Do It Yourself Excellence

Whenever I post DIY projects, a few people will inevitably comment on how they don’t think they could do it themselves because they think it looks complicated or they’re “that good” at whatever. Well, I’m here to tell you, I’m not “that good” at it either. That just doesn’t stop me.

This:

This is the finished stall sign from yesterday’s #workinprogress. The last of my #horseblogger contest prizes went in the mail today.

A photo posted by Olivia @ DIY Horse Ownership (@diyhorseownership) on

is a finished project. What you don’t see is all the Pinterest Fail level crap that went on before I got to this stage.

I literally made 3 different stall signs for Dee that were of a different style and then I trashed them because they all had various errors. I eventually gave up on doing that type of sign though I am committed to beating that bitch later.

bw

Me IRL:

frick

I also managed to do this to my dining room table while making stall signs:

DIYoops

That’s right. I burnt an E into my dining room table. This picture doesn’t even show all the other burn spots I found, just the freaking E. Thankfully, my husband is pretty chill. I don’t think he could live with me if he weren’t.

Moral of the story? You don’t need to be good at crafting to do it. You just need to be willing to waste some time and sacrifice some tables.

33 thoughts on “Do It Yourself Excellence

  1. Leah Strid

    I’m catching up on my blog reading at the gym and that text message exchange made meaugh out loud and I just got a TON of weird looks from everyone else working out 😂 oh gosh.

    1. Olivia Post author

      We had friends over for dinner and one kept picking glue off the table. I had cleaned the table, but hadn’t scrubbed it and apparently a lot of hot glue had adhered itself.

    1. Olivia Post author

      Do it. The string ones are actually quite easy. You might mash your thumb a bunch, but they don’t require any drawing ability or exposure to burning.

  2. sarahczspots

    bahaha We have a required crafting table. It’s a plastic folding table, which is nice because we can work on projects in front of the tv. Plus…its ugly anyway, so if it is out when people are over, its covered with something, so paint, glue, burn marks are covered too. 😉 Most (all?) of our furniture is antiques (Dad collected, so I got a ton of nice furniture when he passed) so if something happens to our tables I’m likely to implode a little… I’m very curious about the stall sign that didn’t work out…I have faith in you!

    1. Olivia Post author

      If I had an antique table I would not be crafting on it. Alas, I don’t even have a space in my house for a folding table. My house is 800 sq feet and it’s jam packed with stuff.

  3. Heather

    Transferring to canvas is so much harder than it looks. I’ve had all of like 2 out of 10 of those come out right. I think the type of paper and ink makes a big difference in the transfer. I was vacuuming up rolls of paper for weeks after. Lol.

      1. Olivia Post author

        I was transferring to wood, but I think it’s the same process. I kept getting bubbles or the picture would scratch up with the paper. I got one to work perfectly, but the alignment wasn’t right. I plan to revisit.

    1. Olivia Post author

      That was actually the first one I made and it worked, except I didn’t line up the picture right and there was no room to put Dee’s name without covering your head or her feet. Each subsequent try with correct alignment had bubbles or the print failed to stick. I’m glad you’re enjoying it though.

  4. irishhorse

    love this, story of my craft projects too! So many grand ideas, half finished, set aside in frustration, or I get busy and forget about it. And start yet another project. I’m working on stall signs right now too, but am lucky that I have not burned the table: I’m working on my granite kitchen island instead! (craft table, ha!, that is too sensible)

    1. Olivia Post author

      I could use a craft table, but our tiny house does not have any place for one so I have to use the dining room table.

  5. Emma

    Ha I tried to make one of those photo transfer on a wood block things,… And maybe got one done mostly ok. But not the rest I had planned. Bc damn that was a giant PITA and really looked kinda janky after no matter what I did. Love the threaded sign tho!!

    1. Olivia Post author

      That stupid photo transfer onto wood thing is supposed to be easy, but no… I kept solving one problem and getting another.

  6. jenj

    I have resigned myself to the fact that I’m crafty with fabric and a sewing machine and that’s it. Which isn’t TOO bad… but still. Your projects are awesome!

    1. Olivia Post author

      I wish I was better at the sewing machine stuff. Mine only come out good from a distance. Which is usually fine for horses.

  7. L. Williams

    haha excellent! Sometimes its just about having the courage to start somewhere. A lot of people can’t muster it up, hell sometimes I can’t even muster it up.

  8. Stacie Seidman

    Ha! I’ve ruined some things for the sake of DIY projects myself. Generally I get superglue stuck to things for eternity.
    That sign came out awesome though, I should get motivated and make some for the boys.

  9. KateRose

    Haha that makes me feel a lot better about all my crafting fails! So thank you 🙂 Good to know that even DIY horsemanship makes some mistakes sometimes too.

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