Western General Store

Making a wreath with a Lariat Rope is easy. Use wire to tie on greenery. I watched a few videos on the internet on how to make a burlap bow. The red stripe is on one side of the burlap ribbon so when I made the bow I twisted each loop so that the stripe showed on the outside. Then I tied on boot ornaments from the dollar store. You could decorate a rope in a multitude of ways and colors for any holiday or occasion.

I thought it would be fun to fancy up a cast iron longhorn . I spray painted it gold and glued bling from the craft store on the horns. A purple star was added to the forehead.  I tied shiny gold ribbon through the mounting holes to hang. This could be a fun project for kids.

This project took quite a while from planning to finish. I placed the cast iron items and rope from the craft store on a board in different ways until I was satisfied. I took several pictures and played with the colors for the wood in Photoshop. I knew I wanted to crackle the paint so I did it in sections, then glued the rope on and frayed the ends. I tied and glued on leather cord to keep it from unraveling. I spray painted the cast iron metallic silver and drilled holes to mount them. The longhorns could hold jewelry, caps, hats, belts, or coats. Items for the project from Western General Store Longhorn Skull Drawer Pulls Large Horseshoes Star Nails

I wanted to dress up a barn wood frame, so with a staple gun I put in rope from the craft store, tied a knot in the end and frayed it. I put Mini Star Nails in the corners after drilling holes for them. I glued a little bling on each star and brushed some blue paint on the star nails, rope and a little on the frayed end.

There's a herd of Texas Longhorns down the road from us and I've taken several photos. I took one of the photos and placed on graphite paper on bass wood to trace the outline of the head. With a wood burning tool from the craft store ($25.00) I burned in the image and finished all the shading. I framed it in maple wood for a tray. I used the Steer Drawer pulls for the handles which I spray painted textured brown and sealed the wood with a salad bowl finish. Items from westerngeneralstore.com for this project: Steer Drawer Pulls

Many years ago a friend gave us several boards from huge pallets. They have been sitting around the shop until we could find some use for them. I came up with the idea to cut them up and turn them into candle holders .  It took a lot of sanding and no small chore to drill the holes. I'm not even sure what type of wood it is. So here they are bare bones and ready for creativity.