Tag Archives: DIY

Make Your Own Door Stop

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We all have a door that that a door stop would work perfect with. I know we have several in our home that are on hinged springs that keep the door closed. So this will work out perfect when we are going in and out with groceries or when we want to let some fresh air in.

Start with a two liter bottle of soda and cut the top off. Add quick drying cement that you mix according to directions. Just add proper amount of water to the dry mix. When you have filled the soda bottle mold up about 3/4 of the way stop. Take a thick rope and make a loop and tie the ends with a knot. Sink the knotted end into the cement like this:

Allow the cement to dry  usually 24 hours. Cut the plastic soda bottle away and decorate to your liking. Acrylic paint or cheap spray paint can be used to make an art piece or make it blend in with your decor perfectly. A sturdy door stop that can hold a heavy door open.

Christmas Snowflake From Clothes Hangers

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39b9b231ed17b154b6e2da2b6e003cc8This is such a cool decoration for Christmas. It is cheap so you can make a lot of them to really make an impact for the front of your home. There are different variations of it available but I like this one the best. Another aspect that I like about it, other then it being cheap and easy, is that it is already weatherproof.

You can find the video tutorial I used here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rru9qejrGMw

Some variations I found are:

Wrap with small sized lights.

Wrap with dollar store tinsel garland.

Spray paint silver, gold or some other color of your choice.

Spray polyurethane on it and while it is still wet sprinkle glitter on it. Make sure to do this over an old sheet tarp. It would get messy. Think iridescent or a color to coordinate with your home color or theme inspiration.

You could really go to town with these and have several hanging from the front of your home or from large trees. You could use one for each window in your home. Your total minimal investment would be $2.00 for 12 hangers fro your local discount department store and a package of small zip ties which I got twenty for $1.75. I reinforced the ones I made with extra zip ties here and there so I used plenty of them. Instead of the floral piece the guy in the video used I went to Michaels and got medium sized thin wood cutouts. I spray painted them on both sides and heavily coated them with polyurethane to protect them from the elements. I hot glued these on. You can use your imagination for the center including leaving them with nothing in the middle. I like them that way as well.

851bdb89045e54b0adf3128505ca90a9Hang with twine or a thin piece of wire. Where the hanger is attached you could put a complimentary bow. I wouldn’t put the bow AND center piece though I think it would muddle the snowflake design a bit.

If you do this let me see them and I would be happy to share on this post. When submitting let me know what name to credit your design with.

Disney Nightmare Before Christmas Push Light – DIY

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Nightmare Before Christmas collectibles are always expensive. You can create this cool light very easily with a Sharpie, black acrylic paint, a brush and a push light from a dollar store. With a Sharpie marker make the outline of the design you see on the picture. Fill eyes with black acrylic paint. Paint base black. If you would like you can seal with a coat of polyurethane. You could look up other Jack Skellington facial designs and have many of them on a wall.

Clear Mushroom For Your garden using Vases And Bowls

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What a clever way to use old invaluable glassware. Thrift stores are full of it. They often dump it by the trash can full. Before using glassware I plead with you to make sure the glass has no value. But if it does not there are endless ways to make these. Use epoxy to attach the bowl to the vase. If they are too heavy you may need to bury the base a little bit into the soil to help them stand up. If they break they are easy and cheap to replace. The designs are endless. I imagine someone handy could figure out a way to light these up. Maybe pain with a clear glow in the dark paint? Can you imaging a garden with a bunch of these throughout at night time all lit up.

Large Scrabble Game For Your Yard

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The Scrabble game shown is a bit fancy buy you can do this at home. You take walking stones that measure 12 x 12 or 10 x 10 and make a 15 stone by 15 stone patio.

With wood (use thin board to thick board depending on your budget and make the following tiles the same size as your paving stones size.

  • 4 blank tiles (scoring 0 points)
  • 1 point: E ×24, A ×16, O ×15, T ×15, I ×13, N ×13, R ×13, S ×10, L ×7, U ×7
  • 2 points: D ×8, G ×5
  • 3 points: C ×6, M ×6, B ×4, P ×4
  • 4 points: H ×5, F ×4, W ×4, Y ×4, V ×3
  • 5 points: K ×2
  • 8 points: J ×2, X ×2
  • 10 points: Q ×2, Z ×2

Hand paint or use stencils to make the coordinating letters and points for the tiles. use your own style and paint the tiles background in vibrant colors or color pallet of your choice. Letters could be any font – they don’t HAVE to be identical to the Scrabble font and colors.

Using a scrabble board you will make tiles the same size as your paving stones and make the triple, double tile  designs. These can be placed before your game starts. Again use your imagination and place the tiles in any position to make each game unique.

Store all tiems in a dry place to prevent warping, paint peeling and mildew.