Tag Archives: DIY

DIY: Flower Vase/Candleholder Made of … Concrete & Plumbing Pipes

Posted on September 2, 2012 by | 5 Comments

What’s the result when you mix a milk carton + concrete + plumbing pipes? This:

Yes, you can make this cool flower vase/candleholder with just three supplies from the grocery store and home repair supply stores.

Start by drinking all the milk in a milk carton:

I suggest not being in such a hurry to do this DIY project that you drink all the milk at one time! Get some help. Preferably with chocolate to go with the milk.

I sprayed my plumbing pipes with silver paint before starting this project. The pipes were silver, but looked dingy. Spray painting them silver gave them a clean even look. You can spray your pipes any color, metallic or non-metallic.

Next I poured concrete (small bag from Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menards, et al) into the carton. I poured half of the height that I wanted at first. Then as the concrete started solidifying a bit, I held two plumbing pipes in place so the bottoms stop before they hit the bottom of the carton. I chose to stagger the heights of the plumbing pipes. While holding the pipes steady, finish pouring the concrete to the final height you want. I coordinated all this by myself, but it’s easier if you have someone help with an extra set of hands. I apologize for not having six hands and taking photos of this process. I’ll ask for six hands in my next life; that would be useful.

Make sure you straighten your pipes, if needed, before the concrete hardens. Unless you want pipes all askew, and that could be a fine look if that’s what you want.

After the concrete hardens, tear off the carton. It’s as easy as that!

This is what you get:

Here’s the bottom, so you can see the pipes did not go all the way to the bottom:

The sides are rough-looking from air bubbles and uneven coverage while pouring, and I like them this way:

I like the “industrial warehouse” look of this. And as a bonus, it’s never been knocked over by my two cats, who spend much time roaming all over the sunroom where this lives.

I’ve used it for both fake flowers, like the orchids and poppies in it now, as well as with very tall taper candles. If you want a candleholder, be sure the plumbing pipes are wide enough to fit taper candles. I took a candle to the store with me, and stuck it in pipes, and really didn’t care what people watching the security cameras thought! I hope it was entertaining for them.

People are making many creative things with concrete. I’ve pinned many ideas on a Pinterest Board, Set in Concrete. Here’s a few …

Concrete garden spheres via Better Homes & Gardens:

I love this idea to make concrete garden edging, also from Better Homes & Gardens:

Stitched concrete stools by Florian Schmid:

Concrete pendant lamps made to look like paper, by Designers Miriam Aust and Sebastian Amelung, via Remodelista:

Concrete iPhone docking station, by Etsy seller atstuart (this seller makes lots of concrete home decor items, check them out):

See, there’s so much you can do with concrete! There’s about 170 more ideas on my Set in Concrete Pinterest board.

Related articles:

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At The Picket Fence | From My Front Porch to Yours | I {Heart} Nap Time | Made in a Day | Petite Hermine | Simply Designing | Stuff and Nonsense | The Charm of Home | The Shabby Nest

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How to Create a Crusty Rusty Picture Frame (Or Anything Else)

Posted on July 11, 2012 by | 4 Comments

It used to be, things with rust were for the garbage. Why would I intentionally rust a picture frame? I’m not the only one seduced by rust. There’s a mass of Pinterest boards titled “Rust” with collections of crusty images. What’s up? Trends! They have the power to infect us all.

And this is what happens when we’re infected: As soon as I got my hands on this wood printing block from India, I saw it mounted in a square rusty frame:

Yes, I took a new frame and rusted the heck out of it. Here’s the before and after, from black plastic to rusty patina:

Where did this idea come from? I got “infected” way back last year, when I saw a square metal rusty frame at HomeGoods. When I returned the next day — after it handily passed the thinking-about-it-all-night-can’t-forget-about-it-must-get-it test — it was gone. When HomeGoods says its merchandise changes every day, they mean it! You gotta grab while the gettin’s good.

So I will make one. Make that two. Because frames should have buddies.

I found the right shape frame at Michaels: square, with straight deep sides.* If the sides are not plain and straight, the finished product won’t look so much like real metal. To give the frame a slightly rough finish appropriate for a rusty surface,  I spray painted it with Krylon Make It Stone textured paint. There was a can of beige color in our basement:

You don’t need to perfectly cover the whole frame. Spray just enough to make a rough surface. This stuff stinks, so I sprayed it outside on the patio, on a plastic dropcloth:

Yeah not very good-lookin’ yet, but you just wait and see. I’m going for something like this rusty look, found on Pinterest in one of those boards that celebrate corrosion and decay:

To create rust, I used this Sophisticated Finishes Rust Antiquing Set, available at craft stores such as Michaels and Blick:

Be sure to read and follow the directions for this stuff. It can corrode surfaces because it really creates real rust. Really!

First I painted the metallic surfacer that contains iron particles over the Krylon textured paint. I painted two coats** and this resulted in a frame that looked like slightly pebbly iron:

The directions with the kit tell you to let the iron paint dry before painting the antiquing solution. However in the company’s online FAQs, they tell you to not let the iron paint dry for more than 24-36 hours. Because it may not rust if you wait this long. They say you could start painting the antiquing solution after 2 hours or even 8-10 hours, and you may get different rust effects and colors at different drying times. The warning that rust may not develop if you wait too long was *not* in the instructions in the kit’s package.

Thus, my frame sat for two days before I had a moment to apply the antiquing solution to create the rusty surface. Despite this, I still got rust. Here it is developing:

Be patient. I had to hold back from checking it all the time. Go on and live your life while the solution does its work.

The next evening, I painted a second coat of antiquing solution and the rust bloomed before my eyes. Like you could watch the rust grow! Very cool. Here’s the frame after the second coat:

The company’s FAQs and bloggers who used this product warn it may take 24 hours for rust to show, and you may need to paint 2-3 coats of the antiquing solution, each 24 hours apart. If you don’t get any rust, you can try again by starting over and painting both solutions over everything. If this process seems too long, your other option is to expose metal to the elements, and how long would that take! Makes this seem fast.

Also, you will not have full control over the rusty result. Rust has a mind of its own. The variation below looks passable from one angle:

But when the light hits it, very smeary, not so good:

So I applied a third coat of the antiquing solution to even this out, but that didn’t get the sides looking the way I wanted. I still need to figure this out. Maybe I’ll repaint both the iron and antique solutions on some of the sides.

Enough of the rust. Now let’s move to the inside of the frame …

Years ago I saw a tjap (an Indonesian copper batik printing block) for sale on eBay, mounted on a rough fabric for the background. Liked it so much, I saved the picture. Here it is:

I wanted the same contrast of surfaces and textures for the Indian wood printing block. So I covered the back of my frame with burlap. I “shopped” the hobby supplies in our basement for this rug hooking linen burlap, purchased not because I hook any rugs (I do not) but because I wanted the thicker rough weave:

I wound up cutting the burlap with little snippy things I use to cut matted fur off my Maine Coon’s butt! Ugh. Why? Because there are a dozen good scissors in the house, but can they ever be found when needed? Of course not. Tomorrow, I’ll trip over three scissors. Does this happen to anyone else?

After that, I pried the wood handle off the printing block (with the correct tool!):

Then attached the block to the frame backing.

Here’s the finished product!

Because I feel like this needs a buddy, I’m seeking another wood printing block to mount in a second rusty frame. Then both will hang on a wall together.

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* NOTE: I ran into a big problem during this project. Don’t use this t-shirt display frame if you don’t want glass in the frame. I thought I’d simply remove the glass. Not so! The glass is sandwiched between plastic sides molded to permanently hold it in place. I had to break the glass to get it out of the frame! (Always dispose of broken glass safely, both for you and the garbage truck guys.)  For this project, I should have used a shadowbox frame without glass.

** ANOTHER NOTE: This solution contains iron particles. The bottle is heavy like metal. The directions tell you to shake it up — shake it up real good! Which I did. But it didn’t mix well. Because the first coat was the consistency of gray water. The second coat was dry and crumbly and I sort of smeared and pressed it on. The solution in the bottle seemed nearly solid. I wasn’t sure how to dilute it – I didn’t want to mess up the interaction of iron solution and antiquing solution chemicals. I honestly did not pay much attention in high school chemistry class and don’t want to create any combustion problems involving the fire department. Has anyone else used this product? What happened for you?

FOLLOW-UP: The company says any high-quality acrylic paint can be mixed with the iron paint solution, which may help improve the consistency if it gets too dry and crumbly. “Any high quality acrylic paint can be mixed with the Metallic Surfacers. Mixing the paints can alter the reactive nature of the coatings and change the color and patina finish that develops when an Antiquing Solution is applied.”

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See this project and more DIY ideas at:

Cherished Treasures | Chic on a Shoestring Decorating | Craft Junkie Too | Craft-O-Maniac | Crafty Confessions | DIY Home Sweet Home | DIY Showoff Project Parade | Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sunday | Home Stories A2Z | I {Heart} Nap Time | Ivy and Elephants | Ladybird Ln Weekend Show Off | Redoux Interiors | Show & Share with Southern Lovely | Sugar Bee Crafts | The DIY Dreamer | The Kurtz Corner | Thrifty Decor Chick | Very Merry Vintage Style

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A Doorbell Cover Make-Over. Yeah! Why Not?

Posted on May 19, 2012 by | 6 Comments

Even the most mundane things should be pretty. Think about one thing in your house that you completely forget exists. Take a look at it. Do you like it? Could it be better? Why not make it so?

Our doorbell cover came with the house. It was sort of … prairie style? Mission style? I don’t know. All I know is, it didn’t go with our style. But c’mon I’m not  buying a new doorbell cover. So when I removed it in order to paint the wall it hung on, the time was right for a makeover.

Here’s the “before and after”:

First I filled the grooves with wood filler. A glumpy gloppy job. Yes, real high quality work here!

Then I sanded the gloppy stuff down, and painted the cover black.

The cover was originally really uneven so it’s still not a level surface, but that’s OK, I want it to look old and imperfect, like a relic we found in a souk somewhere exotic. This is to compensate for the fact that I haven’t yet been in an actual Middle Eastern or North African souk …

I next brushed on a few coats of matte Mod Podge, then sanded in one direction with coarse grit sandpaper. This made cool striations.

Then I stamped with various scrapbooking stamps and gold Tsukineko ink, with intentional uneven coverage of gold ink.

But wait. Something went a little too far with the uneven coverage! This cut-off of the stamp image bugged me even when hanging on the wall.

There’s a ridge on the surface there, and the stamp didn’t make contact. How to fix this? I used a trick shown on a video of how expert Indian block printers do their work. If you don’t want to stamp over previous work, cover it with paper. Simply genius! The newsletter from the local gardening center will do.

It’s much less lopsided feeling now.

Here it is on the wall. Much better! And it no longer clashes with the frame below it.

So if you giggle at the fact that any blogger would trumpet about the amazing makeover of a doorbell cover …. you never know, you may find yourself looking at a silly forgotten thing in your house, and making it special too!

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DIY: Magazine Box Decorated with Scrapbook Paper

Posted on January 9, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Due to the extreme popularity of the Scrapbook Paper Wall Art post (wow! and I hope some people who visited that post try it!), here’s another decorative DIY project, reposted from a hobby blog I had. You can do this to decorate plain magazine holders, scrapbook paper boxes, banker’s boxes … any box, really.

Here’s the “After” glamour shots:
 

Can you believe it originally looked like this “Before”: 

It’s a cardboard box from JoAnn’s. It was to hold a gift of scrapbook supplies and pretty papers. I think we can all agree that this box is not gift-worthy nor display-worthy.

Here’s the makeover process:
 
My mom’s craft room is called the “green room” so I chose various green scrapbook papers and Mod Podge’d them onto the box. I ripped some papers with the help of a guide that makes torn edges, and applied these over the edges and corners.
 
I attached copper hinges with copper brads (with extra long “legs” to go through the cardboard). But oh no, the box lid would not open properly once the hinges were attached! So I cut the lid off and reattached it solely with the hinges, so it would open completely.
 

Copper fasteners are super-glued on the front. They are nonfunctional, because both pieces are super-glued to the lid. To open the box, you just simply lift the lid up.
 

My favorite is the inside treatment. As with scrapbooks, the real action goes on inside the covers, right? Take a look:
 
 
For me, scrapbooking is all about the gorgeous papers, so I chose extra special paper for the inside lid. The inside bottom remains plain white. You can’t see it when the box is full of paper.
 
Here are close-ups of the inside lid:
 


My mom’s first initial is D, so I chose a letter from Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste line. With the copper metal accents on the outside, a copper accent was needed on the inside. So here it is:


The copper pieces were in my sewing stash, acquired long before I started scrapbooking. I liked them and figured I’ll use them for something, someday. And here you go. They helped take this box from blah to sensational.

While I was photographing the box, I had a visitor, one that went on a catwalk.

Catwalk Video: (Notice the action starting in the upper left corner)

I guess this means the box has his approval.

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