Upcycle a Frame into a MItten Rack

So it is late October, and here in Wisconsin, that means winter snow could be just around the corner, and that means wet, soggy gloves and mittens.  Our house is a beautiful arts and crafts style 90 year old home.  I love it!  I would love it even more if it had a mud room.  Alas,  I just have the side entrance which really just opens into the stairwell.  There is not a lot of room.  We have made good use of the space.  There are hooks for coats and pants and bags and a vertical shoe rack on one of the walls, but there really hasn't been a good place to hang those soggy gloves so they are dry and ready for another day of snowball fights in the morning... until now!

You will need:
Frame
ribbon
screw driver
drill
staple gun

This was so ridiculously easy and took less than an hour.  Probably more like 30 minutes.  I found this frame from at the thrift store for $1.50.  This frame is relatively thick. It sticks out from the wall about 1.5".  If you do this, you'll want to look for one about that thick or thicker, so you will have room to get the clothes pins on and off easily.

First you will want to reomve the wire and the d-rings the wire is wrapped around.  Throw away the wire but hang onto the d-rings and screws.  You will need them later.  I thought about painting this, but there is a lot of natural wood by our side entrance and it matched pretty well.  In truth, I was feeling lazy this day.  If you are feeling more industrious go for it and make it your own

Figure out how many rows of ribbon you want.  I opted for three, one for each person in out family.  Plus it seemed to be about the right spacing. Next flip the frame over and take some ribbon and staple it to the inside part of the frame.  I used inch wide gross grain ribbon because it is what I had laying around the house. This could be super cute with different colors of ribbon.  It would probably work with thinner ribbon as well. Just make sure it is wide enough for your staple to grab onto. You want to put the ribbon in the groove farthest from the back of the frame.  I had to put my staples angled toward the outside of the frame so they would not stick out the front. This meant I had to put my frame against the wall so that there was enough resistance for the staples to go all the way in.  Pull it tight and staple it to the other side. I cut ribbon longer than it needed to be so I would have enough leverage to really pull it tight.  It needs to be tight!  Do this with all your ribbons.

Next you are going to reinstall those d-rings you held on to.  You want to put them so they are on the sides of the frame, at the top but not poking above the top of the frame.  Drill some pilot holes and then screw them back in.

And you are done.  Hang that bad boy on the wall with some picture hangers (make sure to measure and level so it goes on easily), grab some clothes pins and you have a place to dry those gloves.

Mason Jar Straw Lids

After I made a dish soap pump from a mason jar, I got to thinking about other things I could use them for.  They are so ubiquitous and inexpensive, especially at the thrift store on half off day.  While I was using one to drink from, I thought, "I need to put a hole in the lid so I can stick a straw in it."  Then the problem of the sharp edges around the hole quickly made itself apparent.  Enter the RUBBER GROMMET, found in the "hard to find" drawer of small parts at the hardware store.  For an extra $0.30 I had my solution.

You will need:

Mason jar, lid, rim
Drill bit 3/8"
drill with clamps/ vice or drill press with clamps
wire cutters
rubber grommet- diameter of  9/16" (pictured below)

Set your lid on your drill press and clamp it down so that the bit hits the center of the lid.  If you are not lucky enough to have a drill press lying around, (I don't think any of my friends do) you will need either gently clamp the lid in a vice, you don't want to crush it, or clamp it to the edge of a table so that it is secure but the area of the lid you want to drill is hanging off the edge of the table.  Now drill your hole.

Once you are done, the back edge of the hole will probably have some sharp edges hanging off.  Take the wire cutters and trim as much of it off as you can.

Now work your rubber grommet into the hole.  I usually come at it from the side.  Once it's done, give it a good washing, fill your mason jar with your beverage of choice, screw on your lid and rim, insert straw and enjoy.

I love these.  The lids are interchangeable between sizes, so I can put one on an 8 ounce jar for my kid or, on a hot summer day (like today), a big quart size one for me. Not only do they make your jar a spill resistant cup, but they keep the bugs out of your lemonade. They would be fun for parties.  You could paint the jars for favors or just to make them more festive. I have also run these lids with the grommets through the dishwasher without any ill effects so far.