Easy & cheap nesting boxes for hens

Our hens have started laying so it was time to get nesting boxes in the coop. I decided to get large plastic bowls and use those for the boxes. They are easy to clean, durable,  and cheap!  I paid $1 each for these at Walmart.  I secured them with wood screws so they don't topple over when the hens get in. I purchased a $4.99 bag of the line shavings from Tractor Supply to use as their nesting material. 

Cinder block wall/planter

Another cinder block project.  We stacked the blocks sideways then placed the ones on top with the holes facing up to use as planters.  A work in progress but so far I have painted the blocks to resemble a ladybug, a bee, and a monarch butterfly.  I'm going to fill the holes with little garden statues.

Cinder block project

We had a ton of cinder blocks so I turned them into something useful. 

I decided to stack three cinder blocks on top of each other and paint them.  I looked around on the Internet and couldn't find anything I liked so I combined several ideas and went with it. I painted the blocks with regular paint, drew my design with permanent marker, and last I painted it.  Here is my result. 

DIY Spice Jar and Cabinet Chalkboard

I decided to start upcycling glass jars as we use them. My first project and test run was on a spaghetti jar. I took off the label and printed off a label I found online and used the sticky residue that was left from the previous label to my advantage. I then took some clear shelf paper I had laying around the house that was actually a scrap from an earlier project. I used that to secure the label on to my jar. I took some acetone fingernail polish remover to remove the sticky residue left over from the original label that wasn't covered by my new label.

I took some chalkboard paint and painted the lid. This can be just for looks or you can actually write on the lid too.

I took a pic of what the jar looked like before I turned it into a new spice jar. 

 Chalkboard paint on lid

I believe you can buy this in the spray form as well. I had this already from an earlier project. I believe it runs around $12 dollars at Wal-Mart.

I decided to make use of my cabinet door that holds my spices. I am always needing to convert things when cooking. So I decided to make the inside of my spice cabinet into a chalkboard. 

It took about 3 coats of chalkboard paint. Pictured Above. It dries very quickly so it only took about 20 minutes to paint. 

I took a piece of chalk and wrote my kitchen conversions on my new chalkboard. 

DIY Cheap Shelves!

My son was in need of some shelves in his room for his Skylanders and other items. I tried finding some easy ideas on Pinterest and wasn't able to find any that really just simple plain shelves. I went to Home Depot and spent roughly $17 dollars and made 2 shelves out of that. I picked up a 1x8x8 board and 4 brackets. I will post links to the ones I used. You can use which ever ones you choose. We liked the raw look so we didn't paint the shelves. You could stain them, paint them, or just let them be!

 First thing I had to do was measure the board so I could make 2 equal pieces. Since it was an 8ft piece I now have 2 four foot pieces. I used a yard stick to measure how high I wanted them to be and marked the wall with a pencil. I downloaded a level app on the Apple Store. I am sure Android has one as well. I used the level to make sure my brackets were even and to make sure the selves were even. I secured the brackets with some Phillips Drive Sharp Point 6x1-1/4 screws. They were some we already had so I am not positive how much these are but they shouldn't cost much.

After I got the shelves up and level, I secured the underneath part of the shelves to the brackets by using some short screws that we had in the drawer. I believe they were some I had left over from a set of mini blinds. Altogether it took me about 30 minutes to cut the wood with a handsaw and get them put on the wall.

IMPORTANT!! Make sure you find the stud when securing the brackets to the wall!

 LINKS
 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-1-x-8-x-8-2-Better-Kiln-Dried-Whitewood-Board-S4S-914835/100322328?N=5yc1vZbqmcZ1z0ywy9

 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-8-in-x-10-in-White-Shelf-Bracket-15252/202034282

DIY Earring Holder

Hello! This is my first post! I want to share a small project I did today! It was really simple and turned out so cute in my opinion!  I had earrings floating around everywhere! So I looked up a few ideas to make my own earring holder, I didn't really like what I was seeing so I put together my own little invention.

First I took an old picture frame! Then I took some screen that we had laying in the shed. If you don't have any laying around you can get this at pretty much any hardware store for a few dollars. It is called hail screen, or wire mesh. I cut out a piece to fit on the back of the picture frame. I used tin snips to cut it. Then took a light duty Stanley staple gun and stapled the wire mesh to the back of the picture frame. Next I took a package of big colorful buttons that I picked up at Wal-Mart for $1.97. I used some thin wire we had here at the house to secure the buttons on to the screen. I also added some $.97 hooks I picked up at Wal-Mart for hanging jewelry.

That was all there was to it! It literally took me 10 minutes to make. I put my studs in the button holes and will add dangly earrings to the screen!