Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Cleaning and Reusing Candle Holders

We love to recycle and reuse every chance we get, so naturally I'm certainly not going to throw away a nice heavy candle holder when I can re-purpose it for other things.  I was in love with the Glade winter selection they had out around Christmas time, especially the Frosted Berry Kiss scent! Yum!  So I have many jars left over that I needed to clean up.
I use an old trick I learned a very long time ago to get them all clean and ready for another use again.  You will need a flat head screw driver, Dawn dish soap, a small amount of water, your microwave and a paper towel to get your candle holders sparkling clean again.
This is what is normally left over after the candle won't burn anymore.  You'll need to scrape out as much wax and the little metal wick holder that's stuck in the bottom of the jar.
Don't skip this step because your microwave will not like it if you put metal inside her!  Use your flat head screw driver to scrape out the wax and then very carefully lift out the metal wick holder.  It is stuck with glue to the bottom of the jar, so sometimes removing the metal piece is harder than others.
Drop in a few drops of soap and then fill your jar about half full with water.  Add water and soap mixture filled jars to your microwave.  Since all microwaves are different, start with small time increments and work your way up until the water is bubbling hot.  I have a 30 second button on mine and it normally takes a few times to get the water hot.  If you don't have a microwave, you can use boiling water instead.
Carefully remove the jar using an oven mitt or towel (they are HOT) and pour the water/soap mixture out.  Using a paper towel, wipe out the hot wax.  It usually all comes out with the first wipe like you see above.
Now, after you have all the wax removed, its time to finish cleaning the little jars for their next use.
Add another few drops of soap and warm water and clean up with your (old) scrubber sponge and then polish with paper towels until they are like new again .  NOTE: In case you missed last week's post when I shared with you my secret on how to make your stainless sink shiny, look HERE and see how.
Tah Dah! All clean and clear and ready to use around your house in some other fun project.  Or maybe you just want to add another votive candle to it and use it as a candle holder again.
I may use these three for my Valentine decorating or maybe to hold Valentine candies.  Hmm? The possibilities are endless!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Old Book Page Heart - How to Make Paper Roses

Sometimes when I have an idea or a vision for a project I want to create, it actually turns out better than I expected. This was one of those times!
You probably know what I'm going to say next...I got my idea from Pinterest!  First I saw THIS and then I saw THIS and I combined the two ideas....sort of. LOL!  I always try and make the projects I see and recreate, "my own".  Let me share with you what I did.

You will need the following items to recreate my framed heart:

Old book pages
8 x 8 piece of scrap wood
Hot glue gun and glue
Scissors
Acrylic Paint (red)
Crackle Paint (cream)
Small paint brush
Old fence pickets
Sandpaper
First, you'll need to make lots of book page roses. LOTS...about 40 or so varying in all different sizes.  Cut your pages into 1 1/2" to 2" wide strips.  Crumple the paper long ways to make it look like the above.
Add a drop of glue to one end and then start rolling, twisting and gluing as you go.  The longer your strip of paper the bigger the rose will be.  To make larger roses, I glue two strips end to end after I crumpled them.
Keep rolling and twisting and gluing until you get to the end of your strip of paper then glue the end flat.  This is very time consuming.  NOTE: My hands were tired and my fingers were sore after making all these roses. So worth it though!  I'd certainly do it again!
Make several roses in each of the sizes.  I think I ended up with about 3 or 4 different sizes.  You'll need smaller ones to fill in blank spaces.
This was my test run.  I drew a heart on the board with pencil and tried to fill it in with my roses.  I didn't like it.  So I cut out a heart from one of the book pages and laid it down for my guide.  To hide the paper cut out, I made sure to glue the roses over the edge of the paper.  You can see it peeking out in the picture below.
Before I glued down all the roses, I painted the board.  First coat was with the crackle paint.  My crackle paint is several years old and didn't really work the way it should have, but its ok.  Next I painted the red coat of paint and let it dry really good. Next, lay down your heart shape, arrange your roses until you like how it looks, then start hot gluing your roses in place one at a time.
The crackle paint worked a tiny bit, but it wasn't enough of a distressed look so I took the sand paper to it to really scuff it up.  I can't leave anything alone! LOL!
Here it is what it looked like when I thought I was done.  Then I changed my mind and wanted to add more to it!  My honey helped me with the next step.
That's better!  He made a frame for me using some more of our old fence pickets.  I always love when we can use the pickets in one of our projects.  They are so rustic, which I love!
After my honey put together the frame, he used his nail gun to attach the heart board to the frame.  You could probably use hot glue as well, but since he was at it, he just went ahead and nailed it together.  Lastly, I added a hanger to the back and hung it in the dining room.....I changed my mind AGAIN and now its perched on the mantel with a few other little Valentine items. So cute!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Clover House's Top 15 Posts of 2013 - A Year in Review

WOW! What a year 2013 has been! We've done so much but still have so much to do! It took a bit of gathering of information, but here's our top 15 project posts of 2013.  Just click on the link below each picture to be taken to the original post and all the good information!  Enjoy! :)

I hope you've enjoyed browsing our past year of the top 15 posts!  Did you get some good ideas?  I hope you pinned them! Thanks to all of our readers for making it such an awesome year!  Keep watching in 2014 for more great ideas, recipes, tips and tricks!  :)

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Shutter Decor

I wanted a new decoration for the front door this year, so I came up with this little lovely.  Very easy to put together and also easy to take apart in case you want to use your shutter again for something else.
I found and pinned THIS idea on Pinterest (Thanks Linda!) and went from there with my idea.  I decided not to paint my shutter.  Mainly because I made this during our recent Texas ice storm and I really didn't think painting was an option!
To recreate my shutter decor, you will need:

1 old shutter
A few Christmas tree trimmings or greenery of some type
Nippers to trim your greenery
Light weight wire
Pliers or wire cutters
Pine cones
Twine
Ribbon for a bow
Miscellaneous decorations (I used some glittery twigs)
Hot Glue Gun
Arrange your greenery and secure with wire.  Add as much or as little as you like until it looks good to you.
Next, glue the twine lengths to your pine cones, make your bow and then tie everything together and hot glue it to your greenery.
Lastly, make a hook with your wire and attach it on the backside of the shutter for hanging.  Not too shabby for a craft made in 20 degree weather!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Yard Sale Tips

So recently we had our second yard sale since living here in our Clover House.  It was a very profitable and BUSY day.  We did good yall!  We did have a few things stolen (sad huh?) but all in all, it was a great day.  We even met some of our new neighbors!  In this post I'm going to share some tips that I found very helpful from this yard sale.
Before the Sale
  • Start gathering up your items early.  We started 2 weeks before the sale.
  • Place an ad in your local paper or advertise in some way. Use the ad to highlight your most awesome items to draw customers. Also, you may want to add the phrase "No Early Bird Shoppers".  It works!
  • Purchase or make your price tags. Write clearly and large enough for people to read them.
  • Make your signs or purchase them. They should be brightly colored and easy to read.  Have plenty of signs with directional arrows pointing to your sale.
  • Wipe off the dust or wash items and make them look nice. Throw away really stained or broken items.  If you wouldn't buy it at a yard sale, no one else will want to either.
  • Price your items. I know its a pain, but it will be so much easier on you and your shoppers. The only things I didn't price was the clothes and I made signs around the clothing area listing the prices.
  • Gather grocery sacks and newspaper to hold your shoppers treasures.
  • Have plenty of change on hand. We had a roll of quarters, 50 ones, 8 fives and 5 tens. I wore my honey's home depot nail apron to keep my change in, worked great!

The Day of the Sale
  • Hang tarps or sheets over areas of you garage you don't want to be included in your sale.
  • Have an electrical outlet available for "testing" of electronics.
  • Arrange your tables with plenty of walking room for your shoppers.Be careful with things sitting on the floor so that they don't become a trip hazard.
  • Hang things that can be hung and fold things that need folding. Make your tables look nice.
  • Arrange like items together.  Holiday items, kitchen items...etc.
  • Make yourself a "sitting area" to take money and sack up the goods.
  • Have someone to help you, this is not a one woman show! Thank you honey and Jake!
  • Put out your signs when you are ready for shoppers.
  • If someone wants you to "hold" something  for them, politely ask them to pay first then gladly hold it for them,  This way you wont just be stuck with the item or miss out on a sale if they don't return.
When sorting and gathering, we tried to stack like items together to make it easier when setting up the day of the sale.
Bigger items like small appliances got hang tags, others got little sticker tags. Be sure to write clearly if you use the hang tags.
Use boxes with the prices written on them for like items.  We had two boxes of books, so instead of tagging each one, this was an easier way.
Grouping your like items at the sale makes it more eye pleasing and your customer can mix and match easier. Since it was close to Halloween, these items went fast!
Here's our homemade signs.  We used bright red poster board and I cut out letters and arrows using my Cricut Expressions machine.  After we had it just like we wanted it, we placed it all on a piece of ply-board and used packing tape to make them rain proof.  Make your signs all alike and large enough to read from a distance.  Use arrows pointing the way.  Always list your address so shoppers know who's signs they are following and where they are going.
Hang your clothing if possible, if not, fold them neatly and in alike stacks.  I made a sign listing the clothing prices.  Can you see it there taped to a hanger and hanging at the end of the "clothes rack"?  That clothes rack was my honey's idea.  He used a heavy rope and a piece of conduit pipe and hung it from the rafters of our car port.
Give yourself a "sit down and take money" area.  You can see mine there to the right.  We just used our patio chair and table.  I kept my little stickers and hang tags in that basket under the table for just in case I needed to reprice something.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn
, The Self Sufficient Home Acre , The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do 

Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, Between Naps on the Porch, DIY Home Sweet Home
, Keeping it  Simple , The Dedicated House, Skip to my LouHome Coming, 

Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia,  Sugar Bee CraftsNew NostalgiaIt's your Life,   
Get Your Crap Together  ,  BeBetsy,  Fluster Buster  Confessions of a Plate Addict

Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible, Lady Behind the CurtainFamily Home and Life,  Ducks n a Row, 
VMG206.  Herrban MommaFamily Home & Life  ,Oh My! Creative

Thursday
Bloom,    The Taylor House.  52 Mantels,  Domesblissity,  Redfly Creations,   4 You With Love,  Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
 From My Front Porch To Yours

Friday 
Lil’ Luna,,  Tatertots and JelloFive Simple Things,  Craftionary,  Diana Rambles,    I Heart Nap Time,    Crafts a la mode

Saturday 
Angels Homestead,  Or So She Says Your Homebased Mom What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, October 20, 2013

DIY Spooky Bottle Labels

We interrupt this blog post for a special announcement!  If you look over in the right hand column (scroll down a bit), you will see our blog followers.  This past week we hit 100 followers and now we even have one more! Woohoo! Thank you to all that follow us and keep coming back to visit and a special BIG thank you to all who take the time to leave a nice comment!  We really enjoy your comments!
Now back to our regularly scheduled post!  Did someone say spooky bottle labels? Oh yeah! I did! LOL!  I actually made these a few years back and shared them on my card blog, but I wanted to share them here too because I really enjoy decorating with them each year and the labels are still available for FREE!
Here they are this year just hanging out on the old Hoosier.  Love!  Every year I add something new to our decorations, but each year the old bottles come out to sit a while and look spooky!  In case you're interested, the old book pumpkin how to can be found HERE and the crow's nest on an old bed spring can be found HERE.
I found the spooky labels HERE , printed them out on a cream colored card stock, cut them out and then used Aleen's Tacky Glue to stick them on the bottles.  Just an FYI, not all glue will adhere to glass, so you may have to do some experimenting with the glues you have in your stash.
Eeww!  Slug Juice!  For advanced wizards only!  Haha!  There are a whole page of the labels and they all look really cool and spooky!  So much detail in each label.
I put this original wart tonic label on an old snuff jar.  We collected our jars and bottles from yard sales and resale shops and didn't spend over $2 for any of them.  Just look and you'll find old interesting bottles to use!
This is a craft that is easy and can be used year after year if you want to like we do! Do you decorate for Halloween? Did you make something fun this year? Leave a comment and let us know!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
Get Your Crap Together
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity

4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more