Windchime

 So my friend Ellie has such eclectic style that it felt more natural to create something for her birthday rather then going out and buying something for her.  Her favorite color is purple and she really digs skulls.  She's feminine but not girly.  She's also REALLY into rocks.  I happen to have these "Apache Tears" (shards of obsidian rock) from a rock outing I did with my Aunt a few years ago.  The really neat thing about these rocks is when you tap them together, they make an incredibly fragile... glass-like sound.  I decided to create a wind chime out of them for her but wanted to make it in a way that would fit into her world nicely.

First I gathered the materials I would need.  A wooden letter "E" for her name, some screw hooks to hang the "E" as well as hang each of the strands, some of the metal hooks I used for my mustache pendants [here], beads, sculpty clay skulls (already made from a mold I bought on ETSY [link here]), paint, sparkles, and E-6000 glue to hold it all together.

I painted the "E" and put a piece of scrapbook paper on it with Modpodge (I made this with watered down glue to save some money) to give it a neat texture.  While the modpodge was still drying I sprinkled some yellow/gold glitter on to give the piece some contrast.

After the "E" was finished, I drilled out the holes to screw in the screw hooks.

Next came the strands of beads... this was a trial and error processes.  I knew this could end up outside so I used some glue to make sure the strands would stay on the metal hooks as well as the strands.  I allowed the E-6000 glue to set overnight.  In between each of the bead strands I put a strand that had a skull to break up the repetitiveness of the strands and to give it a cool look.

 

This is what it looked like after drying over night.  Excited and almost done I took a day off to clean house.

 

After finishing the strands, applying the "Apache Tears", adding a skull to the "E" and allowing it all to dry again overnight... I am very satisfied with how it came out.  I may do this again for other gifts (if I do... I'll take more step-by-step pictures.)

Coat rack/shelf

I found this coat rack at Micheal's for $3.00 because it was missing one of the pegs.

I removed the remaining three pegs, which, not surprisingly, came out on their own without much effort.

I filled the holes with some caulk (probably should have used a wood filler, but this is what I had available and on hand).

I used a putty knife to smooth out the caulk and make the hole flush with the rest of the wood.

After the caulk dried, I painted the wood with the brown paint I used for my garage cabinets.

I found these cute hooks for about $4 a piece at Home Depot.  A little more then I wanted to spend, but I think they ended up looking really nice!

Waiting for the BF to get home before mounting the coat rack on the wall.  I want the screws to be in studs to prevent it from pulling out of the wall.