The American Flag

It's such an iconic symbol of our freedom in America. In so many ways, this symbol gives us feelings of safety and pride. I have several decor items for the celebration on the 4th of July, but I have versions of the American Flag up all year.

The Smoking Glue Guns chose to make American Flags out of reclaimed wood this month. We picked up wood from Southern Accents and DWS. I had a few things in my stash that I used to add more dimension and texture. Our craft night was a little different than usual. We were using power tools! Well, Sara was! hehe Each person picked the wood they wanted to use and took it to her to be cut to size. The best part of that was when we were getting ready to clean up and discovered we had a "group flag" with all the scraps! It's being mounted on plywood to be hung in the Smoking Glue Guns Workshop at Ashlee's house!

I was thrilled that two of my besties got to join us. Daphney wanted to make a flag and Ashlee came in town for an appointment and decided to stay! Aren't their flags cute? This one of mine is hanging in Connor's office. He loves an American Flag!

 I couldn't get enough of them, apparently. I've made two more since that night! One is hanging on the barn at Hansel and Gretel and this one I may sleep with! Haha...just kidding. I have been in love with this wood for over a year. Thank goodness I brought a few pieces home with me when I saw it because I found out yesterday it was sold! Seriously broke my heart and reminded me that I have to start doing things instead of just thinking about them! Of course, one of my favorite creative friends dug it out of the wood warehouse at Southern Accents. She has amazing taste! ;)

This flag is something I dream of making one day! I love Alabama Chanin and love hand stitching! You can order this quilt online or order the DIY kit online.

A Wood Project for Christmas

Ashlee called the other day and said she had a project for us to do on Tuesday. We had our day planned to hang out at the Barn at Hansel and Gretel. Well, Emma hurt her neck at gymnastics...that threw a kink in our plans.......literally! 

She is ok, but she couldn't move her neck at all! I took her to the doc and they helped her work it out! 

Ashlee and I changed our plans to Wednesday. She came over around 10am and brought some old wood from her neighbor's fence! It was old and grey and worn out! Perfect!!

We were making mangers for Baby Jesus! Ashlee saw one her friend's husband made and knew it was the perfect project for us. 

We didn't have a pattern, just a picture. We totally just figured it all out. First we cut the long side pieces. The first cuts were a little too long. The proportions had to be right. We just cut 5 or 6 inches off and then cut the other 3 the same. 

Next we cut the pieces for the ends. Those pretty much needed to be a square. It would square up on the ends. We did no official measuring. 

Here are several of the cuts. The top one is probably too long. We cut it to match the two smaller matching pieces. That little piece was going to be an end. We love the rustic-ness of it! 

We didn't have any extra hands to take pictures of us screwing all the pieces together. We just lined up the smallest piece to on of the longer pieces and put in two screws. Next we took the other "side" piece and screwed it to the small pieces matching up the corners. 

The next step was to cut the legs. All of our pieces were the perfect widths from the fence. These smaller pieces made the best legs! We just held them up to the bed area and cut them to fit. The last step was to screw in the legs under the base. We made it and X shape for ease. 

Our finished project! Do you think it is as cute as I do? I was thrilled with the outcome! We literally were finished in an hour. That included Ashlee going through the house looking at all my Christmas decor and finding screws as we went along! 

This project was so simple and fits perfect with my wood Christmas tree and tiny tree with burlap! I added a bit of straw. I do not have a baby to put in my manger, but I may take the top of a post or just a wood ball and wrap it up in a blanket to make it look like a baby!

Ashlee posted a pic of hers on Instagram with this precious star and her "baby Jesus". I'm smitten!

Sharing on Funky Junk Interiors SNS for the first time!

Handy Man for Hansel and Gretel

I have a few handy-man projects that still need to be done. I called my go-to handy-man and he came right over. Problem number one is he's my brother. Problem number two is he didn't bring any tools. We chatted yesterday about the few projects I need finished. He must have forgotten what we talked about??

We decided to work with what we had. His drill without a full-charged battery and my drill that will only last about 15 minutes before it needs to be charged again. I had just picked up some barn wood from River Bottom Pine. They are in North Birmingham and if you don't know where they are? You will never find it! The sign out front is about as big as my thumbnail. It was actually delivered there by Shane from Southern Accents. I don't know if they even sell barn wood! haha

So, we decided to make John Connor's headboard. I wanted it to look like a barn door. I bought some tracks when my Mom, Aunt Linda and I went to Maine. I found a really cool architectural salvage place and they had the track and rollers. I was thrilled! The store there is so cool. The guys were super nice and instead of trying to pack the track, they shipped it to me! I was so glad. They rollers were heavy and my suitcase would have been overweight!

I love the way this door looks. This was at the store in Maine. It was the door to the bathroom!

The track and rollers/brackets I bought are just like these! So rusty and old! Funky Junk Donna would be so proud!

I got a few action shots of the bro doing a little work. He's using my drill and it was barely moving. He was putting all of his weight into it! That's a lot....because he's 6'4". At least he had a good angle!

That's a good sneak peek of what the door will look like!

Here is a close up of the hardware. It was harder than we thought. Seems like everything is when you are trying to DIY! I guess they are lessons you have to learn! The drills died and the screws were getting stripped. We called it a day and it's all out on the sawhorses. I'm hoping to get Handy-Man Connor on it tomorrow. hahahahahaha! Just cross your fingers it gets done by someone tomorrow! The bro has baseball games for his son and won't be able to finish before next week. I'm anxious and some would say I have no patience! If it gets put up tomorrow, I promise to get some pictures and post it!!

 I just wanted to throw this screen door in. I literally found it under the crawl space today! I was looking for the breaker box. {OH yeah!! My Dad came by and hung a few lights! He's the best!! We still have a few to go. We should get those up next week and I will give you a tour of them all hanging!} Anyways, the screen door was under the house. Can you believe how cute it is? There is a storm door that we come through everyday and I've been meaning to measure it so I can change it to a screen door. Hopefully, this one will fit! It needs a new screen (obviously) and a little tlc, but I LOVE it!!