Spider Web Door Hanger For Halloween

It's hard to believe that Fall is fast approaching and that Halloween is "creeping" up on us!

Of course what would the Holiday be without a little "Craft Lightning"??!!

This awesome series has been hosted for a few years now by Angie at Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 minute Crafts and it is always so much fun!

This edition is highlighting Halloween and is co-hosted by: Jen Goode from the blog "100 Directions".

I have been collecting bottle caps for awhile, just imagining all the crafty possibilities they hold...so I decided it was time to try and use some of them up before Hubby asks that inevitable question..."What are you going to do with those?" 

At first I wanted to make a Halloween-themed wind chime, but soon discovered that in order to make these babies "chime" I would need a ton of them and couldn't possibly get it done in 15 minutes or less, so I moved on to a simpler solution: a Door Hanger!

The most obvious thing I could think of that resembled the shape of the bottle caps was of course a pumpkin or a spider and I settled on spiders and a spider web!

This project was so easy to make and really the only time consuming part was taking the rubber seals out of the bottle caps. For this reason, I recommend you purchase the regular metal bottle caps that are made specifically for crafts, that don't include that seal.

If you aren't in a hurry though and you don't mind the tedious task of removing them, then by all means go ahead and recycle/upcycle!

Here is a short slideshow/video I made of how I assembled this project:

Here are the tools & supplies I used to make this project:

Supplies/Tools List:

(*Disclosure: Some text may contain affiliate links) 

Wire Clothes Hanger

Pop Bottle Caps
Cricut Cuttle Bug Embosser (To Flatten Caps)
Black Spray Paint (Krylon)
Wood Block and Nail (To punch holes in bottle caps)
Hammer
Hot Glue Gun (AdTech Dual-Temp)
Glue Sticks (AdTech Multi-Temp)
Ruler
Lace, Black (Remnant from stash...brand unknown)
Lace Trim, Black (Remant from stash...brand unknown)
Scissors
Paint Pen, Silver (Marvy/Uchida DecoColor)
Decorative Bead Trim, Plastic, Silver (Hobby Lobby)
Needle Nose Pliers
Nylon MonoFilament (aka:Fishing Line)
Metal Scribe and/or wooden popsicle sticks

Be sure to check-out all of the other Halloween Goodies in this series by clicking on the info-graphic below!

Thank-you for visiting my blog today, hope you found some fun and inspiration and will visit again soon!



(*Stuff-n-Such, Lisa Hall, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com)

Father's Day Dresser Catch-All for Dad

Time for another round of  Craft Lightning and this one is a first...a Father's Day theme!

I really had to wrack my brain for this one...I am NEVER good at gifts for men or even boys for that matter!

I guess I just typically like the "girly" stuff...but fortunately while cleaning out some storage areas on our property, I came across this old crusty tool box (carrier) that hubby was going to throw out because apparently it had outlived it's usefulness...to him anyway!

I knew that I had this Craft Lightning post coming up and I thought surely I could think of something to make from this for Father's Day...and It finally came to me...a "catchall" box for that special "Dad" in you or your children's lives.

I don't know about the guys in your life, but I know my son's and my hubby in particular are not super concerned about where stuff goes when they are tired after a long day at work!

This catch-all will help keep them organized and not lose those important items they need for the next day or in the near future.

Perfect place for a wallet, work ID badge, watch, spare change, neck ties, fitbit, and a wedding ring or other jewelry for those guys who can't wear them at their jobs!

Really the hardest part of this project was getting the old, rusty, grubby tool carrier clean!
I'll have to admit that it took a lot longer than 15 minutes to do that part alone, but of course you don't have to start with something in such bad shape...you can always use a nice wooden box purchased from your local craft store and skip the cleaning step!

I just like to re-purpose old stuff that is headed for the landfill...if I can think of a way to make it useful.

I tried to only use tools and supplies that I had on hand for this project and this time that almost caused a big craft "fail", because the spray paint I used was some paint that had been in hubby's garage stash for quite awhile and I didn't realize that older spray paints can lose their air pressure after awhile and cause spotting.

If you look closely, you can see this is what happened to my project and I started to panic, because I didn't have a lot of time to start over...but after spraying the rest of the project I started actually liking the mottled/splotched look of the paint...it made it kind of gritty looking...more like it was suited for a man, so I left it be and hoped for the best.

Here is a short video of the steps I took to make this project:

Here are the tools/supplies I used for this project:

Tools/Supplies List:

(*Some Text May include affiliate links)

Old Metal Tool Carrier/Toolbox
Primer Gray Spray Paint, Rust-Oleum
Spray Pain, Blue
Cricut Explore
Cricut Design Space (Online Software)
Plantin Schoolbook Font (DAD)
Indie Art Cartridge (Wrench)
Freezer Paper, Reynolds
Recollections Turquoise Geometric Patterned Scrapbooking Paper, 12x12
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
Scissors
Ruler, Wooden
Ruler, Plastic, Cricut
Sharpie Pen, Black
Non-Slip/Grip Material (Not sure of the brand, I had it on hand in my kitchen!)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Krylon Workable Fixatif
Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Gloss Sealer

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and I hope you liked my Father's Day upcycled project!

Be sure to click on the graphic below and see all of the other great projects brought to you by other creative bloggers.

Many thanks to the hosts of Craft Lightning also: Angie from the Country Chic Cottage, Carolina from 30 minute Crafts and Danielle from Busy Mom's Helper.

See ya next time!

(*Stuff-n-Such, Lisa Hall, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com)

Wedding Noisemaker Favor from Soda Can

Summer is here and with it brings the wedding Season and what better time to have another round of the ever-popular Craft Lightning Series hosted by Angie at the Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 Minute Crafts.

Guest host for this Wedding Series is the crafty and talented Katie, from "Sweet Rose Studio".

I'm so happy you all have stopped by to see what sweet and sassy wedding crafts can be whipped-up in a jiffy (15 minutes or less...minus drying time)!

When I think of weddings, my favorite part has always been the cute favors offered to the guests as a token of thanks and remembrance of the big day!

A tradition that is repeated at many a wedding is the celebrating or encouraging of a kiss or two between the Bride and Groom and I wanted to think of something different to signal that public display of affection besides the traditional bell.

With a little help from hubby (whose brain I was picking for ideas...), I came up with this simple noisemaker made from an aluminum soda can with bottle caps inside to create the "noise".

I wasn't quite sure how to make an old soda can look elegant (or at least appropriate) for a wedding...but I figured I'd give it the old college try and see what I could come up with.

I spray painted the can with an antique white color and bent several bottle caps in half and placed them inside the can so that it would make lots of noise when it was shook.

I sealed the can top off with a flattened out bottle cap and secured it with E6000.

I decorated the painted can using die-cuts that I made using my Cricut Explore and then accented the can with sheer ribbon and a paper flower on top.

Of course, you don't have to use a Cricut Explore or any other die-cut machine to do this, there are so many possibilities for embellishing the can but for the purpose of keeping this craft to 15 minutes or less, I decided the Cricut was a timesaver.

Here are the steps I took in making this project:

Here are the supplies and tools I used to make this project:

Tools/Supplies Used:

Empty/Used Aluminum Soda Can (Small/Mini)

Soda Bottle Caps

Ruler

Scissors

Pliers

Hammer, Small

Spray Paint, Krylon, Cover Maxx, Primer, Color: Gray

Spray Paint, Ace, Interior/Exterior, Color: Antique White/Cooler Beige

E6000 Adhesive

Scotch Advanced Tape Glider Gun

Cricut Explore Die-Cut Machine

Cricut Design Space Online Software

Newlyweds Image (#MB9501) from Cricut Cartridge (Library) "The Good Old Days"

Cricut Explore Antiquity Pen Set, Fine Point (Color: Midnight)

Sheer Ribbon, Details & Accessories, 5/8", Off White/Cream

Recollections Paper Flowers, Rolled

Recollections Cardstock Paper, Cream

Be sure to click on the info graphic below to see more great wedding projects that can be made in  15 minutes or less!




Thanks for stopping by for a visit...Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

This project/post is linked to the following sites/link-up parties:

   

Desk Organizer for Teacher

I am really loving the Craft Lightning  Series sponsored by my favorite bloggers, Angie at Country Chic Cottage and Carolina at 30 minute crafts and this current version, Teacher Appreciation, is no exception!

I am always trying to do 10 things at once and am never very successful in getting things done, so finding a craft I can do in 15 minutes or less fits right in with my daily madness!

As my previous visitors and followers already know, I babysit two of my Grandchildren on a regular basis and one of them is in school and she LOVES to make things for her teachers, so I decided to be sure and make a teacher gift every year for her to give to her current teacher.

Last year, I made this personalized coffee container for her Kindergarten teacher and it was a hit not only with Little B and her teacher, but with the entire class!

I don't know if this project will be quite as popular as that one, but since I've been on a "recycle/upcycle" trend lately, I decided to continue with that theme and try to re-use something in a creative way.

I had seen a very cute idea on either Pinterest or Stumble Upon recently and wanted to re-create it but wasn't sure if that exact item (A jewelry holder) would fit for B's teacher, since I do not know a whole lot about her and what she might like, so I decided to down-size it and make it for use on a teacher's desk.

(Click Here to see the original project that I used for inspiration)

So, I made this desk organizer (paper clip, brad, rubber-band holder).

I tried to think of what little items a teacher would use that would need to be organized for quick use on her desk and I came up with paper clips, rubber bands, brads and push-pins.
(I forgot to take any photos of the organizer with push-pins in it...oops! But you get the idea!)

I used 3 empty plastic soda bottles (12-20 oz.) for this organizer, but you could make yours bigger and/or smaller depending on your taste and what bottles you have on hand.

One of the great things about this project is you can almost make it from stuff just around your house and in your craft stash, especially if you have a hubby with a garage or shop!

Oddly enough, my husband has a garage stock full of hardware and tools, but since he wasn't home at the time I started my project, I couldn't find some of the hardware I needed, so I did run to the corner hardware store real quick and pick-up the threaded rod, washers and nuts, though I'm pretty sure he had most of that hidden somewhere in the dark corners of his man cave!

When he got home, I had him do the drilling for me, even though I attempted it with my 25+ year old dremel too, but it finally gave up the ghost, just as I was drilling my first hole, so I had him finish the others for me, as I was not sure I wouldn't drill my finger trying to wrestle with the bigger drill!

(Note: Be sure to wear safety gear, ie: googles and leather gloves when drilling or cutting...I forgot the gloves in my pics, but I did wear safety glasses!)

I noticed that most plastic bottles have a built-in line around them right about where you want to cut, but if you prefer a deeper dish/bowl, then just mark the bottle with tape and then cut it with the utility knife.

I sanded the edges of the plastic after I cut just to smooth them out a bit.
I decided to add some washi tape to the edges also, mostly for color and decoration, but this is not necessary if you sand them smooth or unless you just want to dress them up a bit!

(NOTE about the washi tape...some brands/types don't want to stick as well on plastic...especially when you are wrapping it around contours and curves! In this case, you may need to use a little elmers glue or mod podge to seal the edges. I did not do this...as you might be able to see in a few of the pics...but I will probably go back and do this before I have little B give this to her teacher.)

After attaching all the pieces using the washers and nuts I decided to add an embellishment to the top, to make it look a little prettier!

I used a plain white bead and inserted a straight pin with a colored ball tip and glued them together with E6000.

When it dried, I just snipped off the excess pin and glued the embelli to the top of the threaded rod.

This project was so easy and inexpensive...and it turned out pretty cute for a recycled project!

Hope you like it and might want to try making one of your own or for your favorite teacher!

Here is a photo of the tools and supplies used for this project:

Supplies/Tools List:

3 Empty Plastic Soda Bottles (12 oz., 16.9 oz. & 20 oz.)
Painters Tape, Blue, Scotch 3M
Utility Knife, Husky
Threaded Rod, 1/4" (approx. 6")
Hex Nuts, 1/4"
Flat Washers, 3/16"
Scotch Expressions Tape, 3/4", Dark Pink (Fuschia), Matte Finish
Washi Tape, We-R-Memory Keepers, 1 cm., Green/White design
Washi Tape, We-R-Memory Keepers, 1 cm., Blue flower design
Sand Paper, Med-Fine Grit
Adhesive, Industrial Strength, E6000
Side Cutter/Wire Cutter - (Not shown - Used to trim off excess straight pin)

I would like to send out a special thank-you to my daughter Beth, (who is a photographer) for helping me with some of the photos (you will be able to tell which one's are hers! She's a pro...I am NOT! LOL!)
If you get a chance, check out her photography site, she is very talented and I'm so proud of her!

Also, a big thank-you to Angie and Carolina for once again allowing me to be part of this awesome blog series.

It's always so much fun and so much inspiration to be shared!

Be sure to check out all the great Teacher Appreciation projects in this Craft Lightning Series.
Angie and Carolina will be posting round-ups of all the projects each day!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

This project is linked-up to the following sites/link parties: