Friday Favorites Linky Party - Week 338

  Happy Almost Weekend everyone!

I am loving the unseasonably warm weather! I decorated my patio for fall and plan to eat as many dinners outside until the snow flies. 

I love, love, love when thrifting and shopping the house comes together in a new to me design!

Ready to party? Show me what you got!

Friday Favorites Linky Party - Week 337

I am taking an online Bead Embroidery (w/Myra Wood) craft class from Craftsy  (I am including affiliate links for your convenience) to learn how to add a little bling with beaded flowers and designs to my hand embroidery projects.  This is something I've wanted to to for awhile.

Funny thing buying the class lead to another craft organizing hack I've been wanting to do for awhile. After spilling beads out of my plastic bead organizer box similar to this one on Amazon while removing it from the storage drawer - again - I told myself I couldn't start the beading class until I  reorganized the  my bead stash.

A big chunk of my beads came from my Grandmother. I've done big beading costume projects with them ever since.

I spent a rip roaring party time evening streaming  movies on Amazon Prime Instant Video and  organizing my craft beads into empty prescription pill bottles I've randomly tossing into my bead drawer along with baby food jars, and film canisters. Remember those?

Under Lacey's watchful gaze of course. Or maybe she just likes to binge watch The Sarah Jane Chronicles too.

I have more loose beads than I realize. Is is rude to ask your family to get sick enough to require prescription medicine so you can repurpose the bottle? I'm asking for a friend.

 

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

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And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

How to Make Wine Cork and Bungee Cord Ties

Messy extension cords are taking over my workshop, power tool cords in particular. I think I wrap them well when I put my tools away only to find the cords are a tangled mess the next time I need to use them. Ugh!

To go along with my upcycled workshop scheme and more importantly I always have a stash of wine corks I use to clean sandpaper (read the tutorial on Condo Blues here) in my workbench I stopped what I was doing and whipped up a set of homemade power cord organizers.

Pin this organization tutorial for later!

This idea isn’t a new one but there are a few tips and hacks I haven’t seen written down and want to share.

Tips for Making Wine Cork and Bungee Cord Organizers: Everything You Need to Know!

21 Unique Bottle Cap Crafts to Inspire You!

I remake and makeover a lot of things using bottle caps but as our collection grows I need new recycled DIY ideas.

If you look at my Pinterest Crafts board you will see I have bottle cap projects on the brain. It seems like after I complete one bottle cap decorating project I see and pin a bunch more. (Follow me @condoblues on Pinterest pretty please?)

I can’t be the only one that doesn't this, can I?

Pint this post for later!

I thought I’d share the bottle cap craft love and show you some of my favorite recycled bottle cap projects from around the web to inspire you.

You can just drool over them like the bottle cap house. I doubt my Home Owner’s Association will let me do that or Husband for that matter.

How to Make an Outdoor Chalkboard Paint Table

My outdoor mosaic bistro table and chairs developed so much dry rot mushrooms grew in the table and chairs. I decided to repair it rather than replace it for a greener, cheaper, and more personalized patio table and chair set.

Also, I didn’t find a replacement that I liked in the store. That’s the real incentive for this project.

I got my reused bottle cap craft on and made four coordinating recycled bottle cap mosaic chairs. Read the bottle cap chair tutorial here on Condo Blues. Now it is time to turn my attention to making over the outdoor bistro table with chalkboard paint.

Outdoor Game Table Tutorial

 

Pin this tutorial for later!

10 Ways to Reuse Plastic Food and Laundry Measuring Scoops

Even though Husband and I try to run a low waste home with careful shopping and find new reuses for what we can't recycle through our city's recycling program, there is one thing we are swimming in and loathe to regularly send to the landfill: plastic laundry and food measuring scoops.

 Pin this list of ideas for later!

How to Make a Bottle Cap Mosaic Chair

Ewwww!

The cute little mosaic tile bistro set on our patio has lived outside in the rain sleet and snow for a very long time.

How long?

Long enough for the elements to take their toll and dry rot the wood base of the table and all of the chairs.

 

The thing I like best about the current set is the size and design of the metal ice cream parlor style chairs (minus the mushrooms.)  I wasn’t in love with anything I saw in the stores as a replacement.

Well, when I can’t buy I DIY!

Recycled Bottle Cap Craft Tutorial

 

   Pin this recycled bottle cap craft idea for later!

How to Make an Iron Throne from a Lawn Chair

Everyone and I mean EVERYONE wants to sit upon the Iron Throne.

If you watch Game of Thrones you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't I'll give you a quick rundown:

• There is a very uncomfortable chair they say is made from 1,000 enemy swords but it is really more like 200 forged by some guy named Shemp. Instead, they say it was forged by a Dragon because that sounds more majestic than A Guy Named Shemp and His Anvil. 

• If you sit on the pointy sword chair you can brag you rule all of the Seven Kingdoms in this made up Dungeons and Dragons kind of world called Westros where everybody hates everybody - eventually.

• Each Kingdom has their own ruler who has a Special Chair or Bench which is more comfortable than the Iron Throne. 

• All of the Comfy Chair Rulers (or their conniving relatives) want the Uncomfortable Sword Chair and will do anything to get it. This usually involves killing people at weddings. So mean!

• No one is smart enough to upholster the Iron Throne so the swords won't cut the person who plops their tush on it.

And I want one.

How to Make a Small Space Sandpaper Organizer

It's amazing what you find when you decide it is time to clean and organize a workbench or workshop.

In my case it is sandpaper.

Lots of sandpaper.

Like embarrassing amounts of specific grits I bought because I though I didn't have it, when not only did I have it, I have epic loads of it because I kept losing it in my messy and disorganized garage and workshop.

I'm sure all of you organized crafters and DIYers cannot relate at all to this. (Although I'd feel less like a slob if you do.)

Dollar store sandpaper organizer!

That's what happens when I get tired of storing a mount of objects on my workbench top after creating a motivational gallery wall above the workbench in the garage.

So I started poking around Pinterest (follow me @condoblues pretty please?) looking for workshop sandpaper storage and organizers and coming up empty because I work in a small space.  I'm too short to reach all of the organizers I saw hanging on the wall over a workbench.

Funny thing, I found the inspiration solution on the Craftsman website when I was on there dreaming about lawnmowers. Sorry about the weird stream of conscious thing but our lawn service has given us so many excuses about not cutting our grass (that I'm allergic to) that  is almost as tall as Lacey. Grrr!

But that is a different story for a different day.

How to Make Motivational Chalkboard Art the Easy Way!

I learned in my garage organizing post Organize Your Garage in Three Simple Questions that hanging and storing items high on a wall doesn’t work well for a short person like me. If I can’t easily reach it without a step stool I won’t put it away in its proper place.

That’s why the wall above my recycled cabinet workbench (read the tutorial on Condo Blues here) is blank. All of my tools and DIY supplies are stored low to the ground – like me! – in the workbench.

Since that area is pretty much dead to me for tool storage, why not fill it with some motivational DIY décor?

 Pin this post for later!

I read several interviews from local resident Kelly Harris when she was on Face Off. (Which is the only reality show I watch because it is all about creating cool movie makeups and not about manufacturing drama between the contestants and judges.) When asked in interviews how Kelly learned to how to do  makeup special effects, Kelly always says her personal motto is, “Try. Suck. Get Better. Repeat.”

I immediately scribbled her motto on a Post It Note and slapped it on my computer stand because she summed up how I go about doing just about every project you read about on Condo Blues. My plan was to hang Kelly’s motto above my workbench for DIY inspiration when I hit a spot in a project that makes me sing the blues.

How to Make a Pallet Wood Clamp Storage Rack

The small downside to insulating the garage walls is I lost my free wood clamp storage organizer. I can’t store my clamps on wall stud like I used to now that they are filled with insulation.
Currently my wood clamps are stored in a pile of stuff on top of my workbench. At least I think they are. There is too much junk on top of the workbench to tell. Sigh.

During Operation: Clean and Organize my Workbench and Clear My Recycled Materials Stash, I added a woodworking clamp storage rack is a quick and easy wood pallet stash bust project that took practically no time and with very few tools to make to my punch list.

Quick and Easy Workbench Woodworking Clamp Rack

 

Pin this for later!

You will need:

How to Make a Colorful Year Round Wood Wreath

I found a bag of round hole saw scraps in the reclaimed wood stash in my workshop.  I’m not sure why I kept them. Most of the “wood holes” in the bag were cracked, split, and otherwise wonky because that’s how hole saws work.

A hole saws is designed to cut a round hole in wood and not for cutting a piece of wood into a perfectly round shape.

I could blow it off as part of a being DIYer who works with recycled materials but the fact of the matter is, my reclaimed wood stash is starting to outgrow its storage area. I need to either use it or start making up gift boxes of scraps for friends to use as kindling in their fire pits. Which I may or may not have gotten puzzling looks when I may or may not have tried to pass off a box of wood scraps for a fire pit as a hostess gift in the past.

 Hole saw scraps!

Fortunately, there were a few wood rounds that were in good enough shape - or could be with a smattering of wood filler and some sanding - that I decided to use them to make a scrap wood wreath. And you can too! Read my step by step tutorial to learn how!

How to Make a  Wood Wreath

How to Make Vintage Wall Map Decor

I like big maps and I cannot lie.

I cannot tell you how many times the room I fall for in a decor magazine or on a blog features a big vintage map hanging  on the wall. Swoooooooon!

In my made up fantasy world I would find the perfect old school wall map at a thrift shop for 10 bucks, merrily dance with it all the way home, and after a rousing game of Not It Won't Fit Yes It Will with Husband, hang it on a well deserving wall in our house. Where it fits perfectly, of course.

Photo courtesy of Blesser House

Aquaponic Gardens for Lazy Gardeners

Husband and I are on again off again gardeners.

Why?

Because gardens, especially vegetable gardens, are needy. You can’t just plant some seeds and walk away until harvest time. Nope. There is the watering, the fertilizing, the watering, the thinning, the watering, the staking, the watering, the pest control, the watering…and did I mention watering the garden?

With all of our summer and warm weather activities it would be nice if there was a way to grow fresh vegetables on auto pilot or inside during the winter when we have more time for more involved projects like gardening. I’ve been thinking about growing vegetables in an aquaponic garden ever since Husband and I saw a display on aquaponics last summer at the Ohio State Fair.

 Pin this post for reference!

In both hydroponic and aquaponic gardens, the seeds and plants are not planted in traditional soil but some sort of growth medium suspended above a pool or tank of water. We saw examples of plants growing in clay pebbles, stones made from recycled glass, foam baskets, and on a floating raft.

How to Hang an Old Window From the Ceiling

On sunny afternoons, the sun hits the kitchen window just right to make a prism on the ceiling.
Lacey thinks this dazzling array of luck and science is a formidable threat to our house and home. She barks her head off all. afternoon. long. no matter how many times we try and fail to shush her.
Apparently light theory is lost on dogs.

A window treatment will solve the nefarious prism problem. I want something that lets in light, is easy to clean, and won’t wrinkle like my DIY cardboard corner window cornice and curtains I made that brought out the haters on Hometalk.

Call it shabby chic, Fixer Upper, or my own Mid-Century Modern-Bauhaus-Contemporary-Found-and-Funkified-Retro-DaDa-Danish decorating style. I repurposed an old flea market window as a kitchen window treatment.
 

Pin this post for later!

Here’s how.

DIY Old Window Window Treatment

Recycled Pallet and Pot Planters

A big wood barrel planter is so welcoming at the end of a driveway,  on a front porch, deck, or patio. Unfortunately those expensive buggers start to crack and rot a few years after you buy them.

If only there was a way, to get a lasting  wood barrel planter look for less. Then we can get down to the business of buying and growing pretty plants and not replacing their planters every other year.

There is something to say for a lasting rustic garden like this one.

Photo courtesy of  Make the Best of Things

Zipper Yoga Mat Tote Bag Tutorial

Yoga is my favorite form of exercise. Husband thoughtfully gave me a better and slightly thicker sticky yoga mat so I didn’t have to borrow his mat anymore.  Awww. What a guy!

He offered to buy me a new yoga mat bag too. I told him I had all of the materials I need in my craft room to make a yoga mat bag.

Three months later I finally got around to making it.

Pin this post for later!

My bloggy friend Jen Goode from 100 Directions asked me to be part of her National Craft Month celebration.   Jen’s blog collaboration was the kick in the seat I needed to design and sew the yoga mat bag I planned from recycled and stash bust craft materials.

How to Make Bottle Cap Tiles

I want another ear phone, phone, and table charger organizer for the living room to hold the overflow from the Cigar Box and Wine Cork Storage Box I made last month.

I found a decorative Indian spice box during a 10 minute tidy in the kitchen that will a few quick tweaks will fit the bill just fine thank you.

 
The interior wood dividers easily popped out of the box in my hand. I wanted to add feet to the bottom of my DIY decorative storage box.  What to use?

Bottle caps!

 Pin this post for later!

How to Cut Wine Corks for Crafts the Easy Way!

Have you ever tried to cut a wine cork in half?
 
Neatly?

Without the cork flaking and shredding?

Or  accidentally cutting your fingers to shreds?

ME TOO!

I need to cut a wine cork in half for an upcoming project. I want to cut the cork quickly, easily, and safely. Most of all I want to cut the wine cork without cork bits shedding all over the place. A nice, clean, cork cut is all I ask.

How to Neatly Cut a Wine Cork in Half

Cutting wine corks for crafts isn’t hard to do. If you want to cut a wine cork without it falling apart, you’ll need to do one simple step before you cut into it.

 Pin this post for later!

 

How to Make an Office Chair Duct Tape Foot Rest in Ten Minutes Flat!

My feet don’t reach the floor when I sit in my desk chair to work on the computer.

If I lower my chair so my feet reach the floor, then my computer monitor and the keyboard tray on my desk are too high and give me a slight shrug while I work. You will not believe how much head, neck, and back pain that barely noticeable tic of non alignment can cause.

If I don't get a migraine, the pain makes me feel beaten up all over my body, pain shoots down my extremities, and I feel like I want to vomit.

It took me years to  find the right person to tell me that a poor ergonomic work station not tailored to someone of my petite stature is the cause of my mystery symptoms.

Luckily, since I already use a desk with a lowered keyboard tray,  most of the adjustments I need to do to make sure my arms are wrists are parallel to my keyboard are on my desk chair.   I use a couple of thick books as a monitor stand (,) some painter tape on the bottom of my desk chair to remind me where to reset my chair height, and awareness that if for example, I'm starting to feel a shooting pain in my arm I might be hunching over or set the mouse just a little too far right from its original position which makes me overreach slightly.

That's the shirt story long on why my feet often dangle three and half inches above the floor everyday while I work.

The is part of the fun of being fun sized!

This is not ergonomic for the lower half of my body. Sometimes I get a slight knee ache.