Kootenai Wildlife Refuge

lamp before & after

I found this lamp for $5 dollars at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore Store.

It definitely needed some help but I was looking for a clear glass lamp 

so it had potential.

I used some Champagne Mist spray paint because I wanted a gold that looked less "cheap." I used some jute & pink masonry string from Home Depot that I had left over from this hanging succulent project

& a hot glue gun. 

I took everything apart in order to spray paint & get the terrible

Christmas cellophane out of the inside.

I originally tried to leave the interior lining but I could not get the edges 

clean or hidden by using the jute. 

I spray painted all of the metal with a couple of layers of spray paint.

It worked best to pick a pole that was going to be the back & use that 

to adhere my string to. To attach the initial string I tied it around the pole 

& glued it to the next few strings.

After some experimenting it worked best to add a glob of glue for every 

time the string passed the back pole to hold it in position. The glue will 

spread & not dry immediately so you usually need to only place 

the glue every other pass.

first day of summer!

hemp cord coasters

I am working on painting some wood coasters but in the meantime I got 

these fun bark rings that popped off when we made the wood cookies for 

the actual coaster. I decided to try making coasters out of them too & these hemp cord + bark coasters are working surprisingly well. 

I just used Tacky Glue to start the string on the interior of the bark & let it sit for a few minutes until it was secure. Then just keep wrapping the cord around until it feels sturdy before using the glue to adhere it to the interior again.

I tried using wire but it seemed to be too stiff so the glass sat uneven. The flexibility of the cord seems to cradle the glasses.

crashing

shoe tray

We have been having a really wet June so a shoe tray for our muddy shoes is totally necessary, but it looked kind of trashy & dirty. We filled it with river rocks so now the rocks help drain the water & dirt & it looks neat!

Boat Camping

yes the lake is 1200 feet deep at this point --- no wonder the Navy runs  submarine testing here!