Polka Dot Hanging Jewelry Organizer

You need:

A frame- if you want to do the polka dot effect then try to find some thicker frames. Mine are made from baseboards that I found while I was garage saleing. Just for the record, they were not for sale, but I saw them in the dumpster and I asked if I could have them. After an odd look she let me have them. If you’re not lucky enough to happen upon some baseboards then a frame from a thrift store would work or if your handy with wood then you could make your own.

Bottle caps- it will depend on how big your frame is, but I used 18 for my 8 x 10 frame. If you go ask restaurants they’ll usually give you some if they have them. It may take a couple times; persistence is key.

Spray paint-whatever color you want

Sandpaper- the spray paint doesn’t stick very well to the caps unless you sand them first. I’m not sure what kind I used, but it was pretty coarse.

Nails and Hammer- However many you want- I used 20

Hot glue and stapler

A fruit net bag- I’ve seen them used as bags for oranges and other types of fruit.

Magnets-optional

Step 1- make your frame or buy one. I asked my neighbor to cut the wood and put them together because I’m not handy with wood. Then sandpaper the tops of your bottle caps. Step 2- I’m sorry that I don’t have a picture of this, they seemed to have disappeared. Spray paint the frame whatever color you want. Mine was covered with just a couple of coats and they tried pretty quickly. Then spray paint your bottle caps. This took a little longer to dry and it took several coats. If you don’t let them dry all the way then the paint will scrape and chip off.

Step 3- Originally my plan had been to put magnets on the back of the bottle caps and hang the earrings on there, but I didn’t end up finding any magnets and the kind that come on business cards weren’t strong enough. It was kind a bummer. This step is totally optional. Step 4-This step is if you want to hang earrings, but you can also just use the nails too. Size your fruit net bag according to the size of your frame. You can either hot glue or staple it to the back of your frame. The hot glue doesn’t hold it very well, so I suggest stapling it. Step 5- Glue on your bottle caps in whatever pattern you want. Then add the nails in whatever pattern you want.

Step 6-Congrats! You now have a functioning jewelry hanger and you can accessorize it however you want.

Want more ideas? Check out my DIY page.

Bottle Cap Flowers

I personally love this project. It was an experience for sure to get a complete, satisfactory product, but I’m pretty happy with how the last ones turned out.  There are two ways to do it. The only difference is whether you have a tin can lid.

 For the First Way You Need:

A tin can lid- the one I used was 3 inches wide

16 bottle caps

JB Weld- you can find it in the automotive department of Wal-Mart. There is a picture of what look like below.

Pliers

A fork (optional) and 2 Heineken bottle caps

Step 1-With a pair of pliers, pull a side of the bottle cap out, I will refer to this part as the pulled out edge. There will probably be a little bit of bump on the underside, but try to make it as flat as you can. Fold the rest of the sides down as shown in the picture, I will refer to these sides as the folded down sides. Leave an unfolded bottle cap for the middle. This picture is of the front side, but I will make a lot of references to the underside which is just the opposite side.

Step 2- For the first row, I needed 9 caps, but I think that I had enough extra room for one more. Mix up the separate JB Weld liquids together with something and in something you don’t mind throwing away. You only can do a layer at a time, so just mix up a little at a time. Squeeze out about a little smaller than a dime should do. Dab a little JB Weld on the backside of the edge that you pulled out and then lay the cap on the edge of the can. The edge of the pulled out part should lay just on the innermost raised edge of the tin can as show in the picture. I had the ends of plastic spoons to put under the bottle caps to keep them from falling down. It takes at least five hours for the Weld to dry.

I didn’t take a picture of this next part. Step 3- The middle row has six bottle caps in it. The side that you pulled out flat now needs to be pulled back a little farther towards the underside. Put the Weld on the tip of the pulled out edge and about half way up on the underside and then place it about halfway down the first row. Where you should place them is represent by the picture. Let it dry.

Step 4- Dab the liquid weld on the very rim of the unfolded bottle cap and then place it in the middle.

Step 5 (optional)- put weld on the handle of a fork and place in the middle of the backside of the flower. Fold the two Heineken bottles like the petals and then weld it to the ‘stem’ of the flower. I have the weld bottles there to support the leaves.

Here is what it looks like after all the steps are complete.

For the Alternative Method You Need:

13 bottle caps

JB Weld- you can find it in the automotive department of Wal-Mart. There is a picture of what look like below.

Pliers

Optional – A fork and 2 Heineken bottle caps

Step 1 (alternative)- With a pair of pliers pull out all sides of one bottle cap. This will be the center of your flower. For the other 12 bottle caps, pull one side of the bottle cap out. There will probably be a little bit of bump on the underside, but try to make it as flat as you can. Fold the rest of the sides down, For the center cap pull out all the sides as shownin the picture.

Alternate Step 2- Dab some JB Weld on the inside edge of six bottle caps that you folded and then glue it to the flattened part of the center bottle cap as shown in the picture. Then let it dry.

Alternate Step 3- Then add six bottle caps onto the outside layer. This was my first project and I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. I only used six bottle caps on the outside layer, but I’m sure you could probably use more. Read the optional step 5 of the first method to see how to put on the stem and leaves.

Want more ideas? Check out my DIY page.

Plastic Spoon Flowers

So, this is first spoon project that I mentioned not too long ago. I tried this project again and it still didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted, but I think it’s because I’m using thicker spoons and not just because I’m completely incompetent. I still think it’s a good DIY, so I’m going to post it and when I get some different spoons then I’m going to post my results.

Things You Need:

Plastic Spoons

Pliers

Lighter

Candle

You’ll need 17 plastic spoons. If you go dumpster diving for these, some good places to go are fast food places or collect them as you get take out. Now, cut the spoon handles into different lengths. Ten spoons for the longest length and it needs to be a little less than an inch. Five spoons for the second longest length which will be about half as long as the first. Then the remaining two spoons just need to have little stubs.

Now it’s time for the melting. This part is pretty fun, but be careful because the spoons will catch on fire. You’ll want a real candle for this and not a little tea light. Using pliers hold the spoons over the flame. It will only take a couple of seconds for the heat starts to take effect. Watch carefully because the heat may burn a hole in the spoon. Move the spoon around the flame so that the heat is even distributed.

The waves that make the spoon look like a petal should form on their own, but if they don’t you can always help them along with the pliers. The plastic is extremely hot so don’t touch use pliers to mold it. The two shortest spoons need the bowl of the spoon to be a little deeper and the sides should be curved so that the sides of the opposing spoons may almost meet. Glue or melt the bottoms together as shown the picture. Bend back the tips.

Now glue the rest of the spoons, from shortest to longest, onto the bottom of the first two. You’ll want to use a spiraling concept so that each petal goes out just a little more.

For this flower, take the tips of the shortest spoons and curl the tips back, make the bowls of spoons deeper and glue one spoon slightly lower than the middle of the bowl. The four middle surrounding spoons should have even deeper bowls than the first two. You want to have big, deep waves on the ‘petals’. The waves and the deep bowls you can obtain by molding it with the pliers.

Bend the handles so towards the inside of the spoon, so that the handle can be flat against the table. Then glue the four spoons with as little space between them and the first two spoons. Then layer the rest of the spoons in a spiraling manner.

Keep laying the petals until all the spoons are used.

Want more ideas? Check out my DIY page.

Vinyl Record Clock

This is definitely the easiest project I have made so far. It was fun and it looks awesome.

This is a pretty straight forward project, so I won’t be giving too many details on this tutorial. First, I had to make the hole in the record big enough to fit the clock kit in it. This you may or may not need to do, it just depends on your kit. I bought a clock at thrift shop and then I just took off the kit. Whether you get a kit from an existing clock or whether you get one from the store, they’re extremely easy to put together. The hands were tiny compared to the record, so I replaced them with some thin pieces of plastic that I painted gold.

The next step is adding the numbers. What you want to use for that is up to you. For my numbers, I made picks out of old gift cards and credit cards with a pick punch (I’ll put a link to one on ebay that you can buy). I hot glued the picks around the record in the spots that the numbers would normally be.

If you have any questions about something I didn’t cover then feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Pick Punch

With this pick punch, you can make picks out of old credit cards or gift cards. You can use them for decorations, but the also really function as guitar picks.

Want some more ideas? Check out my DIY page.