Simple Bench Makeover

Last minute projects are a typical back to school activity for me. I decided to sew decorative pillows the night before moving into college my freshman year. Now two years later, I'm moving into my first apartment in less than a week and starting on some last minute DIY projects. The first of which was giving a makeover to this little bench my dad found for me.

Bench Before

Supplies:

• Bench
• Screwdriver
• Fabric
• Staple gun
• Primer
• Paint
• Brushes

Steps:

1. Start by removing the seat of the bench by removing the screws on the bottom of the seat. Then your going to want to wipe the wooden base down with a damp cloth to remove any dust, cobwebs, etc.

Original Seat

2. To cover the seat, you need to stretch the fabric around the seat and staple it to the wooden bottom.

  a) I find that starting with one edge and then

      stretching the fabric tightly to the opposite

      side first allow you to get a very smooth seat.

      Pull the fabric tight to one of the short sides

      and staple it; don't staple too close to the

     corner.

Recovered Seat Bottom

b) Then you need to do the corners (which I find to

         be the most difficult part). For my corners, I

         looked at how the corners had been on the

         original covering and tried to emulate them. Be

         patient because it might take a few different

         folding attempts to get the corners to look how

         you want. When stapling for the corners, it is

         important to be aware of the location of the

         screw holes so that you can avoid putting a

         staple there.

Primed Bench Base

3. Next you want to prime the base of the bench to prepare it for painting. This doesn't have to be particularly neat, so don't worry to much about how the brush strokes look.

Painted Bench Base 

4. I painted my bench base with two coats of Dover White. When painting the round legs, to works best to paint around the legs, rather than up and down them.

5. The last thing to do is reattach the seat to the base. Line the seat up and put the screws back in; it is important to remember that you will be screwing through fabric. This means that you may have to screw through the fabric (making a hole) and the take the screw back out. This will help keep the fabric from getting wrapped around the screw and making it difficult to continue turning it.

All that is left to do is sit down and admire the new look for an old bench.

Bench After

More than Money

Homemade gifts are my favorite, both to give and to receive. There is something special about a gift that you know someone put time, energy, and love into making it just for you. On the other hand, sometimes money is the best gift for an occasion (think graduation when it is customary). Even when that is the case, I want to put a little extra love into the gift and make it memorable. As a result, I have come to love money origami.

Here are a two options for turning your next gift of money into something unforgettable.

$ Flower(s):

         The bouquet that will never die.

Supplies

Supplies:

• 3 bills per flower
• Floral wire
• Wire cutters
• Pliers (optional)
• Vase (optional)
• Ribbon (optional)

Step by Step:

1. Start with a flat bill. I find it helps to get crisp bills from the bank because they fold better; another option is to iron the bills but that only helps a bit with soft, worn bills.

2. Fold in half horizontally (A). Unfold. Fold in half vertically (B). Unfold.

Step 2 (A)

Step 2 (B)

Step 3

3. Fold each corner into the horizontal centerline created in step 2.

Step 4

       4. Fold the top and bottom edge to horizontal

       centerline.

Step 5

5. Fold in half along horizontal centerline (A). Fold along vertical centerline.

Step 6

       

       6. Repeat steps 1-5 twice to create three

       identical pieces. 

       7. Cut an 18" pieces of floral wire. Fold in half.

Step 8

8. Place the three bills together between the folded floral wire at the vertical centerline.

Step 9

       9. Twist the two ends of the wire together
       making sure it is tight against the bill. (I found
       holding the wire with pliers while twisting made
       it easier)

Step 10

10. Separate bills from one another. Open each of the six petals up and fold up/away from the wire stem.

Step 11

       11. Fold all petals out and evenly space.

Finished Flower

Then you can repeat all the steps as many times as you want to create your bouquet. As you may have noticed, each flower I created is made of 2 $1 bills and 1 $5 (meaning with four flowers this bouquet totals $28).

Once you have finished all your flowers, all that is left to do is to decide how to display them. I like to put them in a vase and add some ribbon to it. In this case, I included some small glass marbles and colorful confetti in the vase

Finished Flowers

$ Hearts:

       A simple way to show your love.

Supplies:

• 1 bill per heart

Step by Step (or rather fold by fold):

1. Start with a flat bill. I find it helps to get crisp bills from the bank because they fold better; another option is to iron the bills but that only helps a bit with soft, worn bills.

Step 2

2. Fold left edge up, creating a crease from the top corner to the bottom edge. Unfold.

Step 3

       3. Fold the left edge down, creating a crease
       from the bottom corner to the top edge. Unfold.

Step 4

4. Fold sides in to center to create a point on the left end of the bill. If you are familiar with origami, you are basically creating a water bomb base at the end of the bill.

Step 5

       5. Flip the bill over and fold the point you just
       created over. Unfold.

Step 6

6. Flip the bill and fold both loose (right side) corners of the triangle to the point on the left end of the bill.

Step 7

       7. Open up each of the "pockets" created in
       step 6. Fold down to create two squares.

Step 8

8. Fold the open edges of the square to the diagonal centerline of the square. Repeat on second square.

Step 9

       9. Open up each of the "pockets" created in
       step 8 (similarly to step 7) and fold down
       creating four kite shaped pieces.

Step 10

10. Repeat step 2 through step 9 on the other end of the bill.

Step 11

        11. Fold bill in half, matching up the points and
       the ends. Unfold.

Step 12

12. Unfold on one side along the crease created in step 5, creating a square to with the extra middle section in the back folded to one side.

Step 13

       13. Flip bill over.

Step 14

14. Fold the top and bottom edge of the middle flap to meet top and bottom edge (respectively) on the left side of the square part of the bill.

Step 15

       15. Fold the top corner down to meet the
       bottom corner.

Step 16

16. Fold the right and left corners in towards the middle.

Step 17

       17. Flip over and you're done!







You can repeat (if desired) to create as many hearts as you want for your gift. I have gifted these in a few different ways:

• The heart(s) can be arranged in a box with on top of tissue paper or easter grass
• The two corners on the back of the heart can be tucked into slits cut into a card (some tape may also be necessary to make it stay)
• The hearts can be attached to a piece of string/twine with small clothespins and put in a bag/box

Finished Heart

Longing for Organization

I love organization; or rather, I long for organization. This has lead to an abundance of containers, folders, planners, calendars, and notebooks; most of which sit unused because I am yet to find a system that works for me.

Here is my newest attempt to find what works: a DIY Dry-Erase Calendar. My thought is that being large and hanging on the wall it will be hard to miss. I also like the ease of dry-erase.

And even if it doesn't end up working for me, maybe it will work for you. So, here we go:

DIY Dry-Erase Calendar

Supplies:

1. Pencil
2. Pen/Marker
3. Ruler
4. Scissors/Paper cutter/X-acto knife
5. Glue/Double-sided tape
6. Colored or patterned paper
7. Post-it notes
8. Poster board
9. Poster frame
10. Dry-erase markers

The Basics:

Poster board dimensions = 22" x 28"

Space covered by frame = 1/2" on all sides

Working space left = 21" x 27"

Layout Plan

Cut List:

1 Month Block (choose size based on preference):

• 2" x 19.25" (shown of Layout Plan above)



Parts cut out and laid in place

• 2" x 12" (what I used)

8 Day/Note Title Pieces:

• 0.75" x 3"

Note Strip/s (chose number/size based on preference):

• 1 - 3" x 16" (shown of Layout Plan above)
• 2 - 3" x 7.75" (what I used)

 Assembly:

From here, it is pretty simple: measure, mark spacing, and glue the pieces into place.

Note:

• All parts (aside from the Month Block) are spaced with 1/4" between
• The Month Block is 3/4" above the Day/Note Title Pieces
• Leave a 1" border on all sides to allow for a 1/2" border inside of the frame

TIP: I would suggest not gluing the post-it notes and sticking them with the adhesive on them. This will allow you to move them around as you work and get them all lined up evenly/straight. When you put the poster board into the frame, they will lay flat despite only being attached on one side.

Days of the week

Once everything is glued, it is time to add the days of the week and the header for your side section (I labeled mine "Notes" but a "To Do List" or "Grocery List" would also be a good options).

I chose to write in pencil first and then go over that in pen, so that the lettering ended up centered and the same size.

Poster frame (back)

Finally, you need to place your calendar in the frame and close it up (I had to add paper between my poster board and the back of the frame to fill the space. This made sure the poster was tight against the front of the frame).

Then it is time to hang it up and grab a dry-erase marker to add the current month and to fill it up with all of the events, due dates, vacations, etc. that are happening in your life.

Finished Dry-Erase Calendar

I hope that this will be a solution to my unorganized ways. And if not, at least I enjoyed the time spent creating it!