Hey there!  Welcome to Decorate and More with Tip! Here on my blog I share how you can decorate your home on a budget.  I share budget friendly decorations by creating it from scratch, revamping, re-purposing or giving it a makeover with easy tutorials.  I hope I inspire you to create something beautiful for your home. 🙂

If you have been following my blog you know that the first Wednesday of the month I host a DIY Challenge. I gathered a group of bloggers who loves creating budget friendly home décor like me to give you some inspiration on do it yourself projects. 🙂  For June’s challenge, we are doing a surprise box challenge, each one has a certain person to send a craft item which the person they sent it to has to create a DIY with.  The rules are; Purchase a crafting item at any store of your choosing then mail it to the person.  It will be fun to see what everyone found to send and then see what they created with it. You can find links to each of their blogs at the end of my page.  If you are coming over from Jodi, The House House, her surprise box was from me.  I love what she did with the items I sent her.  You know I love pillows!!

To view all my DIY challenge’s post you can catch up by clicking here ⇒ DIY CHALLENGE.

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My surprise box was sent from my sweet friend Shae, Sweet Southern Grace.  She sent me a 12 x 5¼ x 1 board.  Shae explained to me how special this piece of wood is.  A large tree fell on their property, her husband cut the tree up instead of carrying it off, he cut the tree into boards to use.  What a great idea to do.  We just haul away the trees that fall on our property.  The piece of wood she sent me was a piece from the tree.  How neat!

I searched on Pinterest for crafts made out of wood, nothing really jumped out at me.  I wasn’t for sure what I was going to make until one morning I propped my cell phone up onto the mirror watching a video while getting ready for work, it kept on falling over. UGH!

The light bulb went off…..I decided to make something out of the wood to place my phone on.  I searched on Pinterest for inspiration for cell phone holders.  I wanted something simple because I don’t have any fancy woodworking machinery.  The one I found doesn’t include gluing, nailing or any fancy machinery.  That’s for me!

Since I only had one piece of wood and don’t have room for errors, I decided to make a dummy holder out of foam board.  Just to make sure it would work for me.

I wrote down all the measurement and steps, now it’s time to make it out of the piece of wood.  Below I am sharing the written plans.

Here is the board Shae sent me.  I am measuring for my cut line.

I measured down the board 7½ inches and marked.  This will be my cut line.

To make sure my cut line was straight I used a square and drew my line.  I used a circular saw to cut my board on the line.  I have the two pieces I need to start making the holder.

Here is the steps I took to measured the cuts on both boards:

7½” board

• I measured on the right bottom edge up 2 inches, marked
• Measured 3 inches inward, marked
• Measured up 1 inch and back to the edge of the board 3 inches

4½ board

• Measured the bottom left side up 1½ inch, marked
• Measured inward 2 inches, marked
• Measured up 1 inch, marked
• Back to the edge 2 inches

The marked area will be cut out from both boards.

I drilled a hole to allow my blade to cut the inner lines easier.

On the 4½” board I drilled a hole in the center of the smaller end.  Taking a drill bit large enough for the phone charger to slip through.

Using my sander to smooth both boards.

Clean the two boards with a damp cloth.  I stained my pieces with Minwax English Chestnut and then used my Minwax finishing wax to seal the stain.

To add the two pieces together, slip the two opened spaces inside one another.  It’s that simple.

Slide your phone charger through the drilled hole.

I was so proud of my holder until Kristin and Kaleb came to visit.  I showed off my cell phone holder to them.  They asked “why was it shorter than my phone”?  I had to leave my camera lens on the back of my phone expose or it wouldn’t work if I face-timed anyone.

Come to find out I don’t have to have it exposed. SOOOO if you are planning on making one, measure your phone and cut your board accordingly. 🙁  I wish I would of cut mine 2 inches longer.  Oh well, I still love my holder and it’s so nice to be able to watch my videos without the phone falling over.  If it needs to be charging while on the holder…no problem.

Would you like a cell phone holder?

If you do….. 

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Stay strong and Blessed ♥

Next up is Tammy, Patina and Paint.  I can’t wait to see what Tammy received and what she does with her items.

Let’s see what my friends have going on.  Click on the photo to go over to their surprise box item is and what they created out of it.

      

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