Naomi, Sage – Author at Plaster & Disaster

We turned it into a table, of course! (Update: Check out our how-to on the transformation here.)

But first to back up. We’re lucky participants in The Mystery Thrift Off, an exuberantly fun competition run by the exuberantly fun Lindsey of the blog Better After. Each of the 12 participants were shipped a mystery item that Lindsey found at her local thrift store, and were charged to do an inventive and dramatic makeover. In our case the item was… a plastic cactus. A fuzzy plastic cactus.

As you could probably tell from our post about our “brainstorming process,” we were flummoxed. Our leading idea was to turn it into a drunken cowboy.

NOT what Lindsey had in mind, probably.

So we put out a poll to help figure out what to do, and the results were pretty conclusive that we should do something (anything) else with it.

Mystery Thirft Off Reveal - Voting Results - Plaster & Disaster

I have to say, we’re disappointed that pretty much none of you wanted us to open a restaurant.

Clearly, you were not impressed by our brilliant ideas. Some of you, seeing our desperation, even offered helpful suggestions. We could turn it into a classy, candelabra-style lamp:

Or, we could turn it into awesome, desert style cat furniture:

While we see where you’re going with that one, we gently point out that the scale is just a little off. It would actually look a bit more like this:

But if we learned one thing, it is that if you advertise to the world that you’re going to do a makeover of a fuzzy plastic cactus that was mailed to you in a box covered with green question marks, people will keep asking about it.

We’ve been dying to show you, and now we can, as the reveal is live over at Better After!

While you’re there, be sure to take a look at all the other fun and brilliant projects by the other participants running throughout this week, and to come back to Better After later this week to vote for your favorite (ours, obviously) across three categories: Most Creative, Best Case of Using What Ya Got, and The Better After Award.

And don’t worry, next week we’ll be sharing the full behind-the-scenes of how we went from fuzzy plastic cactus to the most beautiful table you’ve ever seen. (Update: here it is!)

(Sharing at Weekend Re-Treat Link Party)

Sage and I have been feeling pretty good about how this blog has been going. We’ve been hitting the “major topics” in the DIY/craft blogging world, including gallery walls, crafting with corks, crafting with silverware, succulent planters, cats, and copious use of modge podge.

Hitting all the blogger projects, like a pro - Plaster & Disaster

Man, we’re pros!

So you can imagine our shock and concern when the blog police stormed our business and let us know that we cannot be a DIY/craft blog today without making a wall hanging out of yarn.

I had been looking for the right piece to round out the decoration of my office/dressing room, anyway, so I figured this was a good chance to make something to fit. I came up with a plan to make a circular hanging with some graphic pops of color.

To create the circular shape, I finally found a use for a wicker hoop that I have been hoarding for some future project since I was like 11. Literally. I don’t even remember where it came from anymore, but I’ve been holding onto this thing through my teen years, college, and multiple moves and apartment clean-outs.

Who said I would never find a use for it? My young hoarder heart is vindicated!

While I was fortunate to have this on hand, this project would totally work with any other circle, like an embroidery hoop, narrow wreath base from from a craft store, or a metal ring (affiliate link – read our policies). I also picked out yarn in a variety of colors that I thought would go along with the room’s decor. I figured that white would make up the largest share, and that the red, blue, and yellow/mustard would be bright accents.

On a rainy, lazy Sunday I started cutting the yarn. I tested one piece to find the right length. This ended up being about 42″ vs. a circle diameter of 16″, so about 2.5 the diameter (remembering that the yarn will be doubled over as it is attached). I then marked that length on my coffee table with a piece of tape, and got to work cutting the yarn.

A lot of pieces needed to be cut! It was pretty fast going once I got into a rhythm with it, and it was very enjoyable to do while watching bad television.

This was about a quarter of the pieces that I eventually needed for the full piece.

Stringing them was easy. I just doubled each piece over, hooked the ends back through the loop, and tightened around the hoop.

Creating the pattern was pretty low stakes. For one, it is easy to remove pieces to redo, and I could also insert more pieces in between parts that had already done. Once I got about a fifth of the hoop strung, I realized that I was making the patten tighter than I had planned and it was looking too busy. It was simple to just go back through and add a few more pieces to some of the stripes to widen them.

The whole project took about three hours, and I wasn’t working particularly efficiently (stopping for snacks and to select new bad TV shows to watch). It would also have been a lot quicker if I was working with a smaller hoop!

I tied off the top with a small length of yarn to create a hanger, and then hung it on the wall.

I am very happy with the way this turned out! Originally, I had been planning on cutting off a squared edge on the bottom, but I ended up loving the looser, “raw-er” edge that it formed. I certainly could have been more careful about having the ends be uniform: I was a bit casual with cutting and finding the mid-point while hanging. But I like the organic look, especially since the pattern on this project is so sharp and high-contrast.

I still might try another project with a squared off edge, but I don’t think it is right for this hanging.

I hung it with just a simple, stick-on command hook so I didn’t need to make a hole in the wall. As I’ve complained about before, the walls in this room are luan board rather than plaster or sheet rock, and it is tough to patch holes or hang heavy items. I love that this is light and can go up with a stick-on hook!