Baby Perkins Reveal

Ribbon Cross

Supplies:

Board 10"x18"

Dark stain

1 roll of solid ribbon

1 roll of chevron ribbon

Hot glue gun

Jewelry wire

Wall mounting bracket

Embellishments

What to do:

1) Stain your board the desired color. I really like the dark stain as I think it makes the ribbon pop.

2) Cut one - 13 inch piece of ribbon from your solid ribbon color and your patterned ribbon. Then cut one - 21 inch piece of ribbon your solid and your patterned ribbon.

3)Start by hot gluing the vertical (21") ribbon to top back of the board about 3/4" from the edge. Then loosely wrap it around the front of the board and hot glue it on the back at the bottom. Repeat this with the patterned ribbon.

4) Take a piece of jewelry wire ( you could substitute thread or fishing line, but I found the wire tends not to break when you pull it really tight) and pinch in the ribbon about 1/3 of the way down from the top. Tying the wire tight.

5) Line up the middle of your horizontal (13") solid ribbon with the wire you just used to tie the vertical ribbon. Hot glue to the back on one side 3/4" from the edge loosely wrap to the other side and hot glue to the back. Repeat this with the patterned ribbon.

6)  Again, take a piece of jewelry wire this time pinch in the horizontal ribbon where it intersects with the wire you tied off the vertical piece with. Tying the wire tight.

7)  Hot glue your embellishments to cover the wire in the center. I used a flower from the scrapbook section and a wooden cut out with the word Family that I painted to match the ribbon I used.

8)  Attach the wall mounting bracket to the back. Hang on your wall and Enjoy!


Others I made for my mom for gifts:

Groomsmen Cigar Boxes

So this was the first big project where I got to use my Cricut Explore One. That being said, I helped with the project but most of the work was done by my fiancé. He wanted to make something for the guys that are going to be standing by him on our big day.

Supplies:

Wooden Cigar box

Vinyl

Transfer Paper

Cricut

Cricut mat

Cricut scaper

Black spray paint

Stain (we used Dark Walnut as the color)

Rags for staining
Satin spray polyurethane

What to Do:

1) First thing first, you have to come up with the design. I used Cricut Design Studio. I however didn't make the A&D logo in the middle of the boxes, it was designed by my future father-in-law.

The guy's names and their role were done in the Papyrus font. The whole design was sized to be 7 inches x 7 inches.

2) Cut a piece of vinyl to 9 inches x 9 inches and attach to the cutting mat. Then cut the design.

3) Once the design is cut you have to remove the parts of the design that you want to show up when you paint. For our design we removed the inside of the letters so the outlines remained.

4) Cut a piece of transfer paper 8 inches x 8 inches. Peel off the backing of the transfer paper as you apply it to the top of the vinyl design. Ensure that you smooth it out completely as you go to ensure you don't get bubbles. Then you want to press and smooth it real well with the scraper to make sure the design sticks to the transfer paper.

5) The next step is to remove the back from the vinyl. Its easiest to do this if you flip the design over and pull up ensure that all of the vinyl remains attached to the transfer paper on the front.

6) Center the design on the box and the slowly lay down the design started at one edge and smoothing out the bubbles as you go. Ensure that every thing is stuck down well.

7) Next you remove the transfer paper from the vinyl. Its best if you start at a corner and pull the transfer paper off slowly at an angle. As your going if the vinyl starts to pull up just push it back down with the transfer paper and try it again.

8) Once the transfer paper is removed go ahead and make sure that the vinyl is stuck down well.

9) Use masking tape and tape off the sides of the box to make sure it is not painted by overspray.

10) Next spray painted the design on in black and let the paint dry completely.

10) After the paint has dried you can remove the vinyl. Due to the type of wood the box was made of, the paint ran a little bit into the grain of the wood. That was okay with us because the stain covered it up.

11) Next step is to stain the boxes. We used an old t-shirt that we cut into rags to stain. Then we used a clean rag to wipe off any excess stain.

12) We next added a coat of satin polyurethane to seal the box.

13) The last step is to fill the box. In ours we put a 8 oz. hip flask that had been sand blasted with the logo and the groomsman's name, a flask funnel, a 0.375 Liter bottle of whiskey, a cigar, and a cigar cutter.  

Spool Table

This by far has been one of my favorite projects. I love having this unique piece in my apartment and its functional as well. I use mine as a DVD rack, the best part is it rotates and the shelves are removable and adjustable to you can design it however you want.

Supplies

Industrial wire spool (diameter = 32" , height = 27")

4 half sheets of plywood 1/2" thick

3/4" corner braces
5mm x 1 3/4" straight rod long pins
1 3/4" Screws

1/8th inch 3x3 rubber floor mat

12" lazy susan bearing
String
Adhesive Spray
Sand Paper
Stain

Drill
Drill press (recommended)
Circular Saw
Table Saw
Jig Saw

What to do:

 First off I would like to say I had a lot of help pulling off this project my boyfriend and his dad played a huge part in getting this done.

- Cut four dividers 24"x10" (or what ever the dimensions of your spool are) out of the plywood  using a table saw.

- Drill 3/8" holes 1 inch apart down the length of each side of your dividers. I suggest using a drill press but even this way it is a tedious process. This is where your long rod pins will be inserted to hold the shelf .

Note: For spacing of the holes use whatever you plan to put on the shelf as spacing. We had to go back in and add new holes to make the shelves fit to hold three rows of DVDs.

- Place the four dividers even spaced around the table and screw into place through the top and the bottom of the spool.

.

- Using a 1/2 sheet of plywood start by marking the center draw lines from corner to corner to find the center. Put a screw in the center of the 'X' use a piece of string tie it around the screw and a pencil on the other end at the length of the diameter of the spool (Circle 1 in figure below). Repeat this to draw circle 2 by measuring the depth into the center of the spool (arrow in picture below) (this would also be the width of your uprights you cut previously) and subtract this from the diameter twice to get the length of the string.

-  Cut out all four wedges using a jig saw to cut the curves and a circular saw to cut the straight sides.  Then use one as an outline to cut out the remaining number of shelves from the final sheet of plywood (I had a total of 9 shelves but I only use 8). Once you have the shelves, cut 1/4" from each end to take into account the size of your dividers (or 1/2" from one side).

- Cut out a square that is 2'x2' out of plywood. Mark the center similarly to the figure above. Align the spinner with the center and screw to the plywood base. Drill a hole through the spinner and plywood base that will align with the screw holes you will be using to attach to the spool. Align the spinner/base on the center of the bottom of the spool and use the hole you drilled to screw to the spool (you will have to rotate the hole as you go to get to all of the screw holes).

Video of Rotating Spool Table

- Spray the plywood base and rubber with adhesive and let it dry. Then coat them both again and place the rubber on the plywood. Allow to dry then cut rubber to match plywood with a razor blade or pair of scissors.

- Sand all rough edges and existing spool (I went sparingly on the spool as it had ink stamps that I wanted to keep.  Stain with your chosen color.

- Place the long rod pins into the drilled holes on the uprights. Place the shelf on the rods and then use a corner bracket at the back of the shelf and screw it to the bottom of the shelf and the center of the spool.  (This keeps the shelves in place and prevents them from flipping out.)

This is where I got my original idea, it was a much smaller spool and only had one shelf. The spool I got was much larger so my thinking got much larger with that.

http://pinkxstitches.blogspot.com/2012/07/spool-bookcase-tutorial.html





Beard Trimmings Catcher

For those of you who's significant other is sporting facial hair then you understand the pain in finding those little hairs all over the bathroom sink. No matter how hard they try to clean it up some still escape. So when I stumbled upon this clever little trick to help, I rushed right out to buy what was needed to make it. I will also add that I gave this as a funny Christmas gift to my fiancé.

Materials Needed:

Black apron

Two Medium Suction cups

White acrylic paint

Paint brushes

Mustache or beard printout

Scissors

Superglue

White fabric pencil

Ruler

What to do:

First thing is to prepare the apron. I couldn't find one that didn't have a front pocket on it (which I assumed would be a horrible idea as a hair catcher) so I had to remove the pocket using a seam ripper. Then removed the back tie straps, just snipped them right off with the scissors (close to wear the seam holding it on is).

Next step was to add the suction cups to the bottom corners of the apron. On the back side of the apron I made 1 centimeter marks 3 centimeters for the edge both horizontally and vertically. Then I cut along the 1 centimeter line to get a hole to put the knob on the suction cup in. Do a trial to make sure the suction cup will fit in the hole made. After checking the fit put super glue along the edge of the knob on the suction cup (see picture below) and carefully insert into the hole, making sure the suction cup is at the back side of the apron.

The last step is to add the design. I cut out the mustache and used the outline left from cutting out and traced it onto the front of the apron using a white fabric pencil. Once you have the outline I used a fine paint brush to go around the border, then a thicker brush to fill in, it took 3 coats of the white acrylic paint to get it coated.

Let the paint dry and then your done!

How to place the super glue onto the suction cup.

Insipiration for this project was found here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/clairenolan/this-diy-suction-cup-apron-is-the-solution-to-your-beard-gro?utm_term=.deVzRbeQG#.uhqYvNymo

Bed Spring Wine Rack

This was a huge hit during Christmas. We made this for a lot of our friends and family. Its a cute, functional, rustic wine rack that sits on a counter, the floor or where ever you want to put it. I have included optional modifications if you feel like you don't have the counter space and would prefer to hang it on the wall.

Supplies

Bed springs

Wood (my choice was older weathered wood)

Light weight chain (see below picture)

Screws (four different sizes- 4 short ones to attach the stabilizing board, small ones to hold the hinge and the clips that attach the springs, and then two with larger heads to hold the chain) length of screws depends on the thickness of the wood you use

plastic cable clips (see below picture)

hinge

the plastic cable clips

the light weight chain and larger headed screw

What to do:

First task is to find the bed springs and the wood you want to use. I personally prefer the older looking weathered boards (the bed springs are not found in all mattresses they must be the coiled springs).

- Cut the front and back board to 24" long by 7" wide (this is for a four spring holder) the base stabilizing piece (which was a modification so it didn't tip over when bottles were added) is 5.5" wide by 10" long.

- Attach the stabilizing board onto the back of the front board using 4 short screws.

- Attach the hinge to the front and back pieces (make sure you have it so the stops for the hinge allow maximum spread of the two boards).

- Attach the chain that will hold the two boards together. Cut the chain to the desired length based on how much of an angle you want the holder to sit at. Attach to the front and back boards by using short screws with a wide head that won't fit through the chain loop.

- Now you can attach the springs using the plastic cable clips. space out the springs mine are about 6" apart at the narrow end of the spring.

Optional Modifications:

- You could make it into a wall wine holder by only making the front piece and attaching a sawtooth picture hanger to the back to hang it from the wall instead of making it a standing piece that takes up counter space.

- To change the look you could alternate the way the springs lay. For mine the springs all point the same direction, but for a friend I alternated the springs.


I first saw this idea on pinterest from http://judypimperl.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-chicken-pen-for-rusty-bed-spring.html, it had a lot of good ideas for use of old springs, but there was no link for the wine rack on how to make it.

Swirl Water Paintings

These paintings are great they are pretty simple to do and look awesome!

Supplies

Canvas

Bucket of water (the canvas must fit all the way into it)

Enamel paints (like what is used to paint model kits, I got mine at Michaels)

                         -- it will take about one jar of each color you want to use

Swirl sticks (ex:wooden paint stirrers)

droppers (one for each color)

Newspaper

Rubber gloves

Example of the type of enamel paints you want to buy.

What to do:

First make sure you have a space outside to do this it gets kind of messy near the end of the process. Also make sure you have a place and a way to hang these to dry, they do drip so you will need to put a drop cloth or something down. Make sure your canvas will be able to be completely submerged in the bucket you have chosen (see picture below of what happens if it doesn't). You may also want to watch some videos of how this technique is applied to making guitars it may provide inspiration (I have attached some links for YouTube videos at the end). After preparations have been made then you can continue on.

- Fill your bucket with water.

- Then using the droppers start adding in the paint.

- Once the entire area of the water is covered take the swirl stick and slowly swirl the paints together (the more you mix the more blended your paints will become, sometimes less is better).

- Once you have swirled your paints you are ready to dip your canvas (this would be a good time to wear a rubber glove if not it is a pain to get all the paint off your hands!). Slowly lower the canvas into the water (to get the wavy effect seen in the picture above gently move your canvas side to side as you lower it).

- Once the canvas is completely submerged wipe the excess paint off the top of the water with the newspaper, then remover your canvas and allow to dry.

With that you are finished and have an unique piece of art to hang!

Here is what happens if your bucket isn't big enough. The line at the top is from where I had to remove the canvas and then turn it over to do the last little bit with not very much paint left.

YouTube videos:

http://youtu.be/J4d_t5-OFps

http://youtu.be/tCCVzkhWvy0


The original idea came from http://www.shineyourlightblog.com/2012/10/swirl-painting-with-enamel-paints-and.html