An Up-cycled & DIY Shoe Solution

For the last couple months I have been battling a sea of shoes at the bottom of my closet. To solve my problem, I started perusing  the various online outlets for some type of organizational shelving unit but couldn't find anything I was willing to pay for. Then, I had an idea to construct something from household items.

To make this organizer I used a few planks of old barn wood that I gave a quick couple coats of paint and some old-school blue Ball jars from my mother-in-law. I have always loved the blue jars but have always preferred using them as decoration rather than food storage. Turns out, they were also the perfect height to store my shoes!

I really love the versatility of these shelves because I was able to leave a landing of sorts on the first shelf, where I will keep my boots once crisper weather returns. I also had enough wood to wrap the first shelf around the side of my closet for even more storage space.

This was a super easy and 100% free project! If you want to make one of your own and don't have jars like this- get creative! Maybe use a couple stacks of magazines that you haven't been able to part with but are taking up space or even those wine bottles you've saved from a special occasion that just sit around and collect dust otherwise. The possibilities are endless!

DIY St. Patty's Day Wreath

Since green  is such a big part of St. Patty's Day I decided to come up with a project that is green in both concept and color. Making this wreath was an easy NO-cost project using only items that I had around the house. For this project I up-cycled a cardboard box, a hand-me-down top, and a few ribbons I had laying around.

 

I started with an empty cardboard box.

Using a large dinner plate for the outside and a salad plate for the inside, I cut out three rings.

I then cut out 24 1.5 X 1.5 inch squares with the rest of the cardboard.

 On the bottom ring I glue-gunned the squares 3 pieces high at the 12,3,6 & 9 'o'clock positions, then glued the second ring on top and repeated the process.

Behold, the wreath frame.

 From there, I took the hand-me-down shirt that didn't quite fit but I LOVED the color. It had a lot of material to use so I used my fabric shears and cut it down to large usable pieces. 

And then gathered the edges around the frame, securing with a staple gun.

From there, the possibilities were pretty endless when it came to what I wanted to place on the wreath. 

 

My first inclination was to take the remaining material, braid it, and sew it into a small brooch-like attachment. I added a little glitter spritz to it and this is how it turned out:

While I liked that option, I wanted something a little more simple and rustic looking. Our door is also pretty tall so I wanted something that broke up the length and was noticeable from the street. So, I found a bunch of green ribbon in my craft closet and simply tied it around the form. Easy, right?

Viola!

The wreath form was such a simple thing to put together and for the price, I think I'll be using it for as many holidays as possible!