Garage Floor Mishaps

Today's Gypsy Mind Blow concerns the annoyance my wonderful husband expresses whenever I am paining a trash to treasure project in the garage or driveway and somehow my paint manages to escape the tarp I am using as a drop cloth. I suspect that evil forces are at work since I do try my best not to decorate the cement and asphalt with permanent collages of country colors.

When I stumbled upon this idea, my jaw hit the floor. Using a dollar store pop-up garment bag/closet thing is genius!!! I have seen these in my local discount store but considered them pretty useless and flimsy in regards to clothing storage, but using them a a spray booth is a great idea. Not to mention that it keeps small paint jobs up off the garage floor. And if your crafting space is not as expansive or you are not lucky enough to have a garage (hello my apartment and condo dwellers) this is a great way to use a well ventilated space without wrecking everything around you, I'm sure your husband will appreciate it as much as mine....

Salvation Army Treasure

For some reason the Salvation Army store in my town always has a huge pile of silver platters that no-ones seems to want. I see these platters, stacked up in a pile, tarnished and un-loved and feel sad, since they were obviously purchased for some special occasion or holiday, or given as a beautiful and thoughtful gift. I have never bought any in the past because, hey..who really using things like that?! In my house the platters come out maybe a couple times a year and I have no use for extras (except for the round ones that I use as lids to make crock stacks, but that is another post) That was until.......

Ta daa...... grab a couple of those lonely tarnished platters, paint the inside of the tray with our perpetual favorite: chalkboard paint, and you have an awesome addition to your wall, your kitchen or for your craft show booth, because when you combine pretty with useful and add a little patina, great things happen!

Daily Gypsy Mind Blow

Hello Gypsy Fans! I am starting up a little thing I like to call the Daily Gypsy Mind Blow. Basically I am going to be sharing ideas, tips and tricks that I have stumbled upon and have officially blown my mind. Because what fun is discovering that a solution or fact has been staring you in the face if you cannot then expose the ignorance of others? Always a fun time here on this blog...

Are you freakin' kidding me?! I have 2 kids, do you know how many of these cheap outfit and pant hangers I have thrown out over the years? Can't get over the many ways I will be using these clips in my house, not to mention just having a few on hand for when I need a clip and don't want to worry if it gets lost (camping) or never makes it back to the house (pot lucks) or for clipping kids outfits together or storing hat and mitten sets, or closing dog food bag when we are traveling or holding art projects or.........you get the idea

DIY Plaster Anything!

Stumbled onto this great tutorial on how to plaster coat anything, the possibilities are endless and I love the texture of the coating and that you can use it on anything, be creative! The product is call Plasti-Dip, which is a rubberizing paint normally used to coat tool handles and things.
Here is the link to the how to steps:


http://fellowcreatives.com/2010/09/16/plasti-dip/

Wait, you can make glitter?!

DIY glitter: Preheat the oven to 350. Place salt (table salt/sea salt) into a small bowl. Add drop of food coloring and mix with the salt. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet in one layer. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Let cool, then transfer into a storage container for use..................Mind Officially Blown

Great DIY Coffee Table

Here is a great DIY for those of us that would like a large scale coffee table but do not want to pay the large scale price: Wooden storage crates from your local craft/project store (these came from a Michaels but places like Hobby Lobby carry them as well) stain or paint depending on your taste and theme of your room. I would suggest choosing a darker stain and distressing them further than shown in this photo, but that's just me. When dry, set crates with bottoms facing each other and screw together with small wood screws or use L-brackers on the inside area of the box. Fill center with river stone, moss, vase or just about anything that you can think of (rotate out center for different holidays and seasons) and you have an amazing conversation piece that is not only great to look at, but offers storage as well!

Thanksgiving is Taken Care Of...

Our boy Ian with his 2012 Fall Turkey he got while out hunting this past Saturday with his Pa.