Shoe Storage

 

I needed a simple way to manage some shoes and decided to go with plastic boxes, despite the fun ideas on Pinterest. I drilled air holes in a few places and added the photos in front to help me identify one black pair from another. It works!

 

It's worth the time and effort to add the photo. Also a great time to sort out shoes for give-away and clean up the ones you are keeping.

 

Simple Driftwood Sculptures

I love to gather driftwood when I visit the coast. It's a free, light weight sculpture medium with loads of character. All you need is:

wood
wire or string of some durable sort
a drill
extra beads, shells, stones if desired



For this one on the right, I put 2 little pearls of different colors between the sticks. I generally always use copper wire just because I like how it looks. Even the really thin stuff holds up in a Montana winter. 




This one used up all my sticks with elbows and twists. I love the way they intersect and intentionally left out the spacer beads.

Look for fun bottom pieces when you are gathering. Note the beautiful grain on this one.























I used a nice curved piece for the top on this one.
The drilled holes are in the middle and allow the individual sticks to move. They find their own happy place that way. If you drill two holes and use two wires you can make them line up as you wish.
















Flat pieces are fun to piece together, too. Add a few odd shapes in for interest

Have fun gathering wood and sculpting!

Up-Cycled Side Yard

Just wanted to share my garden...

Garden Art Again

Just a few more ideas for ya'...

A concrete bench top. I used a big mixing tub as the mold. The legs are just concrete retaining wall pieces.

 A friend gave me this orange sink. Chester loves this outside dish that gets refreshed with the sprinklers.

 Concrete leaves are fun to cast. they capture amazing detail.

This birdbath also gets slimy, so I turned the bowl up-side down to make a mushroom

Another scrap tile idea, plus another one below. I find all kinds of little tables at second hand stores and garage sales. The uglier the top the better because it will be cheap and you can turn it into your masterpiece!

More Do-It-Yourself Garden Art

Here are more ideas. Have fun creating!

 The metal frame was a Goodwill find. It is actually an ugly wall hanging but turned over had the perfect little concave side for a tile project. I used scrap tile and numbers from Jo-Anns. After grouting i sealed the whole thing with a spray-on clear enamel.

 A yard sale frame and house numbes from various places that I gather up second hand. There is a wire grid for suporting the numbers. I ahve been adding to this for ten or so years.

Old drawers and new paint make nice tables.

Mushrooms from candlesticks and lids/bowls.

 My new favorite thing. This old light fixture was already green and it made me think of the garden. I cut out the wiring and glued in solar lights. It is fabulous at night.

 This is a Goodwill table. I screwed a plastic picture frame, the cheap box shaped kind, onto the underneath side with L brackets, filled it with soil and poked succulents down in. I drilled some drain holes on the bottom. I positioned the brackets so the plastic part slides out.Will it survive a Montana winter???

Do-It-Yourself Garden Art

 I thought I would share some of my garden projects today. New purposes for old things makes for splendid yard art. Have fun and leave me a message if you want any details.

Yellow chair: this old lawn chair came with the house. I primed and spray painted it this happy color. It sits in Vinca Vine, which gets covered in purple flowers in the spring and has the magneta clematis backdrop in the summer.

 I found the bench base at Goodwill, complete with a really ugly cover. Beneath the cover was an even uglier cover and foam that smelled funny so it got tossed. I used scrap tile to make the mosaic top. The black grout is 'sanded ' and holds up better when there are gaps larger than 1/8th of an inch.

 This is a metal bird bath made from scrap odds and ends glued together. There are three plates, one lamp base, a jello mold, two candlesticks,a bowl, and an incense burner. It is very hot on little bird feet in the sun so it now sits under a tree.

 I have seven chairs with seats removed, painted blue, to help support my peonies.

This is the other lawn chair that came with the house. I'm slowly covering it with glass beads and wire. Chester claimed the hose as his nest.

The Up-cycled Skirt

This project was a happy mistake. I cut the bottom off a tired old denim skirt and intended to replace it with a swirl of bright colored fabric. OOPs! I sewed it on inside out. Then I decided I liked it this way and left the raw denim edge intentionally. It will fluff up with wash and wear. I also put the hem to the outside so the fun fabric got its chance to be seen.