l7sHbH1mfk0MjK2CtuOh0RCcwCzJPZ-YWMllfZ_Bgg/s1600/f88cfff486bcc0108a4a5c4bcde140e9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKKiFmrDRNYfisPbuJlVDEbprE5UfZDkO4rXhaGX5OsRe-mOMkfqG5NA3cv47IIMbdh4Pwpu8DliVG7CkKVyZszyGYVJQsHyK0l7sHbH1mfk0MjK2CtuOh0RCcwCzJPZ-YWMllfZ_Bgg/s640/f88cfff486bcc0108a4a5c4bcde140e9.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
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Yes I think it's fair to say that I will soon be back on track with regular posts, not only will I be creating with pallet wood but I also have plenty of Christmas gifts to be getting on with.<br />
Roll on winter! <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488077041175637478.post-56100562298417097712013-06-24T16:45:00.001+01:002013-06-24T16:45:45.974+01:00Garden whimsy bird bathI would never have described myself as a lover of whimsy in the garden, in fact I would go so far as to say that I found alot of whimsy 'tacky'. So you can imagine my own surprise when I decided to make a bird bath for the garden using coloured glass vases and bowls - hubby was certainly sceptical.<br />
I wasn't entirely sure that this new whimsy garden feature would even make it to the actual garden but I have to say both hubby and I are kind of delighted at just how cute it looks nestled in among the pot plants. (apologies for the copyright on my garden blog name).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9O6CczwB5h2KPmsQFXiLI8xEoGGKIg2otP1HmqOq7BVTjeszT-oj0k9orR1EiIRIKXk68k2cpCNRkxaOjSpFboqMtYXanFFyzHjAe9PlKfSEZGT6hKpKdl4T0piHTg_UrCwFb9tZ59M/s1600/birdtable3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9O6CczwB5h2KPmsQFXiLI8xEoGGKIg2otP1HmqOq7BVTjeszT-oj0k9orR1EiIRIKXk68k2cpCNRkxaOjSpFboqMtYXanFFyzHjAe9PlKfSEZGT6hKpKdl4T0piHTg_UrCwFb9tZ59M/s640/birdtable3.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Cute huh? And yet so easy to make.<br />
This used just 4 pieces of glass - the glass plate for the base, 2 glass vases and 1 glass bowl.<br />
The base of the first vase was glued to the plate using clear silicon sealant then the second vase was glued to the first upside down and finally the bowl was glued to what was the base of the second vase.<br />
It was all left to set for a good 48 hours or so and voila, a bird bath that actually gets used by birds!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyF-Knr9LXkv4qPAYzDA6mpR8f1SrtCa-Q3PuXdQT4M6gI5z34oMGQSSNGc3f3GXRtGkKUNoAJZp47y4S7X7pazfuu5ueIfGBxLgAkuauWjN4bYyp2KDEsHoq-pOV33aHKLApGwC6ePZg/s1600/birdbowl2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyF-Knr9LXkv4qPAYzDA6mpR8f1SrtCa-Q3PuXdQT4M6gI5z34oMGQSSNGc3f3GXRtGkKUNoAJZp47y4S7X7pazfuu5ueIfGBxLgAkuauWjN4bYyp2KDEsHoq-pOV33aHKLApGwC6ePZg/s640/birdbowl2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf6B_M3YZG0gsxZ6AsMabBW9YieH2TVwiNcqlAKJhLQElk3oMSSFcfIKcbAaOLgITF1kzbf8nXPhLO542PdtVt1T6Jy2Pp-xYplKjLg3z3Kj5uGJ8LWz0D_b09lthZKJOWR1mCXJIVtyg/s1600/birdbowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf6B_M3YZG0gsxZ6AsMabBW9YieH2TVwiNcqlAKJhLQElk3oMSSFcfIKcbAaOLgITF1kzbf8nXPhLO542PdtVt1T6Jy2Pp-xYplKjLg3z3Kj5uGJ8LWz0D_b09lthZKJOWR1mCXJIVtyg/s640/birdbowl.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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What's more is that I'm so loving 'whimsy' that I'm now planning on making even more of it for the garden. These are the kind of things I'm thinking of<br />
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All I need for this one is some table legs and some fan blades - hmmmmmm! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCwNz-c0HudSFtsAychrmRPZ8u3XJrNRSGUqG8A6049lmmCQM4ZsRaiW6VL-EpoVXC98caiwnBtsx71UIdY0GYF3RoKrRVRaoaCCGhP98E0t0khBcJ-GYih1xG7DXNmnTXEIKOzz2qFNY/s1600/085b6293f5e880061e893cfe53b67e30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCwNz-c0HudSFtsAychrmRPZ8u3XJrNRSGUqG8A6049lmmCQM4ZsRaiW6VL-EpoVXC98caiwnBtsx71UIdY0GYF3RoKrRVRaoaCCGhP98E0t0khBcJ-GYih1xG7DXNmnTXEIKOzz2qFNY/s400/085b6293f5e880061e893cfe53b67e30.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LucyDesignsonline</span></td></tr>
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My garden hose already looks like this anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to achieve this<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUjhBYvvYE1WJ_NidttlesbbaKG0xmaMy_AaN3SK-KexdQtQM6hCfHZyc1pmgQojmsWMzZOg6oSr_JG0nkAeqLImgwVSquTenn1TQRYTM6PXVovvy9KIQO3Br3sCyVQwSMVSUsRsABYw/s1600/opt-hose-garden-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUjhBYvvYE1WJ_NidttlesbbaKG0xmaMy_AaN3SK-KexdQtQM6hCfHZyc1pmgQojmsWMzZOg6oSr_JG0nkAeqLImgwVSquTenn1TQRYTM6PXVovvy9KIQO3Br3sCyVQwSMVSUsRsABYw/s400/opt-hose-garden-art.jpg" width="326" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://dirtgarden.wordpress.com/</span></td></tr>
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I absolutely love this, we all have old rusty tools laying around don't we ........oh, just me then!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-EAblz-kFpGQUmq5O-pM40TENdCCaLtoIPU8hNbnm15Ad8juP_V_WuxTPWr3X7kyEFqgDBcY6g5AvB-hmwaCZcVV1Hp1fVWXrjnEgJdez2aW-ILLdjJpJgDjKbFajahTMp6WmWid-nM/s1600/toolart031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-EAblz-kFpGQUmq5O-pM40TENdCCaLtoIPU8hNbnm15Ad8juP_V_WuxTPWr3X7kyEFqgDBcY6g5AvB-hmwaCZcVV1Hp1fVWXrjnEgJdez2aW-ILLdjJpJgDjKbFajahTMp6WmWid-nM/s400/toolart031.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.empressofdirt.net/garden-art-made-from-old-tools/</span></td></tr>
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I had a go at making something like this today, let's just say it's not as easy at it looks<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U4XjWQOpp2zGUItDHbeQHtCHTrXGmBLMfzsHachcOG3jqloyYDQcgGnJu24Oi1eeSftbPHQDHYyAVLgE_YyhQnicxKWNtGTttdyeyjaMkvaE9beJmRs7kbdyF7nHQTm4K5rp6DlcFBU/s1600/Large-Handmade-Copper-Snail-Garden-Stake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U4XjWQOpp2zGUItDHbeQHtCHTrXGmBLMfzsHachcOG3jqloyYDQcgGnJu24Oi1eeSftbPHQDHYyAVLgE_YyhQnicxKWNtGTttdyeyjaMkvaE9beJmRs7kbdyF7nHQTm4K5rp6DlcFBU/s400/Large-Handmade-Copper-Snail-Garden-Stake.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.bronzefroggallery.com/</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1