Look out Crate and Barrel, I copied your Christmas tree ornament display thingy. Don't worry, I still love you anyway.

 

As soon as I saw the original at my local C&B I instantly thought I could make one myself. So I pinned it for later and quickly forgot about it. It only came back on my radar while we were finalizing our Xmas shopping. See, we usually get Matt's mom one of those fancy Swarovski crystal snowflake ornaments for Xmas and I thought this would be a nice way to display them. So with two days to spare I started this last minute project. The supply list is pretty short; a 1x2x8" board, 2 small dowels, and some stain. I already had some poly, nails and screws.

To make the triangle I cut the angles at the top of my tree, both of which are 45 degree angles, on a miter saw. Then, I laid my bottom piece along the bottom and used a t-square thing to level it out based on the inner and top most points. Once it looked good I marked my cut lines and ended up with this.

 

 

Now that my tree shape was established I needed to plan out where the ornaments would rest. I eyeballed this process as well by laying a dowel, tracing it with a pencil, and using ornaments to help figure out spacing. Once I knew where I wanted my dowels to cross I marked the center of my boards.

 

 

To drill my holes I started out with my drill perpendicular to the board like so.

 

 

But once the hole was started I repositioned my drill so that it was roughly at the same angle as my lines were. I started with a smaller drill bit and then bumped up to the one that was closest to my dowel size.

 

 

Now that all my holes were drilled at roughly the same angles I slid my dowels in and marked my cut lines.

 

 

After cutting my dowels and glueing them into place I secured the first two pieces of my triangle together with some wood glue and two shots from my nail gun. After that my base was somehow a little smaller than what I started out with. No problem, I just lined one side up so it was flush with the side and marked where I needed to cut on the other end.

 

 

With the board cut to the correct size I attached it to the rest of the tree with screws up from the bottom, that way you won't see them. Now for ornament placement. I used our dremel tool to create little notches in the dowels to indicate where you should hang ornaments, and to keep them from sliding to one side or the other if they happen to be on hooks. The dremel notches were not exactly pretty, so I smoothed them out with some sand paper wrapped around some scrap dowel.

 

 

Now sand, stain, poly and add a little base and you're left with this!

 

 

I need to make one for our house now.

 

 

Oh, and how many of you had a Miley on your tree this year?

 

Nikki Kelly

 

Recently I mentioned that I'm attempting to embrace my self imposed title as a blogger (you know, because of this little old blog), and I've been trying to step outside my comfort zone a little. Anyway, after going to the Eat, Drink, Create event I wanted to keep the stepping out of my bubble momentum rolling. First up was actually the very next morning! Anthropologie was hosting a little crafty event to get their display ready for Earth Day, and since Anthro has the most amazing window displays I was pretty stoked to be a part of that. The display that we were helping with was going to be a vertical pallet garden, so they had us cutting out leaves galore, making strawberries, cabbage, and kale. Now that Earth Day has come and gone and their display is up I wanted to share it with all you fine folks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is their finished display! This is the tomato garden.

 

 

And here's the cutest little strawberry patch ever! Bonus, they'll never go bad!

 

 

Ok, my next event is a little more recent but also in celebration of Earth Day. Ikea along with the Denver Craft Ninjas hosted an event called Reduce, Reuse, Recraft. Anyone that has ever entered through the doors of Ikea knows that one thing they're not short on is cardboard. So instead of bundling it up to be recycled Annie decided to save some of it for crafts! This is Annie showing just one of the projects available for the day, a cardboard pendant light!

 

 

This is Becky of Denver Craft Ninjas showing off some of the other projects available, faux mounted antlers, cardboard deer head, a moose cut out to decorate however you please, and there was a cute little shadow box with a little bud vase inside.

 

 

 

Since I had already been down the mounted deer head path before I chose to make the pendant light and a moose cut out project. There weren't very many mooses (mise?) so I grabbed one of the scrap panels that they were cut out of. Here are all my supplies that I gathered up. It was so nice that Ikea gave us a big variety of fabric, paper, and decals to spruce up our cardboard with.

 

 

Here's my (almost) finished projects! I glued some of the pink striped fabric to one side of my half circles and have them oriented all the same way. I really love how the moose silhouette turned out with the same fabric behind it. I think I'd like to get a little bit of batting to put behind the fabric before I glue it to the back piece of cardboard. That way the moose will be a little poufy. Oh, and IKEA threw in the light cord and LED bulb for anyone making the light, pretty sweet! Now I just need to find someone to give these things to.

 

 

So have you ever gone to a local crafty event? Make sure to check out Becky's post to see some of the other projects of the day, I'm a little jealous of the black moose with the rainbow fabric background. Now that I've been to a Craft Ninjas event, I'm excited to go to another!

 

Nikki Kelly

 

It's an antler! With necklaces and rings on it! And silver leafed points! I love it! It was, however, quite a long time between conception and execution. The problem is that antler sheds are not exactly easy to find for a reasonable price. I have literally been on the lookout for some cheap antlers since last fall. I found some smaller mounted antlers (with a chunk of scull still attached = gross) for around $40 at the antique mall, and there were some single sheds there too but they were usually $20. I even discovered a Native American craft store in town that had some for around the same price. So instead of spending $20 an antler, I just told a couple of people that I was looking for antlers. After months with no antlers falling into my lap Ali (BFF) came through with an antler she picked up at an estate sale. I think she said it was something like $3. Here's her cat Doc in between trying to eat it. Dummy.


Now that I had an antler, its on to the actual doing of the project! Here's my stuff; tape, silver leaf, spray adhesive, grocery bag*, picture hanging hardware*, Polycrylic*. (*not in picture)


I taped off the the antler so I could just spray the points and then stabbed them through a grocery bag like this. The grocery bag is just so I didn't have to tape off the whole antler.


After a quick shot of spray adhesive on all the points (outside) I started applying the silver leaf. If you've ever used these leaf products you are probably aware that they're messy. If not, now you do. That's why this picture is so terrible. There were silver flecks floating around the air every time I moved, so once I got the points lightly covered I stepped back outside to dust off the rest with a crappy blush brush from Forever 21. I also slapped a light coat of Polycrylic over the whole antler to protect the silver leaf and bring out some color in the antler.


While I failed to take pictures of the other outdoor activities, here's one that I did get. If you are like me and don't want creepy dried up deer marrow dust inside you house then just do your antler drilling outside. To pick the placement of my hardware I just laid the antler on its back on the table and put it close to where the antler was resting naturally and low enough so I couldn't see the hardware from the front. Don't over think this part, it doesn't really matter that much.


Two little screws later and my antler was officially no longer a gross antler, but had transformed into a beautiful jewelry display!


See? I'm mostly a necklaces and rings type of girl, which, as you can see it holds both quite nicely.


Yay for DIY necklaces! As you can see I did in fact get around to fixing my bubble necklace, I used some tiger tail (thanks Lizzie!) and it worked like a charm.


My Swarovski inspired necklace with beads I got while we were in Ouray last summer.


My copper ring from Seattle.


My quartz ring from Santa Fe, and a bone ring Ali picked up for me in Europe. I think it's made from the bones of poorly behaved children (maybe, probably not).


Sea shell ring collection!


I don't have a ton of jewelry, but I just love the stuff I do have. Now I have a way to enjoy them even when I'm not wearing them.


What kinds of jewelry displays do you have/want in your room? Do you think antlers are gross? Do you have any that you want to get rid of? I'll take more!

Nikki Kelly

Oh, and because this project is just that awesome, I'm linking up here:


And at C.R.A.F.T. Monday Funday but I couldn't get the button to work.

Is there anyone else out there that is slightly embarrassed to tell the people in our actual lives that they blog? I'm not really sure why I get nervous about sharing this part of myself with people. Maybe I'm nervous that I'll be judged or laughed at or I'll be that girl that talks way too much about herself. It's seems a little irrational. I mean, everyone that knows me knows that I'm a crazy cat lady, love crafty fun times, and enjoys working on our house more that most of the dudes I know. So why should I be nervous about telling them that I also keep a blog about it all? So, in an effort to own my status as someone who blogs and meet other like minded people I went to a small local blogger event last Thursday. The event was put on by Lexy of The Propoer Pinwheel and Erin of Art Social. Oh, and I didn't really take many pictures while I was there (too busy crafting) so I grabbed some from the Instagram tag #EatDrinkCreate.

 

Photo by: @rebeccacaridad

Photo by: @westelmdenver

 

I wasn't really sure what to expect. I just saw a little announcement for it a few weeks back in my IG feed and signed up. I didn't drag any friends along with me so I was all alone going into this, which made me pretty nervous. But Lexy was so nice and welcoming! Before I knew it I was being hugged. Btw, I don't mind hugs, I'm just not an initiator of hugs. Once some more people showed up I started to chat with a couple of ladies around me and then we started working on the evenings craft activity. These little fringe covered lanterns were perfect!

 

 

I loved seeing all the color combinations that everyone was coming up with. Most of the ladies at my table were a little bit jealous of the table with the silver fringe. They were basically making disco balls.

 

 

All these ladies were so nice to meet. I still have yet to check out all the different blogs that they write, but hopefully I'll have some time to do that soon.

 

Photo by: @theproperpinwheel

Photo by: @anneiam

Photo by: @theproperpinwheel

 

 

So much fun! Lexy said she is planning to have these fun events quarterly, which I am totally on board with. I always get secretly jealous of other blogs in different parts of the country where they have a good group of bloggers that do things together. It just looks like so much fun. At the end of the day I'm so happy I went to the Eat Drink Create party at West Elm last week, I even signed up for another event that's going on at Ikea next weekend that's being put together by the Denver Craft Ninjas.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. Swag bag!

 

 

Nikki Kelly

 

Its that time again!

 

 

I think the first time I heard the word gabion I was watching an episode of Yard Crashers a couple of years ago. I instantly fell in love with them, but had no idea how I could work them into my life (aka tiny microscopic back yard). Originally they were built to give soldiers something to hide behind so as not to get shot. It seems pretty logical, large basket type thing, fill it with rocks, no bullet holes (as long as your standing behind it). Since I among battling in a rival gang dispute my gabion is a little more on the decorative side. Oh, and here is my inspiration (it looks like the listing is no longer available), and more gabion pins are on my outdoor board!

Here's mine! I love how it turned out, and that tiny succulent is just so adorable!

 

 

Ok, now that you've see the finished product, go grab a snack because there's a lot of pictures, and probably a lot of words to go with them! First you need tools and supplies.

• Hardware cloth (wire grid stuff)
• Needle nose pliers
• Dremmel tool with metal cutting disk (not completely necessary, but very helpful)
• Large-ish river rocks (check the aquarium section at the pet store)
• A plant or candle
• Gloves (I didn't use any, obviously)

I decided the size of my planter based on the size of container I wanted to put in it. You want a minimum of two squares between your plant and the end of your gabion. Once you've decided how big the top should be go ahead and cut your first piece of hardware cloth. I know in this picture I have a top and bottom piece that are cut the same way, but after working through this I would suggest leaving the fringe wires that go past the squares you need on the piece you use for the bottom. Just to help clarify, the four on the top are my side pieces, then the bottom row are top/bottom pieces and the long one is for the tube in the center.

 

 

After you cut out your pieces you'll need to put the sides together. I started by pre bending the fringe wire to make connecting them a little easier.

 

 

Line them up like so. Oh, and excuse my grimy fingers, I had been doing this a while already.

 

 

Once you have two sides lined up like this use your needle nose pliers to bend the fringe wires around the perpendicular wire and back onto itself.

 

 

Do that to connect all four side pieces. When you're done it will probably look a little off like this.

 

 

Don't worry, once you close up that last corner it will be nice and box shaped!

 

 

Now that you have the outside done you need to save room for your plant in the middle. Grab your long piece and your top piece.

 

 

Use the fringe wires to join your long piece end to end and mould it into cylinder.

 

 

Now center you top piece on your wire cylinder. To attach them together I started with the north east south and west intersections. Wherever the wire meets up with the circle I would cut and bend the fringe wire around.

 

 

 

 

The corners here were just a little bit inside of the circle. To leave myself enough wire to wrap with I used my pliers to break the bond that holds them together before wrapping them around the cylinder piece.

 

 

Tad a!

 

 

Now that you've got the top pece put together, insert it into the box and fold those little fringe wires around just like before. I noticed that the wires in the very corners of the box were in the way, so I just cut those off with my dremmel.

 

 

Now turn it over and fill it with some rocks.

 

 

Finally, you can close the gabion up with the bottom piece. I chose to pre bend two sides of the bottom piece because the fringe wires that were not bending around the perpendicular wire that they were attached to had a tendency to break off. Bending them ahead of time seemed to minimized that a lot.

 

 

Now drop a plant (or maybe a candle if your thumbs are of the darker variety) in there and admire your handy work.

 

 

 

I'm so excited for spring to get here already, I think this will be great in the back yard. Sadly our yard is filled with snow at the moment, so no outdoor shots. :(

 

 

 

Welp, this concludes my Pinterest Challenge (winter edition) project. What did you make this time around? Wanna see more pinspired projects? Oh, and be sure to go check out all the other Pinspired projects at Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor & the Dog.

 

Nikki Kelly