Quick and Easy Gifts

Need a quick and easy gift to give your neighbor or co-worker this Christmas? These are all over the place in bloggyland and now I've got mine made too...they are so cute!

Take some of those glass pebbles - these weren't perfect circles, so my 1" circle punch wasn't going to work, but it's so easy with just scissors, you won't mind.

Grab your leftover Christmas cards, gift wrap, or anything with cute designs. Mine were all going to be Christmas themed, so the cards worked perfectly.

Trace around your circle and cut it out a little smaller (you can also trim later, so no biggie on being perfect). Mod podge the paper to the back of the glass, and let it dry. I went over that one more time with mod podge and then it was ready for the magnets.

I've made other projects with the regular ceramic magnets with mixed results, and I've been hearing these are super strong....and oh my gosh, they're so strong they're extremely hard to pull apart!

Gluing the magnets down with a little shot of E-6000 industrial glue (very stinky) and letting that dry made it easy to work on other projects...once a multi-tasker, always a multi-tasker :)

And here are the finished products on the fridge! Cute (and the magnets are super strong too)!

These took about an hour to put together, with drying time. Super easy and cute to give away as gifts! I'm going to be making another set for myself with some different designs...look for them to show up sometime in the future!

So Stinking Cute!

Storage. We all need it and I'm no exception; but maybe this is starting to be an obsession? I'm buying things like spice racks and crates to store stuff and this next one was home made, but with a little paint, turned out super cute:

Keep reading to see what the heck this is...

It started out just raw wood, and from the holes in the shelves, I'm thinking this might've been made to show off golf balls. Just a little home made chalk paint, some contrasting color for the inside, and a pop of color for the handle.

The contrasting color wasn't enough, so I cut out some scrapbook paper for the back and instant wow!

And here my little cabinet sits, looking cute in a mess of a room! See those walls? I've been hinting at a big project and that's what I'm working towards...once I get the room cleared. I don't know about you, but clearing this room will be an undertaking of epic proportions - you all understand what I'm talking about, don't you? ;)

Playing with Paints

While waiting for paint to dry, glue to stick, mod podge to cure, and other assorted projects to be ready for the next step, I've been playing around with some paintings.

I don't really have a style, nor do I usually have an idea of what the painting will be before I sit down...sometimes  it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Here are some of my recent paintings - hope you enjoy!

Just a little aqua chickadee :)

I have a bit of an obsession with dots :)

Kinda oriental looking, right? Hope that symbol is appropriate for a PG audience!

This is my favorite! 

 There were a few others that were the 'didn't-work-outs'...they'll get painted over to start again. I'm thinking I might try something new and add some other media or textures...so many projects, so little time!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sheet Music Display Cubby

I can't believe it's so close to Christmas! There hasn't been any decorating at La Maison Junky, but lots of projects are getting done :)

Since there is still lots of sheet music on hand, I figured I'd make another display/cubby/tray/shelf thingee as they turned out nicely in white and black. These little wood shelves are in every thrift shop -when you see the after, bet you won't pass them up next time!

For you photo skimmers - here's a little close-up luv :)

Sheet music looks fantastic as a backdrop for just about anything, and here's how this project started out:

Look past the country hearts people!

This got a nice coat of cream paint, distressed, glazed and waxed. I cut out a backing for it the same way I did for my other two trays. It's just that 'wood' panel that pegboard is made of, but is solid. The same 4x8 sheet has been very useful for a number of projects. It's light enough to use as a backing and easy to cut - I use a table saw, but it would probably cut with a box cutter or Dremel tool.

This next step is probably the hardest part of the whole project...and I'm sure I'm making it harder than it needs to be, but this is the way I think it looks best:

Take an individual page of sheet music and line it up within each divided cubby.

oops, that second from left might be a little off...

Then mod podge the individual squares down.

And hope that you lined it all up properly. I do it this way to get the most music displayed; it would be easier if I didn't care so much to show the prettiest design, but it just wouldn't look right to me.

I add handles on the ends to make it into a tray or just for decoration...this package somehow was missing two screws :( I hate that, but seriously who checks to make sure there are enough screws in the individual handle packages? (Me from now on, that's who...this has happened to me more than once!)

Screw and glue the backing onto the shelf, add some cork backing and then decorate!

Making sure the glue has good contact! Oh, and that Mythic paint can? It's a clue to a big project going down...

Some cork on the bottom to project surfaces.

It was an overcast day, so there was no way of getting a good shot inside. Back outside to take advantage of the light...

Look who showed up - Hootie!

And there it is - isn't it purty? Didn't I tell ya? You'll think twice before you snub that homemade-lookin', country-heart painted, bare-wood shelf next time you're cruising the thrift aisles! On second thought, leave them...more for me :)

Playing with Rocks

So, I'm not really getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I see all the fabulous decorations in my neighborhood and in bloggy-land and am appreciating the Christmas cheer that surrounds me :) You probably won't be seeing any Christmas-related posts from me this year...soooooo...

Now that it's a little too chilly to really do a lot of outside work, I've been working away at some smaller projects inside. Some jewelry projects, some painting, some crafty organizing things. Which one to show you first? Oh, you want to see the jewelry? Well, anything for you :)

I've made a few necklaces for my sisters, nieces, and the neighborhood girls, and they went so well that I got a few requests to create some custom pieces! This is very flattering and I'm honored.

This is what I started with on the first set:

Two pretty rocks that were picked up on a vacation 'up north'...which if you live in Michigan means anywhere north of say Grand Rapids or Flint. For a visual, nothing beats pointing to those cities on my hand...which Wisconsin can't do...Michigan is the Mitten State and we own that one...Wisconsin has cheese heads all wrapped up, so you can't have Mitten State too. (No offense to any cheese heads out there, but c'mon, Wisconsin is not shaped like a mitten.)

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it's tough to take a photo while your two hands are occupied! Grand Rapids is located on the left, Flint on the right. Points are approximate ;)

Ok, geography lesson over; on to the jewelry! 

Since there were no handy dandy holes to thread wire or jump rings through, I had to learn (quickly) how to wire wrap found objects. Off to YouTube for a few pointers and here's the most helpful group of videos. If you want a clear how-to for basic wire wrapping, these are the videos to get you started!

The first stone was wrapped in a fine silver wire, and hung inside a square pendant thingee that I had on hand, and set off with a Swarovski crystal (also on hand):

yep, thats a layer of snow in my backyard - boo! And yes, that's the entire back yard...lol!

The second stone was freckled and I wanted to try the actual wire wrapping techniques in the video to set it off without covering it. Thank goodness I tend to collect craft items and had 20-gauge silver wire, black necklace cording, and silver ball chain on hand (I know, I know, it's actually called hoarding, but humor me and let me think it's my special ability to know something will be needed for future projects...)

 This was fun to wrap up and add the little scroll 'ears' and really isn't all that hard or time consuming. I encourage you to try it!

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Another lovely neighbor wanted me to create a necklace for her little girl out of the beach glass she's collected. Beach glass is so pretty to work with! I might have to get a few more pieces to play with...

She wanted a simple setting and this glass was notched a little, so it didn't need the full cage:

Pretty right? I couldn't resist making another dangle out of a little piece and came up with this:

These can be switched out according to Ella's mood for the day :) I'm so honored to be able to create for other people...and that they like what I come up with! HA!

Plus, now that I have the basics on this, just think of the possibilities for found objects that can be made into jewelry! What would you like to wear as a pendant? I need the practice...and come cheap have extremely reasonable rates :)

Here's a sneak peek of what else I'm working on:

More Spice Rack Luv

One of my recent posts was about how I seem to be collecting these spice racks. This one was at an estate sale, in the basement with all the other unloved items. (I find a lot of stuff in basements!) What I really love about this one is it held really big spice jars (which weren't with the rack) and was half off as it was the last day of the sale.

Here's how it started out (of course I labeled everything but the spice rack...I'm such a dork):

My homemade chalk paint recipe was used with my favorite creamy color and now the rack is a beautiful creamy color, perfectly and lightly distressed, and glazed and waxed.

I wish I had the photo staging skills of other bloggerinas...whaun, whaun. Update: Due to some very nice feedback from my blogging peeps, I have just crossed that negative off! Thank you!

It's going to look so pretty in its new location in my home...which isn't ready for public viewing at the moment.

I'll update you...sometime in the hopefully near future...promise :)

Linking up to the parties on my left sidebar.