Pinspiration: Canning Lid Pumpkin

Last week I said I would share another pumpkin project that looked great on my chippy chair.  Unlike my paint chip pumpkins, I can take no credit for this DIY brilliance.

This pinspired pumpkin project (say that three times fast!) is thanks to Kristin of Simply Klassic Home’s amazing “junkin’ pumpkin" that has been all over Pinterest and blogs lately. 

When she originally posted this pumpkin I was so inspired that I dug out my zinc lids from the mason jars I rescued last summer and had my own canning jar lid pumpkin in less than 5 minutes. 

Go visit her site to find out how you can make one, too!

Canning jar lids + twine = perfection!

To make the rustic stem I simply folded twine back and forth until it was thick enough and then wrapped the twine around it to hold it together.

Then, I just tucked it into the space in the center and tweaked it to give it a bent stem shape.

I told you it looked good on my chippy chair!

{Thank you for the pinspiration, Kristin!}

 

P.S. Are your canning lids gold coloured? You could always create a faux-zinc finish like this one with acrylic paint! You’ll be seeing a sign that I made for the cottage using this finish soon!

 

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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Faux Zinc Tray Tutorial

In case you missed it, here’s a re-post of my latest ‘Pinspiration’ project that I originally shared on Heather’s blog, Setting for Four.

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I have seen many tutorials on how to make paper mache letters look like zinc, but I was especially intrigued by this post that claimed you could easily create a zinc finish with just two paint colours.

Source: House Stuff Works via Claire on Pinterest

I’ve tested it out and I’m thrilled to tell you that yes, it really is that simple!

I started with a wooden tray from Goodwill that was just waiting for its next life. I bought it at the same time as this tray that already received a “Cinderella makeover.”

Since the tray was originally green I decided to spray paint it with gray primer before giving it the faux zinc treatment.

(Looking better already!)

Once the primer dried (one of the good things about our crazy hot weather this summer), I painted the tray with one coat of black acrylic paint.

Then, it was time for the magic!

 

With an old paintbrush, I dry-brushed on white pearl paint. FYI: I bought this paint at Michaels with a 40% off coupon but I have also seen it at Walmart.

While painting, I concentrated more paint on the edges and corners and applied the paint in long strokes.

Once I was happy with the coverage, I went back and added more paint in different directions to the center of the tray.

 

Rather than add too much, I decided to stop here and live with it for a while. I can always add more in the future.

The amount of black paint left showing is completely up to you and how you want your piece to look.

Two steps and two bottles of paint! That’s it!

My finished tray will make a cute home for my smallest tea tin succulent planter . . .

or a lovely turquoise trio borrowed from my mantel.

See that ribbed bottle? It’s an upcycled soya sauce bottle! I poured acrylic paint into it and swirled it around until the sides were covered. The streaky finish was a complete fluke and I love it!

 

{Black paint + white pearl paint = faux zinc}

 

If you liked that, I’d love for you to check out some more of my Pinterest-inspired creations. Here are three more ‘Pinspiration’ projects to get you started!

Thanks for reading (or, if you already checked this out on Setting For Four and you’re still with me, re-reading!) and have a great day!

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Dragonfly Designs, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog, Every Creative Endeavor and The Crafted Sparrow

Five Things on Friday: Recipes I’ve Tried

I have a Pinterest board filled with delicious looking recipes. Today I wanted to share five recipes that I have actually made and enjoyed (there have been a few that did not live up to my expectations).

If you are interested in any of these recipes, please click on the image and pin from the original source.

1.  BLT Pinwheels

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These are delicious! We have eaten them three times since I pinned this recipe with two modifications – no sun-dried tomatoes (but the wrap is already tomato-basil) and full pieces of bacon instead of bacon bits.  I never would have thought that cream cheese and mayonnaise would be so great together.

2. Three Ingredient Berry Cobbler

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I have tested out a few of these dump cake recipes with varying success. I didn’t pick this recipe for the diet factor but because it had been repinned quite a bit.

I made this for Canada Day dessert using several bags of frozen fruit and one and a half cans of 7-Up. We don’t drink a lot of pop here but ended up with four cans from a pizza order.

If you make this, be sure to cover all of the cake mix with the pop (that’s where the extra half can came into play) and expect it to cook for at least twice as long as they say!

3. Brown Sugar & Dijon Glazed Pork Loin

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Probably the easiest non-crock pot pork dinner we have ever cooked. Juicy, flavourful . . . mmm. I can’t wait for pork loin to go on sale so that we can have this again!

4. Toffee Poke Cake

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This was an early Father’s Day dessert to be shared by 5 people. There were lots of leftovers for everyone, even with seconds. Incredibly easy to make and just as delectable as it looks. I look forward to trying it with other “poke” flavours.

5. Peanut Butter Confetti Cake

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Loosen your belt and undo your top button. These are SO decadent. 

Mr. Mechanic’s Mom always adds these to her baking care packages and they don’t last long. I thought they would be much harder to make than they are.

Follow Jo-Anna’s advice – let the mixture cool a bit before adding your marshmallows. My advice? Use a 9 x 13 pan instead of an 8 x 8. A little square goes a long way!

So, now you’ve got some options for your weekend meals!  Have you found any great recipes via Pinterest?

P.S. Check out two recipes of my own that I have shared – an Iced Cappuccino Protein Smoothie and Tuna Pasta Salad

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Dragonfly Designs, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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Summer Pinterest Challenge: Tea Tin Planters

I have done several Pinterest-inspired (pinspired) posts recently, but here’s a new one just in time for The Pinterest Challenge: Summer Edition!

The summer edition is brought to you by these lovely ladies:

• Sherry of Young House Love
• Katie of Bower Power
• Kate of Centsational Girl
• Michelle of Ten June

Last summer I rescued these tea tins from the garbage when we were doing a purge at the cottage.

Here they are before I washed or did anything else with them.

I saw their potential but wasn’t quite sure how to incorporate them into our decor.

Then, I saw this pin from ffffound.com shared by Sarah of Cozy.Cottage.Cute (love this blog!) on Pinterest.

Adorable, right?

I needed a bit more information on the soil mixture to use for planting succulents so I did a search for “tea tin planters” and came across this image from LifeHacker:

I couldn’t wait to make my own!

We bought two packages of Hens and Chicks from the garden center over the Canada Day weekend so I made sure to save a few for my future project.

With Mr. Mechanic’s guidance, I punched holes in the bottom of each tin for drainage. He suggested that I use a 2 x 2 inside the tin to keep it from caving in when I punched the holes.

From there, I filled each tin with a layer of rocks and then a mixture of sandy soil and potting soil. Fingers crossed that my chicks like this soil as much as the annuals in my planters!

FYI, I did not end up using the cylinder shaped tin because I think it needs a bigger plant or perhaps one that trails.

Not only were these incredibly easy to make, they were so much fun to photograph!

The yellow tin is my favourite – it is the most aged and rusted of the 4 tins.

And here’s a little sneak preview of another Pinspired project that I completed on the weekend!

I know, I didn’t put my own twist on the concept, but there really wasn’t much to improve upon!

I’ve been on a quest to add some fun planters to our house, either indoors or outdoors, and I absolutely accomplished that with this quick project.  My other succulent is now in great company!

Did you participate in the Pinterest Challenge?  Feel free to leave a link in the comments so that I can check out what you created!

Happy Tuesday!

P.S. Check out my Winter Edition contribution here!  It’s still one of my favourite pieces in the kitchen.

P.P.S. Want to follow me on Pinterest? Check out my boards!

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Dragonfly Designs, Just Us Four and The Crafted Sparrow