DIY scrap wood picture holder - no fuss quick and easy to make

Needing a quick & easy picture holder using reclaimed wood? This DIY craft might be what you are looking for.

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This scrap wood picture holder was insanely easy to make. While I love painting there was no painting, no drying times, no staining, literally no fuss! I had it up and holding pictures within minutes.

I’ve been redecorating our master bedroom on a shoe string budget. From the paint to the décor my goal is to spend less than $100 to redo our bedroom. This DIY craft most definitely fits into the budget since I only had to pay for the photo prints (they were a whopping .09 a piece).

I can’t wait to get our room all finished up and show you guys how it turns out but for now I will show you the DIY picture holder I made to go along with the rest of my frugal décor in our room.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

—-> Check out more scrap wood projects, click here <—-

Here’s what you need to make your own DIY RECLAIMED WOOD PICTURE FRAME HOLDER

• a piece of reclaimed wood

• clips like these (I got mine from the Dollar Tree in the office supplies section)

• hammer

• hanging hardware of choice

Click here to learn how to attach a sawtooth hanger. It’s super simple especially if you have a piece of painter’s tape.

1.GATHER MATERIALS

I didn’t have any sawtooth hangers so I used some fancy picture hanging hardware and it required a drill.

2. LAY OUT YOUR PHOTOS

To be sure I had the spacing right I laid my 4x6 photos out on my reclaimed wood. I just eyeballed this but if you want yours to be perfect and exact you can use your tape measure to perfect your spacing.

3. HAMMER IN THE CLIPS

The clips I used already had nails attached to them. They were a little difficult to hammer in to the wood though. I am fairly certain, since the clips I used were in the office department of the store, that they were made to push into a cork board and not wood. But hey, it worked!

4. ATTACH HANGING HARDWARE

If you need a visual on how to attach a sawtooth hanger check out this post. I used my Ryobi drill to screw in my hardware but a drill isn’t completely necessary, a screwdriver will work too it’s just not as quick and easy.

5. ADD YOUR PICTURES & HANG ON THE WALL

This reclaimed wood photo holder is going in our master bedroom so I tried to choose photos that were good ones of both my husband and myself.

I hope you found this tutorial both simple and motivating to use up some scrap pieces of wood that you may have lying around. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Check out more posts below. Happy Crafting!

Leaning rustic front porch 'oh hello' sign + FREE SVG

Leaning rustic front porch 'oh hello' sign + FREE SVG

Make your own unique rustic farmhouse leaning porch sign… bonus I’m giving you the same SVG I used for this tutorial for you to use for free!

DIY rustic leaning porch sign

The other day I shared with you how I turned a rusty old metal locker / cabinet into a storage for our muddy shoes on our sunporch. I had picked up that rusted gem at a local antique store for just $20! I had no idea when I bought that chipped old farmhouse looking piece that it would actually serve our home double duty!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what the metal cabinet looked like when I picked it up from the antique store.

And here’s what I repurposed it into. So perfect for our family’s muddy shoes on the sunporch!

Since one of the pins on the door was gone I removed the door from the cabinet all together. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the door but I knew if I put it on a shelf in the garage it would sit there for a long time because honestly I’d forget it was there. So I did some head scratching and thought I could turn it into a super cute painted sign. And so I did!

How to paint your own farmhouse style welcome sign for your front porch

Here’s what I used

• rusty metal cabinet door

• 12”x12” cardstock

• Cricut machine

• green Cricut mat

• Cricut Design Space

• black outdoor paint (here’s a paint similar to the one I used)

• paint brush

• paint tray

• sharpie

• masking tape

• heat gun

1. CUT OUT LETTERS

You can grab the same oh hello SVG that I used in my free resource library. That’s where I keep all of my printables, cut files, and more for my readers to use free of charge <3!

I opted to use a cardstock stencil on this metal porch sign. I was afraid if I used a sticky back stencil (like used on this other leaning porch sign) would remove a lot of the paint and rust that was already on the metal door.

I uploaded the SVG into Cricut Design Space then sized it so that it would fit on the 12”x59” door. I sized mine so that it was about 10”x50” or so then I had to break up the oh hello SVG so that I could cut it out. This is easy, just take a square and slice the letters out so now you have individual sections instead of one single image, I hope that makes sense. Here’s what my SVG looked like after I sliced it and deleted the duplicate slices (I changed the colors so you could see them better).

To cut them out I used 12”x12” cardstock. If my cut image was larger than 12” I just butted two pieces together and taped the seam. Click Click here to see how I do this on another projectto see how I do this on another project.

2. ARRANGE LETTERS & TRACE

After my letters were cut out I decided which end I wanted to be the top…then I did opposite of that lol I placed my door on one side of my table then went to the other side to arrange my letters, total facepalm moment. But that’s ok it turned out SO CUTE even with that mess up. I left more blank space toward the bottom of the sign so that I would have room to place a plant at the base if I wanted without hiding the first letter. Here’s a great still shot from my video lol!!

I started tracing with a pen but that just wasn’t cutting it so then I found the nearest sharpie and used that. It was brown but the black paint covered it perfectly!

3. PAINT

I had a bottle of old outdoor paint, like 3 years old, and used that to paint my sign. I used a small round tipped brush to outline the letters but also fill them in as I went along.

4. DRY

Like with most of the DIYs I do for around my house I needed this one to be quick and easy. I’m a busy momma to four girls and we had a movie to catch at the theatre so I used my heat gun to speed up the dry time.

5. 2ND COAT OF PAINT

I thought maybe one coat of paint would do it but it wasn’t quiet enough coverage so I painted a second coat. This went much faster than the first coat. Then I used my heat gun to dry it again.

I’m super impatient so I put my sign out as soon as that second coat was dry.

I just LOVE how this old porch sign turned out! I still can’t believe it turned out so stinking good! I had no plans for that door when I bought that cabinet but I’m so glad I made use of it instead of it just sitting on a shelf collecting even more dust in the garage.

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

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Rusty old metal cabinet / locker turned mudroom shoe storage

$20 vintage locker repurposed for the sunporch / mudroom

Antique stores have the best finds! I scored a gorgeous old metal locker / metal cabinet at my local antique shop last week. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with but after seeing it’s $20 price tag I knew it had to come home with me.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I took the tag inside, paid for it, then loaded it up in our brand new to us fancy minivan (literally the nicest car we’ve ever owned and I still can’t believe it’s ours!!). Thank goodness I had just put this cargo liner blanket thing in there so it kept my van from getting gross stuff all over it or scratched up. Three of the four daughters were excited about our new find but one of them…not so much lol!

A week after bringing it home I finally had time to do something with it. I decided I was going to turn it into a muddy boot/shoe holder for our sunporch / mudroom. Oh my goodness it turned out so freaking cute!

I have seen others paint their metal cabinets / lockers that look like this but honestly I loved everything about this piece as is. I didn’t want to scrape off any of the old paint or add anything to it. I thought it was perfect just the way it was. The only thing I did to it was remove the door and clean it up a bit.

It was full of crunchy old leaves, spiderwebs, and lots of dirt, rust, and chipped paint. I used my vacuum to get all of that out of there. I didn’t see a need to wipe it down with any spray cleaning agent. I mean, after all it will be holding shoes that have just stomped through a chicken coop.

With just a light cleaning this metal cabinet looked a million times better. I did vacuum off the big chipped paint spots. I figured those will end up falling off anyway soon from putting shoes in there.

The legs on this piece were in pretty good shape but because our sunporch slants down for drainage the cabinet sat lopsided. To fix that I put a small piece of scrap wood under two of the feet. That worked great!

On one of the shelves I added a bucket to store bug spray and sunscreen. It took me forever to find a piece of chalk so I could write sunscreen & bug spray on the front of that lol! Oh the mom life, gotta love it! Next to that I put a wire basket and filled it with the bubbles and jump ropes that the girls got for Easter. If you need a cheap Easter craft for your rustic home decor check out this adorable moss bunny sign I made this year.

I don’t think I could have found a more perfect shoe holder for this space. It’s unique and beautifully imperfect just like our family.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

DIY paint stick wall hanging, with FREE printable

MAKE RUSTIC INTERCHANGEABLE WALL ART USING PAINT STIR STICKS AND A PRINTER AT HOME

Paint sticks don’t sound like the kind of thing you would purposely hang on your wall as part of your décor. Well think again! They are actually PERFECT to use to make interchangeable hanging frames. AND they are SO cheap to make which makes this crafty DIY even better! With a little bit of paint, magnetic tape,printable and some twine you can transform your own stir sticks into a farmhouse style picture frame.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

BONUS grab my FREE printable to use for your own wall hanging. I love being a girl mom x4 but it for sure has it’s moments of hard conversations. One of those hard convos I had recently is the sole purpose to creating this printed wall hanging. I had plans to make these stir stick decorations but I wasn’t really planning to hang this exact piece. I was going to do something a little patriotic to tie in with this repurposed drawer into an American flag instead I chose to showcase a saying that would sink in a little deeper for my girls. When they read it I hope it sets in even deeper that they are perfect just the way they are.

If you like easy to make signs check out this super simple free standing wood sign. All you need is a printer and some mod podge and of course a piece of wood ;).

Here’s how you can make your own affordable rustic wall hanging

Here’s what you’ll need

• 4 paint stir sticks

• paint or stain I used gray paint

• paint brush

• magnetic tape

• twine

• scissors

• printable

Helpful tools

• home printer

• Ryobi miter saw

ONE- The first thing I did was cut the ends off of all of my paint sticks. You can keep these on if you want but I like the look of them cut off better. I used my miter saw to do this.

TWO- I painted the blank side of my paint sticks gray. I really wanted to stain them in gray but honestly I didn’t want the mess so instead I painted a thin layer then took a paper towel and wiped it off. This gives a faux stained look.

THREE- I attached a strip of magnetic tape to the insides, the side I didn’t paint, of each paint stick. To save on tape I cut a strip in half length wise for one top and one bottom stick. I’d never used this stuff before this project and so far I’m impressed with how well it works.

FOUR- I printed off my printable from my home computer and trimmed about 1/4” off of each long edge with my paper trimmer (if you don’t have one you NEED to get one lol they are so inexpensive and save so much time and stress from not having straight cut lines when you need them). Then I sandwiched the printable between the paint sticks at the top and bottom.

FIVE- To keep this stir stick wall art interchangeable I loosely tied my twine hanger to the ends of the top sides. This way if I want to change it out or if somehow a spaghetti noodle gets flung on to it, which can totally happen with four kids let’s be real, I can easily slip off the twine remove the old print add a new one and slip the twine loop back on. Super simple and easy!@

Like with all of my crafty tutorials if you have any questions please feel free to ask away:)!

Happy Crafting!

DIY repurpose an old drawer into an American Flag

HOW TO REPURPOSE AN OLD DRAWER INTO AN AMERICAN FLAG

Before you pass up on the dusty old drawer that’s sitting on the side of the road you might want to think of all the amazing things you could turn that in to. Years ago my father in law had a huge old drawer sitting under his carport just collecting dirt and debris. I loved it! Even covered in gross beat-up contact paper I could still see the it’s potential of being something beautiful He told me I could take it home and then it sat in the basement collecting even more dust for years. Finally I pulled it out from the depths of the basement over the weekend and told myself I WOULD transform this old drawer this week!

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I really wanted to paint something American on it and after going back and forth in my own head I decided a simple flag would be perfect for this old drawer. I had thought about stenciling a big US map on it or even some lettering but with everything I already have on my plate I decided I should just keep it simple. Besides I don’t have a ton of vinyl and transfer tape to spare since I’m running low and shipments are taking a little longer than normal at the moment. With a little painters tape and a bit of vinyl I was on my way to making a simple rustic American flag.

Here’s what the old drawer looked like before I gave it a full facelift.

And this is what the old drawer looks like now. I definitely made a few mistakes but overall I’m loving how this rustic flag turned out.

If you are planning on doing a lot of stenciling on wood click here to read this post on how I save money on stenciling film.

How to make your own rustic flag

If you have an old drawer hanging around and collecting dust you can transform it into a rustic looking flag like I did with this one.

Here’s what you’ll need

• old drawer

• red, white, and blue paint

• paint brush

• painters tape

• masking tape

• chipbrush

• antiquing wax

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• sandpaper

• 50 stars Cricut cut file

• lint free cloth

Helpful tools

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut design space

• green cutting mat

• Ryobi sander

ONE-The first thing I had to do was sand it down. This drawer originally came with some gross contact paper attached to it. I had done the majority of taking all of that off when I first got the drawer. I removed the contact paper as much as I could then used the sander to help take off the rest. I started with 60 grit sandpaper on my handheld sander then worked my way up to 120 grit. the contact paper left behind some sticky residue but with a little elbow grease I was able to get all of it off. Then I used a lint free cloth and a vacuum to get off all the dust.

TWO- Using a dry brush I painted the inside of the drawer white. I used flat white indoor paint for this. When I brushed on the white base I made sure that all four sides didn’t get painted right up to the edge and I made the edges really uneven. I wanted it to look rough.

THREE- I measured out how big I wanted the blue area on my flag to be. I am not 100% happy with the size of this but it’s there to stay now lol! I taped that square off then started taping off my lines for my red and white stripes. I did this the same way I did this scrap wood 2x4 flag. I didn’t measure out my lines, mainly because I’m not a super precise person. I used the top edge of the drawer as my guide then taped off my stripes using wide painters tape. I did not make a true American flag though I only have 7 stripes total on mine.

FOUR- Once I had my stripes taped off I painted the exposed stripes red. Then let them dry and painted then with a second coat of red paint. I peeled my tape up while my paint was still wet.

FIVE- I stenciled the 50 stars on this rustic flag but did it a little differently than a typical stencil. I did what’s called a reverse stencil on this just like I did with this 4th of July leaning porch sign . I used my Cricut and Cricut design space to cut out 50 stars. You can get my free Cricut cut file here. Since my stars were wider than 11.5” I had to cut them out on two separate pieces of stencil material. But it wasn’t bad at all to piece them together. I did have a big OOPS moment when I weeded away a star. Thank goodness for an honest husband who told me it looked good other than missing a star! I was able to paint in the missing star before I had applied the wax, praise the Lord!

SIX- Using transfer tape I applied the star stencils to my flag then taped off the stripes. To cut down on paint bleed I sealed them with a thin layer of white paint. After that was dry I painted that part of my flag blue, let dry, then painted another layer of blue. While the paint was still wet I peel up the star stencils and the tape. I did have a little paint bleed but nothing too serious. This is when I added the last star that I missed :/.

SEVEN- I used my Ryobi sander to distress my rustic drawer flag. I used 120 grit sandpaper and lightly went over the entire flag then focused on random areas here and there. After I was happy with the distressing I wiped the sawdust off with a lint free cloth.

EIGHT- If you’ve read any of my other tutorials you probably know LOVE my antiquing wax. I use it for so many of my craft projects and of course used it for this one too. I used a chip brush and lightly applied the dark wax to my flag. If you’ve never used this stuff before please be aware that a little goes a LONG way. I usually dab the end of my brush into the lid then dab off on a cloth. Since I didn’t have a cloth handy for this DIY I used my apron.

I can’t wait to hang this rustic flag in our living room! We plan to keep it up year round and I know every time we look it we will think of fond memories of my father in la

I hope this post inspires you to give an old drawer a makeover! If you have any questions on this DIY or any of my other tutorials please feel free to ask away:)!

Happy Crafting!

Just starting out using your Cricut? See the top 10 supplies and accessories you need to get started.

DIY how to build a pallet style wood sign

We’ve all seen them, those gorgeous pallet style signs. The ones that are the spotlight of our rustic farmhouse dreams! Did you know there IS an easy way to make them? One that won’t break your back AND one that doesn’t break the bank. If you’ve been in any craft store in the last year you know what I’m talking about. Yes, prebuilt pallet signs are super convenient but they are expensive for what they are. Most are very thin and will break easily.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE drooling up and down the aisles of Michael’s of all the different crafts I can create but I also know that I can make a pallet style sign for a fraction of the price that it would cost to buy one from there. Granted I would have to do the work BUT it is actually SUPER easy to make one of those pallet style signs at home. If you have the tools you can make your own pallet wood blanks too.

After you read this tutorial check out these 6 MUST HAVES FOR STENCILNG WOOD SIGNS

Here’s one that I made using old fence wood. While I LOVE the look of this one this rustic looking wood can be really hard to come by so I don’t get to make these beautiful ooking signs often.

Here’s another version of a pallet style sign. For this one I used new wood and stained it in weathered gray. Then I distressed the edges and corners to give it a little character.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PALLET STYLE WOODEN SIGNS

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• wood

• miter saw

• brad nailer

• brad nails

• sander

• sanding discs

• wood glue

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO ATTACH A SAWTOOTH HANGER TO YOUR WOODEN SIGNS & DECOR

ONE- Figure out what type of wood you are going to use. I recommend you don’t use anything thicker than 1”. Anything thicker will be very heavy. For this tutorial I am using a 1x4.

TWO- Decide how big you would like your sign to be, width and length. Measure out your pieces and mark them.

THREE- Use your miter saw to cut the pieces to the width you would like. Don’t worry if they are a little off you can fix that once you have your pallet sign built.

FOUR- After you have your pieces cut lay them out fronts facing down. Wood will often have one side that’s “prettier” than the other so choose which side you want to put your design on and place that facing down on your workspace.

FIVE- Cut down two pieces of skinnier wood that are shorter than the length of your pallet sign, these will be your support pieces to place on the backside of your sign so it stays together. If I’m making a smaller sign I will usually use yard stakes for this but you can use a 1x2 if making a large sign. I just eyeball how long I want it to be and cut two to that length.

SIX- Put a little bit of wood glue on your support pieces then place them on the back side of your pallet, they will go in the opposite direction that your pallet boards are running. Use your nail gun to nail them in place. You can also use a hammer and nails it will just take a little bit longer.

SEVEN- If your pieces are uneven and you want them to be perfectly square you can do that with your miter saw. My ends are ALWAYS a little uneven. So I take them to my miter saw, line the shortest one up with my laser on my saw and cut off the extra on both ends.

EIGHT- Sand your new sign. I recommend an orbit sander and 120 grit sandpaper.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. As with all of my DIY crafts if you have any questions please feel free to ask away.

If you want to hang your new beautiful handmade sign in your home read this easy and quick tutorial on how to attach a sawtooth hanger to wood signs.

Happy Crafting!

How to make beeswax wraps, reusable cotton saran wrap

Make your own reusable cotton food wraps

I gotta say I am impressed with these simple yet useful beeswax reusable cotton wraps. If you’ve never heard of these before you’re not alone, my husband had no idea what they were and I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted to make. You use these cloth wraps in your kitchen to replace saran wrap…genius I know! I had never used beeswax or pine resin before this DIY, I actually had no idea pine resin was a thing to buy until recently. But after seeing how easy this project was I am eager to try others that use these ingredients.

I read several different articles telling how to make them. They all basically used the same three ingredients: BEESWAX, PINE RESIN, JOJOBA OIL. Some however didn’t use the pine resin, or any resin at all, and what I read, and now agree with since I have made them myself, is that you won’t get that sticky saran wrap feel unless you use the pine resin. Technically you can just use beeswax but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you enjoy this money saving tip be sure to check out these reusable oil bottles for the kitchen.

DIY EASY BEESWAX & RESIN SARAN WRAP

Here’s what you'll need

• beeswax pellets

• pine resin

• jojoba oil

• 100% cotton fabric

• pinking shears

• chip brush

• sauce pan

• wide mouth half pint mason jar

• measuring spoons

• measuring cup

• aluminum foil

• cookie sheet

• cooling rack

• flexible squeegee

• preheated oven at 215 degrees

This is the recipe I used

• 1/2 c BEESWAX PELLETS

• 2 t PINE RESIN

• 1/2 t JOJOBA OIL

The first couple of wraps I made I only used 1 teaspoon of the pine resin and I did not like the way those wraps turned out. So I doubled the resin for the next batch and they turned out SO much better!

1.MELT THE INGREDIENTS

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees. Then mix 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets, 2 teaspoons of pine resin, and 1/2 teaspoon of jojoba oil. The BEST way to do this is to melt it all in a double boiler. I used an old sauce pan and a short mason jar for this. I put a small amount of water in the sauce pan because I didn’t want the jar to float and I knew since I was making a small batch it wouldn’t take much to heat of the jar to melt the beeswax. I used a thin chip brush to do all of the stirring.

2. CUT YOUR FABRIC

while my ingredients were melting I cut my fabric into pieces I thought would be good sizes for what I wanted to use them for. I cut a few small ones that would fit around the top of a jar. Several medium sized ones that would be good to wrap around food. And a couple of large ones that would fit around my larger sized mixing bowls. I used my grandma’s old pair of pinking shears on the edges of the fabric so that the edges wouldn’t fray once I start using the food wraps. Also, you want to be sure you are using 100% cotton.

3. BRUSH ON & BAKE

Line your cookie sheet with foil, shiny side down. Place a piece of your fabric on the cookie sheet. Use the chip brush to brush on the melted mixture. Then pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Do not skip placing it in the over. If you just brush the wax mixture on your food wraps they will be stiff, the mixture won’t be on the fabric evenly and it will result in them not working quite right. Placing them in the oven allows the wax to melt completely into the fabric and giving you a nice even coat over the entire piece of fabric.

4. REMOVE EXCESS WAX

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven. Use a squeegee, here's the kind I used, and squeegee the excess beeswax mixture off of the fabric. I didn’t do this for the first couple of wraps I made and I didn’t like how they turned out, for two reasons - there wasn’t enough resin AND they were WAY TOO stiff and waxy. None of the tutorials I read said to do this step though. So maybe they know something I don’t. But I do know when I went to use the first two to try them out before I made more they were kind of blah and I wasn’t impressed at all with them. After I squeegeed the excess off it made all the difference in the world! I didn’t let the excess go to waste either. I scooped it up and placed it back into the mason jar so it could melt back down.

5. REMOVE & LET DRY

Immediately take them off of the baking sheet and place them somewhere to dry. I lined a cookie drying rack with a piece of foil and then placed the finished wax wraps on there to dry. It didn’t take very long at all for them to completely dry on the drying rack.

6. USE

Once your food wraps are dry you can start using them immediately. I was so surprised at how well these turned out! I’m even thinking about making some to give as gifts to family and friends.

Like with all of my DIY posts if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you make these at home I’d love to hear how yours turn out!

Happy crafting!

Reusable oil spray bottles + FREE SVG file

The days of buying cooking oil spray bottles are over. I don’t know about you but I really dislike buying Pam at the grocery store, actually it’s never name brand because I’m super frugal and have a big family to feed lol! Buying that spray always feels like such a fat waste of money and in our house cooking oil spray doesn’t last very long anyway so we are always running out at the worst time. Yes, using a paper towel with oil on it will get the job done but sometimes it would just be one less thing to stress about when you go to pull it out of the cabinet only to find one of the oldest of the four daughters put it back in there with barely a squirt left in it.

So I got on Amazon and found some heavy duty looking spray bottles that looked perfect to hold our veggie and olive oils.

Even though you can totally tell which one is which I thought it would still be a good idea to label them. I figured it would at least save me from having the same conversation a couple times a week as to what one is olive oil and what one is vegetable oil.

I really like the skinny type fonts but since the labels are going on oil bottles I thought a thicker font would work much better. If a little oil gets under the vinyl decals of a thin font they will come off super easy. If you want to use the same SVG I used you can get it here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Watch my video on my YouTube channel or keep scrolling for the written/photo tutorial

DIY LABELED OIL BOTTLES FOR THE KITCHEN

Here’s what I used

• Cricut cutting machine (I have an older explore and it works perfectly for projects like this)

• Cricut cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• 651 black vinyl

• transfer tape

• xacto knife

• lint free cloth

• isopropyl alcohol

• vinyl squeegee

• food grade glass spray bottles (I used 2)

• olive & veggie svg file

1. Cut out your vinyl decal. I used my Cricut Explore set on the vinyl cut setting and the green cutting mat. I used Oracal 651, permanent outdoor grade vinyl, in black matte finish. I measured out the length of the spray bottles I was applying it to and made it a little shorter in length. I keep most all of my scraps of vinyl in a plastic tote just for projects like this. You never know when you’ll need a small piece of vinyl lol!

2. I like using an xacto knife to weed my vinyl projects. You can use a fancy vinyl picker like this one but I think these are a little more difficult to hold than a simple xacto knife. Be sure when you weed your design you are weeding out the background, not the letter themselves.

3. I completely forgot to wash the bottles before applying the decals but I was sure to wash them before I added the oil to them ;). You want to wipe down the area of the bottle you are applying the decal to with isopropyl alcohol. This will remove any dirt or oil and allow for the best adhesion of the vinyl.

4. Apply transfer tape to the front of your decal. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then peel the paper backing off of your vinyl decal.

5. Place your vinyl decal where you would like it to go on your glass spray bottle. I like to hover it over where I’m thinking about placing it first. Once you place vinyl down, especially small decals like these, it’s really difficult to get them to come up without ruining them.

6. When you have your decal where you want it to go place it down gently starting from the middle and work your way out. This will help to keep the air bubbles to a minimum. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles you see then peel the transfer tape off of your vinyl decal.

7. Fill your bottles with oil and enjoy!

I know we are going to get A LOT of use out of these reusable oil spray bottles!

If you have any questions please ask away:)!

How to rust your own mason jar lids

Rusty mason jar lids are GORGEOUS! I love them but they can be so hard to find. If you can’t find them easily they can take forever to naturally rust in the elements outside, like months and months of time. But if you’re impatient like me you don’t have to wait for nature to work her magic on your brand new mason jar rings. You can rust them yourself in your kitchen using ingredients you probably already have!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

Yes, you read that right. You can rust up your own canning jar lids right on your kitchen counter in about a week!! I know that the method I’m sharing today isn’t the only way to get this done, and thank goodness it’s not because there shouldn’t just be one way to do things. This is just my preferred way to rust my own mason jar lids.

Here are a couple of projects I made using this same technique to rust mason jar lids

DIY RUSTY PUMPKIN FROM MASON JAR RINGS

DIY RUSTED MASON JAR RING PERSONALIZED ORNAMENT

Check out the video below or keep scrolling to read the written/picture tutorial.

Get instant access to all of my FREE printables, files, and more. Click here to get your password to my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Here’s what you’ll need to rust your own mason jar lids at home

• mason jar rings

• distilled white vinegar

• salt

• glass bowl

• 1 week’s time

HOW TO RUST YOUR OWN MASON JAR LIDS INSIDE THE QUICK AND EASY WAY

ONE- You will need a glass bowl. I use glass because it doesn’t break down like other materials such as plastic or metal. Glass is wonderful! I start by filling the bottom of the glass bowl with salt. I DO NOT MEASURE THIS. If you were hoping for a recipe with exact measurements this tutorial might not be for you. I just add enough salt to cover the bottom of the bowl lol.

TWO- Pour in some distilled white vinegar. I just eyeball this as well. You want enough to completely cover the mason jar lids once you put those in the bowl (that will happen in just a couple steps).

THREE- Give your ingredients a good stir. I use a popsicle stick for this and I stir till the salt starts to dissolve.

FOUR- Add in your mason jar rings. You can add in as many that will fit in to your bowl.

FIVE- Now add enough vinegar to your bowl so that your mason jar rings are completely submerged.

SIX- Now sprinkle some salt on top. I’m not sure if this step makes a huge difference but I do this just for good measure lol!

SEVEN- Let the mason jar lids sit for 24 hours. After 24 hours has passed take them out and let them dry on a towel. Once they are dry place them back into the salt & vinegar mixture.

EIGHT- Repeat step 7 for at least a week. After just a couple days you will start to notice the canning lids turning color and they will look like they have scratch like marks on them. This is exactly what you want to see happening. The longer you do the soaking/drying process the rustier your mason jar lids will get. You’ll also notice that the salt/vinegar solution is changing from a clear to a really gross color/consistency, this is supposed to happen too.

NINE- Once you’re happy with the rust on your canning jar lids you are all done and you can discard of the salt/vinegar mixture. I don’t rinse mine off after I just simply let them dry then use them or place them in my rusty mason jar plastic bin for safe keeping till I need them.

DIY wood block snowmen ornaments, DAY 6

DIY wooden snowmen Christmas ornaments

Day 6 of 30 days of DIY Christmas ornaments

Day 6 of my 30 days of DIY Christmas ornaments I made these cute wood block snowmen! They were SO SIMPLE and they were SO QUICK to make too! I haven’t made these with my four daughters yet but they are definitely on the list of Christmas ornaments to make with them.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind

To make this DIY craft even easier for you I put together a DIY CHRISTMAS SNOWMEN ORNAMENT CRAFT KIT. I know not everyone can use or has access to power tools like the ones I use in my crafty tutorials. So with some of my more popular projects you can purchase a DIY craft kit so you can make your own at home. Leave all the cutting and presanding to me, you take care of all the creativity to really make it come to life.

Watch the video tutorial or keep scrolling to read how to make your own wooden snowman ornament

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own wood snowmen Christmas ornaments

• DIY CRAFT KIT

OR if not snagging your own craft kit here’s a list of all the supplies you'll need

• 2”x2” piece of wood, I use pine

• miter saw {I use this RYOBI miter 12” slider to cut all of my projects and LOVE it!}

• sander {I use this cordless orbit sander from ROYBI and LOVE it too!}

• white acrylic paint

• black acrylic paint

• orange acrylic paint

• paint brushes

• screw eyes

• twine

The first thing you need to do is to cut your piece of wood in to cubes. The wood I used is called a 2”x2”, it actually measures approx. 1.5”x1.5” lumber measures weird like that lol! So, I cut 4 pieces into 1.5” cubes. The miter saw I use has a ruler on the side of it to make measuring super easy. If you are looking into getting power tools I wrote this post for crafters about what kinds of power tools you need. I used to use my husband’s power tools and I am SO glad I finally purchased my very own set. I am a huge fan of RYOBI power tools and recommend them to any fellow crafter.

Next, you want to give your wooden blocks a quick sanding. I use 120 grit sandpaper for this. You can use a regular piece of sandpaper for this step but using a power tool sander is much faster.

After you give your blocks a quick sanding be sure to wipe the sawdust off of them. Then paint them with a thin layer of white acrylic paint. Once that layer is completely dry you can paint a second thin layer of white acrylic paint to give it a little better coverage. Think of this like when you paint your nails, you apply a thin base coat first then once that dries you apply a second coat to get a good even coverage.

Let the white paint dry. After it dries you can paint on the face. I used orange and black acrylic paint for this step BUT you could totally use paint markers or even an orange and black sharpies for this step and they would turn out just as cute!

If you want to add little accent dots to the snowman’s eyes just use the end of your paint brush. Lightly dip it into your white acrylic paint and dab on where you would like the accent dot to go.

Add a 3/4” screw eye to the top middle of your wood snowman ornament. I just eyeballed mine but if you want to get an exact measurement then you could find the middle by making an X going from cross corner to cross corner. Where the lines meet that’s where the middle is.

Loop a piece of twine through the screw eye then tie it in a knot. You’re ready to hang this adorable little wooden snowman set on your Christmas tree. This is such an easy ornament to make with the kids too! Not a whole lot of skill is required making it perfect for little ones.

As always, if you have any questions please reach out and ask:)! You can leave a comment below or send me a message on any of my social media platforms {links are above}

DIY gnome ornament from a paint brush, DAY 2

EASY DIY GNOME CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Day 2 of 30 days of DIY Christmas ornaments

On the second day of DIY Christmas ornaments I turned this boring chip brush into a fun little GNOME! I really wasn’t sure how the finished product was going to look but I couldn’t get over how much the bristles on the paint brush look like a beard! More specifically an old man gnome beard lol! I had to at least try to turn it into a gnome and it actually turned out sooooo super adorable!

These brushes is what I always recommend for applying antique wax to distressed rustic looking projects. They are the same brushes I send out in my DIY CRAFT KITS so I always have a big box of them on hand.

Did you miss day 1? Not to worry! Here is DAY 1 OF DIY CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

Seriously these ornaments are fun to make for adults and kiddos! I could have sat there all day and created one after another <3!!

Here’s what you need to make your own little gnome Christmas ornament

• 1” chip brush

• felt

• small pom pom

• thin ribbon

• decorative ribbon

• hot glue gun

• fabric scissors

First start by tying a ribbon hanger in the hole of the paint brush so you can hang it on your tree. Then cut a piece of felt just a little wider than your chip brush. Felt can be a tricky thing to cut so I highly recommend using a good pair of fabric scissors like these —-> click here to see fabric scissors. You can use any color or pattern felt you’d like, I chose green because it’s what I had on hand that looked the most festive.

Then glue the piece of felt to your chip brush. You don’t want to pull it tight around the shape of the brush because it will look like the shape of the brush and not a gnome hat. Leave it loose around the bottom part of the brush so that it’s full there. Glue it around the metal part and the back side of the handle of the chip paint brush. You may need to trim away the excess so that it lays flat and not bunched up. {see the video above for a more detailed visual on how to do this}.

Next, trim away the extra that hangs over the tip of the chip brush, you want to leave about an inch or so overhang.

Using your thin ribbon tie a bow just above the tip of the chip paint brush to finish off the top of the hat.

Add a little 1/2” decorative ribbon around the base of the hat. This will break up the felt and give it a little more Christmas-ey look.

Then hot glue on a little nose just below the metal on the chip paint brush. Let it dry and your DIY gnome ornament is ready to hang on your Christmas tree.

These gnomes are SOOOOO easy to make and SOOOOOOOOOOO cheap too!

Let me know what you think and I’d especially LOVE if you shared pictures of your finished gnome ornament here on the blog.

DIY school spirit pallet style porch sign

DIY porch sign to show off your school spirit

It was an absolute PERFECT day in our small town today that I took a couple hours to make something for my own front porch. I could just feel the fall weather coming in and that reminded me that I needed to decorate for the upcoming season. Which totally meant that I NEEDED to make a new sign lol! Every year I try to incorporate a school spirit pieces on our porch, really it only makes sense because our school colors are ORANGE & BLACK but truly I do it because my husband and I absolutely adore the schools where we live.

The teachers are amazing, the staff in general is amazing, they take such great care of our girls while they are there for 8 hours a day. We can’t say enough nice things about our small town schools! So we show off our school spirit every fall blended into our fall décor.

I wanted a bigger sign than what I usually put out. The old one is a small 40”x5.5” leaning sign that honestly I’m tired of looking at lol! So today was the day for a new one! I had a pretty general idea of what I was going to do but I didn’t know it was going to turn out even more perfect than I planned!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

Here’s what you need to make your own school spirit rustic porch sign

• repurposed wood

• 7/16” OSB {oriented strand board}

• 1”x2” pine wood

• Cricut

• cardstock

• Ryobi miter saw

• Ryobi scroll saw

• Ryobi sander

• hook & loop sandpaper

• Ryobi brad nailer

• brad nails

• paint brushes

• black acrylic paint

• orange acrylic paint

• white acrylic paint

First

You need to decide how large you want your sign, mine is approx. 24”x 22”. Then decide how large you want your lettering to be. I wanted my letters to take up a big portion of the base so I made my lettering roughly 11.5” wide and 14” tall each.

Measure out your wood base pieces and cut them to size using your miter saw. Then cut two pieces of your 1x2 a little shorter than the height of your sign. These are the pieces you’ll use to attach your pallet sign together. Place the pieces that you’ll be using for your sign face down on a flat surface. Then place your 1x2’s on it so it looks like the picture below.

Second

Use wood glue {I use gorilla wood glue} to glue the 1x2’s in place, then use your brad nailer to nail them down.

Third

Cut your letters out on cardstock using your Cricut.. The cardstock I had on hand wasn’t long enough so I butted two pieces together and taped the seam and it worked perfectly!

Fourth

Trace the letters onto your OSB. You can use pine for this but I chose OSB because we had this leftover from building TRIPLE LOFT BEDS for our older three girls…and yes, they came out AMAZING! I still have yet to write the tutorial for their U-shaped lofts but I promise, I will have it written before the end of the month ;)!

After you have them traced, cut them out using your scroll saw. Then give them a good sanding just on the front and around the edges. You won’t see the back so don’t worry about sanding that.

Fifth

Paint your letters. I chose to paint mine all black but you can get as creative with this as you’d like.

I wanted to add a pop of color to my sign so I painted just one of the boards orange, just lightly brushed over it so it was medium coverage.

Now add your letters to your sign. I didn’t align mine because I like the offset look. I didn’t bother gluing these down I just popped a few brad nails in each letter using my brad nailer.

Now for the fun part! I love making these adorable free hand painted garland. I wanted the color to pop so I painted the triangles white, then once those dried I painted over them with the colors I wanted them to be. At first I wasn’t going to paint any of the triangles black but once I started painting over the white with orange I decided to break it up a little with every third triangle painted black. Then I used the end of my paint brush to add polk-a-dots to them. So CUTE!

I just LOVE this rustic porch sign and it will tie in PERFECTLY with the rest of my fall décor.

I hope this inspires you to show off your own school or town spirit where you live. Let me know what you think below.

Click on the pic below to PIN for later

Easy scrap wood pumpkins using a RYOBI scroll saw

How to cut out pumpkins from scrap pieces using your RYOBI scroll saw

Are you like me and have a TON of scrap wood on the wood pile? I seriously have a hard time tossing perfectly good scrap pieces. You just never know when a piece will come in handy. But I also know my crafty business is hitting it’s busiest season of the year and there’s no way I can hang on to all of those scrap pieces if I want a functioning wood working space. So I needed to find something to do with them.

I decided to make these adorable free standing wood pumpkin cutouts. They turned out even cuter than I imagined they would! So much that I added them to my DIY CRAFT KITS and they have been selling like crazy!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

How to use your Cricut and Ryobi scroll saw to make free standing wood pumpkins

Here’s what you need

• Scrap wood

• Pencil

• Ryobi scroll saw

• Ryobi Orbit Sander

• Cricut

• Hook & Loop sandpaper {I just used 120 grit}

• Cardstock
  

If you’re not in the reading mood skip to the bottom to catch the video tutorial ;)

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First you want to cut out your pumpkins on cardstock. You can free hand them on your scrap wood pieces but honestly getting the sides even isn’t really a strong suit of mine lol. I used some scrap pieces of cardstock I had on hand to cut these out on.

After you cut your templates out trace them on your scrap pieces.

Next, making sure you are following the manufactures instructions, cut out the pumpkins you just traced using your scroll saw. If you’ve never used a scroll saw before this is a pretty easy project to start get some practice with. It’s a lot like using a sew machine. Just remember to go slow and the more you do it the better you will get at it.

After you have your scrap pumpkins cut out you’ll want to give them a light sanding. Try not to sand the bottoms too much as you don’t want the surface to get uneven so they won’t be able to stand.

After you have them sanded you can stain, paint, or decorate them however you want to match them to your décor.

These little guys are perfect for

• your own décor

• gift giving

• Thanksgiving Day hostess present

• ladies craft night

• mom and me craft {my four daughters and I painted these on a facebook live and they turned out adorable!}

• so much more

The possibilities are endless on how you can decorate these hand cut wood pumpkins.

Check out the VIDEO tutorial below.

Don’t forget to visit my YouTube channel and subscribe there so you never miss when I upload a new one.

Confused about what power tools to buy to make even more amazing crafts? This is a must read especially if you’re planning on starting a new business adventure with your handmade crafts click here ——-> WHAT ARE THE BEST POWER TOOLS FOR CRAFTERS?

The EASIEST way to remove labels from wine bottles

Remove labels from wine bottles the super easy way

Old wine bottles and glass jars can be used for SO many different craft projects. The possibilities are endless. Take an empty pickle jar and turn it into a fairy lantern or make an adorable set of pumpkins from wine bottles. But you’re probably thinking that removing the labels from the empty glass containers is just too much headache.

But, I’m here to tell you taking the labels off of glass is actually much easier than you think!

How to remove labels from glass bottles

Here’s what you’ll need

• glass with the label on

• hot water

• Dawn dish soap

• kitchen scrub brush (this is similar to the one I used)

Fill your sink with hot water, as hot as your hands can handle, WEARING KITCHEN GLOVES IS A GREAT IDEA BUT I DIDN’T HAVE ANY ON HAND FOR THIS TUTORIAL. Add a several drops of Dawn dishsoap

Apply Dawn dish soap all over the label then slowly submerge it into the water letting the inside of the bottle fill with water. You want your bottle to sink to the bottom and be completely submerged in the hot soapy water, not floating on the top.

Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Lift the bottle out of the water and start peeling off the labels. It’s so important to know that not all labels are put on with the same glue and also, glue clings more to different label materials. Like with this bottle the circle label came off with no problems and took all of the glue with it. But the paper labels left some of the glue behind.

After you remove all of the labels from the glass bottle take your scrub brush and just give it a good scrub. The glue will come right off with the Dawn dish soap.

Once all the adhesive is gone, empty the bottle, rinse and dry it with a dish cloth.

Now you have a squeaky clean jar to reuse!

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