DIY Blessed Home Decor Upcycled Shutter

      I love upcycling old shutter doors into home decor! I usually find them at the Habit for Humanity Restore and periodically find them for free on Craigslist. The one I used for this piece was part of a set of three that I got off Craigslist for free. They needed to be free too. They were tore up! They had at least three layers of paint of a variety of colors, none seemingly done well. Because I wanted the stained wood look, I sanded off all of the paint. It can be done with chemical paint stripper but I really don’t like working with it. It ends up being such an icky gooey mess. Anyways, here is a short video / slides telling you how I made this piece. 

DIY Wood Crate Coffee Table

Here is another DIY coffee table that I made from wood crates, this time for our office and very different from the last. I love it and am glad to be able to store lap blankets in it. I made a slide show showing the steps of how I made it. I hope you enjoy it! 

DIY Dollar Tree Patriotic House Decor

    I just love these cute little houses you can buy at the Dollar Tree and the possibilities of what designs to put on them are endless! I have put together this little video of how I made this one. 

Supplies:

Wood House Cutout (I usually get mine at the Dollar Tree

Napkin or tissue paper of choice

White paint (I used spray paint)

Modpodge  (Dollar Tree, Walmart, any craft store)

Jumbo Craft Sticks

Brown Paint or stain

Black ink

Small paint brush

Medium paint brush for applying Modpodge 

Cricut supplies if you want to apply lettering OR store bought lettering

DIY Americana Wall Decor Upcycled from Cabinet Door

Check out this beautiful Americana piece of wall decor that I made from upcycling an old cabinet door! I actually made it some time ago and it is still one of my favorite pieces that I have made. 

     I found the cabinet door at a Habitat for Humanity Restore. Before you do anything, go ahead and put hooks on the back for hanging it on the wall. I started off by wiping it down real good and then I applied sander / deglosser according to the instructions on the bottle. After that I sprayed a couple coats of Rustoleum Colonial Red satin finish spray paint, letting it dry thoroughly in between coats. Then I used fine grit sandpaper to sand off the paint in certain areas to help the distressed look. You want to do this in areas that natural wear would normally occur, like edges, corners, where a handle might be. I actually went a little overboard on this piece but still love how it turned out. Then using a paintbrush, I applied stain to the entire surface after which I wiped it down with a rag, leaving stain in the crevices. The stain I used was Minwax, Honey. Finally, I applied a polyurethane finish. Here is the link that I got the instructions on how to distress from. https://www.addicted2decorating.com/diy-project-accent-furniture-how-to-paint-distress-and-antique-a-piece-of-furniture After that, to add a bit more distressing, I took stiff small paint brush and went around the edges and other areas with some black ink (like you use for stamping).

     Once the distressing was complete, I got to add the decorations! I got burlap ribbon from the Dollar Tree, placed it where I wanted it, wrapping the ends around the back and hot gluing them. I got the red berry garland at Hobby Lobby and the red barn star off of Amazon. I make my own barn stars now but when I made this piece, I did not have the tools to do so. Certain times of year you can also get them at Hobby Lobby. To distress the burlap ribbon, I used the same small paint brush and black ink.  And voila there you have it!

Distressed DIY Coat Rack

I love how this turned out! We do not have a coat closet in our new home so I decided to make a coat rack. I took a cabinet door I found at a Habitat for Humanity Restore. First, I put the hardware on the back for hanging it up. Then I cleaned it and applied sander/deglosser according to the instructions. I then spray painted it with a couple coats of Rustoleum spray paint in the color “seaside”. I then used sandpaper to distress the painted finish in certain areas. Then using a paintbrush I applied stain to the entire surface after which I wiped it down with a rag leaving stain in the crevices. I did the stain process a couple times. At the end I applied a polyurethane finish. I got the instructions for distressing furniture from this link. https://www.addicted2decorating.com/diy-project-accent-furniture-how-to-paint-distress-and-antique-a-piece-of-furniture I then glued the cross hooks on that I bought at Hobby Lobby. Wanting a very strong adhesive, I used Gorilla glue to do this but you have to be really careful with Gorilla glue. It expands so use it sparingly, otherwise it might overflow around the edges. I left the original door handle on the bottom right to hang our dog leash from.

DIY Crate End Table

As I talked about in my previous post, I decided to make some of my smaller furniture items for my office / sitting area. I loved the crate Coffee Table I made and decided to make end tables to match with a splash of color. For each end table I sanded, stained and spray finished one crate standing up lengthwise and added table legs I bought at Lowe's. For the tops I took a couple cabinet doors I had leftover from a cabinet I am using for another project and stripped, spray painted and "antiqued" them and attached them to the tops of the crates. I truly love how they turned out!

DIY Crate Coffee Table

In our new retirement home I have my own office / sitting room and am excited to be able to set it up to be all my own. I bought a nice used couch and decided to make my own coffee table and end tables to go with it. I liked the idea of making something out of crates and found a coffee table on Pinterest I loved and was super simple. I bought 4 crates from Home Depot, sanded them a bit, stained them and put a spray finish on them. I screwed them together, and then screwed them onto a square base I made for it and added casters. I also added a plexiglass top I had cut to size at Lowes, while not necessary I thought it added a nice touch.

DIY Christmas Stocking Hanger / Holder

Very excited about this project I recently finished, just in time for the holidays!! We do not have a fireplace to hang our stockings from. Usually we lay them out neatly on the tree skirt underneath our tree, however we have recently taken in a stray cat and we were worried that she would scratch them up. That left me trying to figure out what to do about our stockings. So of course I got on Pinterest and found a plethora of fabulous ideas.  The inspiration for my idea came from The Happy Housewife blog and her DIY No Mantle Stocking Holder which you can see here. http://thehappyhousewife.com/home-management/stocking-holder-no-mantle/ 
She used a solid plank of wood 12 x 36 inches but we all know my affinity for upcycling shutters and I happened to have half of a shutter closet door left over from a previous project.

I cut out every other slat and sanded the piece down, leaving hints of the white paint here and there.

Then I made some strong, steeped tea, and using a cheesecloth "painted" on a coat of tea over the shutter. I did this a couple times, letting the piece completely dry in between. In order to make the wood look distressed or aged, I used a solution of steel wool and vinegar. I soaked a steel wool pad in white vinegar for couple days and then strained the vinegar. Again using a cheesecloth I wiped on the solution over all the surfaces. Once it was totally dry, I took a very fine grit sandpaper and lightly went over some of the areas that I thought needed it. If you want a lighter color, you can soak the steel wool for less time or you can skip using the tea. The tea itself does not darken the wood much at all but the vinegar solution reacts to the tanins in the tea making the look darker.  This project took a relatively short time to make and I am so happy with the end result.

Personal touch

Never too early to be thinking about Operation Christmas Child! I crocheted a bunch of barrettes this year to put in the shoe boxes which I plan on doing again this year but am also working on some of these. I already buy these small dolls for the boxes at Walmart and saw the idea of crocheting a blanket for them on someone else's site. It is just a simple granny square but what a nice personal touch. I just did this one this weekend and hope to get several more done.

Anti-inflammatory, Autoimmune, Digestive Aid TEA

     I make this tea for myself every morning and I truly believe it helps. I got tired of all the meds for fibromyalgia and started seeking natural ways to cope. This is just one of the things I use in my daily protocol to help.
     While fibromyalgia is not specifically an autoimmune disease, it often gets lumped in with them, so I have come across a lot of reading on autoimmune diseases and these ingredients are supposed to help them as well.
     An added bonus for me since I also have digestive problems is in addition to being anti-inflammatory and helping those with some autoimmune diseases, these ingredients also help ease digestive issues.
     Whole pages could be and have been written about the health benefits of turmeric, ginger, black cumin seeds, peppermint and even honey. In fact it has been said of black cumin seeds that they help everything but death. I do not know about all that but they do help a lot of ailments and in addition to tea I put them in smoothies and use them in cooking. Some studies suggest that black cumin seeds, ginger and turmeric even have cancer fighting properties.
     If you are on medication please check with your doctor before drinking this tea as some herbs react with some medications. Sometimes in addition to the below ingredients I add green tea leaves as well. I have also heard that black pepper or red pepper flakes help bring out the medicinal properties in ginger and turmeric but that seemed a bit much for putting in my tea. Please enjoy this tea and I hope it helps you.

Ingredients

1. Slice of ginger, finely chopped or grated

2. Slice of turmeric, finely chopped or grated

3. 1 tablespoon of black cumin seeds 

4. 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped

5. 1 tablespoon of honey

6. 1 mug of boiling hot water

Steep ginger, turmeric, mint and black cumin seeds in mug of hot water and cover for 10 minutes. Remove ingredients, add honey and enjoy.

If you do not want to waste the ingredients when you take them out, blend them in with your favorite smoothie. I do this often. 

I use a tea infuser that sits right in my mug and has a lid.