Category: Create

This time of year always makes me want to make things, to sew, to clean, to redecorate. Spring does it, too. It’s just the change in the weather. I’m sure you’re the same whether you realize it or not. I look at your blogs, see the pretty things you’re doing, look at Pinterest, at magazines, and think, “I WANT TO DO THAT, TOO!” And yes, the words are shouting in my head. I see so many things I want to do and even think of things on my own, I spin around in circles not knowing where to start. So I don’t. I just continue in the endless circle spin. Kinda like a kid at a carnival. I wanna do this! No! Let’s do this! Oh, look at that! Sigh. Yep. That’s me. But I did force myself to start an “easy”, less than an afternoon, project today. More on that another day. It’s turning out not so easy and will probably take more than an afternoon for me to complete it. And I’ve already got a wicked, pliers finger pinch.

But I did want to prove to the world yet again that I am capable of completing a project even when there were several do-overs.

I did a Graphic Fairy transfer onto this wooden box.

It’s a bit bigger than a standard sheet of paper, so perfect to hold a stack of printer paper inside. Naturally I didn’t get any before pictures. Why would I think to do that?? But it was a crappy, hand made box. Had a crooked, brass latch on the front and a broken, plastic money holder tray inside. It was varnished, natural colored wood. I sanded that baby down. All by myself! 😉

First step, of course, was painting. I gave it probably 3 coats before transferring the graphic.

I thought that I’d try the Mod Podge method that Jennifer of Town and Country Living told us about. I even unconsciously sorta copied her box. My results were far from stellar. Some of it didn’t take and I ended up peeling into the lettering when I was “rolling” the paper off. And in the end, the tell tale edge of the Mod Podge was very visible. Not the effect I was looking for. I wanted it to look printed on, not applied. So I rubbed it all off, did some light sanding and repainted the top.

This time I tried the wax paper method. I’ve used this method before, but it was too light for the effect I wanted on the box. I did a bit of sanding then more paint. And more paint and more…

Finally I tried the freezer paper method. And used the high intensity setting on the printer. This one worked great. But… um… the graphic was too small. Arghhhhh! So I painted and painted and painted and painted. Three or four coats on the top to cover. I enlarged the graphic as much as I could, reapplied and let it be.

I found some black and white contact paper at Dollar General to line the inside with.

Put the little clear knob on and the hinges back on (after intentionally sloppy painting) and that was that. It only took 1-1/2 months! Woohoo! LOL

So I want to know. Do you flit around like a butterfly wanting to start things, but not knowing where to start or which project to do first? Are you a quick finisher? Do you start it and get it done? Does this time of year make you want to do more than you can possibly get around to?

Ah, yes. I was a copycat again. When I saw this project, I fell hopelessly in love.

It was seen on Pinterest, from the Mod Podge site by their guest poster, the very talented Mitzi, of Mitzi’s Miscellany. She showed how to Mod Podge labels onto bottles. She creates her own labels, but for this particular project used the round Sigaut label from The Graphic Fairy.

I saw the picture on Pinterest, thought to myself, “I have that same bottle!” and couldn’t rest until I did one of my own.

I’m sure there’s not much need to go through the process for most of you, but for the first timers, here’s what I did.

• Find a label of your choice from The Graphics Fairy blog. They’re free and absolutely wonderful. I tried not to copy exactly, but this label fit this bottle so well that I just couldn’t see anything else working.

• Download the image to your computer, and edit to the size you need. I use Photoscape, a free program. Yeah, I’m all about free. When you save the graphic, make sure you save it to 100% jpg quality. I like to print in high quality and intensity, too.

• Cut out your label. Now, here’s your chance to play with your Silhouette Cameo if you have one. I used mine to cut out the circle, but doggone it. I didn’t have it centered quite right and cut off part of the border. Of course, if you weren’t intimately familiar with the label, you’d never realize I had to cut the border off all the way around, but just so you don’t think I’m perfect (giggle-snort-cough) I’m telling you about my boo-boo.

• I then used Distress Ink, and dabbed over the label to keep it from looking so new. While I had the ink out, I went ahead and dabbed the length of seam binding, too.

• Next, apply Mod Podge to the back of the label, making sure to get all the edges. Place it on the bottle and let it dry. (Note – Some people like to Mod Podge over the label, but I figure labels in real life aren’t, so I didn’t do it to mine.)

• All that’s left is to wrap your ribbon around the neck, tie a bow and embellish if you’d like.

See the little pin?

My bottle didn’t have a lid and I’d seen someone else use rolled up corrugated cardboard as a cork. — I sure do wish I could remember who it was so she could get credit for that idea. Here’s a picture of the bottle without the cardboard in the neck. It would make such a pretty vase.

This was really a fun and easy project. And for once, I’m really happy with the result!

 

 

I’m a copycat. I admit it. And am only a tiny bit ashamed. If I could come up with my own ideas, I certainly would, but I seem to be lacking that gene. Or it’s severely handicapped.

I saw this cute project on Pinterest pinned from Huckabys Happily Ever After blog.
Post-it notes holders made from coasters.

They were darling and – gasp – I thought “even I can do that!” Then my mind headed in the direction it always seems to head, “I bet I could make these and sell them for $4 each in the booths!” Yeah. Well. Maybe. I dunno. Mine don’t seem to measure up to hers. I mean, they’re cute and all, but….

Would anyone buy these??? Hmmm. I have such a hard time making bows. Even with the fool proof, never fail method. They’re always wonky-joed. Ribbon thinks I’m the enemy. Or something.

Anyway, if you’d like to make your own, and I’m sure yours would look much better than mine, here is the process.

First, the hard part. Find yourself some square coasters. The ones I used were cork with pictures glued to one side.

If the printed image on the coaster is slick – mine were – tear off the top layer of paper.

This leaves you with a rough surface to glue your paper of choice to. I used scraps of scrapbook paper, but thought plain, printer paper with French script stamped onto it or maybe some sheet music cut to size would be nice. Remember you’re only going to see the little bit of outside edges.

Cut your paper choice and glue or Mod Podge onto the coaster. You can do both sides if you like. I’m lazy and only did one.

Next make some bows to glue onto your clips. Another thought is to use broken jewelry or buttons or just any little doo dad that has enough surface to adhere to the clip. Don’t want it falling off the first time you bump it.

Simply clip the clip onto the coaster. At first, I tried to put the Post-it pad under the clip, but that just didn’t make sense. You’d have to undo it every time you wrote a note, taking away the easy of the Post-it notes. We don’t like to take away easy, do we? The clip will be used to hang the pad and holder on the wall. Or just for looks. Whatever floats your boat. Now, get a Glue Stick re-stick it stick. Geez! Isn’t there a better way to say that? Rub it on the back of your pad of Post-it notes and Bob’s your uncle! Slap that baby onto the holder and you’re done. Now, it’s painfully obvious from the picture that I didn’t stick mine down with the re-stick it stick. (The pads are sitting crooked.) The one I had was dried up and I keep forgetting to get another.

So that’s my version of a Pinterest project. Let’s see yours!