DIY Christmas gifts. 4 Weeks & 5 gift ideas, get crafting!

I am on the search for great (not LAME) DIY gifts to give my peeps this Christmas.  Too bad I didn't start thinking about this on June 1st.  I have compiled a list of a few things to make this holiday season.... with only 4 weeks to complete - heh I work better under pressure anyway.

#1. Homemade Granola in cute bags or jars.

Real Simple

 Better yet, wrap the granola in a cellophane bag & close.  Then stash it in an easy to make fabric bag like this....

dream home decorating.com

#2. Homemade Bath salts

Kashi.com

#3. Buy thrift store 100% wool sweaters (under $5 usually). Felt in the washer, then turn felted sweater into a bag, mittens, ornament.... you name it.

blog.craftzine.com

marthstewart.com

countryliving.com

#4. Recycled T-shirt necklace. You know you can find a t-shirt laying around you no longer wear.

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  wholeliving.com

#5. Fudge in muffin tins.  

joann.com

I actually did this last year and it worked fabulously.  Make an easy fudge like this one... cooks.com
Pour into a muffin pan lined with foil cupcake liners.
After fudge has set, gift in cute cupcake boxes easily found at craft store.

Benjamin Moore Amherst Grey update....

Last year I was painting my den/music room/library.   Remember?
I tried one too many colors before deciding on Amherst Grey.  My darling husband thought it was too dark, so I went one shade lighter.  I ended up with Chelsea Grey (BM paint HC-168).  I finished the room, here is a peek.

What do you think?

Yucky, $10 Parsons chairs turned dining room stool....

$10 Craigslist Parson chairs turned dining room table stools.  I originally purchased these chairs with the intent on making lovely white linen slipcovers for them.  Once I got them home, I realized I should just recover them  Once I started ripping off the fabric and got it down to the bare bones, I decided I didn't like the height of the back, so I chopped them off. We love a bench in the kitchen, why not in the dining room.  Stools are way more functional than a bench in that people can control their own seat.  All in all, I spent $60 and some time to make 3 comfy stools.  Not a bad deal.  Technically, I had the fabric on hand though.

one mans trash....

Ripped the fabric off.

backside sans fabric

literally sawed the back off - not with a manual saw (I am not a caveman).

removed nasty 20 year old foam & stuffing.

stool 2 no back... before ripping the gross off.

foam and stuffing bought off the rack at my local fabric store

electric stapled new foam on.

covered foam with regular batting - the thickest one I could find.

Stapled batting down.

Almost finished.... 

 FIN.

Dining room completed.... $75 farm house table - shut the front door!

It has been almost a year since I completed my dining room table.  Geesh how time flies.
I used a modified version of the Farm House table combined with the Narrow Farmhouse table I already built (see project here). I also took ugly $10 craigslist parson style chairs and modified them to be stools.... 

This table is roughly 7'x3' but it looks so tiny in this photo.

So, here it goes.  I found old barn wood on Craigslist.  The dude brought me a huge stack of the 10' boards , all varying widths for a mere $40 (including the delivery) OUTSTANDING!
 The trouble with Craigslist bargains for me, is there is always that BUT.  The barn wood was not immune to the BUT.  I had to purchase a belt sander because of the really rough texture of the wood.  Which I undoubtedly burned up. I exchanged it for a beefer, more expensive version & spent far too long sanding away until my planks were baby butt smooth.

 I also tried to make a wood wash concoction by rusting steel wool in vinegar.  Much to my dismay, I purchased non-rusting steel wool (who knew there was such a thing?). I threw some nails into the punch and got a rusted solution in the end, however it was a red rust as opposed to the grey rust I was going for.  Nonetheless, the plain cheapo pine boards used for the table legs, received a splash of the rust solution before any further steps were taken.

 I kept the boards uneven on purpose.  The real antique harvest table I have has unmatched boards.  Usually when I see an antique farm table in antique stores the top boards are not perfect either.  I thought it gave it a very authentic look. 

 I decided that the wood was too warm and new looking. I decided to experiment.  I diluted a little black paint with water & did a wash.... WAAAAHLA what a difference.  I think it turned out great, exactly the worn/gray wood look I was going for. 

before the top boards were attached

What do you think?