Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

As the holiday party invites start to roll in, you might be struggling to come up with a new hostess gift idea. These chalkboard painted buckets are a quick and easy way to throw together a unique gift basket that will fill the recipient with joyful scents and treats.

Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

Hostess Gift Basket in a Paint Can

As the holidays approach, it’s a good idea to have last minute gifts ready to whip up. These paint pail gift baskets don’t get more simple. It only took me half an hour to line up a bunch of these metal paint cans and paint a stripe around the center.

Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

When dry (and seasoned) I can grab one to write a personalized message. Then I’ll fill it with a candle, DIY scented room spray, a pillow cover, lotion or soap dispenser, a gift card to Lowe’s, and of course some Hershey’s kisses! If you have an eagle eye, you may have picked up that I used paint stirrers decorated with washi tape (or painted with chalkboard paint) to use as the gift tag.

Materials:

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Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

 

Instructions:

Clean and dry your paint pail. Paint a band of chalkboard paint with the foam brush. Let it dry and add a second coat.

Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

After the paint has dried wait 24 hours.  Season the chalkboards by rubbing a piece of chalk all over the band. Wipe off the chalk with a dry rag. Store the pails away until you need to grab one for a hostess gift.

Paint Can Hostess Gift Idea | Pretty Handy Girl

Decorate the sides with a personalized chalk message. I love using a reusable item as a liner, like decorative pillow covers or a scarf. It’s fun to either throw a cover onto an old pillow to dress it up for the holidays.

PHGFancySign

Easy Wooden Chalkboard Sign | Pretty Handy Girl

Easy Wooden Chalkboard Sign | Pretty Handy Girl

Do you keep scraps of wood and say to yourself, “I might need that for something someday.” Well, today is your someday! Grab a scrap (or ask Lowe’s for their scraps) and create this super easy wooden chalkboard sign.

When you’re done, you can turn it into a sign that displays your favorite quote; a plaque welcoming friends; or you could create a fun Christmas Countdown sign!

Easy Wooden Chalkboard Sign | Pretty Handy Girl

Materials:

Easy Wooden Chalkboard Sign | Pretty Handy Girl

  • Scrap wood (3/4″ thickness works the best)
  • Chalkboard spray paint
  • Painter’s Tape
  • Red paint (I used Miss Mustard Seed Tricycle Milk Paint)
  • White paint pen
  • Chalk
  • Pencil
  • Eye hooks
  • Drill
  • Drill bit slightly smaller than the eye bolts
  • Ribbon
  • Pencil
  • Safety glasses

 

Instructions: Read more

Painting chairs - a second chance makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

My search for some small chairs for the kitchen table area is finally over!  The chairs I had before blocked the view from my kitchen to the family room and vice-versa, their backs were too high and overall they were too big for that small space.

kitchen area before RLC

I’d seen some pretty, small and colorful chairs from the catalog magazines I receive, but their prices weren’t that pretty. Almost $150 per chair!  Craiglist was my searching place, it almost took me a year but I found them, $5 each!

Painting chairs - a second chance makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

Their condition was good, no squeaky sounds, loosened parts or missing screws. Their appearance was on the drab side, they looked better in these pictures than they did in real live.  At some point they had been re-stained but the job was poorly done because they felt bumpy.

Painting chairs - a second chance makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

I knew they deserved a second chance! And I knew just how to do that.

Painting chairs - a second chance makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

Materials: Read more

close_up_signature_on_table

My grandmother wouldn’t mind that I painted and then wrote all over her coffee table. She was one of the most giving people you’ve ever met. She truly was the type of person that would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. I strive to live up to her legacy every day of my life.

She was also a very lucky lady. I mean lucky as in she could spot a four-leafed clover in a field of them. She was constantly finding money on the ground.

gma_in_silver_sweater

When I was living with her my freshman year in college, she made me do a U-turn on a street because she saw a five dollar bill in the middle of the road! She was a hoot and loved to make people laugh with her jokes or just dressing up as a bunny every Easter.

gma_bunny

(That’s my sisters and me in the floral skirt.)

She also won several contests in her life. But, she rarely kept her winnings. One of the things she won was a solid construction coffee table. When I was moving into my first apartment, she gave it to me. We used it for years until my design tastes changed and I bought a new one. Grandma’s coffee table moved into our attic. It sat there for years, buried under bags and suitcases.

When the big tree fell on our house, we did some serious purging in the attic. I should have taken the coffee table to Goodwill or sold it at our yard sale. But, something made me keep it a little longer. Read more

Dear Beautiful Table, your scandinavian antique beauty has us mesmerized. What’s your story? Did a family of four sit around you and talk about the day’s adventures on the farm? Or were you an antique table brought over from Europe and passed down for generations?  Or were you simply an ugly table left by the dumpster of an apartment complex in Raleigh, NC? {insert record scratch sound bite here} Yup, would you believe that a few short weeks ago, this beauty was sprawled in pieces by a dumpster? All the pieces (including the leg bolts) were neatly in a plastic baggy and secured to the table. This is one of the best pieces of furniture I’ve ever found in the trash (well next to it to be exact.) I didn’t have to do any structural repairs, just reattached the legs. But, it looked like the below photo when I picked it up:

Read more