Shotgun Shell Mirror!

I made this large mirror into a shotgun shell framed mirror.  I found this mirror on the side of the road with someone's trash.  It was covered in soot like it had been smoke damaged in a fire.  I washed it clean, it has no smell, I put a fresh coat of varnish on it to seal it, and decided to hang on to it for a project.....well, the project has arose!

The mirror I used.

I only used shells with the gold bottoms, I hot glued them gold end to the inside,

This is the finished product hanging on the wall.  Turned out awesome!


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Shotgun Shell Wreath

I saw this wreath on pinterest so I thought I would take a "shot" at it and make one myself rather then pay the $99.00 dollars that they are asking for theirs.  

First I hot glued about two hundred shells together by gluing two inch string from the inside of one empty shell to the other empty shell.  Make about two hundred sets like this.

I bought a wreath frame from Michaels (around $3.00), I looped each shell through the middle and dangled a set over the inside and again over the outside of the frame.

You can see the frame has four frame wires.  I hot glued the strings into place so when I lifted it to hang it everything didn't slide downward.

This is the backside of it.  I also tied a ton of little tweed type bows around the inside and outside to hide any green frame from showing, but to also give it a bit more of a rustic look.

I hung it on a wall for display.  You can see from gluing the shells in place all the shells stay in place all the way around pretty evenly and you can see the tweed string a bit throughout the inside and outside.  I finished it with a Burlap bow.  I really like it.  I suppose you could wind some lights into it if you want, I kept it pretty simple.

Thank You for checking it out.
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Baby room shelving and storage

I found this book shelf flipped upside down in a ditch, so I hauled it home.  First thing I did was cut the feet off.  The wood on the feet seemed weak and split, and since this was going into a baby room I needed it to be more sturdy.  I went to Home Depot and bought fat chunky square feet to attach to the bottom.  I lightly sanded the entire thing and started painting with a satin color.  I took the thin backing off before I started the project.  The backing I painted a very shiny silver color along with the feet.  I also used Valspar antiquing glaze and finished it with a coat of clear coat.

I put two coats of paint on this project.

I put all my projects on these plastic stilts to keep everything up off the floor.  You could use blocks or anything, its really helpful.

Using the Valspar I was able to give it an older look.

The finished product turned out great.  It now sits in my sweet nephews bedroom filled with baby supplies!

Bench

 My In-Laws gave me this bench that they had sitting in their garage for a couple years.  So I decided to fix it up and make it more useful.  So I used a satin paint and valspars antiquing glaze, finishing it with a clear coat Varnish.  The varnish was very old so it gives it a yellowish older tint.

        
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Hunting season was a success!

After preparing our property for the hunting season, I had success on opening morning of the antler less season.  I shot a nice size doe.

My son Drew shot his first deer, also a doe during regular firearm season.  This  deer was harvested in Northern Michigan on family property.

I also shot a seven point in Northern michigan on the family property during regular firearm season.

Me and my Doe, Sept 2012

This is a photo of me standing by my buck and my sons doe.

  

A big thanks to my husband for cleaning all these deer for us.  Thanks babe.

Wine rack I made from pallets.

I made this wine rack from a pallet.  Just had to add a pallet board to the bottom.  Then i stained it a red mahogony and clear coated it.  I also added d-hooks on the back for hanging.

Straight from the trash

Im going to start doing something a little different.  Now that i have a nice camera on my phone, im not going to do the traditional before and after pics.  Im gonna do the beginning to end pics.  Im gonna take pictures of items i get, even if its off the side of the road and in the trash.

Pallet Swing

                                  Pallet Tree Swing!                          

Used the center section of a pallet.

I started this swing with the center two boards from a pallet.  Attached to the center boards is a brace.  It comes like that.

I sanded it a bit, stained it, and polyurethaned it.

I drilled holes in the bottom of the brace to tie off the rope.

This is the swing hanging in the big tree in my back yard.

This is my daughter enjoying her new swing.  She is ten, you can see the seat is a good size for adult buns too!

                                                                   Thanks,  ßeçk¥

Hang a log from your ceiling.

This is a project my mom did.  She found this large white log washed up on the beach of northern michigan.  She brought it home, and had her husband hang it with white rope from the ceiling.

She drilled a small hole every few inches all the way through the log from bottom to top, she strung fishing line through the holes.  She used a fishing sinker (the round kind that you string the line through and pinch closed) to keep the string at the top of the log and ran the line down through the holes she drilled.  Now she has long strands of fishing line hanging down.  She proceeded to drill tiny tiny holes in seashells she had gotten from a vacation, and tied them randomly through out the hanging string.  

It turned out very nice.  It goes beautifully with the rest of her beach themed bedroom.

this is a pic of the other side of her room.  (I made the pallet shelf over her bed. there is also a how to do on this in this blog)


Thanks,
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Insta-what? Wow, that looks good.

So I have jumped on the instagram band wagon.  You can make just about anything look cool with this.  But my stuff is cool anyway, so it just enhances it.  But seriously, you could make a turd look cool with this.  Some of these are instagram, and some are not.  I will specify, but these are my items at my place.

not instagram.  I collect old bottles.  This is one I found in the river across from my house.  I actually found about 200 bottles.  THis one in particular sprouted a little plant out of it recently.

yes instagram.  This is the front of my barn.  I love it so much.

Not instagram.  This is the side of my barn that I love so much.

Yes instagram.  Another part of my barn.  I never knew that a long time ago when bugs, animals, birds made holes in wood people would put soup can lids over the holes.  The barn is covered in soup can lids.

Not instagram.  this is a barrel from my husbands grandfathers belongings .  We got it from their garage sale.

Not instagram.  Here is the second floor loft of our barn.  The floor planks are huge, and all different widths.  They are also very smooth, probably from all the hay slid across over the years.

No instagram.  I made this from an old chunk of painted barn wood, a freezer  ball jar, and a belt I found in someones trash.

No Instagram.  My bottle collection.  These are all from a trip canoeing in the river across from our house.  We found 200 in one trip.  We even got an article in the news paper for doing it.

 Yes instagram.  I love this piece.  I found it at a garage sale for $3.50, and it works!!!  It's a heater.

Yes instagram.  My barn peak.

No instagram.  This is me.  a girl in cute sandals, painted toe nails, and power tools.


thanks for looking at my pictures.
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Chicks can build Deer blinds too

               Time for a deer Blind!

I started this blind off with the vision in my head and I just had to dive in and do it.    I started by framing it out.  Keep in mind that this is a chick building it so my way of framing is probably laughable to anyone who knows what they are really doing.

Once I got one of the walls up, I felt more confident.  As you can see there is no floor built onto this.  I have built a platform stage to take out to the location first.  So this is going out in two sections.  It helps with the weight of the blind and being able to take the floor stand out first and get it in exactly the position we want it.

At this point I felt like I knew what I was doing.........I knew I wanted to be able to fit two people in there.  Sometimes my husband and I hunt together.  But my main excuse is I wanted it big enough for me to nap in.  Maybe even sleep over night in.  maybe........

I framed this door in all on my own.  I don't know if I did it right, but it works.

With the help of my hot husband, He could help me do some of the high stuff.  I built most of this while he was at work, so when he would get home I would be too tired to hold wood up high, so he had to do it.  thanks babe.

Ok, this is the shell of the blind minus the roof.

Here we put the roof on but only tar papered it.  For the sake of weight I decided to shingle it once it was in place in the woods.

The back view, which is slider windows.

Time to camo the crap out of it.  and make my last name sign above the door.  Even this camo isn't enough.  More to come in the woods.

Now here comes the moving, and the ass kissing.  I get this wild hair in me to build this giant, and now someones gotta get it out into the woods.  Thank goodness I have a husband who will "kinda" go along with my crazy ideas.

We pulled it out with our little rinky dink pick up.  The trail was narrow in some spots so we would have to stop to bust out the chainsaw and cut trees down to get through.

My husband moving it into place!!

Here's a little back story as to why I am doing the inside of this blind the way I am.  All the men in my dads side of the family have always carpeted their blinds completely.  To buffer sound, and maybe help keep in a little heat.

This blind is totally carpeted from floor to ceiling.  see that cathedral ceiling.  Yeah it's nice.

And don't forget a chick is doing all this, so there has to be an accent wall!!   This wall is a piece of carpet that looks like leaves growing up the sides. nice huh.....

Tear jerker time.  I have a framed picture in my blind.  My Grandpa Joe was an avid deer hunter.  He passed away a few years ago.  He was able to hunt his last year and shoot his final deer.  Him and his sons were all with him when it happened and it was a very special moment for them.  This is his funeral memorial card.  It suits him, with a big buck on the front.  And on the back is a picture of him, with a one liner quote he used to say .  "I'm glad you got to meet me".  My hopes are that he will be with me, guiding me, and giving me some good luck.  

All the windows open into the inside.  They were all salvaged from an old farm house.  They hinge shut, but I also strapped them for extra protection.  Protection from what? Hell if I know, I just thought it up and did it.  so..what.    I have been asked if it is bear proof, the answer is no.  It's not bear proof, It's only as bear proof as the gun you have inside with you.

Guess what Ya"ll?  I've made a hammock out of an afghan blanket and it's effing sweet!  Those are my feet swinging and relaxing in my blind.

Here is me, adding the "skirt" to the blind.  Don't ask.  I had extra shingles and wanted to use them.  I also shingled the roof and window over hangs.

Go to a resale shop and buy a piece of shit fake christmas tree.  Tear it apart and staple gun the branches all over to make the camo even better!  It turned out great.  Three days after it was placed, our trail cam picked up three different bucks in the area.  I am very excited to kill a deer this year!!!





I am lucky to have a lot of spare wood laying around my barn, so I didn't have to buy much.  I bought two chunks of carpet, and a new box of staples.  Everything else I had on hand.  Total for building this blind =$48.00 bucks.  not bad at all.

Thanks to:  My hubby Andy for dealing with all my crazy outlandish ideas.  Thanks to my Brother in law Dennis for helping move it out into the woods.  And Thanks to my neighbor Frank for donating camo colored paints to me.  

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