Woven wine-cork trivet with loop hanger
Ten years ago, I made a bath mat out of wine corks. It took 175 corks, but I still had tons of them left over. No, I didn’t drink a ton of wine. In fact, I don’t drink alcohol at all. I gathered them from
No-sew scalloped tablecloth
Many years ago, I bought white flannel-backed vinyl by the yard at Walmart with the intention of making a scallop-edged tablecloth for my round pedestal table. Fast forward past two moves and the sale of that table, and this fabric remained rolled up in a closet. I […]
Lazy Susan = sunburst mirror
When I originally made this, sunburst mirrors from the 1960s-1970s were making a comeback in a big way, and I’ve yet to see their popularity fade. Sunburst mirrors are ubiquitous, and rightly so. They’re usually gold or silver, pricey, and generally designed to make a big statement on a wall. This […]
Lazy Susan = two wooden clocks
I wanted a big, bold clock to make a statement on my wall, but I couldn’t find anything like what I imagined, so I made my own. I started with a $7 Snudda Lazy Susan from Ikea (now $13). And — surprise — I got two clocks […]
Beaded-glass-framed mirror
I removed this old, scratched, chipped mirror from an ugly plastic frame (which I turned into a bulletin board). Even though the mirror had seen better days, I couldn’t just throw it out. Despite it’s flaws, I loved the shape and thickness of the mirror. I wanted to […]
House number tiles
Happy New Year, everyone! This is a project I finished more than two years ago. I finally got around to blogging about it. I hope you like it. A CN reader, Josie, emailed me quite a while ago asking for uses for leftover tiles. Subway tile nameplates […]
Crafting with the Cameo: embossed numbers clock
Can you believe it? I finally took my Silhouette Cameo™ out of its box and fired it up last week. I seriously don’t know what took me so long. I have lots of projects I want to try, but I decided to start with this square clock […]
Carol’s decoupage plates
Last week, I blogged about Carol Endler Sterbenz’s new book Homemade: The Heart and Science of Handcrafts. This week, I’m honored to welcome Carol as a guest nester! This decoupage plate tutorial is just one of the many fabulous projects in her book. Carol writes, “Of all the DIY […]
Frame within a frame
I adore this “bird cage” illustration by Emma SanCartier. And I wanted to make this small piece of art stand out. I could have mounted it in an up-sized frame with generous matting. I decided to make a frame-within-a-frame instead, mostly because I already had all the […]
Wine cork bath mat
I am evidently on a hot-glue kick lately. This bath mat requires just three materials: shelf liner, hot glue, and 175 wine corks. How did I gather 175 wine corks, you ask? Working at Sunset magazine had its perks. With all the wine tastings in that office, […]
Salvaged patchwork bulletin board
Whenever I speak to my dad on the phone, he always asks, “Miss me?” This past month I’ve been getting concerned emails, so apparently some of you missed me — or at least my weekly blog posts. I’ve missed you too. I think I just needed a break. But I’m happy […]
Wine cork trivet
My sister Christy came up with this super easy idea, and I love it. Even better: I had all the supplies on hand. No, I don’t drink wine, but I have plenty of friends who do. They saved their corks for a big project I have planned. I could spare a […]
Ugly plastic mirror = bulletin board
One of my friends referred to this as the “ugly mirror.” Another friend said, “Whatever you paid for it, you paid too much.” I get more excited about a project when I hear comments like that because I think, “Just wait till they see what I do with it. Mwahaha!” For […]
Thrift-store plate mirrors
Happy Earth Day everyone! I found these artichoke plates at a thrift store while hunting for dishes with which to make cake stands. I loved the flower shape of them so much that I bought them all. I have plans for the rest, but these three were […]
Paint a Van Gogh on a wine bottle
I am not an artist, so please excuse my painting skills. During my undergrad, one of my color class assignments was to copy an impressionistic painting on a wine bottle. It was the perfect assignment for a novice painter such as me. On a wine bottle, you can’t see the entire […]
Mod tissue box cover
I’m fed up with ugly tissue boxes. Even the semi-cool ones never match my decor. I used to buy the white tissue boxes from Target, but they discontinued them. So I took matters into my own hands. I found this wooden tissue box cover at a thrift store for a couple […]
Salvaged window frame = mirror
I saw this interior window frame at a salvage yard and coveted it for a few months before finally buying it. Instead of the opaque Plexiglass it came with, I inserted mirrors. I love mirrors because they can make a small space feel airy and bright. This one offers an added […]
Salvaged cupboard door = serving tray
I noticed this stash of cupboard doors at my local salvage yard. The white one was the perfect size to make a serving tray. The old drawer pulls — also found at the salvage yard — made ideal handles. Their swirly shape gave me the inspiration for the pattern I painted. […]
Hanging postcard collage
Last year, I asked for suggestions on ways to display my postcard collection. Everyone had great ideas. But this postcard “tapestry” idea came to me, and I had to try it. It would also work well for photos or Christmas cards. You can easily rotate in new ones whenever you like. […]
Repurposed dishes = cake stands
This one was my friend Kristi’s idea. While window shopping one day last spring, we saw a glass cake stand in a jewelry store window. She said, “You could make one of those.” I spent the next couple weeks scouring thrift stores for plates, candlesticks, vases — anything I could find […]
Mini magnetic picture frames
Instead of chucking these old mismatched frames that I accumulated from thrift stores, I painted them all the same color, attached magnets, and gave them a whole new life. If only I could give this 1980s fridge a new life — in the junkyard. But because I’m renting my apartment, I’m […]
Pants hangers + drawer pulls = picture frames
Do you have drawer pulls, pants hangers, and photos (or your children’s artwork) lying around? With a few supplies, you can hang them on the wall in minutes — and easily swap them out when the fancy strikes. The best part is drawer pulls look like antique picture hangers — for […]
Painted mirror
Ever since I saw it hanging on Vanessa’s wall in a photo of her home, I adored Ikea’s plastic Ung Drill picture frame ($25), but the cost of replacing the glass with an oval mirror was prohibitively expensive. Then I found this carved […]
Bulletin board with shutters
I found these shutters at a salvage yard. I loved their shape, but couldn’t decide what to do with them. Then it occurred to me that shutters were the perfect way to cover a bulletin board (which can look messy). It hangs right inside my entry — a great place for […]
Framed doilies
My great-grandmother lived to be 93. And she loved to tat. She made me and my siblings dozens of doilies, collars, and hankies over the years. Her tatted doilies are so beautiful that I hated to see them packed away in a box in my closet. But I wasn’t about to […]
Furniture-nail clock
This is the easiest project I’ve attempted yet. It all started with an Ikea plant glide and furniture nails (which come in myriad colors and sizes). This clock is full of possibility. You could also glue on numbers or wood pieces, apply chalkboard paint,