Make it: Terrarium Ornament

I was racking my noggin, trying to figure out an awesome way to display my beloved terrariums on my Christmas tree without actually having to take care of them. And lo and behold on Pinterest I saw the Terrarium Ornament!

Terrarium Ornament

After you put it together, you won't need to water it either. It makes a great Christmas gift as well. And the things I put in there are from my weekend natures hikes (so it's cheap and free!). Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

1 - Glass teardrop terrarium
Reindeer Moss
Acorn
Pine needles
Bark
Leaves
Plastic animal
Twine

Here's what you do:
1) Lay down reindeer moss first
2) Arrange all the other things on the list however you like on top of the moss
3) I spray painted my plastic animal a gold color
4) Tie a piece of twine to the top of the terrarium
5) Hang on tree
6) You're done! (here's a closeup)

Closeup

So cute and easy, right?!?

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

Nori
Speedy's Hardware
www.speedyshardware.com

Make it: Cheap Christmas Gift - Painted Cup

So Christmas is coming up and you're looking for some ultra cheap but very thoughtful gifts to make for those special people in your life. Here's something that is quick and easy: the painted cup!

Here's what you need:

1 - white cup or mug

1 - painters tape 

1 - gold leaf paint

1 - small paint brush

1 - paint thinner for cleanup

Here's what you do:

1) place painters tape on cup to form an upside down "v" shape, do this on both sides 

2) press down the edges of tape really well so there won't be any wrinkles

3) give the gold leaf paint a good shake before you open it

4) paint inside the "v" using long strokes

5) let dry for 15 minutes and paint again

6) carefully remove painters tape

7) tada! You're done!

Note:

This painted cup is hand wash only! Don't put in dishwasher and don't scrub the painted part. 

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

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www.speedyshardware.com

Do it: Dutchboy's New Paint App

Hi Folks!

Today I'm gonna get a little paint techie on you. I know it's November and a lot of you are thinking about thanksgiving and turkeys and football but the folks at Dutchboy were busy creating a new app called Paintlist.

Just a little background: Dutchboy Paints have been around for over 100 years and is known for it's high quality and durability. It's been rumored that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is painted with Dutchboy Paint.

In the 1980s, the company was purchased by Sherwin Williams, another very popular paint company. Their name was inspired by a way of creating paint called the "Dutch Process". Currently Dutchboy has ten lines of paint for DIYers to choose from. Their innovation through the years have led to the creation of a new app that's available for download from iTunes App Store or Google Play.

Now, many of us have playlists for our favorite songs, wishlists for Christmas but what about a Paintlist for our favorite colors? This app actually listens to our song of choice and creates a custom palette based on that song! If you're like me, alot of times I get so confused by the thousands of colors combinations there is to choose from, but with this app, the choices are created for you! All you need to do is download the app into your smartphone, click Mix it and it'll ask whether we want to use the mic or load from our phone's playlist. The app will listen and create 3 custom color palettes for you. It even provides the specific Dutchboy color numbers for us to take to the hardware store. And all the colors palettes are saved for us to pull out anytime. I've tried it. It's kinda fun and it totally takes the stress out of picking colors. If you want see a demo go to http://www.dutchboy.com/paintlist/. Once you find your Paintlist combo, just bring it to our hardware store and we'll have our paint experts mix those perfect colors for you to take home. So give it a whirl and let me know what you think! 

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

Nori
Speedy's Hardware
www.speedyshardware.com

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

Do it: Follow us on Bloglovin!

If you haven't heard of Bloglovin, it's an awesome website where you can follow all your favorite blogs and have them appear in one place! No more going to 20 different websites to see what going on with your favorite blogger. It's all right there! And we need to paste this long mess of letters and numbers so our blog can be found on Bloglovin:
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10793321/?claim=xmec2smtg33">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

How did I get all that jumbled goodness? Just create an account on www.bloglovin.com and go to settings to claim your blog. It's pretty easy.

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

Nori
Speedy's Hardware
www.speedyshardware.com

Make it: Airplant Framed

I'm freakin plant obsessed right now. What brought on this manic behavior , I have no idea. I was cleaning out my closet and found a bunch of white Ikea frames that looked depressed because they had not pictures in them. Well, lo and behold, I saw on my dear Pinterest, an awe inspiring pin that could not be ignored. And being the Pinterest fanatic that I am, I had to hack it! Some genius thought up the idea of displaying airplants in string in a picture frame. You can put airplants practically anywhere and with a little bit of sunlight and regular watering, they'll thrive. Here's what you'll need

1 - picture frame with the glass removed

1 - string of your fave color

A bunch of nails

1 airplant or 2 or 3

Hammer

Do this:

Turn over the picture frame and pound nails all around the perimeter of the frame's backside. Take your string and keep criss crossing to the opposite sides of the frame until you get the design you like. Keep the string taunt. When you're done, secure the string so that it won't unravel. Insert the airplants randomly into your string design. Voila! You just created your very own unique airplant display. Now you can hang it up or surprise someone special with this handmade goodie!

Here's another one I made:

Seashells are great with airplants too!

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

Nori

Speedy's Hardware

www.speedyshardware.com

Make it: Kokedama

What is a kokedama you ask? Well, it's an awesome moss ball with a plant shoved in the middle. It's pretty much one of the cutest things I've ever seen. It originated in Japan and it's actually related to the much beloved bonzai. And it's pretty easy to make. Here's what you'll need:

- Any small potted plant (for this one, I used a mini dracaena)

- potting soil mixed with some clay soil 

- sheet moss

- string: twine in your choice of color

- scissors

- gloves

- pie pan

- bowl of water

Wasn't that super easy?!? Now you can either hang it with more string or simply put in on a pretty dish and sing to it or whatever you do for your plants to keep them extra happy.

Wanna see kokedamas in real life? Drop by our shop in San Francisco. We have a bunch of these lovelies hanging out in our window display. 

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

Nori

Speedy's Hardware
www.speedyshardware.com