I needed a new spice rack since mine didn’t seem to hold enough variety for me anymore and I found a really great deal on a wooden, rotating lazy-susan style, twelve jar style at the local Fields store marked down from 20.00 to 3.50.  Never one to pass up a deal or a possible project I snapped up the last four of them figuring I’d find some use for them all.

The project itself is very easy, I simply painted the wooden structure of the rack with black matte paint and did the same with the lids.  While those all dried I printed off some awesome vintage apothecary labels I found on the net and glued them onto the jars under a coat of sealant.

The most important thing to keep in mind is which spice is really in the jar labeled poison or arsenic.  You might like to make your own style of lables with the real spice names on them instead of using the vintage labels, that way your pastries stay sweet instead of spicy and your chili isn’t flavoured with nutmeg.

This is another super easy project. You find a cheap lamp. I paid 8.00 for this one at a Fields store, it was ugly as sin and stark white.   When I brought it home at first my sister was horrified when I told her it was going to be for her. She did not want it anywhere near her dresser.

However, I knew that it could be reborn and I just used some matte black spray paint to took care of the bottom. (Make sure you use a plastic bag and some tape to cover the electrical portion so you don’t get paint inside.  Also, do this outside or some place with a lot of ventilation!)

I then took a skull and cross bones fabric stencil I got from Micheals (Fabric stencils work best because they’re sticky!) and sponge painted the design around the lamp shade with black acrylic.   Let dry.

Have fun mixing and matching colours and stencils with this one I also did a second lamo in red and black for my boyfriend and I think it turned out great.

Last summer I bought a super ugly father clock that was originally a really gross brown-green colour. It was wretched looking but it was only 4.00 so I couldn’t pass it up.  I figured it was salvageable so I took it home and painted it up to give it a faux antique look.

First I covered all the glass and hinges with paint tape to protect them and then I spray painted it with a matte black spray paint.

Then once that had time to dry in the hot summer sun, I took some gold and silver acrylic paint and sponged it very lightly with gentle streaks just here and there to make it look like it was tarnished gold underneath.  The whole project cost me less then $10.00 including the batteries need to make the clock work.

Photo by Patricia Holdsworth Photography

Here’s a quick and easy project just in time for back to school!  Spend an otherwise lazy afternoon whipping up a new inexpensive tote to help you carry all those pricey textbooks around with you during frosh week in style.   If you have about a meter of a strong weight polycotton and some treasured scraps you can whip this up without even having to make a trip to the fabric shop.  This is a such super simple project it’s great for beginers and experianced sewers alike.

Pattern:

All you have to do is print off a picture of a bird (or draw one if you’re artistic), cut it out and turn it upside down to use as a pattern to cut the fabric out.  Tip: It helps if you use an iron on a low to mid heat to press the paper to the fabric.

Cut out the pattern in the fabric, taking your time to ensure that you don’t accidentally cut off a leg or a beak.  If you think you’ll want a front pouch pocket as well, measure that out with the help of a ruler and cut out that piece as well before setting them aside.

Bag:

The basic tote bag is incredibly simple.  Chose the dimensions of how big of a bag you want.  Now, add an inch to all sides of this plan for a seam/hem allowance.  Cut two squares (or rectangles) out of your bag fabric.  I suggest using a heavy weight cotton or polycotton fabric.  You want to make sure this bag doesn’t tear or give way under pressure.

Take one of the squares and lay it out on a table, position the appliques and pouch on the front of this square to your liking before pinning them down securely.   Zig zag stitch, or use another firm binding fancy stitch if your machine allows for it,  around the edges to secure each one to the square of fabric.  You may also want to handstitch the appliques on if you picked a particularly complex design.

Now place this first square face down atop the second, matching the face sides of the fabrics and sandwiching the appliques between the fabric.  Pin together along the edges before sewing the two sides and the bottom together.   Unpin and then double fold the top open edges down to create a hem, stitch around bottom of hem.

Handles:

To cut handles, simply cut two strips of fabric roughly 4-6 inches wide and as long as you would like your handles to be.  Fold in half lengthwise and sew up oneside to make tubes, pull them inside out so the face side of the fabric is showing and then fasten to the inside of the bag at the hem to secure.