Yep... I did it... For $6, I copied Nate Berkus...

 Seriously, who doesn't LOVE Nate Berkus... no one? Everyone loves him? Yea, that's what I thought... Cute, funny, good-looking, smart, stylish, creative, sexy, handy, and home decor God (...did I mention he's handsome?) everyone wants a piece of this man!!! (Except for me... because I'm married... happily married... ... ... ... love you hunny... ... .... ...)

So it should come to no surprise that when Nate (we are on a first name basis) came out with his collection for Target, many of us (aka. Young House Love, Bower Power, and about a million/billion other Americans) flocked to our local red and white store to score some of the action.

They only sad part about said "action", is that "pieces of Nate" can be somewhat expensive some times.  Enter this vase/hurricane I found as part of his collection that I just fell in love with...
 Simple, but a nice neutral texture that would look great with candles, pine cones, etc... I wanted it... that was until I saw that it was $25.... for one.

Also found HERE on Target.com

Don't get me wrong, it was very cute, but spending $50 on two Target vases just wasnt going to happen for me.  So I took a picture and decided to see if I could make one myself.

All the components seemed pretty simple, so I swung by Lowe's to see what I could find.

Enter this rope I scored this rope for only $0.48 a foot.
 It was a bit thicker than the Nate Berkus one, but I still loved the rustic feel and snagged 10ft of it. (Important side note: What I SHOULD have done before cutting/buying the rope was measuring the vase I would be covering then buying the rope to size.  When I got home with my 10ft, it was way too long and way to thick to cut myself.  I had to go back to Lowe's for them to cut it for me!  I only really needed about 7ft)

By the time I got home to start my project, I wanted to make sure the ends wouldnt start fraying (it IS twine rope afterall) and decided the best, most invisible sealer would be a polyurethane (which is normally used to seal stained wood pieces)
 I dunked my ends in the can and let them soak for about 3 minutes to really get a good coat

I made two vases which is why there are 4 rope ends

 And let them fully dry for 1-2 hours.

I used an unopened ikea frame since I knew I would be throwing the plastic packaging away anyway.

 After everything was dry, I readied my vase (on sale from Michaels) and hot glue gun.
 Flipping the vase over, I started hot gluing the rope to the vase and wrapping it around. 
 After the base-wrap was set, I was able to put it on its side and continue wrapping.
 Again, I used 7ft which got me a little past 1/3 of the way up the vase once everything was glued into place.
 Cute so far, huh?!
 Next, I used some leather bracelets (found at Michaels) for the straps.
 Here's a closer look of the exact brand if you are interested.
 I cut off the bracelet holes and metal button which just left me with a plain leather strap.
 Again, using my hot glue gun, I set it into place.
 For the little cute decorative buttons Nate used on his vase, I used some old Upholstery Nails left over from my painted chairs project.
 For those of you who don't have these laying around the house, I bought these from Home Depot - $1.29 for a 20pc box.

I thought these would be great and easy to just push through my leather strap, but I guess the leather I used was just too thick because they would NOT go through... Plan B? Go back to the glue gun (ALWAYS go back to the glue gun).

So I used some pliers to cut off the ends...
 And hot glued the suckers into place.
 Warning: the hot glue gun didn't hold on as well as I would have hoped and it was a bit tricky to get them to stay (even though they eventually did).  If hot glue doesn't work for you, try Gorilla glue and hold them in place for 5 minutes while it dries.

After everything set, I popped in a last-year's-clearance Pottery Barn candle, lit her up, and stood back...
 Ummm I love it... seriously. Like singing birds and floating hearts love.

Originally, I put it up on the mantle for all to see (ie. "Hi, did you guys see what I made? I made this. Isnt this cute? Oh, I should take a picture of it and send it to everyone in my phone? ok, great, awesome idea..."
 But eventually moved them over to our new buffet in our dining room.

Project photos of this to come soon.  GREAT garage sale find turned Pottery Barn chic...

 Oh, and like I said, I got those candles last year at Pottery Barn on super clearance.  They were a couple different sizes so I added some burlap at the bottom of the vase so you could see the smaller ones better.
 Here is a breakdown of what this project cost per one
-6ft section of rope from Lowes - $2.88
- Clear vase/hurricane from Michaels - $2.00 (after 50% off coupon)
- leather bracelet strap from Michaels - $1.00 (after 50% off coupon)
- decorative tac - already owned ($1.29 for 20 if you need to buy them)
- Hot glue gun and glue - already owned ($5.00 if you need to buy one)
TOTAL: $5.88 per vase

So for less than $12.00 I saved $38.00 for making my own Nate Berkus vase/hurricane... and I love them.

Have you guys ever tried to copy something that you have seen in a store or thought to yourself "I could make that?".... Cause now everything I see, Im pretty sure I can make "$199.99 for a pair of boots? I should just take a shoe making class..."..... ... ... ... this could be the start of something terrible.

-Samm