Upcycled Log Planter

I got the idea for this log planter from a random HGTV show that I watched years ago. It was a really easy project and took less than an hour to make. I’m sure I did it the hard way too!!

Surprisingly this log was not cut by Grant! Instead we got it from an empty lot that just cut down a bunch of trees so they can start building. Grant was given permission and already took the majority of the larger, longer logs, but I wanted a smaller one for this project.

I used a spade bit and drilled some holes pretty close together and fairly deep.

Then I used the hammer and chisel to get more of the guts out and smooth out the edges. I finished it by using the drill again and basically used it like a mixer to make the hole bigger and deeper.

I put a little dirt in it and then a couple free flowers we got from a local nursery. Pretty easy and super fast. I’m not the best green thumb out there, but hopefully they will actually keep growing and bloom! Now I want at least one more, but in a bigger log right next to this one by my front door.

 

 

Tools needed:  

*Drill
*Spade bit
*Hammer
*Chisel

 

 

**update** Grant came home from work and made the second one!
 

Low maintenance flower bed

We did a little bit of yard work the other day. It’s definitely not one of our favorite activities, but we did it. What we worked on was the flower bed in front of our house. Something needed to be done because it was just growing weeds and turned into the boys dirt box to dig and play in.

First step, fill it with more dirt - FREE. Luckily we have some land not too far away, as skid steer and a truck, and we were able to get a scoop of dirt no problem.

Next, lay down some plastic. Normally you would use landscaping fabric for this part, but what’s the point of paying twice as much for “landscaping” stuff when you can buy “painters” stuff to do the same job.

Grant found this plastic in the paint section at Home Depot. A HUGE roll for only $10. We used about 10 feet of it, maybe. So now we have more for our next project, if there is one (or just a huge slip’n’slide!!).

Grant was awesome and made sure the plastic was tucked into every nook and cranny. There will be NO weeds growing in this bed! To make it stay in place we used the landscaping rocks in the front, and some homemade staples in the back – wire, cut and bent.

There is no way anything is going to grown or even try to sneak up past that!

Last step, cut holes for the plants (we had 5 different shrubs), plant them and top with some mulch/bark.

We are absolutely NOT green thumbs. We have no idea what we are doing, nor do we really enjoy it as much as other things. It’s pretty much been last on our list for a while (years). But I will admit our front yard looks SOOOO much nicer now that we finished the flower bed (is that even what it’s called, it doesn’t have flowers in it, just shrubs?!). The best part, SUPER LOW MAINTENANCE (no weed pulling, EVER!).

 

 

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polka dot coat hangers

I have two little boys, and their room is always a mess. In fact, the whole house is always a mess! So to cut down on some of the mess, I made them some coat hangers for their room. Now we don’t have coats and hats hanging out by the front door or on the floor in their room.

First I had little G man help me find lots of random circles to trace. We used bowls, a lid, sandpaper, and a tape dispenser.

I traced those on a 3/4” wide board (custom milled by Grant!), some of the little ones I traced a couple of times.

Then I got to work on my scroll saw and cut out all the circles, then sanded the rough edges and tops.

Then little G man helped me pick out the colors. His favorite was the green!

I ended up using orange, green, red, blue & yellow paint, which matches the dresser knobs, shelves and stripes on the wall in their room. Paint each of the circles with a couple layers then top it off with a couple more layers of clear coat.

[you can see on the spray paint board the outline of my Quote Wall that I made previously!]

I didn’t take any pictures of this part, but I laid out the hooks on the 4 bigger circles and marked where the screws needed to go. I pre-drilled the holes (smaller than the screws). To hang them, I hid the screw going into the wall under the hook.

 

Then I added the hooks. I didn’t want the placement to be right in the middle (mainly because the double hooks made the circles look like a cat face or some other animal, without the eyes, and it was bugging me!), so I put them randomly on the circles.

 

The really small dots I just hammered in penny nails and cut the ends off with aviator tin snips. That made them easy to hammer into the wall. **Add a touch of glue to the nails before you put them in the wall and they will actually stay. I tried just putting them on the wall without anything and they stayed, but were super easy to take off. I know the boys would have had a hay day with those weapons if they found out about them!

 

And the finished product, a fun little addition to their room.

    

Tools used/needed:
*1 x ___ boards (mine was custom cut by Grant)
*Random circles (bowls, lids, etc.) to trace
*Scroll saw
*Sandpaper
*Spray paint & clear coat (Rustoleum Ultra Cover)
*Coat hooks (I got mine at Target and Home Depot)
*Drill (drill and screw bits)
*Stud finger &/or drywall anchors
*Extra screws (for putting them on the wall)
*Penny nails
*Tin snips
*glue (opt)

 

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Operation Dream House: part 1 – buying land

Grant and I have always wanted to build our own house. Ever since we moved here and bought our first house Grant has been on the hunt for a good deal on land. Then one day, all of a sudden Grant found a killer deal for 6 acres, 1.5 miles from our house. It had only been on the market for a couple days and within the week we were getting things going.

We finally signed and paid for the land (with a stinkin loan of course) in the middle of January. Buying land (and homes) is such an ordeal, all the paperwork that has to be signed. I swear you have to make at least one mark on each and every page they give you, initials or signature. But that part is long over and hopefully we wont be doing that again for a while!

Step one of building our dream house is done! Now, for the next couple of years, we will be paying off the land, looking at house plans and deciding what to do with all that land! Every time I go out there I realize how huge 6 acres actually is. It’s a pretty fun process, but if only we had all the time and money in the world so we could just get started building!

But for now, Grant is using it as storage for all of his huge logs, skid steer (bobcat), and sawmill parts…and now target practice with his new bow (early Father’s Day present). At least now our house doesn't look like a junk yard!!

Quote Wall

I don’t know how common this is, but our family is all over the quote wall. Family reunions are the best time to start one, but we also have one at our house ALL THE TIME. Each year we start over and at the end of the year we read through the whole list of quotes. It’s definitely one of my favorite things we have in our house, keeps the laughter going.

If you are new to Quote Walls, it’s just a collection of random quotes that people say that are particularly funny/interesting/random/etc. (especially when taken out of context!). In the past we just had a paper on the fridge that we would add quotes to, but I’m getting sick of my fridge being cluttered. I’m slowly finding a better place for everything and it was the quote wall’s turn.

This quote by Grant pretty much shows how awesome quote walls are (along with how sassy Grant is and how cool my family is)

I have the perfect spot to put this quote wall board on my wall down the hall, but it isn’t up yet so no picture until it’s totally done and in it’s official spot. To make this I started with a 11” x 24” pine board (cut & milled by Grant of course). For the top and bottom design I used my Silhouette to cut it out on cardstock (design is from the Organic Bloom - June). The side design I free handed.

Then I cut it out with my scroll saw, had Grant router the edges (for some reason I’m still a pansy when it comes to the router), lots of sanding, and then I painted. I put a couple coats of black spray paint then a couple coats of white. I sanded the edges so the black showed through, but I kept it light enough that I didn’t get to the wood. I just wanted a touch of black to show. Then I added a couple coats of clear coat. I LOVE how the plaque design and colors turned out. It has an organic bloom look, but custom to the size & design I wanted.

To finish it off, the Silhouette cut ‘Quote Wall’ out of black vinyl and I applied it with transfer tape (as always). Then came the best part, adding all the quotes we had written down so far for 2013 (we start our quote wall over each year). I used sticky notes (cut in half, all I had on hand was the bigger sticky notes). Because of the clear coat the sticky notes stick great and are also easy to take off. It was fun re-reading them and getting a kick out of the random things we say :) Here’s a sampling.

My other favorite part about this quote wall is the back. When I had the board on the counter with the design drawn out, my little G man decided he wanted to draw all over it too, without me knowing. I kept it on the back, for a keepsake! I should have had him sign his name!! Also notice the keyhole in the back. Grant used the router to cut it and now I can hang it without any trouble.

There you have it. If you don’t have a quote wall in your house yet, start one! It’s fun to randomly say “QUOTE WALL” after someone says something and they know it is committed to the wall where everyone can read and remember it. They are one of the best things to read at the end of the year!

Project Equipment & Details:
*11” x 24” pine board
*scroll saw
*Sihouette Machine (not totally necessary) with Organic Bloom design - Jane
*router – edges & keyhole
*Rustoleum spray paint – Matte Black, Matte White & Clearcoat Matte
*USCutter Intermediate Greenstar vinyl – Black & transfer tape
*Quote Wall font – Quilted Butterfly

All Our Love – custom sign

This was a recent custom sign that I did. The customers Grandmother passed away recently and she wanted a keepsake of her grandma’s handwritten note.

I particularly love these signs. They are so personal and meaningful. I made one for my mom (and myself) that was my dad’s handwriting, his signature ‘love & kisses’ that he signed at the end of every note, letter, card, whatever.

If you want a custom, personalized note made into a sign you can order HERE.

[zebra bracelet – made by little G man in preschool!]

 

Custom House Number Display

We moved into our house in October 2009. Ever since I’ve been wanting to change the house number display because ours was hard to see, especially at night. I have been wanting to do something original and fun with our house numbers, not just numbers on the house siding by the door – boring (sorry if that’s the way you roll, I just wanted something different). I’m not a fan of “everyone else is doing it” styles and always try to be a little different than the rest. So this is what I came up with:

This is what our house number looked like, thanks to the builders and their wonderful placement. (I should have taken the picture from the road, for a real perspective.)

This was basically a project for Grant, all I did was give him my vision, pick out the rock and the numbers. He did all the rest! Thankfully my brother was willing to help with the rock. The one I picked out, as we were driving along on a gravel forest road, looked awesome from the truck and was still very awesome up close. But it was also very, very huge! Lets just say it was quite the process for these two to get it in the truck!

[first they rolled it up the bank so we could back the truck right under it]

[not as easy as it sounds, still had to move it on to the truck bed]

[and if you can’t tell, it was raining!]

It was also quite the ordeal getting it out of the truck and in the right spot! By this time it wasn’t just raining, it was also dark. They were troopers :)

We weighed the truck with the rock and without the rock, turns out it was over 600 lbs! Maneuvering a 600 lb rock to the perfect angle and location is not so easy. The next day Grant mixed some concrete and poured it around the base of the rock so it didn’t have a chance of moving (like tipping over and crushing our kiddos). It’s nice and solid now! He topped it off with some little rocks to cover the concrete.

Then came the fun part, putting on the numbers. Grant recently bought a concrete drill, which was perfect timing for this project. We placed the numbers.

He drilled the holes

Then we used E6000, of all things, and the screws that came with the numbers to attach them to the rock. Taped them in place and let it dry overnight

And now we have a darling display for our numbers. You can see the difference between the two (still need to take those numbers off the post!!)

I’m totally in love!! Thank goodness Grant is amazing! I give him my vision and he follows through, EVERY time! Love it :)

[the spotlight is a must. solar powered and now you can see the numbers at night!]

Project details:
*rock from the woods = free
*labor from husband and brother = free :)
*concrete left over from the neighbors building their fence = free
*house numbers = $1.86 each at Home Depot
*E6000 = already had it
*concrete drill = already had it
*spotlight = $5 at Target

Total for custom house number display = $10.58

**UPDATE**

I painted the inside of the plastic numbers, so you can see them a little better. I used model paint (from Michaels), which is water proof and will hopefully withstand Montana weather! I used silver, but I might put a top coat of white to make it stand out just a little more.

 

 

 

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