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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Tool Time Tuesday...Mud Pan Ideas

Happy Tuesday everyone. Today's Tool Time is from the paint section or the sheet rock section of your local hardware store.

You know I love to scour the stores for unusual things to use for something else and this little red beauty caught my eye...

It's a Mud Pan. It's used for mud or spackle when taping the seams or screw holes of dry wall.

They cost $3.00 and up depending on the size and what it's made from. They do have pretty stainless steal ones too.

mud pan ideas


The dry wall mud (or spackle stuff) goes in the pan and then it's scooped out with a dry wall tool. The edge of the pan is used to clean the spatula.

It says "blade", but it's really just a dull metal strip to scrap off the mud. This particular one is NOT sharp.

mud pan ideas

For other fun ideas...

I thought it would make a great "narrow" planter.

I love how skinny it is for a table.

mud pan ideas

I just realized I caught part of the planter in a picture from another post I did.

See it off to the left?

With it being so narrow, it's great to hold condiments, napkins and things for a picnic table and still leave room for food and eating.

mud pan ideas

It's also great for the kiddos too!!

This is a Two-fer Tuesday. This brown roll of paper is also in the paint section.

mud pan ideas

It's used to mask off things so paint won't get on them.

This roll is only $2.47 for 60 yards...that's 180 feet of useful paper!!

It comes in a ton of sizes too. I have another post with just this paper coming soon!

mud pan ideas

The 9 inch roll of paper fits perfectly in the 12 inch mud pan

Have it on the end of your children's craft table or your kitchen table for endless coloring and creativity!!

mud pan ideas

The paper bends over the metal edge for a great paper cutter.

mud pan ideas

Like I mentioned before, this particular metal edge is NOT sharp, but you can still remove it if you want and just use the edge of the plastic pan to cut the paper.

mud pan ideas

The paper stays in the pan and rolls out when you need more.

mud pan ideas

Tears off with ease!

You can always tell the kids that only you can tear the paper.

mud pan ideas


The mud pan can also be used to store and organize things too...

  • pantry items in your kitchen cupboards
  • sewing things
  • make-up
  • jewelry
  • bathroom items
  • great to have on the back of your cutting table to hold usable scrap size fabric
  • office stuff

Hope you like the mud pan ideas...have fun looking for the pan that's right for you!!

Have a great day,
~Karen~


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19 comments:

  1. Hi Karen,I never even knew of the existence of a mud pan before but what great ideas!!! I am going to the hardware store later and will keep an eye out for one of them!!!It's long and thin and won't take up a lot of space!!!I think I am going to store packets of soup,gravy and so on,in it!!!A lovely tip,once again!!!Have a wonderful week!!!
    Love
    AMarie

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  2. Karen what an awesome idea!! With a 3 year this will come in handy! I like the narrow size as well...guess I'll be stopping by Home Depot! They should be paying you for all the business you drive to them! LOL!!
    Hugs,
    Kathi

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  3. Another great idea! You are very good at using an object in a different way than it was intended. As you suggested, this would be great for storing things in my sewing studio.

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  4. This is a bunch of great ideas. I love them.

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  5. soon Home Depot and Lowes are going to be seeing hoards of women roaming the aisles checking out odd items and when asked if they need help, they'll respond - just organizing my sewing/craft room - thanks anyway

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  6. I have a black thumb, and of all the arts and crafts I can do acceptably well, I cannot arrange flowers. I know people who can stop on the side of the road and pick weeds and wildflowers and make them look like roses. I can take roses and make them look like weeds in a heartbeat. But, this looks like it would be good thing in which to store and use ribbon. One of my things is bows. Big, heavily laden bows for packages, for pews, for wreaths, for general decorating. Right this minute, it takes up more storage than any other craft. When you are making bows, ribbon gets out of hand within minutes. If you tied all my rolls end to end I think they would reach the moon. And back. One of my main searches on Pinterest has been ways to store ribbon. I like the pants hanger idea, but it doesn't begin to address the quantity or the huge variety of sizes, the size of some of the rolls.... I'm just at the place where organizing my studio is a big priority, and I have a lot of storage options, cabinets, huge deep open shelves, drawers, slat wall, pegboard, my infrastructure is in place. So now I go through all my supplies (hysterically sobbing at the thought) weed out that which I will NEVER use and figure out an attractive way to store it all. So, short story long, I like the sheetrock mudpan.

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  7. I never knew that brown roll of paper was hiding in the hardware store all along! Home Depot here I come :)

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  8. Wonderful two-fer idea! I love your imagination!

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  9. Oh! That will be a great combo for sketching patterns and ideas in the sewingroom. Thanks, Karen.

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  10. Great idea!! I look forward to finding my own!! =)

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  11. That is such a cool idea Karen! My hubby/son have their own construction biz and use these all the time, but I've never seen the red ones before! LOL
    What clever ways to use them! thanks SEW much!!


    Hugs,
    Tanya

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  12. Is the paper thin enough to use for paper piecing? Or could it be used as a pressing cloth like you would use parchment paper?


    Bonnie

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  13. I just picked up a roll of paper just this week and was thinking on the best way to store for easiest access. Thank goodness for your post! I'm going to Home Depot today to pick up a mud pan! Love your site!

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  14. Love this idea for my daughter so she can color on endless amounts of inexpensive paper! Thanks for sharing!

    www.rachelsnest.com

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  15. Why couldn't you take the cutter off of an old plastic wrap box or some other and attach it to the tray some way... then it would cut with ease....
    Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.

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  16. That is just too clever!

    Marti
    http://sewlicioushomedecor.com

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  17. This absolutely clever!so wonderful idea.I love this idea for own.Thanks for the share.

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  18. I just found your blog and I love it! I'm thinking this container would work great as a soap mold too. I've started making my own soaps and I refuse to pay what retailers want for the molds. I'm always looking for alternatives and I think this will do nicely. I love the paper roll idea!

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  19. And... It can be be used for mud (drywall compound) LOL I've used it many a time for that. I do like the paper idea, though.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment...I just love hearing from you!