Modified Windchime

My sister in law gave us a windchime as a house warming gift.  It was really pretty sounding and came with glass weights that you could change out depending on the season.  Well, that only lasted a short time as it would bang against our house when a big gust of wind came (which has been frequently recently) and the 'sun' glass weight that was on there broke in half.

I figured I'd attach something a little more durable.  I simply put double sided tape around a quarter.

Then I wrapped the whole thing in twine, with a loop created at the top.

I then put a layer of Outdoor Mod Podge all over it and let it dry.

Finally, I hung it where the glass sun was hanging.  (Hard to fully see it as the wind was of course blowing pretty hard).  

Problem Solved!

Cork Board "Run"over

I've had this basic corkboard for years.  It has served it's purpose of holding/displaying things however has always been an eyesore.

Today I finally did something about it!

Most recently it was being used to display a few pictures.  I knew I wanted a way to hang the medals my husband and I have received from running races, as well as a place to display the pictures from those races.  First, I painted the border white.  I also painted these decorative wooden dowels that I would later attach to the sides for the medals.

Then I stenciled "Run Baby Run" on the top of the board in Saffron Yellow.

While that was all drying, I cut a piece of a white Ikea curtain that we used in our wedding reception (we had nine curtains that I have nothing to do with yet).  I sized it by pinning it to the inside of the board and then cutting around the edges.

I took the piece of fabric back off, trimmed the edges a little more and ironed it.  I Modge Podge'd the corkboard and then put the fabric on.  I smoothed the whole surface down and tried to push the edges under the frame.

Once that was smoothed down, I hot glued twine along the edges. (I don't have a picture of that).

Next, I hot glued the dried wooden dowels to the sides of the corkboard.

I hot glued twine around the base of each wooden dowel.

Here is the way it looks after I finished with it:

And here it is hanging on the wall:

And finally serving it's new purpose:

Much better, I think!

Cork Art

My husband and I had a wine themed wedding last October.  We, along with several friends and family members, saved up hundreds of corks before the big day to use in our centerpieces.  After the wedding, all of the corks went into a box...We've been trying to decide what we wanted to do with them and finally decided to make some wall art with some of them.

My initial inspiration was from a piece of art that my parents own (partially seen behind my wonderful parents):

So, my husband envisioned something with a wooden frame, some twine and our corks.  We went to Lowe's and got the supplies we needed and got started.

We knew it would go above the pantry door so we made it so that it would fit with about three inches on each side of the wall around it.  

My husband sawed down the wood to the length we wanted and made 45 degree edges on each side to form the frame.  He fastened the wood together with corner braces.

We chose to do 13 rows of 12 corks each.  After evenly making the holes equal space apart, he drilled 13 holes through the top and bottom pieces of the frame.

We bought decorative wood to cover the frame, which he then measured, trimmed and fit to the frame.  He glued the decorative wood to the frame and secured it with clamps to allow it to properly dry in place.

While that was drying, he drilled holes in 156 corks so that we could have 13 rows of 12 corks each.  I strung the corks onto the twine however had to tape the edge of the twine to get it to easily pass through the corks.

I didn't want every row to be the same, so I would place a few corks on and tie a knot to secure them in place before putting more corks on and leaving about a half inch gap in between the previous corks.  I did a different 'layout' for each strand of corks.

When that was finally finished, we assembled the rows of corks on the frame, tying a knot outside of the frame on each side.

We trimmed close to the edge of each knot and our project was complete!

Here it is hanging above the pantry door!  What do you think?

Unfortunately we still have HUNDREDS of corks left....what cork inspired project will be should be next?

Linking up to:

Delightfully Inspiring Thursday Party 13

Hookin Up with HOH #50