{31 Days} Cork Spheres

Day 3: Cork Spheres

When one enjoys a glass of wine as much as I do, one is left with a collection of corks! David and I traveled to Philadelphia a couple of years ago and inspiration hit while we were shopping around in Anthropologie. The designers had created large cork spheres and had them hanging in the windows.

Since then, I have been wanting to make a much smaller sphere for our home. To start this project, I collected a lot of corks, a styrofoam ball, and hot glue. I painted the styrofoam light yellow thinking it would blend in with the corks. Not so much....  If I could do it again, I think I might use a dark brown.

I started by gluing a circle of corks around the sphere...

and then a second...

and then a third...

I then filled each quarter with corks. I noticed there were a couple of holes so I cut a few of my fake corks in half and filled in the gaps.

and there ya go! Cork Sphere!!

This project takes more corks than you would think! But I think it is a perfect accessory to sit on top of my wine bar!

Three Down! 28 to go!!

{31 Days} Vintage Coffee Can Tiered Tray

Day 2: Vintage Coffee Can Tiered Tray

About a year ago I bought a cute vintage Maxwell House coffee tin at a local city wide garage sale. I loved the tin but really didn't have a use for it other than just decorative. That was until I saw this post over at Brooklyn Limestone. I just loved this vintage coffee tin tiered tray and jumped on eBay as quick as I could to see if I could come across any good deals on a couple of tins so I could make a similar version for my home.

Vintage coffee tins vary in price- by a lot. I ended up bidding and winning one for about $5 plus shipping and then another deal I couldn't pass up- 2 cans for only $1.25 plus shipping. Yay!!

Ms. Limestone used power tools and hardware parts to build her tiered stand. Power tools are a little intimidating to me (and possibly the main reason some projects sit uncompleted in the junk room for so long!). My solution was to purchase a few skinny brass candlesticks from my local thrift store. At $2 a pop, they seemed like a great and easy way to add the height I needed between the cans.

Some of my cans had seen better days and were quite rusty. I decided to give everything a quick coat of primer and silver spray paint to give all the cans and the candlesticks a uniformed look. I wrapped and taped the outside of the cans to protect their labels using old newspaper and frog tape.

To attach the candlesticks, I lined the bottom ring with E-6000 glue and centered it in the bottom of the tin. Once that was centered, I put a ring of E-6000 around the top of the candlestick and centered the other tin on top. E-6000 is a very strong glue but it does take a little while to fully cure. I gave it just a little time to lock in place before I loaded the tins full of all the coffee goodness!

I decided to make my tiered trays only two tiers (for now). I didn't know if three tiers would fit under my cabinets but I can always add a third tin with another candlestick and a little glue!

I am using mine for our k-cups (ignore the about to fall k-cup!) but the tins could be used to hold tea bags, sugar packets or even the individual creamer cups.

Fun and simple project. Although I didn't hoard the parts for all that long, it feels good to scratch something off the list!! Any fun and simple projects you have been wanting to get around to?

Two down! 29 to go!!

{31 Days} of DIY Hoarding Intervention

Day 1: 

I have a problem! There- I admitted it! With so many DIY ideas on Pinterest, in magazines and all over the blogosphere, I have a lot of great projects I want to complete! But here is the issue... I find a project I like, I buy or collect the materials I need for said project, and then I find a newer and better project that takes my mind off the first (uncompleted) project- and this process continues!! I have an entire room in my house that my sweet husband and I have dubbed as the "junk room" full of parts and pieces to some wonderful, to-be-completed projects.

So to do something about my "problem" and finally clear out the junk room (after many requests from my patient husband), I am participating in the 31 Days Challenge. Not only is completing these projects a challenge but the fact that I am pushing myself to write a post a day for a month is quite a feat! I average about.... 4-5 post per month (I know... that's sad!!). I have wanted to get more in the groove of blogging with some sort of schedule and I am hoping this challenge will do just that!

I hope that you will follow along! I need all the encouragement I can get!  There are also a ton of other great 31 Day topics over at The Nester's to check out!

One down! 30 to go!!

Day 2: Vintage Coffee Tin Tiered Tray 
Day 3: Cork Spheres
Day 4: Doggie Car Hammock
Day 5: Vintage Mail Collector
Day 6: Do Whatcha Gotta Do
Day 7: Big Things Baby Gift
Day 8: Wine Bottle Tiki Torches
Day 9: Initial Mugs
Day 10: Family Tree
Day 11: Glitter Pumpkins and Fall Mantel
Day 12: Chalkboard Coffee Mugs
Day 13: Chalkboard Wine Glasses
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{Date Night} September

Sometimes things don't go according to plan. That is the one down side of this date basket idea. It's hard to know what your calendar will look like 10 months out. September's date from the date basket was originally a weekend trip out of town but we had been gone every weekend for a month so I quickly changed the date out before David opened his envelope. We had a simple date to our local fair for some yummy fried food and fun people watching! : )

In the envelope I included the info sheet describing the date- and that was it.

We had a great time and I finally got the funnel cake I had been craving!!!  We ran into some of our good friends and enjoyed the long talks and fair food!

It was an easy simple date that we could only do once a year! Anyone have a favorite fair food?  We didn't get any fried oreos this year although I have heard they are delicious!!

{Date Night} August

Last month David and I celebrated our second anniversary by going on our August date from our date basket. My sister's wedding was the weekend before and we were leaving for a family vacation the next week so we didn't really have the time or money to go all out on our anniversary so this date was the perfect solution!

In the envelope I included the info sheet describing the date, a gift card to the restaurant, a picture of the two of us from one of our first dates and the DVD of the movie we went to see.

We started with dinner at Ironwood Grill (still our favorite restaurant in town). On the way home, we chased the end of a beautiful rainbow before heading home to a bottle of wine and Seven Pounds. This movie is a little different but still a pretty good flick.

A second part of our August date envelope was to create a time capsule that we will open ten years from now on our 12th anniversary.

In the envelope I included an info sheet describing the time capsule project, a 2022 calendar with our anniversary circled, and a list of possible things to add in our time capsule.

We are still working on collecting everything we want to add.

This was a great and simple way to celebrate our anniversary! September's date is coming up!