Pegboards are amazing for small spaces but I’ve just never liked the look of them. It’s all those holes, they make me think of dust and wonder if there spiders hiding in them. So when I was looking for a different storage solution for my craft supplies – like that damn rotary cutter I can never find – I had to get creative.
DIY Pegboard Materials & Equipment:
Wood for backing. I used two 12″ x 4′ pine shelves but you could easily use reclaimed wood instead.
Hardware cloth with 1/2″ x 1/2″ openings. Do not buy the prepackaged rolls. They are rolled too tightly and impossible to work with. Have it cut to length at the Hardware Store.
Washers & bolts for spacers.
Screws long enough to go through spacers into wood.
Clamp or two.
Long straight edge.
Drill.
Making the Pegboard:
I stained and sealed both shelf boards before starting. I thought about using a tea stain for a rustic look, but decided I wanted a deeper color. Once dry, I used two mending straps in the back to join the two shelves. I could have used pieces of wood instead, but it was cold and windy outside and I didn’t want to drag my saw out of the shed.
I started by drilling pilot holes in the top edge of my wood backing and then screwing in the eye bolts. We won’t even discuss those extra holes for the hooks in my recently patched, freshly painted wall.
Clamp the mesh to your work surface at each end with the curl facing up.
I only had one clamp, so I used a case of pop to weight the other end to keep the mesh from curling back up.
Using your long straight edge, start folding the cloth. I did my long edges first, it helps to straighten the mesh. Work your way up and down the fold line, gradually folding it inwards.
When you’ve completed the fold, crimp it tightly with pliers.
Repeat for all four sides then flip it over so the curl faces down, otherwise your mesh will sit right on the backing and leave no space between the mesh and backing for hooks.
Fasten the mesh, top and bottom every 12″ or so. Mark your screw placement, but only drill one pilot hole at a time. The openings in the mesh won’t always be where you expect them.
My first time staining and sealing wood – can you tell?
For each screw, it’s washer, mesh, washer, nut or spacer, washer, and then finally into the wood. Leave some play until all the screws are in.
That’s it!
Mount it on the wall and start hanging up your tools and supplies.
I just bend pieces of wire into hooks but you could buy S-hooks also.
A word about cost:
Unless you are using salvaged wood as your backing, and maybe not even then, just buying a piece of pegboard is cheaper. With the two pine shelves for backing (2@$18.49 ea – $36.98), stain ($8.99), and sealer ($6.99), plus the roll of hardware cloth ($1.99/foot), screws and washers the final cost was $100 – $120.
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This dish soap dispenser was an easy little craft for a Sunday afternoon. I’ve never had it together enough to put my soap away when I’m done with it. Plus, my guys are ‘wash your hands in the kitchen sink with dish soap’ guys. Seriously, it drives me nuts! They act like it’s the only sink in the house!
Even for myself I’ve sometimes wished for a soap dispenser at the kitchen sink. Maybe something a little prettier than the dish detergent bottle too. I was talking about it the other night, and my youngest pointed out the empty body wash bottled kicking around in the bathroom.
It’s almost exactly the same size as the dish soap bottle.
So I grabbed another piece of fabric from my stash and cut it into squares (one of these days I’m going to get some left-handed pinking shears) and started decoupaging.
I started from the bottom, clipping the fabric to fit around the curves.
I used white glue mixed 1:1 with water, and just kept working my way up to the top of the bottle.
After masking off the threads for the lid, I gave it all three good coats of acrylic sealer. I also painted the pump gold.
No more Sunlight bottle on the counter!
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Despite the nice weather we’ve had lately, it’s still to early for gardening. So to satisfy my urge to play in the dirt, I made a topiary bunny. And yes, there are succulents. He’s smaller than Fred so he can stay indoors in the winter.
Topiary Bunny supplies:
A bunch of succulents. Even this little bunny took a lot of succulents. Choose mostly the flatter rosette forms.
You can also use English Ivy. It’s a more traditional choice for topiary and tolerant of shady conditions. Choose smaller leaved varieties and if you place your topiary outdoors, make sure it doesn’t trail down far enough to touch soil or it will make a run for it.
A pot, preferably clay. Mine is an 8″ whitewashed clay bowl.
Chicken wire
Florist wire – used to ‘sew’ body parts together and to anchor newly planted succulents.
Heavier gauge wire – used to stabilize the topiary form where needed.
Side cutters. I scrubbed mine before taking this picture, I didn’t want you thinking I’m one of those jerks who might leave tools lying around outside.
Cactus Soil
Sphagnum Moss.
A bucket to soak the moss in.
Forming the topiary:
Soak your sphagnum in a bowl or bucket of water. Set aside.
For my 8″ bowl, I cut a piece of chicken wire about 24″ wide.
Twist the ends of the wires together to form a tube. Don’t go all the way up, just the first 6″ or so – about the height of the bunny’s chest plus the pot.
Set your chicken wire tube into the clay bowl and fill with cactus soil to about an inch below the rim. Tamp it down to secure the chicken wire tube.
Start shaping the bunny body. You finesse the chicken wire, stretching here, compressing there, and eventually its the shape of a bunny’s rump. Keep shaping the wire to make the slope of the back. If you need to, you can trim away some of the width of the chicken wire as you shrink your tube down to form the neck.
Once you start forming the neck, fill the body with the wet moss. Continue forming the neck and head.
Finish filling the bunny with moss and close up the chicken wire after trimming away your excess. My ‘seam’ runs along the top of his face.
Cut a piece of chicken wire about 4″ by 8″. Form it into a tube.
Use the florist wire to ‘sew’ the ears to the head. Flatten and shape the tubes as you fill them with moss. Had the moss been dyed, I might have left him just like this.
Thread a piece of the heavier gauge wire down each ear into the body to stabilize them. Curve the ears until you are happy with the shape.
Plant your topiary
Knock as much soil off the roots as you can. It makes it a little easier to push the roots into the topiary. Use your finger to make a hole in the moss and the work the roots in. A pencil is helpful for pushing the roots into the body of the topiary. For any plants that don’t seem secure, bend a piece of florist wire into a ‘u’ and use it to pin the plant in place.
My bunny topiary finished.
I used this cluster of frilly edged succulents as the tail.
A pink edged rosette for the nose.
Two similarly sized flat blue rosettes as eyes.
I’m not 100% happy with the cluster of hen’s and chicks on my bunny’s head. I’ll probably try to thin it out a bit so it’s less bulky looking. I also used some variegated English Ivy on my bunny, since I won’t put this one in the garden.
I highly recommend that just before closing up your bunny’s face, you form a ‘U’ shaped support as tall as your bunny from the heavier gauge wire and run it through the middle of your bunny. I did not do this and my bunny collapsed a bit with the plants.
This link – Make a Succulent Topiary – gives a more detailed tutorial on filling and planting your topiary form along with useful care tips.
So go make yourself a bunny!
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Leather Moroccan Poufs are all over the home decorating sites but they come with a hefty price tag, they’re listed at $395 US on one site, more than my cheap little heart can handle.
So I made my own from old jeans. It’s neither an easy project nor a quick one. Insets, where you fit the triangles together, are a bear and there are 32 of them in this pouf. But if you don’t mind a sewing challenge and are looking for pouf, this is how I made mine.
For this project, you’ll need the following:
Old jeans (I used 4 pairs) or fabric in enough yardage.
Matching thread and the usual sewing supplies including a seam ripper.
A nylon zipper, 22″ or longer. I used a duvet zipper and just cut the extra off.
Stuffing of some sort, you can use old clothes, pillows, or you can buy the bean bag pellets.
Patience.
You can use this pattern – Moroccan Pouf Pattern – or draft your own on freezer paper.
Cut out your pieces
Take each pant leg and smooth it out, with a rotary cutter you can cut the front and back of the leg at the same time. I found I could easily fit one side piece and one or two of the top pieces on each leg. Times two, because front and back. So four pants, eight legs, 16 tops and 16 sides. Done.
The bottom is a bit trickier, by this time I was out of usable denim so I dipped into my stash. I thought I would be clever and piece the pockets together for the center of the top – you’ll see what happened there later.
Assembling the top:
Denim has some quirks, worn denim even more. When sewing your pieces together, sew all of your seams in the same direction so it doesn’t twist. Since the trickiest part will be assembling all of those points and valleys of your outer edge the valleys and points of the sides, stitch from outer edge toward the center.
When it came time for me to attach my top to my sides, I wound up opening part of the seam, so if you prefer you can start your stitching 1/2″ from what will be the outer edge of your top.
The fastest way to do this is to make eight pairs, sew them, press them open and then make four pairs and so on until it’s done.
See how I sewed the pockets together and matched up the embroidery? Fancy right?
It would have been great if it was big enough to use. With 16 seams, even the tiniest inaccuracy in your sewing adds up. I had to cut a larger circle for my center.
So for your center, using a long stitch baste around the outside edge. Pull up your bobbin thread to gather it a bit so it will be easier to turn under. If you trim the seam allowance off of your pattern piece, you can use it as a pressing template.
Pin it in place (mark your quarters and make sure it all lines up).
Sew around once 1/4″ or so from the edge, and then again very close to the edge.
That’s the top assembled. Real Moroccan Poufs usually have embroidery on the top so you could embroider or stencil yours if you want to. I really think a stenciled pattern would look nice. Plus if you invest that much more time in it, you’ll be less likely to toss it in the trash once you start attaching the top to the sides.
Assemble the sides:
Next, you’ll assemble the sides of your Moroccan pouf in the same way as the top. Again sew together from the pointy end down and all of your seams in the same direction. For the last two seams, I only sewed the top couple of inches to give myself more room to maneuver, but I don’t think it was necessary. Again, I later opened up the seam, so you can start stitching from 1/2″ down if you wish.
Assembling your Moroccan Pouf:
Now replace your bobbin with contrasting thread and baste 5/8″ from the outer edge of your top and the upper edge of your side, lifting your presser foot with the needle down at each turn. Leave your matching thread in the top and sew wrong side down – I know it’s obvious, but so is right sides together and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten that wrong.
This gives you a seam line for matching the points of the outies to the valley of the innies. I found it also stabilizes your edges and if you’re opening your seams up like I did, helps keep everything together. You will also see where you need to turn your points to have the proper seam allowance on the other side. Mark this point on your throat plate, it will help you later.
This is where I opened my seams to the basted line. If you left the 1/2″ unsewn, you can skip the quality time with your seam ripper. Either way, you will need the open seam to have enough ease to match the points to the valleys.
You have to match the points of your top to the valleys of your sides, and the points of your sides to the valleys of your top. Innies to outies, outies to innies.
Use your handy stitch line to match points to valleys. Below, you can see what it looks like with every single point pinned to every single valley. Which I actually found harder to work with when I was sewing, so I would just pin every other point.
Replace your bobbin with matching thread and make sure it’s full. This is NOT the seam you want to run out of bobbin thread on. Take a deep breath and find your zen, because this is where you need to be very patient. It’s going to look absolutely insane under your presser foot!
I started on a straight edge and sewed towards my corner. As soon as I hit the point, I stopped with the needle down. Then I lifted the presser foot and turned the fabric. Thirty-two times I was convinced it wouldn’t work, and thirty-two times, I was able to smooth it all out, line it up, and sew to the next point. So I’m very confident you can do it too.
Once you’ve made it all the way around, check for any kinks or puckers. If you have one you don’t have to rip out the entire seam. Just remove the stitching far enough to each side that you can smooth it out and then sew it again. The zipper is going to seem easy now isn’t it?
Insert the zipper and attach the bottom:
With right sides together, sew 2″ together at each side. Baste the rest of the seam and press open. Lay your zipper on the seam, sew each side.
Run your seam ripper through the basting and open your zipper.
With the zipper open, zig-zag over each end of the zipper and cut off the excess. Make sure your zipper is open before you sew over the ends, or it won’t work as a zipper anymore.
Leaving the zipper open just enough to get your hand through, pin and sew the bottom to the sides. Sewing this seam will be ridiculously easy after attaching the top! Open your zipper, turn it all right side out and stuff it. I used leftover styrofoam beans and an old pillow.
Congrats! You’ve now got a Moroccan pouf for next to nothing!
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I am so happy with the way these 3 little frogs from the dollar store came out. I wanted to try fabric mache but didn’t feel up to making a form and all of that, so I bought 3 clay frogs from the dollar store for $2.50 each.
The fabric is from one of those fat quarter bundles and the colors suitably froggy. As for the frogs? Well let’s just say mass production and the rustic aged look don’t go together.
Covered in these gross warty spots and indifferently aged and scuffed.
I sanded off the worst of their sins, and going by how easy it was I’m going to assume these guys aren’t weather proof.
They all got slathered in a coat of white paint so I wouldn’t have to worry about any show-through with the lighter fabrics.
While the paint was drying, I cut the fabric into strips. Pieces 1″ by 2″ worked well for me with the occasional smaller bits for around the eyes and toes.
I used one of the geometric prints as the throat – in hindsight I might have chosen differently. I just used 1 part white glue to 1 part water and a paintbrush to apply it.
The green speckled is may favorite of the three, but all of them turned out surprisingly well. I was expecting a wrestling match to get the fabric and glue to behave but it all went together easy peasy.
The olive one looks nice too, I’m still a bit iffy on the mint green one.
If I were doing it again, I would have just done the entire frog in the same fabric.
Patterned napkins would have worked too, but I already had the fabric. All they need now is a coat of spray sealer and done.
Materials needed for this project:
White glue mixed 1:1 with water
fabric or paper strips
a paint brush
dollar store critter in need of a makeover
Someday I would love to try this technique on one of those homely little plastic turtle planters, I bet it would look great. What do you think?
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