little spoon sunburst mirror

Awhile back, I made a sunburst mirror out of recycled bits and silver spoons from the thrift store. My mom liked it so much that she specially requested one of her own, but smaller.

Well, it took me awhile to dig up enough baby and souvenir spoons at junk stores and yard sales, but I finally did it, just in time for her birthday this year!

It's a quick project once you have the materials. The mirror is a plastic-backed utility mirror I found at Bring, and I admit that I just hot-glued the sixteen little spoons directly to the back. Those that had dangly bits or handles that were too long or two wide were cut with tin snips first. Oh! And I alternated fronts and backs for some added interest.

I had a partial sheet of adhesive felt furniture pad that makes a good backing. It's thick, so the spoons won't be sitting directly on the wall, and soft so nothing scrapes. The hanger is made from a plastic coated paper clip sunk into the felt with the ends bent back on the other side. And then, for security, more hot glue holds everything in place.

I don't usually use hot glue so liberally in projects, but there was no place on this mirror to rivet or wire the spoons in place. In situations like this (small, light projects without an extended base) it's a good choice that'll last a nice, long time.

Happy birthday, Mom! Love you a bunch.

mosaic stepping stones, spotted at bring

"Forget your perfect offering; there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
--Leonard Cohen

 Spotted at Bring Recycling in the garden.

thrift store finds: May 2014

Bring isn't exactly a thrift store, but a reuse store that features mainly building materials. But they do have a large furniture warehouse at the back and a gallery space at the front that sometimes hosts a collection of harder-to-find items or art shows of stuff made with recycled materials. Today's post features things we spied at the store earlier this month while hardware shopping for a project.

Here's a wallpaper cutter from the late 19th century.

 A gigantic Low-Voltage Circuit Tester.

An antique trunk and an accordion my kiddo was pretty set on. (I think he's convinced he could school his music teacher if only he was allowed to touch the accordion.)

Another antique trunk. This one was priced rather high, even during the 50% off furniture sale. I went back on another day and someone had tried to force the lid shut and broke the back off.

An army trunk.

A mid-century drafting table/light table/desk with brass fixtures.

And those are just a few of the cool things we spied. They also had three rows of antique theater seats and a couple of sets of lockers that somehow escaped my camera. I'll stop back in this week and snap some pictures for a future post . . . unless you get there to buy them first!

Thanks for reading.

Linking up to:
The Cottage Market

coffee sack burlap chair upholsterly

You last saw these chairs at Thanksgiving, 2011, when I repainted and upholstered them with some whimsical sheep fabric . . . it lasted a while, but it was pretty dirty and hard to scrub clean.

I recently reupholstered them again with the front and back of a coffee sack for a little change of pace.

 

Easy as pie, just like last time. You'll want to fold over the edge of your burlap, though, and staple through a couple of layers to keep the burlap from warping or unraveling.

 Here are a few more coffee sack projects I've tackled:

Coffee Sack Tree Skirt
Cushion
Lamp Shade
Wall Art

And here's where you can find a coffee sack or two if you're interested in trying this at home!

Thanks for reading!

pendleton wool blanket bunny

 I worked up a prototype bunny for a little friend's birthday, and I was pretty happy that my tinkering had such sweet results.

This is made with mill scraps from the Pendleton woolen mill here in Oregon.

After a couple of small changes, I hope to have a few of these cuties ready for my Etsy shop; I'll update here when that happens, so stay tuned or send me a little message if you'd like to be notified.

Have you been putting bits and pieces together to make anything cool lately? Leave me a link. I'd love to see it!

Thanks for reading.


Linking up to:

The Cottage Market 

My Repurposed Life