Heart Clothespins

HEART CLOTHESPINS

I love doing new things for Valentine's Day.  Pink has always been my favorite color so I love to be able to decorate for Valentine's Day.  I saw a company was selling some clothespins with hearts on them and thought, "I can do that!".  This was a really easy project and I really like the way the clothespins turned out.  The possibilities are endless!  I might have to try some shamrock ones for St. Patrick's Day.

You will need the following items:

Clothespins--any size, I used some medium sized ones that I found at Joann's but regular sized ones would work as well

Package of wooden hearts-also found at Joann's

Red and Pink paint

Wood stain (optional)

Glitter (optional)

Mod Podge

I started by painting the wooden hearts and while they were wet, I sprinkled on some glitter.  That technique was easy and it worked great.

While the hearts were drying, I used a Q-tip to put stain on the clothespins.  Let them sit for a few minutes and then wiped the extra stain off with a paper towel.  So simple.  Then I let everything dry for a couple of hours.

Once they were dry, I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on the hearts to seal on the glitter.  Let them dry another hour and then attach the hearts to the clothespins with a hot glue gun.

The project was especially quick and easy.  I'm looking forward to giving some Valentine cookies with the clothespins attached to some of my co-workers.  That will be another post :).

HOW TO MAKE A HANGING LIGHT FROM A VINTAGE GLOBE

HOW TO MAKE A HANGING GLOBE LIGHT

I saw a hanging globe light on Pinterest a while ago and knew that I wanted to try and make one.  It took some time because I was having a hard time finding a cheap enough globe to give it a try.  I didn't want to purchase a $10-$12 globe at the Goodwill and then ruin it.  Finally, I found an old globe at a garage sale for $1.  I was able to get the lighting kit at Ikea for around $6 and was ready to get started.  I know that you can also purchase the hanging light kits at places like Lowe's, Ace Hardware and Home Depot but they are a bit more expensive.

 This was a simple project that only needed two items, the globe and light kit.  I also needed a box cutter and decorative washi tape.

This is the light kit that I purchased from Ikea.

This first thing that I did was separate the globe at the middle where it put together.  After I was into the project, I realized that wasn't necessary and wished that I hadn't done that.  Good information for next time :).

I traced the light fixture on the top and then used a box cutter to cut out a hole in the top of the globe.  I found that it worked well to score it once and then go back and cut the piece out.  This was really pretty easy since the globe was cardboard.  Once I had the hole in the top, I was easily able to put the light in the top of globe.

Using a longitudinal line as a guide, I cut a larger hole in the bottom of the globe.  This was the first hole I cut and then I realized that not enough light was coming out so I cut around another line.  I put the two parts of the globe together and turned the light on to see if I was happy with the amount of light coming out of the bottom.  I had to tape the bottom and top of the globe back together with some scotch tape which doesn't look great up close but from far away you can't really see it. I definitely won't do that again.

The last step in the process was to take some washi tape and put it around the bottom edge to finish that cut edge.  I used about 6 inch sections of tape and it went on quite easily.  All in all, this was a quick, easy and inexpensive project.  I love the way it looks in my office/tv/craft room.  I am definitely considering making another one to try and sell at the antique store that my bestie, Beth and I have space in.

What will I do with my life?

I am coming to a crossroad in my life.  I have a son who is a sophomore in college and a daughter who is a junior in high school.  The last 20 years has been spent working my life around their lives.  Working only during school hours or when my husband is home, making myself available to help with the activities that they participate in.  In just 18 months, it will potentially be my husband, dog and me in the house while our kids are building their own lives. 


Will they still need us?  YES!  That has been proven the last year while Kyle is in college.  It will just be different, it won't be as much of the day to day and I'm really happy about that.  Our goal was to raise children that would go out into the world and make lives for themselves and be productive members of society. 


With that change comes me at a crossroad.  Do I want to find a full-time bookkeeping job and be out of the house 40+ hours per week?  Can I start a homebased business that will help us meet our goals but not take me out of the house for so many hours out of the week (I will still have a dog at home after all) and give me flexibility when the kids are home ? 


I'm hoping that this blog will help lead me to where I want to be.  Could I blog as a job?  That would be a dream.  To be able to craft, cook and share my ideas with others.  This is the beginning of the journey to see where I will be two years from now.


Here we go.....................