Make it: Last Minute Halloween Pumpkin

Hi Everyone!

I can't believe its 2 more days til Halloween! Being the last minute person that I am, I just bought my pumpkins 2 days ago from Trader Joe's. Our crew is supposed to decorate these for the store (how come I still see 4 naked pumpkins on the counter?!?) Someone's gonna get a beatdown! Haha, Just kidding, I would never ever do that! I kept debating whether to carve or not to carve, use massive glitter or bling it out with rhinestones. But then, I saw the most amazing painted pumpkins from this blog: Alisa Burke Redefining Creativity and had to try to make it for myself.

You still have time! Here's what you'll need:

1 - Pumpkin

1 - Primer Spray Paint

1 - Gloss Spray Paint

1 - 4 Tulip Fabric Paint

Here's what ya do:

1) Wipe down and dry your lovely pumpkin

2) Spray the pumpkin with primer. DON'T SKIP THIS STEP or you're life will be ruined forever! The primer preps the smooth surface so the spray paint adheres better. 

3) After you completely covered the pumpkin with primer (it may take up to 2 coats), let it dry for a few hours. Go read a book! or wash the dishes or something...

4) Now spray the entire pumpkin with your glossy spray paint. I used glossy in celery color. I just wanted a hint of color but you can use any color and any sheen you like. Wait for first coat to dry and spray second coat.

5) Take one of your fabric pens and start doodling! I used white first and then silver, gold and last is black.
My base design was white and then it got alot easier after that because all you're doing is accenting. So you can go crazy!

6) Let it dry overnite and then you're done!
Since this is a no carve pumpkin, it won't mold in a week like the other ones. Hopefully it'll last way past Halloween and maybe you can even use it as a centerpiece for you scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner! (Is that wishful thinking or what?!?)

Til next time: keep making, keep creating, keep doing!

Nori
Speedy's Hardware
www.speedyshardware.com

Do it: Giving back

Hey Y'all,

If you've been to our shop, you can pretty much tell that October is breast cancer awareness month. Pinkness everywhere! Even though we are knee deep in a massive rearrangement of our store (moving our new clothing department to the main floor, adding a garden shop), we still wanted to do something this month to make a difference, to give back to our community. This is our 4th year participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Campaign, sponsored by the American Cancer Society. We got our whole company involved by fundraising in the store and also extending those efforts outside our walls to our family, friends and anyone else who wanted to give anything! I'm happy to say that this year has been our most successful year. Our company ranked #3 among all the companies that participated, #9 of 357 teams. Our lead salesperson, Zack Grim and his partner, Robert, ranked #5 among all the individual participants (there were 2,705!) They raised $4,390 and our team as a whole raised $5,575. To top it off, the weather turned out beautiful during the 5 mile trek around golden gate park with lots of volunteers cheering us on along the way. We're so grateful for our team and also the generosity of all our donors. And we wanted to share some pictures from that day's event:

(L) Me, (C) Sam, (R) Marisa

(L) Zack, (C) Me, (R) Robert - you can't see this but Zack's dog, Luna, just bounced off my back.

Me and my friend Elissa

Eshonna

Zack and Robert's proud moment as pacesetters!

At the finish line! Far right is Connie and between me and Eshonna is Clare, my sister, the breast cancer survivor, whom I dedicated the walk to.

Til next time: keep making, keep creating, keep doing!

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www. speedyshardware.com

Make it: Halloween Decor and Pumpkins

Halloween is so much fun! From the ghostly skeleton hanging in the corner to the delicious bowl of candy corn sitting on the counter, how can you not get excited? Some of you like to transform yourself to a walking hamburger for your wicked Halloween rave and some of you like to sit at home and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I'm actually the latter. But instead of a cartoon, I'd prefer to lie in bed and watch zombie heads get smooshed by Rick from the Walking Dead. Well, enough about me. I wanted to talk about our cool Halloween decorations. Our store likes to show off our Halloween spirit by putting up creepy crawly decorations and having a pumpkin contest among our crew.

Halloween corner

Our store manager, Josue, created this awesome display last year. He used whatever we had at the hardware store like the caution tape from our safety department, cheesecloth from our housewares aisle, clay pots from our garden shop and brooms & dusters from the cleaning aisle. He also made the cute orange clay pot pumpkins with the cabinet knob as the stem.

Mummy pumpkin

This is the mummy pumpkin I made. Super simple! No carving needed! I sprayed the entire pumpkin with spray adhesive, cut cheesecloths into strips and wrapped away. The BIG googly eyes are from Michael's Arts and Crafts (love this store!) My fingers got so sticky from the constant gluing but it was so fun to make. And isn't it adorable?!?

Josue used a simple drill and just drilled holes into this pumpkin using different sized drill bits.

Bloody pumpkin

Ping, another member of our crew, carved our store name onto this pumpkin and also added the bloody effect with a red paint. Pretty cool!

Sugar skull pumpkin

Sugar skull carving from Josue also. These skulls are so popular. I see them on everything from earrings to cookies to t-shirts. 

Nightmare before Christmas pumpkin

Pushpin pumpkin

Push pins into the pumpkin. Another no carve!

Scary cheesecloth ghost

Just throw a piece of cheesecloth over a small white bucket and you have a SCARY ghost!

Halloween wreath

This wreath is made from foam insulation covered with cheesecloth and creepy spiders.

Crooked teeth

And of course, we had our Halloween potluck. I saw this apple teeth from Pinterest. I sectioned an apple and used almond slivers as the teeth.

Witches fingers

Witches finger pretzels! These were so yummy! Just melt some chocolate chips, dip pretzels sticks in, and place almond slices on tips before the chocolate cools so it'll stick. Looks pretty good huh?!?

Yummy intestines

Sam, my hubby, made this pot of intestines from cooked ribs, sausages, and red bell pepper as the heart.  Tasted delicious!

Bloody cupcakes

And these were my favorite: the murdered bloody cupcakes! Red frosting from a tube was swiveled with a toothpick over the white frosting and a candy knife was stabbed into the middle.

Gosh I love Halloween!

Til next time, keep making, keep creating, keep doing!

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www.speedyshardware.com

Make it: Chalkboard Craft - the Chalky Clipboard

Everyday I pass by the paint section of my hardware store and that dreaded chalkboard paint always calls out to me for attention! My countless hours in the diy section of Pinterest turns up at least 50 different ways to use this black as midnight paint. Black paint always scared me, I have no idea why. Maybe because it reminds me of being out in the woods with no flashlight or wandering around aimlessly in my dreams with no shoes on. But, as I was perusing Flipboard (another one of my all time favorite apps) I noticed in the background of a home decor magazine the most clever idea for chalkboard paint I've seen: the chalky clipboard! And I said to myself, I can totally handle this. So I gathered the very few materials I needed and jumped right in. The chalkboard paint wasn't so scary. And I didn't even get a drop on the white shirt I was wearing! Here's super duper easy project you can do in no time flat! 

You'll need the following:

1 - clipboard

1 - paint brush

1 - chalkboard paint

1 - painters tape

Here's what you do:

Place painters tape around perimeter of clipboard. You can use any width tape you like. I used 1" but you can use a thinner one. And you should use painters tape because it comes off way easier. Shake your can of chalkboard paint for 30 to 60 sec so all the paint is evenly mixed inside the can.

Use your paintbrush to spread the paint evenly on the clipboard. Some people like to use foam brushes but I used what I had which was a regular old paintbrush with bristles. Go in one direction. Wait for the paint to dry for 1 hour and paint another layer. After the 2nd layer, gently remove the painters tape and let it dry overnight. 

Some people like to rub chalk all over the painted surface and then wipe off so when you write, the chalk can adhere better. I didn't need to do that with this project. The chalk went on pretty smooth. Here's finished product:

Wasn't that super easy? And I'm proud to say that I am no longer afraid of chalkboard paint. It will forever be my friend. 

Til next time: keep making, keep creating, keep doing!

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www.speedyshardware.com

Make it: Succulent in Daiso Pot

Have any of you ever been to a store called Daiso? It's the most fabulous dollar store ever! Most items are actually $1.50 and have pretty much anything you can think of. Daiso originated in Japan and the past few years have become wildly popular. Probably because everything in there is so damn cute (and cheap!) I love anything Japanese and was thrilled when this store opened up at the Serramonte mall in Daly City, CA and also at Japantown in San Francisco. Anyways, I was walking around Daiso and stumbled upon the cutest pots I've ever seen:

This pot is around 5" in diameter with a 3" opening. It's a great size for a very small plant. But the thing that I loved the MOST is the lil legs on the bottom:

Aren't these adorable? Needless to say, I bought a bunch and since I'm obsessed with planting things right now I decided to plant a very pretty succulent in it. Here's what you'll need:

- cutie pot 

- 2" or 2.5" succulent

- small rocks 

- cactus soil

- moss

1) put a layer of small rocks on the bottom for drainage

2) put in some cactus soil. Cactus soil has better drainage than regular potting soil. And we ALL known that succulents need good drainage. Ok fine, not everyone know so now you do!

3) remove some soil from your succulent and place in your cutie pot

4) stuff the moss all around the succulent and inside of pot for more drainage and looks. 

5) now you have a wonderful lil potted plant for your nightstand or coffee table or even next to your computer at work. Just a side note: looking at something green and pretty is very calming especially when you're all stressed out from work. And it a super easy to make gift as well!

And here's the finished product again:

Now give yourselfie a hug; you deserve it!

Til next time: keep making, keep creating, keep doing!

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www.speedyshardware.com