Cheesey No More!

Ok, to start off, I want to give credit to the blogs I got this idea from so that no one accuses me of trying to pawn it off as my own idea. They are:

www.houseofhepworths.com/2010/03/22/cheese-dome-turned-cloche/

www.meltales.com/2010/03/everything-looks-better-on-candlestick.html

I also copied the idea for the twine covered eggs, but changed it up a little to make it easier (in my opinion) I can't remember where I saw the original twine coverer (is that a word?), so I apologize in advance. Anyways, this is what I worked on this weekend and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!



Basically if you can glue and spray paint you can make this. These are the items I started out with:



The cheese dome was $2.50 and the candlestick was $0.99 from a thrift store. I felt like the base was a little too small to support the heaviness of the glass cover, so I bought a wood circle from Michael's for $1.59. You'll also need some Gorilla Glue which I already had on hand.

You can see how I glued it together--- cheese dome to top of candlestick and candlestick to round wood circle. When you use Gorilla Glue (GG), you do have to put pressure on it so it will adhere properly. I used the weight of one of my scrapbooks and that worked well. Another thing about GG is when it tells you it expands while drying, it isn't kidding. So go easy on the amount you use or you'll have a mess around the edges.. trust me I know!

After it was completely glued together and dried, I spray painted it with a semi-gloss black. I may distress the edging a bit and then spray it with a clear coat. I'm not sure yet. Its still drying but I wanted to get this post up before I went to bed. Now for the filler.

I bought a round glass candle holder, reindeer moss, plastic eggs and twine from the Dollar Tree. I've seen tutorials on wrapping the eggs with twine somewhere in blog land and knew I wanted to try it. The tutorial said to just use your hot glue gun and dab it on to hold it in place as you tightly wrap the twine around the egg. I kept burning myself and making a mess. SOOOOOOOO, I remember this great product I have and use when I'm adhering ribbon to my scrapbook pages. It's called, "Terrifically Tacky Tape"! And let me tell you, it is STICKY! I don't have a picture of it, but its 2 sided so I just wrapped the perimeter of the egg 2 times and then started wrapping the twine. They came out great and they were quick to make. I just laid them in the nest I made out of reindeer moss. I love it!

Giveaway!!!

I'm planning a giveaway when my blog reaches 50 followers! All you have to do is sign up to follow my blog AND leave a comment. I'll use an online random pick generator to choose the winner.

Easter Canvas

I found these little tiny canvases at Joann's one day. They are 3 x 3 and 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I thought they would be so cute on the little wooden easels that they had right next to them. The first ones I did were for Valentine's Day and they said L-O-V-E. The next set said L-U-C-K for St Patrick's Day. I couldn't come up with a four letter word for Easter, so I found some new black wire easels at Dollar Tree (2 for $1!!!) and made these:

Out of this:



This is a very simple project to do. You'll need the following items:
*Easels
*Canvases
*scrapbook paper of your choice
*letters to spell out EASTER
*Mod Podge & sponge brush
*Hot Glue gun
*embellishments (ribbon, rhinestones, etc)
*craft paint in color of your choice

*Paint the edges of your canvases, you could leave white which I did on these because it was Sunday and I was going back to work but wanted to get these done.
*Cut your paper the size of the canvas or slightly smaller if you used paint. You'll get the same matting effect as the name tiles if they're smaller.
*Using sponge brush, paint Mod Podge on back of paper and on canvas to adhere paper to canvas, allow to dry maybe 5-10 minutes.
*Paint Mod Podge on the canvas to attach your letters. I used my Cricut die cut machine for my letters or you could use sticker letters or guy precut letters from a scrapbook store. Set letter down and allow to sit for 1 minute and then apply a coat of Mod Podge over the entire top of canvas.
*Using your hot glue gun attach embellishments as desired. I used 2 types of ribbon, rhinestones, paper flowers and a key. The great thing about this is I literally just pulled out what I already had to decorate them. I know not everyone has a bunch of craft stuff so you could just buy some ribbon and some rhinestones and that would work. Ribbon is $1 and a pack of rhinestones was less than $3.

On the subject of cost. I'm all about finding good deals and making good use of your money. If you're going to start making crafts and you don't have a lot of the supplies, you don't have to spend a lot. At Dollar Tree you could pick up a hot glue gun and a pack of refills for... you guessed it $2! When I have an item that is expensive, I save up my 40% coupons from Joann's and Michaels. For example, my bottle of Mod Podge was bought with the coupon and I've had it almost a year. It lasts a long time and I use it often. Same with the E6000 glue that I mentioned in an earlier post. I tend to pick things up when I find something I like that I KNOW I'm going to use. I try not to buy stuff just for the sake of buying it, I try to have a specific use in mind.

If you have any questions regarding any of the projects, just leave a comment. Or even if you don't have a question... leave a comment:) This will probably be the last post until next week. Fresno State baseball is playing at home all weekend and then back to work on Sunday! Have a great weekend everyone!

What Not to Wear: Easter Bunny edition

I've been searching high and low for an Easter bunny that didn't look too childish or cartoonish to sit next to my apothecary jar of easter eggs. But I haven't been able to find anything anywhere! I found one at Joann's that I thought would be okay but when I turned it around, it had creepy eyes. So of course I didn't buy it because..... well it creeped me out! Well I love a good makeover as much as the next person and when I saw these little cuties the other day I knew they had potential. I got them from one of my favorite thrift shops in the Tower District--- Bargain Boutique. And guess what else??? Are you ready for this??? They were only $1 each!

So like I said, cute right? I don't want cute bunnies, I want a vintage looking bunny. So I got out another good friend of mine... spray paint!! I decided to use primer on the eyes and cheeks because EB's (easter bunny) makeup was toooooo bright and I had just bought a can of spray primer and wanted to see how well it works. Here is a picture of just taking the makeup off and it looks better already:

By the way I bought my spray paint and primer from OSH and it cost $2.39 for the smaller can and the large is $2.99. So after the primer dried, I sprayed 2 coats of antique white and let it sit overnight. This morning I mixed some Espresso craft paint into water; just enough to darken your water but not thicken it. I took a paper towel and dabbed the mixture all over. Let it sit a minute and then wiped away the excess. He looked a little plain, so I added ribbon that matches my other Easter decorations. I love it! So easy and just what I was looking for.

Name Game: ugly tile to treasure

Ok, so first off let me admit something to you that you will quickly figure out... I'm not a great photographer AND apparently I might need glasses. What looked like a perfectly fine picture on the camera has turned out to be slightly blurry. And I don't have this project anymore because I made it for my sister. Oh and one other thing... since I made this project a few weeks ago and hadn't totally committed to starting a blog just yet, I dont' have any before and after pictures. I promise, I'll try to do better:(

Soooooo... I was perusing my way through one of the great stores of our time, "THE DOLLAR TREE" the other day. I came across these hideous titles that evidently were meant to be hung up. They were one of those things that are really, really ugly and you pick it up and say outloud, "what in the world?" But as soon as I got it in my hot little hand I realized it had great potential, it already had a hangar on the back and I knew one of my BFF's (mod podge) could cover the ugliness. So I grabbed 5 of them and headed out the store! Well not really out the store, I still had at least 4 aisles to go.


I've been wanting to make my sister something so I decided this would be her time. Here is the finished project. I'm trying to get a picture from my sister showing it hung up in her home. If she gets it to me, I'll update this post.






Here are the ingredients of this repurpose:

4 x 4 tiles (with or without hangars)
hangars (if needed)
E6000 adhesive
Mod Podge (i use matte finish)
sponge paint brush
scrapbook paper
craft paint to coordinate with paper
letters (i cut mine out with my cricut)
embellishments of your choosing
ribbon

Here we go! (I'm so excited, this is my first project post)

*I took the tiles home and removed the hangars. They were bright gold so I spray painted in a black satin finish.

*I painted the edges of the tiles and a small border on the perimeter with craft paint in a deep red.

*Cut your paper slightly smaller than the size of the tile. This way you'll see the paint color as a mat for your paper. You could use all of the same paper or choose coordinating papers like I did.

*Apply Mod Podge with the sponge brush to the tile and back of your paper. Attach paper to tile.

*As far as the letters go, you have many options. If you don't have a cricut machine, you can buy individual letters at most scrapbook stores or you could use a sheet of sticky ones. Whatever you like is what works! Apply letters by putting a coat of Mod Podge on the paper and then laying down the letter. Allow to sit approximately 1 minute and apply another coat on top.

*Allow to dry completely and then reapply the hangars with E6000 adhesive. This stuff is awesome!!!

*I tied a small black ribbon on each hangar and then added some self stick rhinestones because I always think a little bling is a good thing!

All this really cost me was $5 for the Dollar Tree tiles because I had everything else on hand. If you're someone who likes to craft, I'm sure you do too!

Follow Me!

So I've finally decided to give this blogging thing a try. I keep joking to my family that I'm going to start one and they just gave me the courtesy giggle support and encouragement to finally do it.

My motivation for starting this blog is I like to craft; specifically I enjoy finding something with beautiful lines or features and making something even better out of it.

I starting following just one blog when I was searching online for ways to decorate with my highly cherished apothecary jars! I found one of my favorite blogs... Thrifty Decor Chick and thought, "sure I'll follow" and now I'm the faithful follower of 51 blogs!!!  Its amazing how you'll look at one blog and it will link to a great idea on another blog and before you know it..... 51 blogs and it increases every day. The way I see it is there isn't much on tv that I like right now AND I'm always finding great new ideas so its a positive way to waste spend my time.

I'm not sure how often I'll post as this is a new thing for me. I'm a nurse in the Emergency Department (ED)! I'm still careful that I say ER to non medical people because when I tell them I work in the ED, they think hmmmmm... well you know what they might think; I'll give you a hint "little blue pill" Anyways (focus Marcie) I work 3 days on and 4 days off, so I like to think of myself as living a double life. I'm a working mom/wife for the first part of the week and a creative genius the other 4 days! Ok, well I don't know about genius, but sometimes I'm pretty impressed with myself, haha!!

So welcome to my blog! I hope I have at least a few ideas that motivate you to repurpose something on purpose!