Who doesn't want their shanty to be a bit savvy, a bit clever, creative, a bit sensible, sharp and ingenious?! But hey, let's face it, most of us are living on a shoestring. Here's how I'm doing it my way, making our nest a Savvy Shanty.















Showing posts with label Goodwill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goodwill. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Two More Bottles of Wine



Well, really it's three but who's counting? Have you picked up on the fact that most of my post titles are song titles? This one comes from an old Emmylou Harris song that my FIL (Father-in-love) likes. I made this for my SIL as a gift. I save wine bottles from special occasions, or special nights spent with special people. I write the date and the people I shared it with on the bottle with a sharpie. They reside in my dining room in a giant tall wine rack. Perfect place for me to go shopping for this gift.

 

































Here are the supplies you will need for this project. 
Used wine bottles, empty
Nail Polish Remover
Cotton Yarn
Old Tray
Sink full of ICE COLD WATER
Lighter



















First wrap cotton yarn around your bottle where you want it to be cut. Wrap it many times, like 5 wraps, give or take. Tie off and trim ends.
Remove from bottle but keep it in the circular form of the bottle.


Fill cap of nail polish remover with nail polish remover. Put cotton yarn in the nail polish to soak without unrolling the yarn. While it's soaking, get your sink ready with about 6 inches of water and LOTS of ice.
NOTE: if you are doing several, you will need to add more ice as you go along. Water MUST be ice cold or it wont snap. 

The next step is a bit tricky but try and follow along. Remove your cotton yarn from the cap and put it back on the bottle where you want it to break. Note, it should not be covering a paper label, it wont crack well. Still keep the yarn wound in the shape of the bottle. At this point, is the scariest but don't worry, once you've done it the first time, it's not bad. You are going to light the yarn on fire It is a slow burn and not very high. While it's burning, rotate the bottle. (It is slow enough that I managed to snap a one handed picture while it was burning)


 When it is finished burning, immediately plunge it into your ice cold water! 

 Above you can see the bottom that popped off laying in the sink And below is the bottom piece. 

 The bottles that I used were one from my birthday weekend I shared with my SIL. 



































 This one is from a bottle of wine my SIL/BIL brought back from Italy to share with us. It was shortly after we purchased our home. 


































And here they are on the tray, it was an old silver tray with a TON of age on it. Too much to serve any food on it.  Gotta love the paper towel roll in the back ground. Nice job there Olan Mills.

































A couple of tea lights later, some sprigs of greenery and we have a nice little gift. Perfect to admire with a glass of wine with a special person.


































NOTE: I took these down to our workshop and used our grinder to smooth the bottoms of them and make them stand a bit more level. I did wear long pants, long sleeves and safety goggles as little shards of glass went a wiggling everywhere.
Enjoy,
ginger
Disclaimer: I did not invent this technique. I came across a video on youtube. Here's the link should you care to watch it. 
Cutting Bottles with Household items 

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Sunday, October 9, 2011

A Change Is Gonna Come


Here's a little before and after that I whipped up. Found this little diddy at my local Goodwill, which side note, is it just me, or is Goodwill the most expensive of the thrift store variety? I always find stuff there but sometimes, I gotta step back and think a moment about the price and effort it will require to make it into the jewel that I know it can be. But I digress, back to this little ditty. See below the fine treasure that I came across. Now Miss Priss didn't see a thing wrong with the current state, but I saw a better future for it.


Off came the feather boa and away went the purple, red and pink polka-dots. On went some chalk paint, stenciled numbers and some trim. The only part that gave me a little headache was the hot glue that had held on the feather boa, didn't want to come off and needed a solution. First I applied some twill tape (which is really just like a thick cotton trim)


A few vintage buttons and some burlap trim finished it off.



So she's all ready for her next stop.....The Savvy Shanty at The Queen of Hearts. Which brings us to our next little bit of goodness that I am super excited to share; The Queen of Hearts is a local vintage/antique resale store that was voted Best of Atlanta. And little 'ol me is opening a booth there. This has been a dream of mine for awhile and Big Daddy has given me the go ahead and is excited for me to share my talent and treasures and of course make money. So wish me luck, I've got a ton of work to do to get her up and running. Alright, I'm off to go sand some furniture!

Enjoy,
ginger

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Coffee Anyone?


This post is hitting a nerve this morning, as I am out of milk and apparently, so are all of my neighbors. But this little coffee grinder was picked up at my local Goodwill. Don't ask me the price, can't remember other than it was cheap!
Thought it could be cute, especially with some paint.
Well you know the drill, disassemble, throw in some spray paint and some chalk paint, Annie Sloan of course, reassemble and then merchandise.


The ironic thing is that it is sitting next to the Cuisinart coffee pot with grinder.


Now, off to find some dang milk for my coffee!

Enjoy,

ginger

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