Rustic Wooden Calendar

I will say the hardest part was figuring out how I was going to make those metal sliders and then out of sheer blind luck I was at Walmart and happen to look down to see a photo album that had a metal label holder on the side. Genius! But of course Walmart doesn’t sell those pieces individually, but lucky for me I live near a Hobby Lobby. Sorry that was a proud moment for me so I thought I’d share, haha. Lets get started my friends.

Materials:

• Drill
• Circular Saw
• Jigsaw
• Needle nose pliers
• Hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Brass flat bars
• Label Holders
• (1) 1 x 4 common board at least 2ft long
• (3) 1/2 in. x 2 x 2 poplar board (cut each board down from 2 ft to 1ft 8 in.)
• (1) 1/2 in. x 3 x 2 poplar board (cut into 2 pieces of 11 1/2 in. each)
• Wood screws
• Wood glue
• Sand paper
• Wood stain
• Letter stamps
• Number stamps
• Ink pad

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut all of the wood to the measurements given above.

Step 2: Lay the two side pieces flat and then line up all of the horizontal pieces to get the spacing right. Then measure 2 in. from the bottom and 2 in. in between each board, leaving 1 in. remaining on the top. I then labeled the board for my cuts.

Using the drill make holes in each corner as shown,this will help with the corner cuts for the jigsaw. Then cut out each marked section with the jigsaw.

Step 4: Assemble all of the pieces. Use wood glue to hold the horizontal bars in place and then screw each one to the side boards.

Step 5: Screw the side boards to the base by first drill a hole from the bottom into the side boards, then screwing them in place.

Step 6: Using the needle nose pliers form the brass flat bars around the horizontal pieces, but not all the way yet. You want them to look like “C”s for the time being.

Step 7: Stain the wood

Step 8: Once the wood stain is dry, stamp the numbers on the lowest bar, then the Months on the middle bar and the days of the week on the top bar. For spacing I lined up all of the numbers then just stamped as I went.

TIP: If you use a paper towel to wipe the edges of the stamp, you will keep yourself from get the square edges stamped on the wood as well.

Step 9: Using the hot glue gun, glue the label holders to the back of the flat brass “C”s that we created. Then assemble them onto the horizontal boards and using the needle nose pliers again, form the flat brass all the way around the boards.

The finished wooden sliding calendar will make a great accent to any desk or study. I know that my brain works different at times so if you have any questions at all about any of the steps, please let me know in the comments and I’ll do the best I can to help you out. Good luck and we’d love to see some of the finished products so be sure to tag those pics with #omtcrafts.

Emoji Mason Jars

It is no secret that I love Emoji’s! Ask any of my friends, I OVERuse them for sure when texting! They are just so fun and can add a lot of pazaz to an otherwise boring text message. Also, how are you supposed to know how much I love something, if I don’t send you the “heart-eye emoji” or how funny something is, if you don’t get the “hysterically crying, laughing” emoji? Sure you could just say you are excited, but doesn’t 3 clappy hands, a party hat and the big smiling emoji say it better?

Materials:

• Baby food jars
• Acrylic Paint – Yellow for the body and then other colors depending on the emoji’s you choose
• Black Sharpie Marker
• Small Paint brush

Directions:

First pour a little bit of yellow paint inside the jar and then put the lid back on the jar.

(Thanks for being the hand model, John!)

Now shake the jar until it is evenly coated on the inside and pour any excess paint back into the container, then let it dry.

Once the inside is dry, simply decorate each jar by painting your favorite faces on each jar.

Fun and simple. I am using these on my desk to store everyday office supplies! Tell us what you think and if you make these be sure to use #OMTcrafts so we can see all your emoji mason jars!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsey

DIY Industrial Shelves Tutorial

Getting started: Surprisingly you will find that this will be the hardest step in this process. First you will need to measure the wall that you will be building your shelves on and determine the size of your shelving. Then you will need to design and layout what you want your shelves to look like. Don’t worry if you aren’t an artist, just sketch out a rough idea and keep this with you when you go to get supplies because it helps. So what I did was just draw out what I wanted my shelves to look like and color coded the different parts ( my mind just works better this way.) I designed my shelves to be able to fit a desk underneath it on the left side. As you design your shelves keep in mind that the piping has standard sizes (6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 36) that it comes in and if you deviate ( which is ok for you rebels who hate conformity,) then you can have someone at Lowes cut/thread the pipes for a small charge of course.

* I recommend going to Lowes for this project. I found that Lowes had a better supply than Home Depot and it’s pipe area was better organized. I don’t receive anything from Lowes, I just had a better experience there on this particular project.

Tips for construction: The pipe-shelving frame is only connected horizontally by the wood shelving. Mine is attached at the wall near the ceiling and on the left side above my desk. You can anchor the piping to the floor if you would like but I found that it is really sturdy once you piece it all together.

The front of each board has a hole drilled in it to line up with the corresponding piping. And each board is supported by resting on a “T” connector in the front and an “elbow” connector in the back. The simplicity here is that the wood shelf doesn’t need to be nailed or screwed down in any way and will be held in place by the piping itself.

Vertical: For me, drawing it out and color-coding the different pipes and connectors made adding up the measurements much easier.Start by just rounding all the connectors to an even number of 2 inches. Those connectors are your flanges, “T”, and elbows. The wood shelving thickness does not come into play because the piping goes thru it and so it doesn’t add to the height of the unit. On my drawing, starting with the bottom of the shelving unit, I drew in the flanges and the number 2 for 2″. Then, because I wanted to fit my art cart underneath it, I knew my first shelf needed to be above that. I drew in the 36″ pipes. Then a “T”(2 inches), then my next pipe length 12″, another “T” (2 inches), 12″ pipe, another “T” (2 inches), 12″ pipe, another 2″ “T”, a 12″ pipe and a 2″ elbow to finish it. Adding those up, my rough shelving unit height measured at 114”. This number wont be exact for a variety of reasons such as the varying heights of flanges, “T”s, elbows and pipe threads when assembling. Just give yourself a little grace to work with.

Horizontal: My wood shelves are 10″ deep. As shown in the photo above, in the front the shelving rests on 3-way “T”s, in the back, it rests on an upturned 90-degree elbow. I chose 6″ pipes for connecting the horizontal 3-way “T” to the upturned elbow. (Because the tee sits 1″ in on the 10″ shelf, measures 2″, then 6″ pipe, then a 1″ elbow totaling 10 inches. This gives my shelf the full support it needs and also keeps it away from the wall.

Before you shop: Make a list of plumbing supplies by counting up each “T”, pipe, elbow and flange and mark it on your sketch to take with you.

Materials:

* All of my pipes and fittings are ½ inch.

• (4) 1 x 10 x 8
• (1) bottle of pipe cleaner
• (1) qt of wood stain
• (1) qt of sealer
• (8) flanges
• (21) 90 degree elbows
• (15) “T”s
• (2) 36” pipes
• (17) 12” pipes
• (21) 6” pipes
• Box of screws and wall anchors

Lets build these DIY Industrial Shelves already!

The Pipes: First thing was to get the pipes ready. We had to clean off the pipes and remove all the stickers. (This part sucks but just tough it out.) We used a strong degreaser spray and old shirts to strip the pipes down. Once that was done we set the pipes off to the side for now. If you would like this would be a good time to paint the pipes if you choose to, we didn’t because I liked the look of the pipes already.

The Wood: We only had to cut 2 of our 4 wood boards. Our design has a tiered look to it so that my desk can fit underneath it. So we measured the length on those boards and made our cuts. One board was cut down to 5’ and the other was cut into (2) 3’ boards.

Next decide where you want the holes for your pipes to run through. The edges were easy but the middle 2 holes took planning. The holes at each end were close to the edge and 1 inch from the sides. (If you go with the ½ inch pipe size then use a 7/8 hole saw bit so that your connector won’t fit through the holes). When planning out your holes, consider where your studs are and how symmetrical the spacing of your pipe looks on each shelf. Once we cut the holes for the first 8‘ board we just used it as the template for the rest of the boards.After all the holes were drilled we sanded all of the boards to prep them for staining and sealing.

Staining and sealing both sides of each wood shelf is the most time consuming part of the project. This was my first time to stain wood but I just followed the instructions and they turned out great. Don’t forget the edges and inside of the holes too. I used a few foam brushes to apply the stain and you will want to have rubber gloves and lots of rags. Once the stain has dried you will want to apply the polyurethane to the boards. The will give your shelves some protection. I only applied 2 coats so that it didn’t give it a very shiny look. Again just follow the directions on the can.

Time for assembly!

This part is easy and exciting! We started by assembling the right side of our shelves because that is the side where the legs will actually touch the ground. First, we attached the bottom flanges to our bottom 36” leg pipes and then added a “T” to each one. Make sure to have your horizontal “T” opening facing the wall. Next, we attached a 12” pipe onto the top of the “T” and a 6” pipe on the horizontal part of the “T” facing the wall. To the 6” pipe I added a 90-degree elbow connector. You will want the elbows to face for so that the shelves can rest on them.

Don’t mind the tape, this was before I degreased them. I just wanted to test the assembly.

After we assembled the leg pieces, we added our first shelf by placing the holes over the piping and resting it on top of the “T” and elbow connectors. Then just continue to build the shelves in this way.

Again this was a test run before we stained the wood or cleaned the pipes.

Since our tiered design didn’t allow us to connect the other two pipes to the floor we had to start those sides by attaching a flange to the wall, then a 6″ pipe and an elbow. From there you just build upward in the same way as the rest of the shelf. (Its key that the flanges be drilled into a stud because this side will hold the weight of your shelving).

The Top:The finishing touch is securing the shelving unit. After the last shelf is in place, add the last vertical lengths of pipe. Add an elbow to each one. Add a flange to each horizontal pipe piece and thread into the elbow. The flange should be touching the wall (threads will allow for adjusting). Drill the flange into the wall. If there isn’t a stud then you will need to use wall anchors.

Notice how the shelves sit on top of the “T” and the elbow.

That’s it. Now its time to decorate and add life to your new DIY Industrial Shelves. As you can see I have plenty to add to my office shelves.

Good Luck and please don’t hesitate to ask questions. Also this is my first post ever so I would love some feedback on what I could do better next time or what would be more helpful to add in the instructions. Thanks for stopping by.

John