DIY Upcycle Old Junky Finds Into Something New

DIY Upcycle Old Junky Finds Into Something New! You can transform anything with a little spray paint!  I found these brass candlestick holders and lamp base at a thrift shop and did a good scrubbing with dish soap. For the paint,  I prefer Valspar because it covers really nice, dries super fast and seems to work in colder, more humid places like Seattle!  I found the most variety of colors at our local Fred Meyer supermarket rather than at the home improvement stores.

The rim of this candle holder was chipped so I glued a lid from a jar with my E-6000 glue.  I sprayed everything with a coat of primer and let it dry.

I added several coats of the turquoise and now I have something fresh and new!  The tray was an old black Pottery Barn wood tray I already had and wasn't using. Super simple DIY project.

Feel free to post links to your spray paint make-over projects!

DIY Easy Hand Painted Vases

I discovered this crafty blog,  Little Gray Fox, on Pinterest and saw these super cute vases and wanted to try this myself!

               I had these cheap florist vases and I got three bottles of acrylic craft paint

I just squirted the contents of two bottles of craft paint into my smaller vase and slowly and patiently swirled the thick paint around until everything was covered. You can help it along with a paint brush; I just used my fingers. Then I drained it into my larger vase; set it upside down for a few minutes and then wiped off the rim and set it upright to dry. I then squirted the last bottle into my big vase and repeated the process; draining it upside down on paper towels.

                                 
                                             Now I have some gorgeous vases !


Note: these are decorative vases; do not put water in them!  For a dishwasher safe version of this project see this great tutorial on this fun blog,  Sugar and Charm




Feel free to post links to your vase projects below; I would love to see them!

5 Awesome Examples of Upcycling

According to Wikipedia, Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

        Here are five example of awesome upcycling or repurposing materials into colorful art:

            Gorgeous hanging lamp made from plastic bottles by THISgallery on Etsy.

Repurposed clothespins made into cool wall art  found one the best blogs for upcycling:  The Blue Velvet Chair

                      Repurposed shoe sculptures by Gwen Murphy found on Artstormer

Upcycled  unique necklaces made from bobby pins by BluKatDesign on Etsy.

Upcycled plastic bottle cap wall art.  How to make your own here: DIY Plastic Bottle Cap Mossaic


.

Social Media - Facebook Twitter Tips for Etsy Shop Owners

Social Media - Facebook & Twitter Tips for Etsy Shop Owners

I am no social media expert but this is one of my biggest pet peeves; The Mystery Fan or Tweep.   I  want to find your facebook business page and Etsy shop (I know you've got to have them!) but after 10 minutes of searching, I give up!


Please, it is so easy,  go to "update info" on your personal page and add your business; this will link to your business page!  Note when you click on the "work" icon you will see my day job as one of my "projects".

For my business page,  I like people to know who I am so I have a link to my personal page and Etsy shop. Go to "edit page" and I add all of this info to "general information".  This make it easy for people to find me, my Etsy shop, website and blog!

Note:  I use the same photo and logo because I want to be easily recognized and found so I can get sales, facebook fans and new readers to my blog!

...And for those of you on twitter please put your  twitter link on your Etsy shop!  The easier people can find you and your links the more likely you will get tweets, likes, followers and maybe even more sales!

If you have any social media pet peeves or tips feel free to comment below!

Easy DIY Vintage Collage Pendants

Easy DIY Vintage Collage Pendants. Make your own vintage style collage necklaces!  All you need are some vintage jewelry parts like small earrings, beads, pearls, findings, some scrapbook paper for the background and these pendant trays, glaze & glue I got from SunAndMoonCraftKits

First, so the dark bronze color doesn't show through,  I used my paper punch to cut a 1" white paper circle ( you can do this with scissors)  and lightly glued it with the SunAndMoon Glaze, let it dry a bit then punched another 1" circle from my scrapbook paper and glued that over the white paper.

After this dries,  I added a thicker coat of glaze and let dry overnight. Next I used the E-6000 to glue my jewelry parts;  I let this dry a couple hours then filled with glaze and added pearls or beads.

 

The glaze will become clear when dry.

And the finished upcycled collage pendants you can find in my Etsy shop:

 

Here I made matching necklaces from cameo earrings for sisters, mother-daughters or best friends!

Sun Sand Surf; Beachy Etsy Picks

This time of year is really drab in Seattle so I am dreaming of a beach vacation somewhere sunny : )

'Sun Sand Surf' by BluKatDesign

Ocean Mist Original... TerraCollageAr... $45.00	Blown Glass Vase - ... AvolieGlass $230.00	Seafoam chalcedony ... Tidepools $50.00	Turquoise Green Mat... StravaMax $20.99
Charm Necklace - Vi... BluKatDesign $78.00	Surf Art-Beach Wave... carensilvestri $25.00	Aqua Turquoise Sea ... UneekGlassFusi... $120.00	Authentic Sea Glass... TheJetty $4.00
SALE..Casa Marina erinashleyart $345.00	Fiber Art Mixed Med... cornflowerblue... $105.00	SALE 25% OFF use Co... Nezihe1 $28.00	Shiny Blue Layered ... RocoByRachel $24.00
Sea Green Chalcedon... JanishJewels $128.00	Porcelain, aqua blu... robertapolfus $172.00	Beach Painting Mode... chrismaestrifi... $89.00	SALE 30% OFF Sea Ny... drawGabbydraw $18.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Starfish necklace by BluKatDesign on Etsy

Easy DIY Earring Holder

Easy DIY Earring Holder for my unique earrings. Here is a nice clean modern earring holder I made from an old frame and a radiator grill I found at Home Depot. I got this cool idea form the blog, iheartorganizing

I wanted a more modern look so I used an old metal frame and cut the radiator grill to size with some scissors,  I ran some glue, E-6000, along the inside of the frame then put the grill in the frame and ran some more glue on the back of the grill to hold it in place. I left it face down with a small book on the grill  to dry.

I love how it turned out; it goes perfectly in my bedroom!  For my other simple DIY jewelry holder I use in my shop please check out:  http://blukatkraft.blogspot.com/2011/01/simple-diy-jewelry-organizer-get-your.html


As seen on this blog: