Hanging Basket With No-Sew Liner

I hope you're having a nice weekend! I'm sitting here taking in what just happened on one of my favorite tv shows. I don't watch a lot of tv but I've been sucked into an HBO show - Game of Thrones. I've heard that the book is fantastic so I'm watching the show. It's fun to have something to look forward to watch and the show is great! 

Having a few days off is pretty nice! It has been a pleasant holiday weekend at home with some time to catch up on things and relax a little. Last night I did this little project before I went to bed. I replaced our old system for grocery bag storage. I put together a no-sew hanging basket to keep our grocery bags organized in. It's simple enough!

Below was our old system. It's kind of country with a cat theme and it has seen better days. It was never my taste but it did the job. The problem with it now is that the elasticity on the bottom of it has worn out and so the bags fall out of the hole in the bottom and I was constantly cleaning up bags. Annoying!!!

I found these two hanging baskets at Dollar Tree for a buck a piece. I got three and will use the third as a basket for my bicycle, which I will share when I get to it!

 

 

I wasn't crazy about the color of them so I took some white latex paint and brushed a coat over them. I didn't totally cover the baskets and I left the inside unpainted since I was planning on doing a liner. They're a little rustic.

Below I cut two separate pieces of burlap. I played with the material inside the basket and adjusted how much I'd need. I wasn't precise about any of it. I want to learn to sew but for now this will have to do! It's easy enough!

I just eyed it and reverse-wrapped (wrapped the inside of the basket) it (did I just make up a concept here?) with a glue gun. I started from one end of the inside of the basket and worked my way to the other end, making a flap over the top of the basket and glued it down. 

So that you don't see the cuts in the burlap around the handles on the back side of the basket, I took another rectangular piece of burlap that I cut two slits in below and placed it inside to cover the bottom and then pulled it thru the handle to cover the folds on the back side and I glued it down.  

 

 

On each end of the tops of the basket I poked my scissors thru the two layers of burlap and tied them together with a piece of green ribbon. If you need any more pictures to help see how I did it, please let me know and I'll post. 

It's definitely not perfectly measured but I think it works well in the pantry! Whaddayathink?

Spray Painting is a HOOT

Hey this could be my site's mascot or something! 

 

Spray paints are waaay too much fun to play around with! When I look back at my art portfolio, some of my favorite paintings are those I've created using spray paints. I really like the different textures, cool shapes and bold prints I was able to get using the paints and different objects to help embellish a piece. There are so many things you can do with spray paints. Even though it's against the law, I am forever fascinated with art on trains or walls made by graffiti artists. I am blown away by the details and colors at such a large scale! I would love to be a fly on the wall so to speak to see how the artists do it!

I'm a little random tonight. I have been seriously working to break in my new bicycle so I've been spending a good deal of time outside in the sunshine! It's great fun to ride after work and it puts my youngest to sleep which is just wonderful to say the least! One thing I don't understand though is that when we go for family bike rides, I seem to be the only one swallowing a bunch of bugs. I know it's completely gross but I'm a little disturbed that no one else is having this issue!

Speaking of bugs, I accidentally touched a creepy crawly slug tonight in the yard. Ewww! It was under a piece of cardboard I used in spray painting some decorative objects for the dining room and kitchen. Yuck-Oh!

My object of spray paint was an owl figure. Originally it was a brown speckled owl which was nice and rich looking but I wanted to make it more fun!

Next I made it white. I liked it white but I wanted to make it stand out a little. 

Finally I made it blue using Valspar glossy spray paint. I eventually want to pair up the owl with something else in the kitchen. That will be another project!

Oh I have to add too that our yard looks a little like I tried to test out graffiti painting because I accidentally painted the grass in a couple of areas. Whoops! Hope everyone is doing well!

From Rust to RustOleum!

I'm all pumped about my most recent paint job! A nice end to a good work week and I gave myself trigger finger but it was well worth it! Just kidding but I do have a blister from spray painting tonight. Our rusted metal patio furniture has seen better days but instead of chucking it I just grabbed a couple of cans of good ole spray paint and the furniture looks like new! It's a fresh and cleaner patio just in time for the warmer months! 

I painted 4 adult chairs, one kiddo chair and a bench after I got home from work. They're all wicker with metal arms and legs. It took all of about 45 minutes so that should be encouragement that you can fit this into your schedule if you want to give it a whirl! 

I wiped the furniture with a dry cloth and covered the wicker with newspaper and gently sprayed the metal. I used a brown can of RustOleum with a hammered finish. Heck I ran out of tape to cover all the furniture so I free handed it on the last two chairs and the paint was very easy to control. Just be sure to hold the can about a about a foot away from the parts you want to paint so you don't have any drips! 


Can you tell what pictures are the BEFORE and which are the AFTER? I think it's pretty OBVIOUS! Once I clean off the table I'll take a good picture of the whole set so you can see! 

   

 

Okay so on this peewee chair I accidentally sprayed the wicker parts and wound up 

just painting the whole chair. Hopefully it will weather well!

I just love how flawless the paint looks!

Easy Labels With Cricut

I feel like a little kid! I'm trying to get through all the chores so I can play tomorrow. I got a new bike today and I can 't wait to ride it again! I got a really good deal! A store price-matched another store and then they honored a nice manufacturer's coupon. Not that I need to make excuses for spending money but I don't splurge on big ticket items very often. I figure I used to work out at a gym and now it's not realistic so bike riding with the family is the best alternative. I am so excited!

Onto my next lil organizational project!!! I used my cricut to make some easy labels for the laundry room. I have several canvas bins above the washer and dryer and it's always a pain to have to pull them down and search to see what is in them when I need something. Now with my labels it makes things a cinch. If I could just get every other aspect of our life so organized! Baby steps though, right?

I used a card stock scrapbook sheet of paper in off white and cut tags on the cricut paper cutter. Then instead of pasting them to the tags, I used the "negatives" paper and placed them on the tags and using a brown paint pen, I filled in the text. The labels are certainly not perfect. The marker did bleed somewhat but I think they are cute and they get the job done! To attach the labels to the canvas storage cubes, I used medium width ribbon. Very simple and makes life a little easier in the laundry room!

Ready to Play!

I feel like a little kid! I'm trying to get through all the chores so I can play tomorrow. I got a new bike today and I can 't wait to ride it again! I got a really good deal! A store price-matched another store and then they honored a nice manufacturer's coupon. Not that I need to make excuses for spending money but I don't splurge on big ticket items very often. I figure I used to work out at a gym and now it's not realistic so bike riding with the family is the best alternative. I am so excited!

Onto my next lil organizational project!!! I used my cricut to make some easy labels for the laundry room. I have several canvas bins above the washer and dryer and it's always a pain to have to pull them down and search to see what is in them when I need something. Now with my labels it makes things a cinch. If I could just get every other aspect of our life so organized! Baby steps though, right?

 

I used a card stock scrapbook sheet of paper in off white and cut tags on the cricut paper cutter. Then instead of pasting them to the tags, I used the "negatives" paper and placed them on the tags and using a brown paint pen, I filled in the text. The labels are certainly not perfect. The marker did bleed somewhat but I think they are cute and they get the job done! To attach the labels to the canvas storage cubes, I used medium width ribbon. Very simple and makes life a little easier in the laundry room!