2024 WorkBench Conference was one for the books. That WorkBenchCon afterglow is real. It’s a whirlwind of a weekend, but oh! so worth everything. Am I still in recovery from the weekend? Absolutely! But I am ready to get to work and take all I learned and put into practice this year. HECK YES!!

Some days luck finds you and a project just lands in your neighbor’s yard trash pile. Driving to breakfast a few Sundays ago, I found one of those willow looking trees that was once a floor light fixture, but now broken and discarded. Luck? Fate? The project gods smiling down upon me? I didn’t question it. I just knew I had to stop and load it up in my car. It was clear to me from the start that the poor thing must be saved and become a beautiful DIY spooky tree.

Within the last year, I have really gotten into working with epoxy. It is quite an addictive and expensive hobby, but so much fun. For several years now I have been collecting vintage keys and never knew quite what to do with them. Epoxy said hold my beer! Using a silicone cutting board mold I took all of those vintage keys and created an amazing skeleton key cutting board.

Have a little one learning how to keep their balance? Learn how to make this easy DIY balance beam that will be perfect for any child’s playtime. My precious niece is practicing her balance so her BAE (Best Aunt Ever) wanted to make her a balance beam. I get a lot of project inspiration from my niece!

Flannel, falling leaves, and pumpkins, oh my! It is getting closer and closer to my favorite season and I am not walking, but running towards it. I know I am not normal. Normal people absolutely love summer and do not want it to end. Me? Not so much. Pumpkin Spice season has officially begun and I could not be happier about it. Fall is full of busy schedules with school, football, and a variety of other activities, but take it from me that there is always time for pumpkin pie. At least that is what this DIY Pumpkin Pie sign will say, but really it is quite true.

Some amazing friends gifted me this headboard. I entertained a few ideas before landing on its new functionality. My first thought was maybe a bench, but it was not quite right. It was, however, the perfect height and shape to create a desk. This repurposed headboard would now have new life as a desk.

This little craftaholic had to of course make her very own fall sign. I’m currently obsessed with all things buffalo check so I thought I’d incorporate some fun buffalo check into my design. It is very easy to do. The best part is that you don’t need any special equipment to make this diy buffalo check sign!

One small step for child, one giant step for all adults who no longer have to pick up and hold a growing toddler at the sink. Last weekend I built an easy DIY step stool for my niece to use in my mom’s house. It was just her size and the best part about this project is I was able to use scrap wood I had laying around. If it is free, it is for me. Who doesn’t love to save money these days am I right! Don’t happen to have any scrap wood lying around? Don’t worry. I have you covered. I’ll share what I used and all supplies can be purchased at your local hardware store. Even if you have to purchase supplies at your local hardware store this should still be a project easy on the wallet.

I believe that is so true. We are all artists in some way, whether it is on paper or some other form. I am still trying to hold dear to my inner artist. Thankfully, my precious niece helps keep me young and fun. My niece is pretty much a modern day masterpiece. She is always drawing and creating and this BAE (Best Aunt Ever) loves it! Not too long ago I made Ems a DIY crayon holder to hold her crayons. It was a hit. Nailed it! Definitely the best aunt ever.

This past month I took on one of my most favorite projects to date; a play kitchen for my niece. My sister and I had talked about getting Ems a kitchen. We were either going to purchase one and make it our own or I could build one for her. My niece has my whole heart so naturally I really wanted to build her one. I had so much fun working on this project and I was really able to stretch my building wings.

One of my very first small projects was upcycling a vintage dough blender into a kitchen hand towel holder. I had seen it in a flea market magazine somewhere (I believe it was a Flea Market Style or Flea Market Decor magazine, but it was so long ago I’m not confident on which one) and was pretty sure I could figure out how to recreate it.

As much as I love my Target and HomeGoods (and believe me I really do and should probably not be allowed in unsupervised) I think it is essential to mix new, old, and maybe some DIY pieces to give your home its own sense of style. Otherwise you are left with style: Target/HomeGoods catalog and as much as I love these stores, I do not want my entire home to reflect their catalogs. I love homes that have personality and a story, which is why having a mix of new and old items is important. Your home should reflect you as an individual.

“Hansel, so hot right now” or rather cactus…so hot right now. This summer it seems we have seen the fad move from succulents to cacti plants and florals and I’m not going to lie I have jumped on this bandwagon hard. I’m pretty obsessed. I absolutely adore all of the cactus prints that I have seen in Hobby Lobby and other craft stores, but I can never justify spending that money on something I could potentially make myself and for far less money.

Books are not just for reading or looking pretty on a shelf somewhere. You can actually upcycle them into a really awesome lamp. Now, being a book lover myself I wouldn’t dare use any classics or just go buy brand new books to complete this project. I would definitely just either use old books that are sitting around your house that are collecting dust. You know which ones; those

A while back ago I bought this vintage wash plunger at an antique store, but it is has just been sitting collecting dust. I always saw it as a light fixture of some sort, but just never did anything with it. At one point I had an old jack and thought about trying to attach the wash plunger to the jack in order to make a lamp of some sort, but that idea never really did anything for me. It sat lonely collecting dust for so long, but this weekend I finally gave some new life to it.

This weekend I took an old medicine cabinet door I had and gave it a makeover. I was already using it as simple wall decor, but I had just gotten to the point where I was looking at it and thought, ehhhh. So I decided to do something about it…

In honor of Friday, I’m flashing it back to a project I finished last year and honestly, I think it is one of the most fun projects I’ve completed thus far. On one of my junking trips I found an old birdcage. To most people it probably looked like junk and well, it might have been junk, but to me it looked like a project in the works.