reader gallery

If a Crafty Nest tutorial inspires you to make something, please email a photo of your craft to submissions[at]craftynest.com, and I’ll post it here. I love to see others’ creativity too!

Starburst mirror

Sara Manly used a 14-inch mirror, larger plant stakes, and round skewers (which is all she could find). She also cut a large plywood circle with a jig saw instead of using a plant glide. Sara plans to make other versions including a sunflower with wooden petal shapes, and a sunburst with decorative molding strips.

Frame within a frame

Katy at Simply Beginning took the frame-within-a-frame idea and ran with it. She made mirrors within a frame within a frame with candles. She got the idea from a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, where she learned that people in Colonial times used mirrors to multiply candlelight.

Carrie Stanley-Root at Dittle Dattle made this frame for her son’s bedroom. She used a slightly different process, and it works just as well.

Subway tile nameplates

Autumn Brown Shropshire made this nameplate and posted it on Facebook.

Wine cork bath mat

Sara Sheehy made this bath mat from wine corks she scored from a local restaurant. Sara sliced her corks with a hack saw instead of a pocket knife.

Juliaem made this bath mat. Love the crisscross pattern.

Salvaged patchwork bulletin board

Clara from The Home in Paradise re-did her daughter’s bulletin board using the traditional quilting method, which is just as effective (and perhaps easier) than my method.

Wallpapered dressing table

Jan Shore revamped this 1960s buffet using paint, scrapbook paper, and polyurethane.

Jan Shore purchased this cute little table at a resale shop and prepped, painted, and papered it. The trim pieces are a super inventive touch.

Craft/tool wall organizer

Jessica Ripley repurposed a crib rail in her craft room and shared this photo on Facebook. Everyone go tell her how great it is.

Fabric-covered lampshade + ball finial

This is one of three different fabric covered lampshades that Lúcia at Fazemos de Conta made after reading Craftynest’s before-and-after category. And she’s been busy making more! Check out her blog here.

Marianne at Noces de Coton covered this 1€ second-hand lampshade with fabric from Fabricworm.

Sofa table = keyboard stand

Kristen and Brant at The Harrison House made this keyboard stand. Brant made the sofa table from scratch, then they picked up a piano bench from Craigslist and spray painted them to match. The final cost was only $65!

Van Gogh on a wine bottle

Lúcia Russo, an artist from Brazil who blogs at Fazemos de Conta and Lúcia M Russo, painted Van Gogh’s Starry Night on a bottle. She wrote that she had a lot of fun making it as “a present to someone special who loves Vincent.”

Ugly plastic mirror = bulletin board

Cat from Ride Cat, Ride! made this bulletin board out of an oval mirror.

Handmade stencils and silhouettes

Rebecca Kenyon made these silhouettes as a gift for her friend’s birthday. Rebecca found the images online. The silhouette on the left is Audrey Hepburn. On the right is a hair model from the 60s. She found the frames at a thrift store, painted them white high gloss, then used sand paper to get the shabby look. Rebecca’s whole project cost $5.

Wallpapered cart

Amy Kroetsch at Chestnut Tree Lane transformed this $5 tea cart with spray paint and fabric.

Yeri Yun at What Makes Me Happy! painted and adhered wrapping paper from Paper Source to this cart she found at Goodwill for $5.

Carrie at Ruffled Feathers created a cute sewing table by revamping a $1 garage sale computer desk using shelving paper.

Hanging jar lanterns

Yannick Labelle made these from wire in her craft box and mason jars found on the side of the road. At night when she’s sitting on her second-floor balcony with all the candles, people stop and stare and comment.

April Rivero made these baby-food-jar lanterns for a baby shower she threw June 2009. She added beads to the wire for drama.

H. Kate made this hanging jar lantern to hang from a hook that was left behind by the previous owner of her house seven years ago.

Salvaged cupboard door = serving tray

Jennifer Fancher at Noting Grace found this cabinet door at a garage sale for 50 cents. She spray painted the edges black, painted over it with white, then scraped away some of the paint. She drew the design with a black marker.

Stephanie at My Creative Attempts painted this serving tray as a birthday present for her sister-in-law, Jami. It’s a huge improvement over the before picture of the tray she found at a thrift store.

Hemp pendant lamps

Cara Jean Means at The D.I. Denizen made these brightly colored yarn pendants as part of an impressive kitchen redo.

Hua Moua made these hemp pendant lights for her dining room. Her fiancé helped her wire them.

Kim Henderson made these hemp pendants using 75 lb. twine and hung them as decoration in her massage room.

Repurposed cake stands

Brittany at Pretty Handy Girl made this citrus striped cake stand from a plate and candlestick that she found at her friend’s yard sale.

Cat from Ride Cat, Ride! made this pedestal from “$3.98 worth of GW glass + epoxy.”

Carrie at this mama makes stuff made these little cupcake stands out of thrifted materials. She already used them for two birthday celebrations.

Ariane C. Smith made eleven cake plates for her wedding. She used them as centerpieces on each table and placed cupcakes on them. These are her first batch.

Wine cork trivet

My sister Christy sent me this picture of her friend’s wine cork trivet.