My new jewelry hangers.

I have been especially stressed out lately. I'm not typically a stressed person, but there have been a million things going on that are just out of my control. I'm not a control freak, but I like to know where things are headed. I have been planning on making some jewelry hangers for a while. When I get stressed I get extra productive. It worked out well in this case, because I now have some really cool jewelry hangers. We caught all the knobs on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off and spent about an hour picking them out. Husband wanted his own, kids wanted to pick out some... Yeah, it was a long process. But I loved what we wound up with. These are just some pictures of how I finished them.

Had to cut the right length of board.

I found some wood left by the previous owners of our house under the porch. It was perfect. As you can see, I didn't have any big saws or anything else out. Since we moved we don't have a workshop and it was easier to just cut it than to go to my MIL's to do it. I just decided what length I needed, cut it, and took it to my kitchen sink and washed it off.  Also, please don't judge me below. I was still in pajamas. It was just one of those days. :/ My daughter decided to snap some random pictures so I thought I'd use one.

I measuerd all mine 2.5 inches apart and left that same amount hanging off each end. It balanced nicely.

Drilling some holes.

Counter sunk holes.

I did stain and polyacrylic the fronts before I added the knobs, but most people want the really distressed look now. If that was what I wanted I wouldn't have done anything to it. These are the drilled holes with the knobs and nuts already screwed in. I didn't need the washers. I used 2 drill bits for these holes. I did the smaller part first with a 1/4 inch bit (I think). Drilled those all the way through, then put on a 1/2 inch bit and drilled about halfway through the wood. I did it slowly and had no problems at all. I have never done this before so I was surprised I didn't screw it up. It was easy.




Then my DH used a sawzall with a diamond blade and shaved off the extra length from the knobs. I could have done it, but he likes using the saw. It does look like a tiger stripe on the back of it but you can't tell anywhere else. We could have gotten the grinder out and the back would have been much prettier, but seriously, who's looking at the back when it's on my wall?

He's so helpful

You can't see the saw marks even from the top.

We wound up with something that made us both very happy. We each have our own. I was so happy with the way it came out. There are teeth type picture hangers on the back. One on each end. It sits almost flush with the wall. He loved all the weird knobs, especially the dog head. Too bad they didn't have any breed specific knobs. K9 officers have one track minds sometimes.

This is mine.

This is is TJs.

And the first one I actually made was for my MIL's birthday. She has beachy stuff all over her house so we were able to find the perfect knobs for her. She loved it. Hers is going to have 2 screws attached to each corner and wire wrapped around them so that it will hang on the wall like string for a different look. Fits her house perfectly.

MIL's birthday present.

 So there you go. Fairly easy to make your own cute, custom jewelry hanger. I'm going to make an earring holder from the long cabinet and door handles at some point. Those are already bought and at home too, just haven't had time.

On a side note, if anyone see any knobs anywhere police related, please let me know! I think it would be awesome to have one to put in his office. I say jewelry holders, but it could be a coat rack during the winter as long as it's hung well.

How to Make a Dryer Vent Pumpkin

As most of you know, we have been getting our new house set up. Excitement is running rampant around our house right now. We should be moved in by the beginning of October. This weekend we got a lot of things accomplished. I made at least 10 trips to stores because I kept thinking of more things that I needed. I made 2 trips to get laundry detergent. I finally remembered it on the 3rd trip. I'm telling you, moving is exhausting. My mind has been in a million different places lately. When I realized I still forgot laundry detergent on the 2nd trip, I decided I needed a break from unpacking... organizing... making a bigger mess... whatever you want to call it. So I made one more trip out to get some supplies for a craft which always cheers me up. When I got back home I got out (ha. Got out... who am I kidding? It's been sitting on top of the dryer since we hooked it up 3 weeks ago.) the part of the dryer vent we cut off when we moved our dryer in and headed to the garage.

I got set up on my piece of newspaper with the garage doors open. I used orange Rust-O-Leum paint since it was going on metal. 

I just sprayed as evenly as I could. The paint stuck great. I made sure to spray the ends well and got under the vent as much as possible from this side.

Coming along nicely.

I left it there to dry on that side and turned it over once it completely dried. I waited a couple of hours and went back to unpacking since I felt a little better about my wasted trips to the store. After the first side was completely dry and no longer felt tacky I flipped it over to paint the other side,

The paint went on great. It's still wet here after painting the 2nd side.

I left it there another couple of hours so that the paint would be totally dry so I could connect the ends. For my purposes, I just held the two ends together and wrapped Gorilla tape around them and painted it orange as well. The back side of mine will be completely hidden so it didn't matter if it had tape on it. Originally I thought it had been going somewhere that would show off the entire thing. If that's your issue I would use a wire wrap method. Just hold the ends together, wrap thin wire around them like you would tape from one side to the next, and then wrap a small loop of wire around itself to hold in place. Since the vent is notched it will be barely noticeable. Then you could just throw a leaf over the top and it would be even less noticeable.

After I taped and painted it and brought it inside.

I bought apple cinnamon scented oil and dark reeds which I held together with rubber bands to make my stem. It's cute and gives off a nice smell. Two of my favorite things: Good looks and good smells. I stuck some fake leaves inside the rubber bands as well and just let them branch out.

My supplies. Just stick it all together and sit in the bottle of scented oil.

My finished product turned out great and was really simple. Other than drying time for the paint it took me less than 30 minutes. My total cost was under $15. Now I'm excited about making more fall and Halloween stuff, especially when it gives me an excuse not to unpack for a few minutes. 

Maybe it's just because I made it, but I think it turned out great. It's perfect for my mantle.

Supplies:

Dryer vent - $0 (already had it)

Orange Rust-O-Leum paint - $5

Apple Cinnamon Oil - $1
Decorative Reeds - $3
Fake leaves - $2
Rubber bands - $0 (already had it)

Until next time.