Tag Archives: inexpensive project

How-to fancy up a journal…

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Cut cover and placement

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Gadora has happily been off-line lately. Out of the country, actually. Just returned from Istanbul, not Constantinople*, where I spent a splendid week with the family. Beforehand I’d hurried through the packing, sure to include only the most essential wardrobe … Continue reading →

It’s high time for a coffee break…

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VivaTerra's recycled seat

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There’s no rest for the weary. Though the suitably roomy L-shaped sofa has arrived, Gadora is still searching for extra seating for the 2nd Floor Lounge. I’m hoping it will be the place-to-be after all, so we’ll want enough space … Continue reading →

X-ray lamp in its new place…

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X-ray lamp at home.

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Gadora had a particularly fruitful day not long ago. By fruitful, I mean monetarily. In one single day, I’d sold and collected monies for two Still life watercolors I’d placed in our first-ever Office Art show, received payment for another … Continue reading →

Glass Bottle Walls…

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Soul of the Garden glass mulch bed.

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Two weeks ago Gadora, along with fellow BVers, spent an afternoon at East Austin’s KIPP school for a well-coordinated Service Day. Our first assignment: pack and number, then organize each of the more than 75 boxes in the Middle School’s … Continue reading →

Twig jewelry display on Apartment Therapy.

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Twigs ApartmentTherapy

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With her finger on Austin’s creative pulse, fellow blogger Adrienne Breaux posted Gadora’s twigs on Apartment Therapy. Titled, A Fresh Take on Branch Jewelry Displays she goes on to say, “Draping lovely baubles on a branch from the backyard isn’t … Continue reading →

Turning bottles and a basket into a beaming lamp…

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Late last year, Gadora spied a funky upholstered chair (to be refashioned later) along the side of the street. Free for the taking! I veered the car towards it, pulled the brake, and hopped out. With eyes on the prize, I stumbled (quite literally!) upon a tired and misshapen wire basket. Hmmmmm, I’ll take that too. Remembering the vintage bottles the BFF had collecting dust in the garage, Gadora set out to make a hanging, musical lamp… (remember to click on the pics to see them bigger!)

Lamp ~ DONE

At left: the remaining bottles (I chose to feature similarly sized bottles with some detail). Right: the top of the wire basket—which when utilized as a hanging planter basket would actually be the bottom…

Bottles and the basket.

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Sr. Pajaro to the rescue…

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Sandwiched between two sunny 50º days, it snowed and snowed in Austin yesterday and was a happy and unexpected surprise. Gadora met it with mixed emotions. Receiving both wildly good news and very sad news—both in the same day—I charged yesterday embracing endings, ready for new beginnings. Whew! Early on I finished a few watercolors and nestled in the living room for a brief respite. Dragging out a package of felting supplies and roving that a knitting-fiend, errr friend gave me over the weekend, Gadora wanted to take a stab at felting and see how quickly something good would come.

Meet Sr. Pajaro.

Without the first clue how to felt a creature, I read the rudimentary instructions and reviewed my earlier posting about collecting cat hair. (So?) At post’s end I linked to Brookelynn’s Craftzine how-to-felt post, which suggests viewing her how-to-felt video. I watched. And I made. First the legs: a simple left-over piece of copper wire was bent into legs…

Frog legs. No!

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Q & A – stop sign table?

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Chatted with a friend yesterday, who hails from Las Vegas, about a table he’s looking to make. It was the THIRD request in ONE DAY for Gadora Wilder’s take on someone else’s stuff… Got me to thinking, how about a Q & A? What do YOU have that YOU need some help with? Give it to me.

• • •

3:07 PM Mike: Hey Gadora!! I have a furniture question for you when you get a sec. 
3:07 PM Gadora: Shoot. 
M: Looking to turn a stop sign into a cocktail table…how do I do it Master Jedi?? 
G: I’d say, you’d want to mount the sign onto a cut wood base, maybe 1″ thick so you’d get a sturdy table top. 
G: What are you feeling for base? There are things (legs) at Home Depot you can attach to underside of table.
M: Something fun…it’s going in my game room.
G: Wine barrel base?
M: OOOOOOOOOO. I like that idea.
M: Should I put some glass or plexiglass on top or leave it bare?
G: Check out these barrels… http://winewood.wordpress.com/products/
M: I really like that idea.
M: You’re the master.
G: You can get glass cut, but prolly expensive to bevel edge? I’d leave it blank, it’s a stop sign for Pete’s sake… it can take it!
M: Good point!
M: You’ve given me lots to think on…thanks!!
G: Thanks Mike. I may include you in a new Q&A section on GadoraWilder.com. That cool?
M: Absolutely!!!!!!!
M: I dig your X-ray lamp.
G: Thanks!!! Me too.

• • •

That was yesterday, and today I’ve found a few links for Mike:

Stop sign table at Craftster (click on pic for link)

Stop-sign table.

Stop sign table at iamanangelchaser.com

Rob's DIY (click on pic for story)

And a how to: 5min.com ~ “How to Create Your Own Custom Table and Attach Legs.”

A fresh spin on CD recycling…

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Gadora managed a thorough clean-up yesterday. With a dreary high in the mid-40s it was far from “Spring-Cleaning,” but there was this box, probably in the office, that held this very important stuff. I was thinking. And I was meant to find it. When said box was eventually uncovered, I also discovered a multitude of discs—some in paper sleeves and some in plastic jackets—most of which had been backed up already and were no longer needed.

What to do with those discs? Put them in the curb-side recycle bins? Throw them away? No. They’re sparkly. According to Earth911, “CDs contain three main components: plastic, metals and ink… But when it comes to recycling, only metal and plastic are processed.” So, Gadora has found alternatives… Spanish designer Belen Hermosa received as much press, originally in 2007, for his CD-chair as the number of CDs he used to create it.

http://www.goodcleantech.com/cd-panda-chair.jpg

Back Support Disc Chair

Thanks to Russell A. Jones III for his photo-journal how-to turn a pile of CDs into a snappy tower lamp. While my current collection pales in comparison, had I kept every CD already tossed, I’d have me one of these.

Russell Jones CD lamp

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Do-It-Yourself anything jars…

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Lacking the holiday and decorating-spirit Gadora may have been a Scrooge, but Valentine’s Day brings sweet things…namely pink-hued peanut M&Ms, Brach’s Conversation Hearts, and heart-shaped sugar cookies. And, I am certainly a fan! (Don’t even get me started on Easter’s Peeps! I almost cannot wait!) Scoring 15 quart-sized mayonnaise jars from a local Austinite, Gadora sets out to give them a new use. Sadly, North Austin does not currently recycle glass curbside. I KNOW, right?! May this suffice in giving these jars a longer shelf life!

Jars ~ BEFORE

A big fan of chalk-board paint, and determined to use it on every surface imaginable, Gadora first taped off each jar, making square or rectangular patterns…

Taped jars ~ square

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Crackle coffee table.

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Over the summer Gadora scored a weighty coffee table with burly, turned legs. I stared and glared at it, even made an attempt to refurbish it. Twice*.

Coffee Table ~ BEFORE

Gadora first mixed a supply of glaze and paint to coat the entire surface, having sanded it first. Once dry, I dry-brushed (careful to mimic the grain of the wood underneath) a coat of black/brown.

Glaze mixture ~ halfway

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