Mini Plant Stand Tutorial

- handmadejoy

I picked up some plants for the boys’ teachers and wanted to make mini plant stands for them. I’m so happy with how they turned out! I put together a little tutorial for you below if you’d like to make one too.

You will Need:

1 – 1/2 inch wood dowel

4 – 1/2 inch copper plumbing fittings

4 – 1/2 inch copper plumbing caps

Wood glue

1/4 inch wooden dowel pins

*I made these for a 5 inch plant pot. Remember to measure your pot and adjust accordingly. *

First you will need to cut your dowel.

8 – 4 inch pieces

1 – 5.5 inch piece

2 – 2.5 inch pieces

Next drill a hole through the center of the 5.5 inch dowel piece and glue the dowel pin in place. Drill holes in one end of each of the 2.5 inch dowel pieces. Put some wood glue into each drilled hole and insert dowel pin. Allow glue to dry completely.

Now you will assemble the legs of your plant stand. Insert 4 inch dowel pieces into top and bottom of the copper plumbing fittings and put copper caps on bottom of the legs.

Once your glue has completely dried you can assemble the plant stand. I just love how the wood and copper look together! I stained one stand and left the other unstained – I couldn’t decide which I liked better.

If you make one tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns and use #handmadejoyblog I would love to see your mini plant stands!

More DIY Ideas:

Free printable valentines featuring food puns

- handmadejoy

I’ve got some free printable valentines cards for you! My 11 year old requested class valentines this year featuring some of his favourite foods – tacos, pizza, and bacon. Totally the way to a pre-teen boys’ heart! I love that he is still into Valentines day and had fun coming up with these punny food designs with him.

Free Printable valentines

The free printable PDF features 3 different designs on 2.5 x 3.5 inch valentines. Simpy print at home on white cardstock or send to your local copy shop to be printed. I always send mine to Staples to be printed. It is cheap, easy, and saves my colour ink!

My favourite card stock is from Walmart. It is great quality for a great price. I always have a pack of white and kraft card stock on hand.

Free Printable Valentines with food puns

Valentines Card FREE PRINTABLE

Do your kids hand out just cards or do you usually give candy along with your cards? My youngest is in preschool and I find that they don’t always give candy, but a small toy/sticker/pencil with their cards. For my older boys in elementary they like to give candy along with their cards.

Check out some more of my Valentine’s Day Freebies:

Free Printable Handmade Gift Planner

- handmadejoy

Christmas is fast approaching and one of my favourite things to do is make handmade gifts for friends and family.  I try to make at least one handmade gift for each of my boys every year. The key to getting them under the tree is starting early.  I’m terrible for this and usually spend the morning of Christmas Eve sewing, crafting, and knitting to finish up gifts.

This year I created this Handmade Gift planner to get organized and keep me on track.  I am giving it to you as a free download! You can keep track of the tutorial and patterns you plan to use and the supplies you need to have on hand to create your handmade gifts.

Click the photo below to download your FREE PRINTABLE HANDMADE GIFT PLANNER.

What are you planning on making for gifts this year?

The Greatest Showman party invitation ~ FREE PRINTABLE!

- handmadejoy

Anyone else a huge fan of The Greatest Showman?!?  I love that movie!  The album has been on repeat since I saw it.  I designed this Greatest Showman party invitation and am offering it as a free download! See the the download link below to download the printable PDF file.

The Greatest Showman invitation free printable.

“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”  – PT Barnum

I’m planning to throw a Greatest Showman party for my 9 year old in the Spring. It is his favourite movie.  Since the movie is based on the circus I am planning on circus food, decor, activities and of course lots of The Greatest Showman music!

Circus Food Ideas

  • popcorn
  • hot dogs
  • cotton candy
  • mini donuts

Circus Activity Ideas

  • Stilt walking (with our homemade stilts)
  • tightrope (planning to set-up the slack line for the kids to use)

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO GET THE FREE PRINTABLE INVITATION

Get the FREE Greatest Showman Printable Invitation HERE

Tag me on instagram @handmadejoydesigns and use #handmadejoyblog so I can see your Greatest Showman party!

Be sure to check out my The Greatest Showman Party idea board on Pinterest for lots of great inspiration. So many fun circus party ideas!

Chalk Painted Floors ~ free cement tile stencil download

- handmadejoy

The original linoleum floors in our main bath were just the grossest pee yellow colour. We aren’t ready to do a full reno of the bathroom but I couldn’t live with them any longer. Here is the before picture. Ew!

I decided to try painting them with chalk paint. I designed a stencil based on my favourite cement tiles and cut it using my Cricut machine.  Scroll down for the free cut file! I am thrilled with how they turned out!  They are a huge improvement over the pee yellow linoleum.

I first gave the floors a really good clean and then painted the entire floor in Rustoleum Chalked Linen White.  I let that dry overnight and then Stencilled on the cement tile pattern in Rustoleum Chalked Aged Grey.  After letting it dry overnight again I put on two coats of a clear coat polyacrylic sealer. They have held up amazing well!

I used my Cricut to cut the stencil.  You can buy stencil material for your Cricut/Silhouette machine.  However I found some clear plastic file folders at the Dollar Store that worked great for stencil plastic. If you don’t have a Cricut or Silhouette machine you could print off the PDF version of the stencil and cut it out by hand.

Click HERE to download the FREE CUT FILE for the cement tile stencil!

If you have ugly linoleum or tile floors give this a try!  Tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns and use #handmadejoyblog I would love to see your project!

Supplies Needed:

  • Chalk Paint
  • Rollers
  • Plastic for Stencil

Chalk Paint I Used

Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint – Linen White

Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint – Aged Grey

More DIY Projects

Stenciled Shirt using Vinyl and Acrylic Paint

- handmadejoy

It’s the last Day of School! I managed to finish my teacher gifts (late) last night and love how they turned out. I thought I would quickly share one of my favourite ways to make t-shirts.

I do love using heat transfer vinyl, but if I want a more distressed look to my design or I just run out of vinyl, I stencil my design on with acrylic paint. Acrylic craft paint is permanent on fabric as long as you heat-set it. I just make sure to give it a good press with a hot iron and it holds up in the wash just fine. I sometimes add just a tiny splash of water to thin the paint if I find it is too thick. Don’t worry if the paint seems a bit stiff when the design dries, I find it softens up after you wash it.

I cut my design out on adhesive vinyl using my Cricut machine. It is a bit time consuming to weed and place the vinyl, but the adhesive vinyl works great as a stencil.

Next time you run out of HTV give this method a try!

Music Teacher Gift – Free Cut File

- handmadejoy

Its almost the end of the school year for my kids and all of their activities are wrapping up. Time to start getting the teacher gifts made! I decided to make our piano and violin teacher a tote bag.  A tote bag is a practical gift and really who doesn’t love a cute tote? I have included the cut file in this post as a free download for you so you can make one too!

I made a simple tote bag out of some white canvas I had in my fabric stash, but a pre-made tote bag works just as well.  This is such a quick and easy project, prefect for last minute gifts. I simply cut the heat transfer vinyl with my Cricut machine and ironed it on. This design would look great on mugs and t-shirts too. I included the PNG and PDF files as well so you could even print off the PDF and frame it if you prefer.

Life Without Music Freebie – Click to download

To download the free SVG, PDF, & PNG files click the link above.

Now go make your music teacher an awesome gift!

If you make something tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns and use #handmadejoyblog I would love to see your project!