I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more! | Tutorials, DIY, crafts, parenting tips, recipes, money saving tips, product reviews, local product features, New England living, intentional living, and more! |
Happy Black Friday-Small Business Saturday-Cyber Monday! (Whew!) To celebrate I’m offering 20% off everything in our Etsy shop, some items are very limited quantities so please shop early. Thank you again for your support!
By popular demand I’m now also offering Birch Vermont Vinyl Stickers! Limited quantities are available for this first run, so make sure to grab yours before our Cyber Week Sale ends on 11/30/22!
PS - All of our Stickers are also available for wholesale! If you are shop that would like to carry them, please send me a message for more information.
The docks are empty and summer is winding down, but our New England Lakeside Hat is still perfect for Fall! Catch it and many other items from our Etsy Shop on sale now as we make some room for new inventory before the holidays. Now is a great time to get that unique vintage piece you've had your eye on or stock up on stickers for stocking stuffers ;)
We’ve been slowly helping to clean out a family member’s attic and came across this old heavy “silver” (not actually silver) serving tray. Since not many people still use serving trays I thought it might be fun to repurpose it into something else - and since it seems to be made of some kind of steel (therefore magnetic), I thought it would make a fun magnetic memo board! | This post contains affiliate links |
Materials:
Vintage metal tray (check to make sure it's magnetic)
plate stand big enough to support the tray (similar size stand linked)
magnets
How To:
Really the how-to for this project could not be easier! Rest that serving tray on a plate stand that’s big enough/sturdy enough to support it, add some magnets, and BAM, you’re done! I think this project would look so cute on a dresser in a bedroom, a feminine office space, or on a desk nook in the kitchen. It can be used to hold reminders, photos, thank you notes, recipes, mementos, and more.
And if the horizontal orientation isn’t working for your space, just turn the tray and you instantly have a vertical memo board!
If you wanted to hang the tray on a wall instead, you could try using a tray hanger. Just make sure to buy the correct size hanger for your tray and make sure it's rated to support the weight of it.
PS - looking for vintage items like the serving tray in this post? Be sure to check out our Etsy Shop for some fun vintage finds! Our inventory is always changing so check back often :)
Most items in our Etsy Shop are 10-15% off for the month of July - help us clear out some inventory! I will be adding some new items this month too, including new sticker designs and prints - stay tuned :)
This past fall we had a detached garage built on our property. Being what construction costs are these days we went with basic vinyl windows with no window panes since it was cheaper. We thought “Meh, it’s just a garage - it doesn’t have to match our house perfectly.” But after the garage was done we realized it really was missing something with the basic plain windows, and adding panes was just what it needed. | This post contains affiliate links |
I considered a bunch of different ways to make the panes, including using thin scraps of wood painted and set within the window frame on the inside - but all of that was pretty labor-intensive. In the end I realized using thin strips of vinyl or tape would probably be the easiest - and so that’s what I did!
Using white electrical tape ended up being the perfect solution in our situation - it was to be used in a little-used area, it was the right width, and it was the right color.
Materials:
white electrical tape (though if your window sashes are black or a different color you can buy different colored tape to match)
scissors
tape measure
How-To:
To apply, I first washed and dried the windows well. Then I measured out how to divide the window in an aesthetically pleasing way. For the small windows I did 4 panes across and 3 panes down, and for the big window (not pictured) I ended up doing 4 panes across and 4 panes down.
I measured out my spacing and then made small marks with a pencil on the edge of the window where I was going to place my tape lines, then carefully pulled the tape across the window (I applied the tape on the inside of the window). I did the shorter, horizontal runs of tape first because I found them to be easier and help keep the longer, vertical runs straighter since it was easier to line them up straight with those horizontal reference points.
When pulling your tape lines make sure to go slow and pull the tape out straight. Electrical tape is rather stretchy and it’s easy to distort the lines and make them wonky. Taking your time is key and don’t be discouraged if you have to redo some of the lines! I had to redo a bunch of mine, especially at the beginning while I was getting the hang of it.
TA-DA! In just a short amount of time you now have easy and cheap windowpanes, and the best part was no tools were needed. The style windowpane I tried to mimic was “colonial” in order to match our house, but if you wanted to get fancy you could try laying out your lines in a different style (diamond, prairie, etc).
DISCLAIMER: Please note that the electrical tape I used for this project does have a Prop 65 warning on the package. You may want to do your own research regarding this. We used it since it was a non-living area in a detached garage. I also made sure to wash my hands well after handling it. Use at own risk.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! To celebrate everything is 15-20% off in our Etsy Shop (our biggest sale of the year), December 31st, 2021 through January 7th, 2022 - no coupon code needed. Wishing you all a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!