Arrrrggg......

Hello gypsy junk fans! I am very excited about today's project which is proudly hanging on the wall of my home office. I am currently obsessed with pallets. They are free and can be used for so many different projects! And even though my husband is at his wits end with me making him turn around to pick up everyone I see sitting out for free, I am glad we picked up this small one that is perfect for a wall hanging. I have seen a lot of things painted onto pallets to make them in to decorative signs, everything from flags to sayings. Since I am not a "Live, Laugh, Love" kinda gal (can you hear me gagging in the background?) I wanted to do something a bit more fun and unexpected, and you can too!

1. Pallet-any small pallet with do, and if you have a huge space or are putting it outside you can use a large one. Remove all of the slats from one side of the pallet except for the one at the top, which you will use later to hang the pallet. The side with the one slat at the top is now the back, the side with all the slats intact is the front.

2. Choose your stain: I chose an ebony stain to make my pallet really dark since it would go best with the furniture and accents that are already in my office. You may choose a light colored stain, or even a watered down paint; pink, green, blue even whitewashed; the sky is the limit!

3. Wording-choose whatever saying or words you would like on your sign, I chose the saying" Work like a Captain, Play like a pirate" feeling like it would be perfect for an office environment. How to make the words looks great: Choose a font you love on your computer in Word or whatever program you are running (I chose one font for most of the message and a different font for the word pirate) Make the words large enough that they will look good on your pallet slats (My letter took up most of the page with a landscape layout) long words can be printed out on two pieces of paper and lined up later. When you have your saying all printed out lay the paper face up onto the slat where you want the word and use a pen to trace firmly over the lines of the words (you can use a ruler to figure out your placement if you are picky)  Use a cheap ball point pen for this, you are not trying to leave an ink outline behind, but need to press hard enough so that when you trace over the letters it will "dent" the wood under the paper. When you are done you will have your saying subtly "etched" into the wood of the pallet-just fill in with your choice of paint colors! *make sure that your words are the right side up! the single slat left on the back should be a the top, not the bottom!


4. Since my pallet had 5 slats and only 4 lines of words, I choose to put a drawing on the center slat. Choose something that pertains to your saying (I chose a vintage octopus that I printed onto paper and traced in the same way as the letters)

5. When all of your paint is dry, go back over your letters, pictures and all the edges of your slats with sandpaper to give the pallet a worn, antique finish. Make sure to sand down all the corners and edges to let the wood color come through. Sand off enough of the letters to really give it some age, don't worry folks will still be able to read it.

6. If you are putting it outside make sure you cover with a coat of matte clear spray paint, other wise hang with ordinary screws (just make sure you are screwing into studs) screwing through the single slat you left on the top back of your pallet directly into the wall. Paint the screw heads to blend into the wood......and enjoy!

I've Never Met A Pile Of Junk I Didn't Like

I've never met a pile of junk I didn't like.....or immediately want to turn into a birdhouse. Today's Gypsy Junk Inspiration are these newly finished pair of birdhouse, proving yet again that you can turn just about anything into something you want.
The bodies of these houses were constructed from left-over bits of aged fence boards that I had used for other projects. I loved the worn and weathered tops of these boards so I though they would make very interesting roof lines for small decorative birdhouses. The bases are made of crankshafts from my father in law's junk pile and they are decorated with random neat things picked out of my own "stuff that is neat and I might use some day" collection. The perches are assembled from basic hardware items like washers and small corner brackets and the "skirt" on the small house is a length of metal mesh I had left over from re-screening a pie safe.
So the lesson to take away from all this is that you should always collect and hold onto things that strike your fancy, even if you are not sure what you are going to do with them yet. Sometimes things languish in my workshop for months before inspiration hits, but I almost always have what I need on hand to bring my nutty ideas to life. Start with a basic idea and let ideas develop organically. I had no idea what these houses would end up looking like when I started, I just choose things and moved them around and swapped items out until it felt right, there are no rules........really!
Happy Gypsy Junking!

More Fun With Pallets!

Did you hear my husband swearing at me as I made him make a quick U-turn to go back and pick up some pallets I spotted by the side of the road? I think all of the neighbors did! But I always get my gypsy junk folks! and today it was those pallets. And why would anyone want a pile of old pallets you might ask. Because I use them to make all kinds of fun and wonderful things. Today's lesson class is how to use part of a pallet to make a corner coat rack for your home. Very charming and whimsical (and everyone out there could use an extra shot of whimsy)

1. Carefully remove the front "panel" of the pallet so you have a flat "front" that consists of 2 supporting boards and the slats connected to them. A small pallet with yield a small rack, a large pallet will yield a large one

2. Carefully cut the slats so that the heights are alternated, so you will cut a bit off the top and bottom of slat one, leave slat two taller, cut a bit off of the top and bottom of slat 3, etc. Don't worry if they are not perfect, it ads to the charm!

3. After you are done cutting the slats, you are ready to give your rack a finish. You can stain the entire thing dark or you can paint it with any color you wish. Make sure you water down the paint and use a large brush. You are looking for an un-even weathered look here so don't paint every inch of all your boards. Feel free to sand paint off, splatter flecks of white or black paint or every beat the crap out of the thing with some metal tools to give it a nice old, out-in-the-weather look

4. Once you are happy with the finish you can clear coat with a matte spray paint or leave as is (if it is going on your porch or anywhere it might get damp, I suggest the matte coat to keep paint from getting on whatever you hang on it)

5. Hardware: Feel free to go nuts here, you can find hooks at any home improvement or big box store, they ever have ones with birds on them, different designs, and all different finished so you can choose what speaks to you. Make sure you affix your hooks through the cross piece and the slats, not just on the tops of the slats themselves! Otherwise you risk them pulling out.

6. Place and Enjoy! Simple hinge hardware or corner brackets can be used to mount, or ask your handy hubby to do it for you (which is what I usually do!)

Up On A Wire

Once again sitting here at my computer at 8:12am I ponder my ability to follow through on anything. My hair is dripping wet from my post work-out shower (rising at 6:30am to hit the gym in time to make it back so my husband can go to work has not become the enjoyable habit I expected it to be) and my workstation was fired up before 8am. On my desk is a pile of work for clients, including a mountain of photos to be edited for a website I am running out of time to complete and all I can think about is that I should take the kids to the park today and enjoy the sunshine (working from home is suppose to allow you more quality time with your kids, ha!) and about how dirty my floor is.......If your head is likewise a whirlpool of crazy and your brain is a big bag of weird, I salute you! and wish you all the productivity and completed chores that seem to be escaping me.........welcome to the big top folks

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” 



― John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

I 4/4ths Don't Care

How much is your time worth?
No really, take a moment and think about that, not just in the "I get paid so much an hour by my job" way, but in the "is my doing this worth my time way."
When you examine things closely enough, it will become crystal clear which things are worth your time and which are not. Spending an hour a week clipping coupons and checking sales may be very worth your time since you enjoy the results and find pleasure in scoring a great deal. But to others, the very idea of organizing a folding accordion of coupons worth 50 cents is right up there with a trip to the dentist. This idea applies to everything from cooking to hanging drywall. Never beat yourself up for asking for help or paying someone else to do a task if it falls under "not worth my time" which has nothing to do with how important a task is, but with how much you are willing to pay someone else to do it....

Beach Apples & Oranges

As we all head out to enjoy the first hot weekends of the summer, a word of caution to those who are black belts in the art of comparison. If you are like me, you take serious sadistic interest in comparing your own beach body to those around you. Even if you have read every "Love Yourself" book and chanted positive body image affirmations into your mirror every day, it is oh so easy to break out the metal measuring stick when clothes are at a minimum. If you choose to partake in this possibly dangerous past time, I caution you to make sure you are not comparing apples to oranges. If you, like me, are a 30 something with 2 kids and a very busy life, do not lament that the 19 year olds look fabulous in comparison. If you insist on a comparison, make sure you are comparing yourself not to the bikini clad apples, but to the other middle aged with kids oranges. It is always eye opening when I size up the other mothers busy digging in the sand and applying sunblock to their brood as apposed to the crew of teenage size 1's sunning on beach towels. The same go for you men other there! If you are a 21 year old orange who's only concern is getting rid of last night's hangover and if your right bicep is a bit larger than your left, don't get too excited that you look amazing when surrounded by 55 year old guys playing with their grand kids in the surf. Apples to Apples and Oranges to Oranges, and if you must rise above and claim that you never compare yourself to anyone else and you are totally fine with how you look and the rest of us are pathetic, don't worry, your are neither an apple nor an orange.............your a pickle