Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our readers.  2008 is going to be a great year.  Look for some big improvements here at justbuildstuff.com.

A Little Paint and a New Look

We all get the itch to change the look of our homes and to accomplish this we usually go out to buy something new, but you don’t have to. Sometimes a little paint is all you need to make a big difference. To get a new look for our wall, we took an existing metal wall hanging and applied a little bit of inexpensive spray paint. Now it fits in perfectly with the rest of the room’s decor.

The Stockings Were Hung… Build a Simple Wall Hanging for your Christmas Stockings

Everybody knows that the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, but what if you don’t have a chimney? No chimney, no problem! A beautiful way to display your family’s stockings is with a “The stockings were hung…” wall plaque and justbuildstuff.com is going to tell you how to make one.

We used the following materials for this project:

• Board
• Can of red spray paint
• 120 grit sandpaper
• White paint
• Small paintbrush
• Router
• Roman Ogee Router bit
• Hanging Brackets

To start, cut a piece of scrap softwood lumber (pine or fir – most construction lumber is softwood) to 29″ by 5 1/2″ by 3/4″, router the edges with an Roman Ogee router bit and spray paint it red.

To give it a more aged look, rub the edges with some used 120-grit sandpaper saved from previous projects. Also lightly rub the face of the board to take away some of the shine and make it match the edges. See the photos below to see how the board looks at this point.

To create the letters we found a font we liked and printed the phrase in the appropriate size. Keeping in mind where the hooks would eventually be placed, we taped the phrase to the board as shown in the photo below. With the lettering taped to the board, we traced an outline into the board using a dull pencil. Because we used softwood lumber for the project, it indented easily to make an impression of the letters into the board.

Then, with a thin paintbrush and the white paint, we painted the phrase in using the indented letters as a guide.

After the paint dried, it was time to add the hooks for the stockings. We used single hooks screwed in at even spacing.

The final step was to add a hanging bracket to the back, place it on the wall and hang the stockings.

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Now the only thing left is to wait for Santa to come and fill the stockings with Christmas goodies!

Simple Snowman Fleece Tie Pillow!

Looking for a holiday craft to do with your kids? This easy to make snowman pillow is a fun project that doubles as a festive holiday decoration. Plus it will be a great place to rest your head if you start to experience holiday fatigue.

Many of our readers likely have seen or made a fleece blanket with the frayed ends tied together. In this project, justbuildstuff.com is going to use a similar process to make a pillow from fleece with a snowman print.

To build this project we used the following-

• 2/3 yard of fleece
• 1- 14 inch pillow
• scissors
• tape measure

To begin, we took the 2/3 yard piece of fleece (it should measure 24″ by 36″) and cut it into two 24″ squares. These two pieces of fleece will be used to cover a 14” square pillow purchased from a local fabric store. After the two 24” squares of fleece were cut, we snipped a five” square from each of the four corners of the fabric so that the center measured a 14” square (the same as the pillow). This is shown in the photo below.

Then we cut each side into 3/4 ” wide strips as shown in the photo below.

When the edges were cut, we faced the best side of each piece of fleece outward, placed them on top of each other, and begin tying the 3/4″ strips together with square knots. When three sides were tied, it was time to stuff in the pillow as shown below.

After the pillow was inserted, we tied the final side. It was simple, fun, and it looks great.

The Top 14 Projects That Didn’t Make it Onto JustBuildStuff.com

We have a lot of ideas for projects here at Just Build Stuff and some of them are ideas that for some reason or another we have decided not to build and thus I present you with the top 14 projects that www.justbuildtuff.com decided not to build.

1. The invisible remote- You thought your remote was difficult to find before, wait until you try our invisible remote developed using Top Secret cloaking fromthe British Military. It is shown in the photo below.
2. A TV that always turns on with the volume turned all of the way up and turned to a channel of static and fuzz.
3. The Zune Music player- Oh sorry somebody already made this.
4. A shoe with a preinstalled piece of pea gravel- It is psychologically easier to deal with that pebble in you shoe when you know it’s supposed to be there.
5. The Pet Wolverine- They don’t like being called fluffy and you will never have to worry about intruders again!
6. The gas powered toothbrush- I know you are sick of recharging those batteries and the gas powered lawnmower and chainsaw that you have out in your garage do a great job, but think of the price of gas and how much more you would have to pay just to brush your teeth. Just wait, there will be a fusion-powered toothbrush released eventually and you can get that.
7. Rogaine Back, Chest and Underarm Formula- For those that want to look like they are wearing a shirt, eve when they are not!
8. A phone connected directly to the Bat Cave- Just remember that Bat Man hates prank calls.
9. Build your own language- Kind of like Klingon or how Tolkien created the Elvish language you can create your own language that only you can understand. Be prepared to get funny looks the next time you say “Fromble hicta Zababli!” and expect to get a burger and fries.
10. Sawdust Salad- Ya, a tree is a plant and sawdust comes from trees so it is just natural that somebody sooner or later will start trying to eat sawdust salads, I hope they have lots of salad dressing
11. The magnetic sock and metal shoe combo pack- Never have to tie or strap your shoe on again, the metal shoe sticks tightly against the magnetic sock giving you maximum shoe sock bonding.
12. The ice cream swimming pool- Enjoy a dip into nice cool ice cream filled swimming pool on a hot day. Nothing beats that sticky dried ice cream feeling after you get out of the pool and dry off.
13. Static Electricity Hair-Do Machine- Use the amazing power of static electricity to create the most interesting hair styles you’ve seen in a long time, static electricity adds body to your hair without the need for expensive chemicals. Plus as an added bonus you’ll get a sparking sensation whenever you touch a grounded surface!
14. The Catapult Travel System- Tired of paying high gas prices? Why not try to strap yourself onto this high-powered catapult and lunch yourself to work, the landing might be a little tricky so there is a chance that you will only be able to try it once.

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